In this episode the Retropower guys take a look at the car at the end of the dry build stage. Gordon gets a good look around the work that's been done, checks out the driving position, new suspension and under body mods.
Here's Episode 8:
Transcript :
"
it's been a very exciting couple of days
Oh kind of seeing what we've been
looking forward to for a long while and
this has kind of been the culmination of
what we talked about last time the dry
build process getting the car to a stage
where we could get the wheels on sitting
on the floor move the suspension through
its travel and just get all the little
parts on there and this is all what we
talked about last time and just checking
everything fits now before we get it to
the paint stage but obviously the spin
off of that is we get to see it on its
wheels at ride art which is a sort of
super excitement boost for everyone
really because you're gonna get to see
it almost a hint of its final form and
you know one one person probably more
than any who's kind of excited by saying
this is Gordon because he's going to be
coming over to have a look at it in this
state sitting it see if he's happy with
the positions of all controls or
steering wheel the gear stick check the
visibility the instruments and he's
going to be looking at you know the
underside of it basically making sure
he's happy with everything on it
including the suspension whitfill no
nuts pretty nervous about because I see
he's designed to complete rear
suspension system for a man who's
designed Formula One car suspension
systems so we were keen to see what he
thinks of that we have a quick look
under here we've gone completely
mechanically built the steering's
connected up we've got the strut brakes
done which is something we were
literally doing lasting yesterday to try
and stiffen everything up is one thing
Gordon was quite particular about was
was getting stiffness into the shell so
it does of corny go sits in the engine
bay and that strut brace which just
sneaks through between the bonnet
reinforcement here and the top of the
coil packs so I'll see what he thinks of
that hopefully that ticks all the boxes
on on that one it's a sort of sign of
things to come
there you go it's pretty cool I mean all
this flood stuffs basically just
off-the-shelf parts you can probably see
this wheels drooping a lot more than
that one because the actual damper
inserts are a different length one side
to the other just because we wanted to
try a couple of different droop travels
and so when we strip all this apart now
we're going to send this truck body
those trucks to nitron who are actually
going to build a complete new strut
based on the dimensions of these and
it's the same on the back now nuts made
basically a steel strip that can be
lengthened and shortened and moved
through its travel so it locates the
wheel in position
all right
what sort of what sort of new work if
you got going on then are you not
allowed to talk about it
lots of below but I think he was getting
nervous because I was so obviously so
nervous about it yesterday the the
actual bits of metal that our original
original what were you doing drinks with
you or some real no no big through yeah
oh I've just bought I finally bought an
imp which is difficult to find actually
yes I imagine so yeah
I'd have to go could not the noise out
of it yeah Wow all the wheels look nice
knowing ya know it is gonna be a hot rod
but yeah but it's about making it sort
of subtle and classic yeah so it's kind
of almost there with all the metal panel
work now yeah we've got a few a few sort
of jobs to do once once you've kind of
okay and everything that's here we're
going to strip it back down we've got
still got all the seam brazing to do on
it and there's a few other bits and bobs
the wings are still just screwed on at
the minute because when we've stripped
it back yeah we're going to blast it and
do that thermal Zink spray process we do
on the underside which we want to
include doing behind the wing on the bit
you can't get two rounds they're on and
then weld them on afterwards so they're
still like the final alignment looks
good yeah we'll put it on the list in a
minute so I mean the big metal work
changes there obviously all of the rear
bulkhead area for struts the turrets
that are in there I've got all the all
the risk Spencer's also will show you on
the lift in a sec and the - of course
yeah I've got I've got a little the
biggest concern of God is that we might
need to lower the instruments more we've
already lowered in versus where they
were originally right but because we've
fabricated a steel pot that's separate
to the main - it's not that difficult
alone and more rice going to cut out a
bit more metal and drop it but we only
have a hammer still if you yeah it's
easier to sit in now than when it's on
the lift I love a proper nose and yeah
slots look nice
I think what's going to happen though if
that goes up in inch it's going to have
to come this way bit yeah but that's
just on yeah that's a mock-up of us
anyway at the moment on Mary okay I
would say an inch up in an inch or 3/4
of an inch this way
yeah be about right which also gives you
more clearance here but that that I
thought was going to be just looking at
where the hole was when I was sitting in
it last time I just try one out just
knocked up like that crank steak last
night just to sort of my toothache yeah
it's about right yeah that's fine yeah
that's good news
that's an easy one because we we were
going to put a deeper boss probably on
it and i staring at the beeper though
it's like you sat in one of those new
Alfa Julia doesn't do the other Fangio
the Ferrari v8 powered one it's the same
in that it's so so bizarre you sitting
it and you look to the side and the
earth moves to your head miss the pillar
in this is yeah yeah and also the the
over shoulder t-junction stop it is
through the yeah yeah Korda like anyway
just get it to sideways
the interesting thing is even though I'm
sitting so low the H point is is very
low relative to the original car which
is why I've got all the true that the
downward forward vision is nice still
it's still okay yeah even with a
windscreen rubber in there it's still I
can still have a pretty good forward
vision and of course the upward vision
for traffic lights and stuff is much
better I was surprised because of how
low because of how low we sit and I'm
quite sure compared to obviously I
thought my forward vision was still okay
and even the downside of vision is fine
it's just that sort of glanced straight
to the side that I you know you never
really do that like you say you if
you're changing lightens you tend to
glance around you through them up
through the rear one in the oven there
as well actually no you will you talked
about not having mirrors on it yeah yeah
yeah I can't wait to see you sitting in
it when it's either don't other two
miles an hour top speed without mirrors
yeah yeah and so that's very rough and
ready because I did that last night at
about nine o'clock but I think
positioning my house it's probably no
really reach the reach is fine you know
maybe it is being taught what's not
right on it because it should have a
closed off that reverse is left and
forward and it's the interlocks and it
hasn't got an interlock on it in a
minute because there's like the lock
plate is part of the bit that's missing
yeah that's the third that's reverse
slightly less far across but it's but
there's no interlock to push it up
against the first that right there will
be obviously yeah we did your harness
mounting point so you've got you've got
the option of harnesses and we did
because we give you the option of either
having the belts going back individually
or both to a single point
yeah I was that
what are your thoughts
I think the throws find there that you
said that's just a mock-up yeah yeah
that was just a lash up last night yeah
maybe just a bit more crank yeah it's a
bit just just a bit of a straight arm
stretch and when I get going I might
want to go back a bit on your seat one
more click so probably I mean not much
if you can yeah absolutely making the
stick from scratch anyway that's
literally just I would I would bring it
back it's also nice to drop down a bit
from the wheel and then reach forward
from the wheel once you start going
quickly you really want to just go drop
down from the wheel you know their
actual length I you can't judge I love
thin rims I can't stand these apart from
the fact they don't look period I don't
like a thick grip anyway I know they're
the the lotuses are even slightly
smaller diameter there they are very
delicate and it just makes the steering
feel so much better I was pleasantly
surprised when I got that out of the box
because I know you look to the picture
and we all liked it and you said oh it's
got quite a thin rim on it but until you
actually see it in real never quite sure
what its gonna be like but really good
yeah alright
well lovely I suppose a quick look under
the bonnet yeah then we'll stick it on
the lift that's perfect actually that
Gailey was going to be fun yeah so this
was another yesterday job we squeeze
experiences foot brace in there which
was tight and you know we were talking
about bracing the engine boat last time
we decided in the end to do these sort
of sculpted gussets yeah in the corners
there to try and add some of that sort
of ante you know parallelogram yeah sort
of effect and which I think will add a
fair amount of strength so it's just
battling for space on it when you get
the air box on this side you know you
think it's there you can put a bar
across here but when you
time you've got the trumpets on there
and an air box on yeah the air box is
about half an inch for the carbon air
box
it's got it got different lengths dumper
inserts on the front of them there and
so why it's got loads more droops well
first I for the other it's all just not
group stuff any like is no I probably
building upon here the back end we've
built kind of a dummy strut that is
literally just metal tubes but just so
we could get everything actually bolted
in place and that means teensy little
ways when it's gonna say I'm only three
tonight
they have a
so the front ends front ends all
relatively off-the-shelf parts although
it's nothing like standard it's we've
got the camera adjustment on the strip
whereas you'd normally have adjustable
length lower track control arm although
it's still adjustable whoa where does
the bar diameter come from that was just
a standard obstacles down and up to
California this tell us there's no
science behind it is that what people
run on modified escort apparently so
well it's not just thin it's the length
of the arm so the calculation is is well
that and that and that basically eirick
and that's probably only 15-20 percent
of the roll stiffness contribution max
I'd say maybe even tempt a lot of the
guys don't run them at all I don't like
don't like enter are never use rear
enter you're alright I'm anything but
but normally you go on a sports car
you'd be 35 to 40 percent contribution
for roll compensation on the bar to
basically drive the car yeah but on the
other hand if that's what people use on
the user so this is kind of the one of
the better kind of rally orientated
folks that's we've just modified so no
tell you rubber rather than because it's
not you know it's not a big job on the
scheme of work change so you have that
v12 to suck in see you really how we
should see how it feels
is rear end it seems to point everything
in the right direction brewing out since
we're traveling what worked on the year
on the computer appears to work in
reality yeah yeah most of the load what
is spreading to the side of the rail and
yeah I think oh you've got a pretty good
yeah yeah yeah yeah and it's split
between the front fore and aft because
the rear this rear brace takes a lot of
the load as well which is going to
spread into there and then that's tied
directly up into the turret as well yeah
that's a pretty stiff isn't it yeah I
think I'm thinking it's gonna go
anywhere fast
yeah gonna look sorry thing I'll miss
something obvious now it just took me
the low pass and they all look pretty
good really yeah that all looks pretty
you know I don't think that's gonna go
anyway what's good for you having
started on paper and scheming it out and
then she'd flown in season it was nice
to Pretoria my car and Jeremy only buyer
I'm not gonna sell for the gauge and
it's checked but by I they can be change
like that's on full troop now it's
obviously got a bit of positive that
they can be changed by are you through
its complete trouble what the computer
set what they've said so leaves that's
worked out and you know where it should
be and and it's very compact in terms of
height I was quite pleased with how it
you know eyes there's not a lot of
height to it no it looks very easy to
start gaining gaining height and that
looks really good the drive shafts are
very obviously they're not in it they're
different CV joints of the minute we're
gonna use these I was a bit concerned by
these these are a Monday I won there and
they're not three Monday Focus RS CV
doing yeah the driveshaft ends up being
you know quite tight in as well it's all
usable quite compact yeah yeah a far cry
from the Sun didn't let's go back yes
handle should handle the talk a bit
better
she's an axle tram
if you've seen everything so as long
yeah looks looks great looks great
John really does yeah took it back down
finish the rest of the pitch knowledge
of metalwork on it and then it will be
watched it again a question then will be
rebus when you doing the zinc spray
process on the underside and then it
will go through into the air and Mark
and gas will take over and start yeah
pressing it towards paint and then we
get the really exciting bit of doesn't
bolt shiny bits onto a shiny shell
yeah it's looking really good guy
right we better go
"
Source : https://youtu.be/bfyKi_4dc-4