On Redcar progress:
Last night I got a late start, but did manage to drill
all of the Panhard mounting bolt holes through the
*edge* of the gas tank flange. Then wedging myself up
under the roll bar, into the boot (NOT for the
claustrophobic!) I spent about 1/2 hr with a rat-tail
file cleaning up the holes so the bolts would drop thru.
Once I was satisfied with this I went about sorting thru
my coffee can of flat washers to find suitable replacements
for the tin-foil thin and way-too-big-to fit fender washers
that WC sent me. Another complaint about this kit.
Once all sorted out, I went about dropping these
thru & snugging them up. Alone, this a very
labor-intensive process, as you have to vise-grip the
bolt from the inside, then crawl under the car to
tighten the nut. After about 45min. of automotive
gymnastics, the Panhard mount was firmly in place.
As I lay on the ground under my car, I paused
to reflect on the Panhard. I sincerely hope that the
benefit to be derived from fitting this is roughly
proportional to the amount of angst it's installation
has caused me. Lest I sound a whiner I won't go into
detail about what is amiss with this component, but I
will say that if yu are planning to install one on a
Bugeye, be prepared to do quite a bit of fiddling about
with it. Overall it is well-made, but at least
w/regards to MkI's, it needs a bit of sorting out,
installation-wise. (off soapbox)
Now all I have left to do is install the rod
itself, and refit the parking brake, ala Phil E.
On horns and roll bar hardware: Many people lamented
the small car/small horn complaint, and the Sprite is
no exception. But based on my current schedule &
budget, stock is fine by me. Also, simply loud doesn't
always fit the character of the car. It's got to be
loud & British ....
Overall net.wisdom says leave the Grade 5 mounting
bolts in the roll bar as in a collision they will tend
to deform when the 8's may snap. Sounds right by me, but
I don't intend to test out this theory ...
mo' later-
dstone@sc9.intel.com
|