Kit Ordered

Yesterday was a milestone day in progress so far. I drove down to AK Sportscars to visit the factory and meet Jon and Wendi. I'd highly recommend anyone considering building a kit car does the same. You get a real feel for the build and quality of the product.

Jon and Wendi were fantastic and made me feel very welcome. Another prospective buyer was also visiting at the same time so Jon gave us a tour of the factory and explained how they make the chassis and all of the modifications they make to the Jag running gear. He also showed us how they make the body and fibreglass parts . Even to a novice like myself I could see the quality of the moulds and finished product.

It was interesting to hear about the Gen 1 and 2 chassis differences (and also the new lighter race spec chassis that Jon is working on). It seems that the majority (pretty much all) of customers are opting for the Gen 2 chassis now. This handles better and although is a little more expensive than the Gen 1, it is an easier build and overall the cost works out the same as it only has 4 shocks instead of the 6 that the Gen 1 has.

Jon also took us out in the demonstrator car - Marmite. This is an unbelievable car. It has a supercharged LS3 engine - 6.something litre and it is so fast. I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day after having a ride in it. I was also really impressed with the quality of the car - it was really solid and well put together. The handling was also superb - it went round corners like it was on tracks.

So at the end of the day I ordered the following:

Gen 2 chassis and body

Stainless steel engine bay cladding - fitted

Stainless steel fuel tank

Coil over shocks and springs

Factory fitted wishbone bushes

Twin 3 leg roll bars - fitted

Triple nose vents

At the machine shop

After striping the engine down I took it to Dave Rushton http://www.daverushton.co.uk/.
As the engine was now in bits I managed to get all the components in the boot of my car.

After inspecting the engine, the following work was required:

- Bore size within tolerance so just needed honing (0.030")
- Crankshaft just needs polishing (Mains 0.020", B\Ends 0.010")
- Reface valve
- Recut valve seats
- De-gasket and hot wash all parts
- Install cam bearnings
- Cylinder head faces are good


After a couple of days I got an email from Dave informing me that one of the cylinder heads was cracked.
The crack was only visible once the valve seats had started to be reground.
This meant that this head was basically scrap and I would need to get a new one.
Dave advised that these heads were prone to cracking so it would probably be best to buy a pair of new ones. I agreed so the rest of the work on the heads was left.

The block on the other hand was fine - thank god. The cleaned up really well and I was really pleased with the results. Same with the crankshaft and pistons that looked like they were new.

So after just over a week in the machine shop I drove down to collect the engine from Dave.

I have to say, Dave did a fantastic job and was really helpful. I'll certainly be using him for all future machine work I need.

Garage

So whilst the engine was at the machine shop I made use of time by getting the garage ready. I wanted to improve the light and cut down on the dust. I'd previously painted the walls white which made a great improvement to the lighting, and also fitted a rubber strip on the bottom of the garage door which stopped a lot of debris blowing in from outside.

Next job was to paint the floor. I'd done some research and spoken with a few neighbours who had already painted their floor and realised that the standard garage floor paint from B&Q or Wickes was probably not the best and I'd be repainting it again in a year or so. So I opted for an epoxy paint. I ended up buying it from www.regalfloorpaint.co.uk after reading a number of recommendations.

I bought the following:

4 x Clean n etch
1 x 2 pack epoxy first coat
1 x 2 pack epoxy top coat

I also ordered a few disposable brushes and a metal roller frame and roller.

So first job was to clear out the garage. You have to get the epoxy down in one go so you can't be moving things around the garage.

Next job was to clean up any old paint and oil stains. I had a massive oil stain in the middle of the floor. I tried various things on this but eventually found brake cleaner and then cat litter worked really well.



This is the oil stain after a can of brake cleaner. I thought this would be okay to paint over.

I then removed as much of the old paint from around the edge of the garage with a wire drill brush. It was now time for the acid etch. The idea with this is that it gives the concrete a rough sand paper finish so the paint can bond to it. I used a watering can and made up a solution of 1 part acid to 4 parts water. I then just went the floor with it - doing a quarter of the garage at a time and then rinsing. I ended up etching the floor twice as I had enough acid left. The key thing here is that the floor has to be completely free of any acid before painting. I found I had to rinse multiple times and I used a large rubber squidgy from homebase to pull the water out.

Once the floor was dry I painted the first cost of epoxy. I was surprised when I opened the tin that it was green (I ordered grey) but it was too late so I painted it on anyway. I wasn't sure how far the tin would go so applied it sparingly - but I had loads left at the end so could have put it on thicker.

One thing about this paint - it really smells. Wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth - not a cheap paper one - a proper one with filters in it. Even with the mask on, towards the end of the first coat I was struggling.

Next day the first coat was dry enough to walk on so I decided to do the second coat. Here is the finished floor. I left it to cure for 7 days before moving anything back in to the garage.