360S in Charleston(ish)

[KnifeySpoony]

I too have mismatched finished on my aeroscreen CF mirrors. I think the center and one of the sides is gloss, the other satin. CC quality control for you. All part of the charm, they say...

[Austin David]

Josh confirmed picking issue; the outers should both be glossy plastic.  The inner (rearview) is matte too, but not as bad as the ginormous plastic windscreen mirrors.

[Austin David]

Spare tire carrier -- I haven't found any builds with this, had to puzzle through it but I got there.  There's the carrier, a wishbone, two extra lugnuts, a fancy long bolt + LONG spacer, and a separate pack with two unused bolts, a shorter spacer (about 3"), and a fibre washer.  Plus the license plate light, which I assume is common across all kits.

 

1) the carrier itself mounts directly to the frame.  The license plate wire (black/red) was zip-tied to one of the mounting holes.  Cut that loose, then bolt up the carrier.  Two 13mm nuts can be tightened from underneath, open-end wrench only.

2) there's a nut behind the fuel tank, inside the skin.  You can access it from the boot / under the carpet, but I didn't have a large enough open-end wrench to secure it; it's bigger than 21mm.  Adjustable didn't fit.  I used pliers to hold it still, and ran the long securing bolt + oversize spacer to spin the bolt-side from outside.    This bolt secures the tire hold-down to the frame, through the aluminium skin, so I assume it's pretty important.

3) the 5th tyre: mount the wishbone w/ 2 extra lugs, run the fancy bolt + shorter spacer into the wishbone, then CAREFULLY set the wheel in the carrier.  Add the fibre washer, then the bolt can pass into the mount on the body.  Snug up the bolt, then use a lug wrench to snug the two lugnuts (securing the wheel to the wishbone), then tighten up the longer bolt to secure the wishbone to the body.  I didn't crush this down, just don't want anything rattling loose.  Most of the weight is borne by the carrier, but this wishbone assembly keeps the tire from rolling loose or rubbing on the body.  When it's all done I have about 1" clearance to the paint, tire resting on the carrier.  Still plenty of room to install the plate and light.

4) the light has a single red/black wire tucked under the frame, and plenty of slack.  It's got a plastic sleeve already there.  There's a grommet on the RHS of the carrier.  Feed the wire into that grommet, and it will easily snake its way through the frame to the back.  There's a roomy hole in the top of the frame, behind where the plate will eventually go.  I was able to fish the wire out with tweezers, there's room for needle nose.

5) the light came with a ton of wire, I just tied all that up.  A ring terminal on the black wire / light side, and a spade between the red and the red/black from chassis.  I added heat shrink and tape, this is all exposed to the elements.  Sand off the RHS mounting hole a little, that's our ground.  Remove the cover for the light (single screw).  Terminal goes there, bolt through the terminal from the back, then the nut on.  Connect the reds, test.

6) for cleanup, I added a nylon wire clip on the LHS mounting bolt to hold that bundle of wire.  Zip ties to keep it tidy.  The worst of all this is that the hot wire comes up from the bottom of the frame, but it will be pretty well obscured behind the license plate, eventually. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Austin David
fixing inverted photoes

[Austin David]

catching up: 10/24 thread repair kit ($20 or less) gets 10/24 threads in the mirror stalks.  Hot rod mirrors work well, 4" round / convex.  Matches my chrome headlights.

 

LHS tail light flipped, now symmetric -- flashers are outside, brake lights to the inside.

 

Also the 360 wet sump dipstick needs to be adjusted by shortening the tube.  I changed the oil, added the right amount (4.75 qt), shortened the tube after mostly disassembling the plenum to get at it.  The tube has about 4" of room to adjust up/down, I needed to take out about an inch.  Confirmed the reading when hot & idle at level.

 

Consulting with some other enthusiasts, I driveway-aligned the front to 2mm toe, erring toward neutral.  It rides straight, and the stickers on the tires aren't wearing down much even after 60mi; no scrubbing evident, so I think it's pretty neutral.  Once I finish with the DMV will get a professional alignment.

 

Still to-do:

- nose cone badge

- tonneau cover (critical)

- aeroscreen (need fall/winter, not critical)

 

Also, for safety I added black retroreflective tape on my black roll bar.  It is not invisible, but I put it there and I can't really see it.  At night it turns white/bright, and is much more visible -- especially from the sides where there's very little light.

[Austin David]

Boot carpet: all the panels are *slightly* too large and may need some minor trimming.  I am probably not going to install the triangles in the bulkhead, but did the rest.  The forward corners under the roll bar) tuck in pretty well, and taped up.  The back corners needed about 1/2" trim from the forward edge, and the lower edge I flared up against the deck.  A little nipping to bend around the corners.  The carpet went behind and under the cover for the fuel tube.  I did not disconnect the tube per instructions, just cut the lower part of the ring in the carpet to slip it under the tube, and all that is under the cover.  Those side pieces were all secured with carpet tape.

 

The deck piece just laid over top of all that.  I did not trim it to go around the fuel door, there's a little extra over there but with gravity and the other panels in place it mostly tucks down.

 

Tonneau cover is going, but not yet done.  I guessed wrong on the boot cover and have a replacement set of gypsy snaps arriving tomorrow.  I have not yet drilled holes, I think I'll need 2 in the scuttle and a 3rd in that body panel (per side), kinda holding off on those.  No plans for half doors so I don't think I'll have to worry too much about precise placement of those body snaps.

[Austin David]

Tonneau Cover is fitted per instructions.  I had to figure out some stuff, so I've added photos to augment what little info seems to be out there.  It hasn't gotten any wind yet, so if I add more snaps I'll post back in here.

 

1) this was pretty nerve-wracking for me, I don't like drilling into paint.  The recommended locations appear to dodge interior frame bits tho, so I do recommend sticking to them

2) the riveted-on snaps need a pretty thin rivet gun head; I hear the Stanley gun works, I used a bench grinder to fix mine.  Pix below

3) tape is your friend here.  Also sharp drill bits.  

4) at least one of my snaps was defective, eyeball 'em before making anything permanent.

5) the pliers-style punches and rivet setters aren't great.  Invest $10 in a punch and die.  Also 3# hammer and an anvil will make your life slightly better.

6) One at a time.  It's a lot of on/off, but things shift around or don't come out precisely where marked, so you get to re-measure every hole, every time.  Still better than the diff install.

 

The back side: my boot cover came installed, but the outer snaps were finished with a button cover.  You need to drill this out and replace with a gypsy snap (male) and standard female inside.  The tonneau cover fastens over this, onto that new male snap.  My kit came with precisely two of these gypsy snaps in the tonneau pack, so either get it right on the first try, or hit sailrite.com for a few more.  Also note that removing those riveted snaps is annoying, they want to catch the drill bit and spin.  Vise or vise-grips.

 

Per other instructions, I lined up the front + back on the centerline and marked the front snaps, installed both LHS + RHS, then marked the centers on the back & installed the snaps.  Same across the rest of the back.  For the outer corners I gave a little slack to stretch over the seatbelt cover (I use retracting 3-point), and mostly lined up with the cover flush against the piping on the wheel well.  It's still pretty snug.  There's another snap already installed at about the center of the wheel arch between the rollover bar and sill.  I again measured with the cover snug and aligned to the piping on the arch, double-checking by holding it snug against the scuttle.

The remaining 3 snaps per side involve rivets and drilling.  The book recommends good locations, but I did move the 2 scuttle points about 5mm toward the front wheel, putting the snaps closer to the edge of the cover to match the others on the top side.

 

I measured per the book, marked over tape, knocked around a lot to be sure there wasn't anything hiding under, and drilled it out.  I did not attempt to use backing washers -- the two under the scuttle are covered with the wiper motor (RHS) or some controls support on LHS, and the lower ones are under interior panels.    I did use helicopter tape under the body snaps.  

Rivet through the snap and the hole (if taped, you have to cut that helicopter tape -- can't just punch through).  I also put a fair bit of painter tape over the assembly in case the riven gun hops out when the rivet pops.  All 6 rivets went in very clean.

So: measure the scuttle rivet per the 2015 manual, double-check with a cover test-fit, drill+install the rivet & male snap, unzip the cover, stretch to mark your female snap, install it. 

Then mark and measure the lower-front rivet, install it, stretch the cover to fit, and do the snap.  Repeat for 3 on LHS, then 3 on RHS.  The rear sill didn't include any photos in the book.  There is a frame member in there, so they are pretty serious about 45mm forward of the arch. 

The book claims the zipper will take up some slack, I'm less convinced.  The vinyl will loosen a bit in the direct sun, I'm sure even more than my 80-degree garage.  But it looks like it will fend off rain, and the RHS / passenger side looks pretty secure.  I'll get some wind on it this weekend.

 

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Austin David
lining up photos

[Austin David]

I added a relay to switch on/off the 12v socket, using a fuse tap on the ignition fuse to drive a standard bosch-style 40A relay.  I also added a dedicated USB socket off the same relay, so I can charge my phone and run any sort of microwave-detecting devices for purely scientific purposes.

 

One item of note, the fuse panel actually eats up a bit of space inside the cover, so if you do run a second port, give it a little room.  I'm OK but cut it kinda close.  The outcome looks really nice tho.  Plenty of space on the right for that extra relay.

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by Austin David
adding a linky

[sainthoo]

On 3/15/2022 at 12:22 PM, Austin David said:

OK, some working through lunch... I set the switches to 0.5 PPR, on the logic that if my ECU is truly sending 1/4 pulses, I can just tell the tach that.  Confirmed with ODBII, the tach now reads correctly with some caveats:

 - it's probably slightly less responsive, since it's getting 1/4 the data as before.  Nothing I notice by blipping the throttle in the garage.

 - it bottoms out at 1100 RPM indicated.  800 actual (ECU) RPM -> 1100.  1200 actual RPM -> 1200.  I assume this is a feature of the pulse-measuring algorithm, but doesn't otherwise seem to affect my usage.

 

Per the book, 0.5PPR is 1-7 off (0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1).  8 stays on all the time.

Thank you!!!

[Austin David]

2 hours ago, sainthoo said:

Thank you!!!

I'm glad it was of use to more than just my future self, trying to figure out why my tach was set up weird.

[Austin David]

I did about 700 miles in the last few days, which I'm calling the big shakedown ride.  From here I'm calling this complete, though there will always be something to improve or fix.

 

On the ride (specifically, in the last 60 miles) I noticed the temp gauge bouncing a little.  Like, very little but it was new behavior.  I pulled over and still had coolant, but it was lower than when I left.  No other indication of problem.  This morning I confirmed the coolant was down below min; I topped it up to max, ran to refuel + check.  After 5 miles it's still right where I left it.  No OBVIOUS signs of leakage, but there was some wet blue in the front cowl on the left side, so I assume it was dribbling out of the lower radiator hose.  I snugged that fitting and the upper slightly.  During the trip I kept a close eye on all my parking spots and never saw a drop of any fluids, and with no burping it looks like it didn't spit out too much either.

 

Oil is right where I left it.  Brake fluid right where I left it, and no wet spots.  Clutch pedal is a little squeaky all of a sudden, but otherwise everything seems to be really happy.  Mileage and range are still sort of unknown, but 220 miles => 7 gals consumed.

 

Some afterthoughts about the actual build:

- I am glad I went with the S3 & retractible belts.  I have to scoot to buckle up, and I definitely shouldn't gain any more weight, but it is VERY COMFORTABLE with 5 hours in seat.  5'8" + 180#, 33" waist.  My head brushes the hood if I don't slouch.  If I were taller I'd want the lowered floor, and if I were wider I'd want the SV chassis.  But I'm not and I am happy with the S3.  

- I mighta paid more attention to all the checkboxes, but no regrets.  Specifically the 360 + wet sump combo appears to be relatively rare, compared to the 420 w/ dry sump.  I LIKE the wet sump for fewer tubes, but I don't have a lot of points-of-reference out there.  Ground clearance is about the same, except that my leading edge is an oil pan, and the dry sump leading edge is "just" a bell housing.  Side note, I do have most of a Pace dry sump kit, not sure it will ever get installed.

- I am glad I didn't go for "less torque."  Another vote for the 360 is that it's relatively torquey, esp compared to the Zetec lineup.  I'm sure the Cat 160 is a fantastic car, but I like my build a lot.  And ITBs will go a long way too on this duratec, someday.

- I like the ARB, definitely like the option of turning it on/off.  I haven't disconnected the rear ARB yet, but at 2/4 (2nd-softest) the car rides VERY flat, but also very comfortable on sh*tty Atlanta roads.  I haven't even begun to test limits yet, but casual driving in the 7 is "oh crap" in anything else.  Eventually I'll play with tightening / loosening (or disabling), but I'm pleased right now.

- Glad I went with the 13" wheels and the spare.  The extra sidewall makes for a comfortable ride, not really too harsh but still very communicative.  The spare is mostly because 13" tires are impossible to find in the wild, but it also makes the back look nicer in a way I didn't anticipate.  And the extra ~ 12" hanging off the back doesn't at all interfere with the "size" of the car, it's still pretty small in my garage.  But I was expecting to be able to remove the spare for around-town use, and I don't have a good solution for that.  The carrier is bolted on (removable) but the license plate and light are tightly integrated.  I'd have to obtain or make a license plate carrier, and a disconnect for the light.  Not impossible, but since I kinda like the spare and I don't need to shed the ~ 15#, I won't bother.

- Tonneau cover was a deal-breaker for me, and I like it.  I honestly do not understand why anyone would NOT use one -- even with passengers, it protects your stuff + interior while parked, and it makes solo driving so much better (esp in winter).  Go for the tonneau, and the aeroscreen.  Both are easier to do at build-time than trying to fit in later.

 

[sainthoo]

On 5/14/2022 at 12:38 PM, Austin David said:

Tonneau Cover is fitted per instructions.  I had to figure out some stuff, so I've added photos to augment what little info seems to be out there.  It hasn't gotten any wind yet, so if I add more snaps I'll post back in here.

 

1) this was pretty nerve-wracking for me, I don't like drilling into paint.  The recommended locations appear to dodge interior frame bits tho, so I do recommend sticking to them

2) the riveted-on snaps need a pretty thin rivet gun head; I hear the Stanley gun works, I used a bench grinder to fix mine.  Pix below

3) tape is your friend here.  Also sharp drill bits.  

4) at least one of my snaps was defective, eyeball 'em before making anything permanent.

5) the pliers-style punches and rivet setters aren't great.  Invest $10 in a punch and die.  Also 3# hammer and an anvil will make your life slightly better.

6) One at a time.  It's a lot of on/off, but things shift around or don't come out precisely where marked, so you get to re-measure every hole, every time.  Still better than the diff install.

 

The back side: my boot cover came installed, but the outer snaps were finished with a button cover.  You need to drill this out and replace with a gypsy snap (male) and standard female inside.  The tonneau cover fastens over this, onto that new male snap.  My kit came with precisely two of these gypsy snaps in the tonneau pack, so either get it right on the first try, or hit sailrite.com for a few more.  Also note that removing those riveted snaps is annoying, they want to catch the drill bit and spin.  Vise or vise-grips.

 

Per other instructions, I lined up the front + back on the centerline and marked the front snaps, installed both LHS + RHS, then marked the centers on the back & installed the snaps.  Same across the rest of the back.  For the outer corners I gave a little slack to stretch over the seatbelt cover (I use retracting 3-point), and mostly lined up with the cover flush against the piping on the wheel well.  It's still pretty snug.  There's another snap already installed at about the center of the wheel arch between the rollover bar and sill.  I again measured with the cover snug and aligned to the piping on the arch, double-checking by holding it snug against the scuttle.

The remaining 3 snaps per side involve rivets and drilling.  The book recommends good locations, but I did move the 2 scuttle points about 5mm toward the front wheel, putting the snaps closer to the edge of the cover to match the others on the top side.

 

I measured per the book, marked over tape, knocked around a lot to be sure there wasn't anything hiding under, and drilled it out.  I did not attempt to use backing washers -- the two under the scuttle are covered with the wiper motor (RHS) or some controls support on LHS, and the lower ones are under interior panels.    I did use helicopter tape under the body snaps.  

Rivet through the snap and the hole (if taped, you have to cut that helicopter tape -- can't just punch through).  I also put a fair bit of painter tape over the assembly in case the riven gun hops out when the rivet pops.  All 6 rivets went in very clean.

So: measure the scuttle rivet per the 2015 manual, double-check with a cover test-fit, drill+install the rivet & male snap, unzip the cover, stretch to mark your female snap, install it. 

Then mark and measure the lower-front rivet, install it, stretch the cover to fit, and do the snap.  Repeat for 3 on LHS, then 3 on RHS.  The rear sill didn't include any photos in the book.  There is a frame member in there, so they are pretty serious about 45mm forward of the arch. 

The book claims the zipper will take up some slack, I'm less convinced.  The vinyl will loosen a bit in the direct sun, I'm sure even more than my 80-degree garage.  But it looks like it will fend off rain, and the RHS / passenger side looks pretty secure.  I'll get some wind on it this weekend.

 

 

In the “detailed 420R build blog,” the guy used some tiny washers inside the female snap so that his rivet gun could apply pressure (makes it possible to use any rivet gun for those things- handy tip for anyone reading). More discussion can be found on the section about fitting mats.

Here is a pic taken from that blog:

 

Congrats on being done!

[Austin David]

I saw that.  I have a grinder at home but woulda had to go out to hunt for tiny washers...

[KnifeySpoony]

11 hours ago, Austin David said:

I did about 700 miles in the last few days, which I'm calling the big shakedown ride.  From here I'm calling this complete, though there will always be something to improve or fix.

 

On the ride (specifically, in the last 60 miles) I noticed the temp gauge bouncing a little.  Like, very little but it was new behavior.  I pulled over and still had coolant, but it was lower than when I left.  No other indication of problem.  This morning I confirmed the coolant was down below min; I topped it up to max, ran to refuel + check.  After 5 miles it's still right where I left it.  No OBVIOUS signs of leakage, but there was some wet blue in the front cowl on the left side, so I assume it was dribbling out of the lower radiator hose.  I snugged that fitting and the upper slightly.  During the trip I kept a close eye on all my parking spots and never saw a drop of any fluids, and with no burping it looks like it didn't spit out too much either.

 

Oil is right where I left it.  Brake fluid right where I left it, and no wet spots.  Clutch pedal is a little squeaky all of a sudden, but otherwise everything seems to be really happy.  Mileage and range are still sort of unknown, but 220 miles => 7 gals consumed.

 

I read somewhere to re-torque all hose clamps after the initial heat cycle. On my car, they definitely took some additional tightening. I never had any leaks. 

 

Look into the race brake reservoir cap - the standard cap is highly susceptible to leaking, and destroying your paintwork.

 

My clutch also started squeaking early on - A quick spritz of sprayable lithium grease on the pedal linkage solved it.

[Austin David]

I've been chasing low-volume drips.  I saw a small puddle (like a teaspoon) this morning.   Put on 100 miles, found a few more little spots of residue in a LOT of places that were new.  Tightened most of the clamps again for the Nth time.  I did cycle the engine and heater a bunch before starting the proper break-in.  Nearing 1000 miles I think I'll just touch everything under the hood when I change the oil.

 

Thanks for the tip on the reservoir cap; I have no issues, but I don't want to invite anything.

 

edit: https://caterhamparts.co.uk/master-cylinder/914-brake-master-cylinder-cap-race-no-float-switch.html this one?

On a quick search, it seems the problem is "enthusiastic" driving -> slosh -> dribble out a vent/weep hole.  The race cap has the bellows to allow for expansion, while maintaining the full seal.

Edited May 21, 2022 by Austin David
reservoir cap details

[KnifeySpoony]

Yes that's it. The only "downside" of the cap is you lose the warning light for low fluid level. However IMO those things are for camrys that go 30k at time without anyone popping the hood. It's completely unnecessary on a car like a 7 that gets a lot of care and feeding.

[Austin David]

what else do I need, now that I'm investing in three pounds of shipping?

[Austin David]

Aeroscreen: fitting this is pretty well written up elsewhere, I'll add the things I had to figure out.

- removing the windscreen is easy for 2 people, but not hard solo.  I loosened both sides, removed one side completely.  The screen will stay upright, no problem.  Cut the wires (if you ever want to reconnect, cut as close as possible to the spade), then re-attach that side.  Repeat on the other side, but leave it loose.  Go back to the first side, hold the screen + remove the last 2 bolts, and carefully lift the screen off.  I put rags under the loose side "just in case".

- mirror placement is sort of a dark art.  Having drilled holes I think I got lucky (plus there's some room to adjust).  I eyeballed the RHS and made the LHS match.  Aesthetically, it may be interesting to have the 3 mirrors all at the same height.  To make them symmetric, I measured from the rearview to the center of the sideview mount, and matched on both sides (16" exactly, from opposite edge of rearview -> center of sideview mount).  It seems to work, but I'm short half the hardware so only the RHS is mounted until stores opened the next day.

- the screen is curved, the mirror mounts are flat.  I used VHB tape + thin foam pad (drawer liner) for a sort of makeshift washer, trimmed to fit.  This MAY help spread the load a little better, and not deform or crack the screen

- there are two open holes on the scuttle, I've used SS washers + two windscreen bolts to fill cover it.  

[Austin David]

found an indent on the RHS footwell in the engine bay, perfectly-sized for a business card / build plate.

[UglyFast]

On 5/28/2022 at 10:46 PM, Austin David said:

found an indent on the RHS footwell in the engine bay, perfectly-sized for a business card / build plate.

VVV cool

[Austin David]

21 hours ago, UglyFast said:

VVV cool

Thanks!  LMK when you get closer and I can burn you one