| 30/11/00 | 3/12/00 | 5/12/00 | 6/12/00 |
| 7/12/00 | 12/12/00 | 16/12/00 |
Had an idea that the fuel gauge could be made differently, instead of using an 'ugly' gauge, that I could use a series of LED's to indicate the fuel level and possibly also the oil temperature. It will look very different, still have to see if it will be practical and effective. I have checked the idea with Stephan and he reckons that it can be done. I will need something in the order of 10 LED's to make the idea into reality. It could be done with less, but for simplicity's sake it is easier to work with 10 lights. Also found out today that my oil pump and clutch are shot so will need to arrange some alternatives for this.
Went to see Verbaas motorsport today, these are really friendly guys who know a lot about going fast in rallies. They used to race Cosworth so still have a fair amount of parts lying around in their parts bin. I came back here after having bought my 4*4 exhaust manifold from them, for a second hand oil pump (only raced one rally) and a brand new clutch set (drive plate, friction plate and bearing). He also had some VERY tasty 17 inch magnesium rally rims lying around that I could buy off him. The only question that arose was what off-set I could use for the car and how wide the tires have / could be with the DAX. This question intrigued me so whilst on a little weekend away I sat down with my DAX build manual to find that the width of the tires was a very critical factor on the type (size) of master brake cylinders. Something that I had not stood still to consider as yet. I am now wondering whether I can run 225 wide tires all round? How would this effect the handling of the car, would it be better / worse? Something I think I will have to take up with the Benelux importer - John. So Once I get some feedback from John I may have to get these extremely tasty rims (and they're light too, not that that has ANYTHING to do with the reason why I want it!)
Today was also a very exciting day in a RUSH drivers (to be) life, as I went to DAX Benelux to measure the height and decide on the final design of my RAC / FIA spec roll bar for the lightened chassis. The design decided upon was the same as that used by Duncan in his Dax Rush Quadra Racer (see pictures below).
Whilst sitting in the squab seat with a helmet on the height of the roll bar was measured as being 49cm's off the top of the backrest
Woke up this morning to find that my lease car was missing, all that was left was a little pile of broken glass. Oddly enough I really did not have too much concern for the car, but more its contents. I was pissed about the fact that my new oil pump and clutch for my DAX were still in the car and that I may have to go and buy them again! Fortunately though, although some little tosser had broken in and stolen some suits, the police had towed the car to their impound yard for safe keeping and the crucial DAX parts were safe! Called DAX today and spoke to Peter as I wanted some more information about the roll bar configuration and the tire / rim specification. Peter told me that according to UK race rules, the angle of the rear stays would not be enough to be eligible for racing in the UK (which would of course be fun to do once in a while). For this reason only DAX's removable stay and reinforced roll bar would really suffice. This is also because of my choice of chassis (de Dion) means that there is no rear differential cage for the roll bar to bolt onto. So the DAX roll bar it will be then. Peter did mention the option of using a ROLLCENTER roll cage which is a 4 point bolt-on unit, but I dismissed this as being just too ugly and question its safety due to it being difficult to climb out of if the car is upside down.
Thinking about the rims and tires to use for the car I am still confused after talking to him, as although I understand that in theory more rubber could mean more grip, there are others who would purport that more rubber = less grip due to the reduction of pressure per square inch on the tires. I have found some very tasty magnesium rims but am not sure the offset would work or that they would be wide enough. I think that 225 should be more than wide enough as a standard Cosworth only runs on 205's and Porsches have 225's at the back too. Hmmmm Requires some more thought I think.
Engine rebuild gremlins have struck again, the new second hand oil pump that I have apparently doesn't fit as this is from a Sierra 4 * 4 block and is supposed to be a Grp A spec unit (which in its self is a good thing). An hour later the engine rebuild guy (Mike) called me to tell me that he is going to try to sort it. I shall wait and see. Tonight I hope to have a wee go at mounting the buttons onto the steering wheel at least drilling the holes for this anyway!
A guy replied to my ad for an Aprilia RSV Mille Motorcycle dashboard on the internet and told me that he had two units to sell. I have been frantically calling around to see if I can sell my broken unit again and possibly the second unit so that I can get a discount on mine. My contact did not want the second unit so my discount on my unit was limited, but I will get a working unit at least.
Tonight I went over to Stephan's to try to book some progress with the project as I have been a bit slack with working on the project of late. See the steering wheel section for the specification of the steering wheel. We set about drilling the holes for the indicator switches in the steering wheel, something that went a little to my heart as it felt like I was damaging the steering wheel, especially when I saw the actual size of the holes! 16 MM! I was Telling Stephan about the third button and what it would do (lap timer / high beam 'flash' switch) when he pointed out that I probably had the wrong switch for this purpose. So Saturday I will have to go back to the electronics shop and a new switch.
I have managed to sell the broken dashboard back to the scrap yard and now look forward to this weekend when I will hopefully buy a fully working example. Before I could do that I had to spend some time figuring out the wiring loom. This is exactly what I did last today. I spent something in the order of 3 hours looking at the colours of the wires and trying to figure out from the wiring diagram what was connected to each of the plugs on the loom. Something that was very rewarding as I managed to find each and every connector and its function. I have to say at this point that I do not know as yet how this loom will work in the DAX, but the foundation is there at least. Questions like "Where does the rev counter take its signal from?" and "How does the speedo sensor work? Is this a magnetic drive? Where does it take its pulses from?" These are questions that may only be answered by a call to a dealer, but I am hoping that I will be able to figure it out once I receive the manual from a friend of mine who has got an Aprilia RSV Mille.
The questions I posted above about the dash were answered today as I went out and forked out a lot of money for an almost new (well it looks it, although the odometer reads 45 odd thousand k's) RSV Dash (something you will read me raving about a lot on this site - incidentally if you are looking for one, I know where to find another for a reasonable price). The dash works brilliantly and even has the original mounting points on it to secure it. The speedo sensor works in that it is magnetic and every time a metal object passes it, the field is broken and a pulse is sent to the dash and so the speed is recorded. On the bike this works on the rear sprocket, where each sprocket bolt acts as the 'pulse generator' for the speedo. Where the rev counter takes its signal from is still a bit of a mystery, but I will keep you updated as soon as I find out.