Neil's Incident

Two steps forward, three steps back mate. Thats Scamp building for you.

Look forward to seeing you at Stoneleigh, with or without the Scamp

Just a quick update...

Despite the almost constant rain, lack of unds & the redundancy word rearing its head at work, progress is still being made...but slower than i would like.

Engine is temperarilly back in for the 17th time !!
All ancillaries are now installed & i'm sorting out the dreaded "W####G".




Front of chassis is all welded & zinc primed, just got the drivers side bonnet hinges to mount & thats the engine bay welding done.

At the moment i'm tearing whats left of my hair out trying to sort the w####g out !!

Take a fusebox wiring module from CBS, mini wipermotor, vauxhall engine & ecu, Vauxhall Steeering column & stalks, VW golf fan & washer pump, VW polo radiator & thermocouple, VW golf light & hazard switches and mix them up to give you a massive pile of spaghetti.

After flicking between 4 haynes manuals & the cbs wiring diagram i'm loosing the will to live

Taken executive decision & decided to reduce the full rainbow of coloured wires & have bought bulk lengths of yellow & black wires....much easier to identify....NOT.

Still, the lighting part of the circuit is 70% complete, ecu part is 50% done, wipers are 70% done, just got the hazards & indicators, oil pressure, fan, coolant level sensors etc... to do.




Neil

And wiring on cars from different countries may have different colour codes, just to add to the fun.

Exactly Bob,

Vauxhall use brown wires & red wires for power, whereas VW use black wires or red wires.

Plus the vauxhall ecu loom consists of about 20 wires, all of which are either blue green or brown.

The worst bit i'm trying to work on is the Hazards. The VW hazard switch & relay i've got has 7 pins on it, the early golf manual shows 8 pins & the later manual (supposedly for the correct year) show a 9 pin version ! & if i base on the vauxhall manual its a seperate relay.

Neil.

Top hose looks cool

The top tube is my 3rd prototype, its Dia 32 steel tube. (I can weld steel, not ally) Once i've got some time & money will be getting it knocked up in stainless.

Needed to lift it up over the radiator fan, so i cut & mitred it.
Then noticed that i'd now got a new high point in the coolant system, so had to weld the boss for the bleed screw at the top.

Also covers the radiator fan, saving me having to make a cover shroud

Looks like you need an Italian Chef to sort out your Spagetti Neil.
If it's any help,we have Autodata at work,I can reel off a wiring diagram if you can ive me a few details of the vehicle the wiring came from.

Cheers for the offer Chris,

I wish it was that easy.....Vauxhall switchgear is designed to be wired thro seperate relays, whereas the VW switches have relays built in to them.

Saying that, i've managed to get the following working so far...

Using VW golf headlight switch i've managed to get sidelights, dipped headlights & main beam working properly, (even managed to get the instrument dimmer switch wired up allowing me to dim or brighten the switches & clocks..hehe luxury.)
Fog lights are also ready to final wire up.
The radiator & fan are linked up independantly of the fusebox, so the fan can be operated at anytime, inline fused with an overide switch i can use to switch it on seperately, if i'm paranoid in traffic.

Horn is now working thro the Vauxhall steering wheel, (disconnected at moment as i keep accidently deafening myself).

Wipers work at slow & fast speeds, the park switch is knackered & will need replacing later. Getting a timer circuit tmrw to give the intermittent wipe facility to match the corsa stalks. (the only stalk function not being used is the rear screen wash & wipe, going to use the rear wiper position for the fan overide). Washers are wired up ready to mount.

Engine management & ECU wiring is easy to do, just identify which wire is which, cut to length & solder up.

A few extra bits of wiring for the instruments to do & most of its done..

After 6 hours of managed to get the hazards & indicators working with the ignition on, just can't get the hazards to work with the ignition off.....

Might forget the electric windows, heated mirrors & heated seats for the time being...joke.
Might as well do the wiring for the central locking while i'm wiring at it...not a joke.

Neil

Hey Neil

Does that mean we wont see it at Newark this year

Best to sort out what needs doing for the MOT and then do the luxuries later.
I'll let you have some of my temp stickers so you can calibrate your guage. I just stick one on the top pipe connection.

3 core cable is good cause you get 3 colours

Thing is tho Rob, the wires are colour coordinated to match the car....
Also the learning curve i had on the first attempt at wiring has taught me to get the wiring right first time. I made that many mods to the last loom that i used a fortune in crimp connectors & it was so tempramental.

Can't make Newark this year, just got my finish date for redundancy, again...

So the job hunt starts again...

On the bright side, i've got 2 weeks paid holiday time to work on Walle while i'm looking for work.

Going to stick my neck out & make a prediction for tmrw
....

Apart from the ecu, (easier to get engine in & out) all the wiring will be finished tmrw.

I WILL get the last bonnet hinge brackets cut, welded & reinforced, as well as the last 2 strips of the bonnet drain channel welded in.

By which time it will start to p### it down & i wont be able to spray the engine bay in 2pack.
So looking forward to playing with new gravity fed detailing gun...

Neil

Thats what i was going for last week, a little bit of detailing,
but i think i got carried away

Just a quick update...

Just finished the stuff i was going to get done last week....sheesh some prophet i am.

Main car wiring is now done & spira-wrapped up.

Drivers side bonnet hinge mountings are welded in.



Engine is back out again.
Engine bay is now zinc primered & ready for 4 layers of yellow 2 pack.



Drivers side bonnet is about 50% welded up.



Some other bits have been prepped & painted.



Started to mock bits for the dashboard up ready to make a fibreglass mould etc...etc...



Unfortunately my plans for the next 2 weeks have gone for a burton already...
Was supposed to be having the last 2 weeks of my redundancy notice period as paid holiday...last week had 3 projects go live & boss has asked me to work next week & possibly the week after...although it means 2 weeks more money, its 2 weeks less rebuilding time. Can just see my neighbours expressions if i start the compressor & do some spraying at 8:00 at night.

Neil

PS especially for Rob...spot the Starbucks Cup, 3rd 4shot latte of the day

This is like the cartoon picture of find Walley, the one with the red n white scarf.

Sorry i'm bu******d if i can see the latte, might have something to do with the whiskey intake.

Thanks for the box-section, i owe you latte big time

(4th picture, top right, you can just see top of it behind open bonnet)

I've heard of gull wing doors before, but gull wing bonnets

Seemed like a good idea at the time.....till i started to make them .

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.....why dont I use my work ethic of KISS, when I work on the scamp !!!!!

The gull wing bonnets with their cantalever, lasercut hinges are now officially scrap !

After 10hrs of cutting, welding, more cutting & welding, their more buckled & distorted than my morale.

Complete lift off single bonnet will be on its way......Going to make the support frame & then get the panel cut & welded properly, distortion free..........sod the cost, it'll save my sanity......
Should save me a fortune in filler, bloody sandpaper & time. AAARRRGGGGHHHHH.

Sorry rant over......

Neil thats why i do functionality (?)

Not pretty pretty.

See my end result as an example, unfortunately most of James shit hot welding will be covered over

Mk3rob wrote:Neil thats why i do functionality (?)

Not pretty pretty.

See my end result as an example, unfortunately most of James shit hot welding will be covered over

You got the first part about my welding right.

TRR Motorsport wrote:

Mk3rob wrote:Neil thats why i do functionality (?)

Not pretty pretty.

See my end result as an example, unfortunately most of James shit hot welding will be covered over

You got the first part about my welding right.

I'll be the judge of that

Why oh why did i choose today to paint.............Wimbledon mens final, Silverstone....guaranteed rain !!

Hey ho...i got wet...still at least i got the engine bay painted in between downpours.
Got the paint perfected too. As i'm using 2 pack paint, i can add more hardener...20 mins & touch dry. Or should i say dry enough to mop the rain off ready for the next coat.





All suspension arms, tie-rods, hi-lo's, alternator, starter motor & associated brackets & stuff all painted ready for final fitment.

Is it legal to have a poly-carbonate panel bolted on for a bonnet ? Fed up with the bonnet area now

Is it legal to have a poly-carbonate panel bolted on for a bonnet ?

I'd have thought so, provided it's up to keeping errant pedestrians out of the engine room.

Have you ever leant up against the one of the newer Renault Clio's,poly carbonate wings.

Yes I have Chris, dad bought a clio years ago. Got back from garage & we popped the bonnet to sort out where the fluids & stuff were nder the bonnet. I leant on the wing to reach over & the panel went pop & squashed in. Fortunatelly it sprung out fine.

Got munchkin tmrw morning & sleepover on sat night, so not much time to work this w/end.
Aiming to get ecu wiring done, strip engine & start painting the block. Then start assembling the subframe & suspension.

Having problems with paint supplies at moment so Walle's colour scheme is changing slightly to make it easier & cheaper

Some good news, today is the last day at work due to redundancy....starting my new job, doing basically the same job, at the same company, on monday. Now i've got full access to the machine shop as i' not just designing, but also doing all the machining too......result.

Neil