Craig's XE track Nova

[Craig-S]

Ok picked the cage up today and want some ideas.... Needs a bit of grinding then a coat of paint but WHAT COLOUR ?

Cant decide. Definately not white or black.

Was thinking Red? or Bright Orange? Fuorescent Green?.........(Cough) pink?

Oh and a short vid of it running, Nothing too naughty.

[corsadonk]

Silver?

[Craig-S]

Maybe.... was thinking of something more outragous though to be honest.

[Kev_G]

Orange. Orange and white are like pizza and cheese

[Craig-S]

Another step in the right direction today. Thought i better buy it before fitting the cage as it may look a bit of a wreck for a few days. Dont want it getting towed away do we... Still wanting ideas on colour for the cage.....

[Craig-S]

Got out bright and early today to start on the cage. Where it came out of a pretty well sorted rally car there were front strut connections, which had been cut, and where it had been tagged to the pillars all needed tidying up.





I know it would have been behind the dash but things like that really bug me..

Anyway then started rubbing down the extra thick paint on the rear part of the cage. Basically anywhere the paint was chipped got some real attention, the rest just got a rub down.... WHICH TOOK AGES. (picture taken half way through as i needed a tea break).



All areas which were back to bare metal got Zinc primed,



And that was enough for today, This lot can wait !



And not a bad shout Kev, Pretty sure im going to go for orange, Or i may veer off towards the pink shelf at the last minute....

[corsadonk]

Looks good.

Was that bit bent?

[Craig-S]

Na it was just the angle of the blokes photo. Where the A pillars bow outwards slightly, looked like they had been hit downwards

The shell was still in his workshop too so got a chance to look over it for any major repairs.

[Craig-S]

Did a bit more tidying on the rear part of the cage this week, basically its a sparco cage which has been "added" to. I was a bit woried about the guys welding so thought it best to cut the square plates off covering the welds on the rear diagonal cross section. The welds turned out to be ok, just needed tidying up which is probably why he covered them up.

Looks much better without them too



Then started making a new manifold, Just wanted it a bit shorter and it couldnt be cut down so started again with a new "Laser" cut flange.



Picked up a few bits from the scrappy too, Nice steering wheel which il stick with



And a couple of ally oil caps. Unusual ones these as they have no writing on... obviously need a polish but not sure which one i preffer



Oh and pretty sure now the cage will be pink.

[Craig-S]

Managed to get the new manifold finished today, Started on the outside runners which i wasnt quite sure how to tackle. A bit of trial and error brought up a good tecnique though.





A quick blast, Then the flange end needed closing back down to 35mm, after the "slash cut" which makes the opening oval



Trial fit



All tidyed up, Probably the best picture to show the shape of the outside runner, Which was far from easy to acheive



At this stage i was seriously considering knocking it on the head for the day, Took 3 hours to make and fit that runner and really wasnt looking forward to doing it all over again...



Glad i did though... All zinc'd ready to paint and fit.

Its a fair bit shorter than the last one i made, and has pretty long straight sections on the outside runners so can be shortened a lot more if required. The last one only had about 40mm so couldnt really have been shortened.



Now i think i really should service the welder before starting to fit the cage.

[Stefan_S]

wow, i love your nova!

[Craig-S]

wow, i love your nova!

Thanks... you may not like it so much when you see what i did to it today though. It is however all for the greater good.

Heart breaking... the interior was MINT. full GSi with every single piece of black trim available... Now all for sale. All had to come out though to make way for cage, buckets and harnesses..



And it looks like this is where the fire started (previous keeper)



Got the cage positioned. Figured it best to fit it all up and weld in the feet before removing for paint... Good job too as it really aint a job for one person! Chiped the primer LOTS on the rear half !



All went together well with only minor trimming to keep it away from the windscreen. And looks pretty cool too.





Ive Drawn on the floor where i have to weld plates and feet, Next job is to take it all out again sort the mounting points, polish any good paint, chisel out the sound deadening and repaint anywhere that needs it.

Today was a good day weather wise, Lets hope another comes along soon.

[corsadonk]

Looks mean

[Craig-S]

I do like it, Lets hope this one stays shiney side up...

Still not sure on colour though

[Gaz86]

coming on a treat this one, also spotted a nice set of HS33s

[Craig-S]

coming on a treat this one, also spotted a nice set of HS33s

You have a Very good eye! wouldnt consider anything else, Old vaux,,, old bike.

[Craig-S]

It has suddenly dawned on me that i have just 25 days to get it finished, Thought id better do a bit today.

Finished the new manifold and gave it a lick of paint. went to pick up the gasket but partco got it wrong so couldnt fit that.





Positioned the cage and measured up for the feet and started cutting the 4mm steel il be using, Until the grinder gave up the ghost



That stopped play for the day so i got on the phone to H+ H, (very friendly chaps) and arranged for them to modify my distributor. Packaged it up and got it on its way. Just hope they get it back to me on time for the SC roling road day....

[Craig-S]

Another day hard at it today. started on the front / center feet for the cage to sit on.



Sorry but had to take this photo here. Just to prove that i actually CAN weld ! (MIKE)



Managed to get all four made up



Then started trimming them to fit







Thats as far as i got. Hoping for another full day on it tomorrow, Hopefully getting all the spreader plates cut and welded in so i can mark and drill for the captive nuts.

[corsadonk]

I told you H&H are great, you can't beat them for service, I wouldn't be surprised if it was back this week.

Them blocks look good, decent steel helps

[Craig-S]

Yeah the bloke on the phone was relly helpful. I called them today to make sure they got it and he assured me id have it back soon.

Cheers, the feet are a little "over engineered", but really a cage is only as good as its mounting points anyway. I googled images of "roll-cage fail". this picture made my mind up.... look closely at the floor....

[Craig-S]

This job is just never ending! Another half day at it today. Front spreader plates in



Rears in





All zinc'd. Also got the feet drilled and the captive nuts tagged on the undersides but no photo's of that yet



Fair play fitting a cage aint as simple as it sounds.

[Craig-S]

Just a small update today, wont get any time to work on it this weekend.

The Tiny brass screw which yamaha charged me £9 for!



And the feet, Marked them and had them drilled by an engineer friend. Who kindly tagged the nuts on and put some stitches up the inside seams with his big boys welder.

[corsadonk]

Nice one don't give up now.

[Craig-S]

Cheers, been well stressed out today, wishing i never even bought the cage. Didnt even bother doing anything.

Its just such a pain in the ass doing it all on my own. My mates are more intersted in looking pretty so i have to weld and fire watch at the same time. Not to mention lifting it in and out of the car 10 times a day.

Maybe go back and do a bit monday, see if my mood is any different.

[corsadonk]

I would offer to help, but I've got loads to do as well