360S S3 "Yellowjacket" Build in Upstate SC

[Yoram]

Gearbox "Clean-Up"

 

This will cover gearbox wires, gearshift lever and topping off the oil level.

 

For reference here is a pic of the gearbox with some annotations:

 

 

Once the gearbox is in place a few tasks still are required to button things up:

 

1.  Wires

The Reverse switch connectors on the wires coming out of the gearbox need to be connected to the chassis harness in the tunnel.

The connectors and wires need to be tied down and kept away from the potentially hot gearbox housing.

The Neutral switch wires are not used on our cars but also need to be tied down and kept away from the gearbox housing.

First task was to attach the Reverse switch wire connectors from the chassis and gearbox - quite an ordeal to do solo.  Ended up inserting visegrips in open but locked position from the engine bay and then turning down the adjuster to gently hold the gearbox connectors in order to be able to grab them from the tunnel with one hand against the mating connector (if this makes any sense...).

There is no room to insert two hands from the same end - this job is much easier with help, one hand from the cockpit and one from the engine bay.

Secured the wires with zip-ties to the upper rail to make sure the connectors cannot touch the gearbox housing.
Zip-tied the unused connectors of the Neutral switch to the upper rail.

 

Neutral switch connectors held up by zip tie on left.  Reverse switch connectors on right (and further forward), wires secured to RH rail.

 

 

2.  Gear lever
Once the wires were secured I installed the gear lever (without the knob yet!).  Straightforward with 3 hex socket screws.

 

 

 

3.  Oil top-off

Topped off gearbox oil -- Liqui-Moly 75W-90 GL 4+.  Access a bit tight - 14mm open spanner and index fingers of both hands to unscrew and screw back the plug.  Used gravity feed with hose and funnel from engine bay.  Used 3/8" OD hose and long tweezers to help it "make the turn" into the filler hole.

Took just over 200 cc.  Tightened fill plug by feel.

 

 

Small hose coming down from little red funnel above.

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

Edited March 26, 2023 by Yoram

[KnifeySpoony]

Fyi pretty easy to fill trans through the access grommet in driver footwell. I use one of those cheap screw on fluid pumps. 

[Yoram]

1 hour ago, KnifeySpoony said:

Fyi pretty easy to fill trans through the access grommet in driver footwell. I use one of those cheap screw on fluid pumps. 

Yes, I saw the hole in the footwell skin (no grommet - will get one) but didn't want to injure the heat shield.

[KnifeySpoony]

Yeah you will have to cut a hole in the heat shield and acquire a 2" grommet.

[Yoram]

5 minutes ago, KnifeySpoony said:

Yeah you will have to cut a hole in the heat shield and acquire a 2" grommet.

Yes.  I'm good - wasn't a big deal doing the gravity feed with a small diameter hose.  I do need to find that 2" blank grommet.  Any ideas?  Best I found was $10 on Amazon -- I refuse... 

[KnifeySpoony]

I think I got mine on amazon. It was a nice super thick grommet - which I think is a good idea in that location given the heat.

[Yoram]

17 minutes ago, KnifeySpoony said:

I think I got mine on amazon. It was a nice super thick grommet - which I think is a good idea in that location given the heat.

Thanks!  May need to succumb to Amazon again. Will check our local hardware store first, you never know what you might find there.

[Yoram]

Hello All,

 

Some progress over the last week on the exhaust and cooling systems and some open issues...

 

 

Exhaust start

 

Some notes:
Protected body opening with masking tape.

 

 

 

Removed stickers off pipes with Goo Gone.  Removed protective masking tape from ports and cleaned sealing surfaces with Goo Gone and microfiber cloth.

 

 

 

Figured positions by laying all 4 pipes on a mat, examining tube and flange shapes and arranging in order.

 

 

 

Installed the pipes in order from front to rear, passing the collector/cat ends through the body opening from the inside.

 

 

 

No difficulties.  Left the flange bolts finger tight.  Will tighten once collector/cat installed, much later.

 

 

Oyyy, it now looks like half a street rod...  

 

Cheers!

 

[Yoram]

Cooling system start

 

My plan is to delete the heater/blower unit and install a blanking plate on the cowl.  Received a plumbing schematic from Josh R. for the heater delete configuration.

 

Radiator and fan:
Installed radiator and fan with some washer tweaks.  Found no 5/16" lock washers in my kit for the radiator mounts.  Need (2) per mount, one on each side.  Bought locally and installed (8) Grade 8 lock washers.  Also installed (4) additional Grade 8 flat washers on the outside between the lock washer and the supplied oversize washer to reinforce over the radiator oval holes.

After initial tightening it seemed that the radiator is not quite horizontal but rather drooping a bit to the right -- tolerance and clearance stack-ups. So I loosened all 8 nuts and biased the radiator up on the right and down on the left as far as it would go while retightening.  I didn't perform verification measurements but visually now it looks better.  Tightened by feel.

You got to watch not to twist the mount rubber too much while tightening; there is no good way to provide counter torque which does not torque the rubber.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower main hose:

Routed the hose over an upper chassis tube to prevent contact with the brake lines.

Edit:  ** Please see update in a separate post dated 4/4/23 **

 

 

 

Expansion tank:

Expansion tank bracket ear must point backwards for the tank to be close to horizontal.  Bent the ear up a bit by hand to get closer to horizontal.

Looking at the height of the tank cap vs. top of engine and radiator and reviewing Chris Collins' blog I am aware that there may be a clearance issue under the nose cone.  This remains to be investigated.

 

 

(also see first pic for front view of the tank)

 

Concern:   Most male connections are 19mm OD, except three (submarine and expansion tank) which are 16mm.  Hoses are 16mm ID.

They do go on with some silicone spray but look quite bulged/stretched.  Not quite happy with this but seems to be the Caterham way...

Would appreciate any observations on this.  Also raised the question to Denver.

 

Open Issues:

1.  Unable to find the temp sensor and ground tab in the kit to thread into the submarine. Notified Denver.

2.  Looks like will need to order another J-hose or L-hose for the modine connection and a few couplers to execute the plumbing scheme.  Will report exactly what I ended up doing.

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Yoram
formatting, added detail, updated status

[Yoram]

Trying On Nose Cone!

 

Today I temporarily installed the nose cone -- just placed on without securing in position.  The excuse was to examine the gap above the expansion tank cap.  It does not seem to touch when I push down the cone into what seems like home position but it's hard to know.  Will have to wait until I can perform a full test with the bonnet and nose cone both in place and secured down.  But it was fun seeing it for the first time on the car....  

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

[Yoram]

 

Plumbing and Question

 

Hello All,

 

I've been playing some more with the cooling system plumbing.  Proceeded to adapt and use the bits I have except bought two Gates fittings -- a 5/8" straight connector and a 5/8" T connector.  Got all the hoses and the submarine plumbed (for now without the missing temp sensor or ground tab) except for the upper main hose and the thin hose from the water rail to the expansion tank.  These will go in once I got any remaining kinks sorted.

Most hoses needed cutting to length after quite a bit of planning and mock-ups of the routing.  There are many potential interference or problem areas to avoid.

 

Here are a few pics, and at the end I have a question for y'all.

 

Lower main and expansion tank hoses.  Note the lower hose climbing over the chassis tube and back down to keep it away from the brake lines.  That point is higher than either inlet or outlet but a bit below the inlet and outlet of the upper main hose.  Will this cause an issue with bleeding the system?

If anyone has any observations about this please speak up!

Edit:  ** Please see update in a separate post dated 4/4/23 **

(But please hold off on the zip-ties till the end...)

 

 

 

Same hoses, different view.

 

 

 

The T (at lower right):

Lower "Caterham" hose comes from the expansion tank, upper "Caterham" hose goes to the thermostat (right above the main lower hose connection), and the upper right one goes down to the modine.

I decided to buy a Gates T (at local O'Reilly's) because of their high temp rating (up to 480F) , and 5/8" instead of 3/4" because the supplied 3/4" T was very tough to insert (the submarine and expansion tank ports are 5/8" male).

 

 

 

Next you are looking at the left rear corner of the engine block.  The bell housing is masked so nothing falls in through the clutch hose hole....  

The submarine can be seen in the middle, viewed from above, with the hole (tube with internal thread) for the temp sensor and the little threaded post for the ground tab.

The hose attached to the left side of the submarine (barely visible) connects to the other modine port, and the one attached to right side is the J-hose.  You can see its other end attached to the water rail at the very right edge of the pic. 

 

 

This is a better view of the famous cut-off J-hose connecting from the water rail to the submarine (itself not visible from here).

 

 

 

Submarine closeup.  It is "floating" on the hoses, not touching the bell housing.

 

 

 

* * * * *  And now to my question!

Does anyone have good experience with some type of high temp zip ties to keep the coolant hoses from vibrating and chafing?  (not instead of hose clamps...)

I installed temporarily some standard zip ties just to test and confirm where I want them.  I am well aware that standard nylon zip ties are limited to around 185F and even the Hellermann-Tyton high-temp ones are rated up to 257F, which may be marginal over time, but looks like my best option right now.

I love zip ties because in addition to being easy to use they don't mar the finish of chassis tubes.  That's why I'm reluctant to use stainless steel zip ties (although I have no experience with them) as I'm concerned they will dig into the coating.

And I don't want to drill to install Adel clamps. I'll gladly use an Adel clamp where I can readily attach it to an existing bolt or hole but that's not where my hoses want to be secured down.

 

What do you guys think?

 

Thanks and cheers!

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Yoram

[KnifeySpoony]

I don't see anything wrong with using the standard black UV rated zip ties. I think they can easily handle the heat. My car is 17% by weight zip ties and I haven't seen any issues.

[MV8]

I typically use 4 inch and 6 inch black zips too under the bonnet and never had one let go. I also have some that have an eyelet on the end for riveting or screwing to a panel.  For rubber and plastic in  close proximity to the exhaust, if I cannot reroute, I use silicone fire sleeve (coated woven fiberglass tubing) and silicone addel clamps for soft parts. The fire sleeve is sized for the od of the smallest end of a cable sheath or for a hose, slightly bigger than the hose od or bigger than the clamp od if it will cover the hose end also. It should not be split to install and doesn't usually need clamping. I don't use the stainless zips but have used short pieces of 12-14ga fence wire to make ties by hooking the ends together.

You can make adel clamp mounting tabs from 1-3/8 x 1 x .080-1.25" steel strip. Drill to size but locate the holes with a washer. The edge of the washer should align with the end of the strip. Outline with a black marker inside and out, drill, then use a bench grinder to radius and deburr. The tab thickness is unlikely to require longer bolts. You could make a similar brkt for the "submarine" manifold. Also easy to make brkts that are triangular that overlap a rail with 3-4 rivets spread over three inches of rail to attach and an eye for a clamp in the overhang.

With two pipes/hoses that cross or are parallel, two clamps can be bolted to each other with one bolt so the pipes/hoses stabilize each other.

Split corrugated vinyl is good for chaffing areas. Short pieces can be used with zip ties to hold it.  Order based on hose od.

[Yoram]

2 hours ago, MV8 said:

I typically use 4 inch and 6 inch black zips too under the bonnet and never had one let go. I also have some that have an eyelet on the end for riveting or screwing to a panel.  For rubber and plastic in  close proximity to the exhaust, if I cannot reroute, I use silicone fire sleeve (coated woven fiberglass tubing) and silicone addel clamps for soft parts. The fire sleeve is sized for the od of the smallest end of a cable sheath or for a hose, slightly bigger than the hose od or bigger than the clamp od if it will cover the hose end also. It should not be split to install and doesn't usually need clamping. I don't use the stainless zips but have used short pieces of 12-14ga fence wire to make ties by hooking the ends together.

 

You can make adel clamp mounting tabs from 1-3/8 x 1 x .080-1.25" steel strip. Drill to size but locate the holes with a washer. The edge of the washer should align with the end of the strip. Outline with a black marker inside and out, drill, then use a bench grinder to radius and deburr. The tab thickness is unlikely to require longer bolts. You could make a similar brkt for the "submarine" manifold. Also easy to make brkts that are triangular that overlap a rail with 3-4 rivets spread over three inches of rail to attach and an eye for a clamp in the overhang.

 

With two pipes/hoses that cross or are parallel, two clamps can be bolted to each other with one bolt so the pipes/hoses stabilize each other.

 

Split corrugated vinyl is good for chaffing areas. Short pieces can be used with zip ties to hold it.  Order based on hose od.

 

 

@MV8, thank you for this awesome information!  Lots of excellent tips which I will keep in mind!

Regarding zip-ties, are you saying that you have/had them in direct contact with coolant hoses with no issues?   If so this is very encouraging!

 

[Yoram]

9 hours ago, KnifeySpoony said:

I don't see anything wrong with using the standard black UV rated zip ties. I think they can easily handle the heat. My car is 17% by weight zip ties and I haven't seen any issues.

Thank you @KnifeySpoony!   Good to know as I too swear by zip ties.  Do you have zip ties in direct contact with/securing coolant hoses?  

Edited April 4, 2023 by Yoram

[IamScotticus]

there's mesh hose covers to slip over rubber hoses.  most of my  vehicles have had them on coolant hoses from factory.   i would use it on everything.  Hoses need some movement to flex with thermal expansion, vibration , engine movement and shrinkage.

Secure what you need but don't bind up too tight. 

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by IamScotticus

[Yoram]

48 minutes ago, IamScotticus said:

there's mesh hose covers to slip over rubber hoses.  most of my  vehicles have had them on coolant hoses from factory.   i would use it on everything.  Hoses need some movement to flex with thermal expansion, vibration , engine movement and shrinkage.

Secure what you need but don't bind up too tight. 

 

@IamScotticus, thanks a lot!  Excellent idea.  No, I am definitely not going to constrain the hoses too much.  Sounds like zip-ties over the mesh should work well.  Thanks again!

 

[MV8]

4 hours ago, Yoram said:

 

@MV8, thank you for this awesome information!  Lots of excellent tips which I will keep in mind!

Regarding zip-ties, are you saying that you have/had them in direct contact with coolant hoses with no issues?   If so this is very encouraging!

 

In general, zip ties directly on hose are not a problem. Also, there is a version of Scott's mesh cover that is split down one side so it doesn't require disconnecting one end of a hose to install/remove.

[JohnCh]

I used heat shrink to hold down the ends of the mesh cover on my coolant hose.  

 

 

-John 

[IamScotticus]

aww, just let them fray.  i think its better to leave them loose.