Andrew came down to assist with putting the engine in on Saturday, but unfortunately the pedal box turned out to be more fiddly than expected and took longer than it should have (more mistakes were made than strictly necessary). I suspect that if doing it again it would take less than an hour, but in the event it took all day. We started by cutting down some bolts to make them fit:
Andrew following all the relevant safety procedures. Loose clothing? Check. Face in path of high speed red hot shards of metal? Check. Wobbly bench held in place by foot? Check.
After that, it was a case of bolting in the pedal box (easy) and adjusting the master cylinders until the pedals had exactly the right amount of travel (fiddly).
On Sunday, Emily and I started faffing about with the engine. First, we put the chassis on wheels so we could roll it about more easily, and so there was no risk of it falling off its axle stands. Then we hoisted up the crane and started lowering the engine in. After a while it became clear that we'd need the arm of the crane fully extended, so we had to rest the engine down while we did that, and also raise the chassis slightly so the legs of the crane would go underneath, so we stuck the front wheels on some bits of wood. The engine slowly worked its way down into the engine bay, but with the gear lever the wrong side of a chassis rail. We backed out the engine, moved the gear lever and tried again. Then removed the gear lever and tried again. Finally, we were able to get the engine in place, hovering about an inch above its final destination, when Emily had to go rowing, leaving me on my own.
I had a bit of a poke around, and eventually concluded that the engine wasn't going to go in because a chassis rail was occupying a place where the engine needed to go:
The corner of the engine resting on top of the chassis rail. The engine needs to be lowered about 2" straight down... problem.
I gave Peter a call and sent him this photo, and we agreed that the chassis rail would have to move. Apparently the 328 was not one of the engines Peter measured when designing the Legend 6 chassis. Fortunately he was already planning to pick the chassis up to modify the rear of the car slightly, so this wasn't a big logistical issue, though it did leave me with an engine 90% in my car, i.e., not in. I suggested removing the offending rail, since Peter would have to adjust it anyway, which would enable me to finish off getting the engine in. So out comes the angle grinder again:
resulting in this:
Peter will remove the stubs and replace the rail at a more suitable angle when I get back from Peru. But, the engine is finally in, and it's starting to look a lot like a car. Also, I now have a lot more garage space, which is useful.
We celebrated by getting a seat out and sitting in the car making "brum brum" noises.
Plenty of rear camber
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A few subtle differences between the BM engine ranges in shape and size among other things, but mostly many parts are cross used. At least Peter's customer service is pretty spot on to remove these early issues.
ReplyDeleteHad the gear lever off when practising on mine, very easy to do when out of car, but a real fiddle when on a road going BM !
Brum brum, oh dear me, not done that myself, but a few grins always good to have.
Has the inspector gone off in disgust? or off checking where those funny noises came from ?
Enjoy Peru !
Am currently looking at gear linkage options - I'd like a shorter throw, but can't find any Z3M shifters on Ebay. Plus I might as well replace the bushings while I'm at it - need to find out where to source them from.
ReplyDeleteReally, no sitting in the car going brum brum? Not even when no one is watching... I find that hard to believe. It's the closest I'll get to driving it for a few months at least.
I note that Em's already anticipating the amount of opposite-lock likely to be required at any given moment in this thing: attacking gnarly country roads, pulling gently out of T-junctions, parking, etc.
ReplyDeleteAlso - that's a fine collection of tyres you have there ;)