April 2015 Update

It's been some time since I last posted, but don't worry, you haven't missed much, I'm still some way away from sticking it in a gravel trap just yet...

Progress has been slow, very slow, way way too slow. The problem is that I have no clue how to do stuff, so it's been a lot of pottering around doing not a lot and then a break of a month and so on.

So what have I done? Well, the cooling system is mostly complete, I changed my stance on this pretty close to completion. I was originally going to use the bike's radiator and then realised I'd need a header tank to actually fill up the water as the rad sits quite low compared to the engine. I ordered a custom header tank and went with a slightly higher than standard pressure cap (I should refer to some science at this point as to why I did that, but really it was down to Googling and a shrug of the shoulders). This meant that the pipework involved now no longer matched how it was on the bike. I needed a diagram.

Plan A: Using the 'Busa's radiator

After checking this out with the forum lurkers, I carried on with this plan, and pretty much had it all complete, however after reading other people's experience and noticing that every car that RTR had at their place didn't use the 'Busa rad, I decided to swap the radiator out for something a little more upmarket.

I chose the Radtec alloy radiator and after a quick call to their HQ some money changed hands. At the time of writing, I don't have it yet, so that's still to be done, but the rest of the cooling system is all in place. Time for a new diagram:

Plan B: Now with less lines!

Some incomplete pipework, I've been just as lazy at taking pics
as I have been writing this blog.

There are extra bonuses to this plan, I no longer need the small pipe running the length of the car, so that frees up some tunnel space and saves me a bit of weight, plus it makes the system a little simpler to understand. No doubt I'll have fun making the brackets to get the radiator to fit, but how hard can that be, right?!

Other than the cooling system, last year I decided that I was never going to fit in the nice lightweight moulded seats that comes with the kit. Now I quite like being shoehorned into a car, but those seats were just not going to work unless I spent 40 hours a week watching exercise videos starring the cast of TOWIE and then having a double hip replacement. Instead I went to see the good people at GSM Performance near Nottingham and spent a bit of time in their showroom with the staff there. I have to say, they were very helpful, and I decided on the Cobra Monaco Pro seats that a few people have in their Tr1kes.

The front wheels are on to weigh down the front end.
At some point I'm going to have to think of a way to get the
car off the stands.

These have now arrived, I fit in them, they fit in the car, I just don't quite know how to fit them. Ideally I'd put them on the chassis, but if I do that I'd have to go without fuel tanks. If I move them forward, then I'd have to mount them on the floor, and I'm pretty sure the floor wouldn't like that. So I'm probably going to have to make some extensions to the seat bracket so that they can fit to the chassis. Just don't tell the FIA.

Now I know roughly where the seat is going, I found a place for the handbrake, that's now in place, although not cabled in because, you guessed it, no clue how that stuff works.

Fuel next. That's got to be easy, a couple of tanks and a pipe to the pump, right? Getting the tanks in wasn't too bad actually, although some of the holes I needed to drill were impossible to get my drill into, so I borrowed this rather handy right handed drill (it works in your left hand too).

More tanks than a Brad Pitt film

After a few more holes to allow pipes through, the tanks were physically in place. And this is where I'm at with the fuel as I've no idea how to pipe them all together. The schematic for the fuel system on the 'busa isn't much use as it doesn't have twin tanks, and I need breathers, and swirl pots? More research needed.

Some little things; I decided that I should put the throttle body back on the engine and then I could fit the air box. The throttle body was a little tricky at first but overall, it was ok once I'd loosened off all the fasteners. The air box could then go on, but there was no point until I'd cabled up the throttle cable, so I just tried it on, then put it back where it had been sitting for the last 18 months.

So the throttle cable, how does that work then? I received two cables in the kit, I assume one is the throttle, the other the clutch? But neither are even half the length I need? I can't see anywhere to attach the cable to the pedal or retain it even if I drilled a hole myself. Looking at some photos, I still don't have a clear idea, but could have a go at attaching it to the pedal, but what's the point as it isn't long enough, should I be attaching it to the Busa's cable to make one super cable? Plus I seem to remember there being several (3?) cables on the bike. Two for the throttle, one for the choke? Not sure there, best leave that.

I'm sure there are lots of other things, such as the removable steering wheel boss, brake calipers and so on, but that'll do for today's update. I'm hoping to have another play tomorrow (especially if that rad turns up), maybe start hacking away at the nose cone.