2018 Projects/ideas

As soon as the weather improves a bit, and sub 10ºC temperatures desist in my garage I can hopefully make some progress on the 2018 to do list.

Must do - before driving/short term

1. Drivers seat loose from Vienna run
Its not going anywhere, but theres a definite clunk/movement if its waggled left/right - something is amiss somewhere.

2. Complete the headlamp wiring mod

To support LED bulbs or revert to standard H4s, and if the former get the beams checked for MOT suitability.

Should do - medium term improvements

3. Battery fuse box

Add an on-battery fusebox and eliminate unfused cabling from the loom: lines to the starter, alternator and permanently live fusebox internal busbars. Remove the via-fusebox binding post routing of the main high current starter cable and move my FIA cutout to switch the battery ground line.

4. Tale-tale indicator on the volt meter

To flag under-voltage. Simple little gadget which uses a red-amber-green led to flag the state of the battery and alternator charging.

5. Replace the timing belt bottom cover
The original never went back on after replacing the timing belt. I found a cheap £6 one, so may have another go at getting the harmonic pulley off and re-installing the cover.

Could do - rainy day projects

6. Loom wiring diagram

A project to fully document my loom. No issues with it as such, its just the one part of the car with no comprehensive detailed documentation and apparently none available from the original vendor (Kitspares).

7. Stand alone direction finder

An electronic compass type instrument based on Arduino, accelerometer and GPS module. Similar in principle to an aircraft (ADF) Automatic Direction Finder but using GPS coords rather than radio signals.


....and some random stuff like a 'Seven' grille and 'GT' boot badge....

Road Trips

Plenty of grey dots/ideas on the map, however lots going on away from the car so it might be a quiet local/UK year depending how things pan out.

Lego GBS Zero - build complete

The transformation is complete and now in real life.

Stock 21307 Caterham Lego model modified to be closer to GN13 both physical features and colour scheme.

Some license with the exhaust exiting the bonnet and 4x pipes to the collector and silencer, while not strictly accurate it looks the part.

I'm leaving the brick colours stock, while I could spray the grey to be silver - as soon as I do that its not really Lego anymore.

Happy with that, I think it captures the spirit of a Zero.

Bricklink

Design software courtesy Bricklink.com, parts via the Bricklink community.
Unable to make this a download due to a copyright notification: 21307 to Richards GBS Zero - Structural changes.

Mini Richards GBS Zero - more Lego

Lego is addictive!

Modified a small Seven type MOC to 'Zero it' a little while waiting for parts on the main model. There is no room at this size for wheel arches so left in the red bonnet stripe to give the model a more cohesive colour scheme.

Background is Valentia Island from the Ireland trip in 2017

The design for this model, including driver, crash helmet and ear muffs is available on BrickLink called 'Mini Richards GBS Zero'. The only downside I've found with BrickLink, a swap website for lego parts, is the postage costs tend towards £10 per vendor typically and can push overall model costs prices if you have to source from 3-4 vendors.

Really must get back to playing with the real thing...

Update - Unfortunately not downloading due to a copyright notification v3 has some changes to the exhaust and nose area in collaboration with D Austin on Bricklink - thank you for the ideas!

Lego Zero - design

Christmas/New Year break. It's been too cold to be messing about with the real car in the garage so in Christmas tradition I've been playing with toys instead...

Found the Lego Caterham 620R Set #21307 on sale and my wife bought a set for me. Once built, seeing as it is lego, started to think about transforming it to something a little closer to GN13.

Lego Caterham original

Nice model in its own right - my plan is to make the modification non-destructive to let me revert to the original kit at any time.

Lego Zero conversion

Changes:
  - GRP panels to Red, Stainless panels to Grey,
  - Zetec nearside exhaust,
  - Engine intake/exhaust sides reversed,
  - Windscreen frame added and wing mirrors modified,
  - Front indicators moved to the nose,
  - Front number plate blank...

  - Dashboard colour change

  - Dashboard dials re-arranged into a single row,

  - Aux panel added,

  - Gear lever, handbrake lever and tunnel area re-worked,

  - Fuel filler moved to nearside,

  - Boot mounted spare wheel,

  - Orange rear indicators,

  - Rear number plate blank.

It would be possible to re-spray, but I'm keen to keep the model stock lego as much as possible and make non-destructive changes to the original parts - Lego models are more a caricature of the real thing than a faithful reproduction.

In monetary terms its madness... :)   but fun all the same!

Update -
Parts for the main build waiting on one more delivery from Hungary, meanwhile - can't help tinkering with more options and an engine mod. Really need the weather to cheer up so I can get back out in the real car before I break the bank on plastic!

2017 - Unfinished jobs - LED headlights

The plan was to try upgrading the headlights to LED too, check the resulting pattern with a local garage and hopefully drop the headlights power requirements into the bargain.

Picked up some reasonable lamps from ebay which appear to have the right sort of light guide/baffles in place. However...

These particular LEDs only permit high OR low beam on at any one time, turns out the Zero loom leaves both high and low beams on when on high beam mode and when flashing high beams.

It should be a relatively simple mod to the loom to have only high or low beam in all scenarios - but the weather is just not conducive to messing around in the fusebox / lighting loom in an unheated garage. So the car currently sits - headlights removed thus:

A little warmer weather closer to 10ºC and I'll get back on it.

Update - loom adjustment made and installed here.

New Flyer - Road trips

Revised the flyer template to include some of the more recent trips, a version of this usually sits on the windscreen at Stoneleigh. The map in interactive form is on the Road Trips Page.

Full Size

In 2012 I thought I'd bought a kit of parts to build a sports car, turns out I bought a lifestyle which re-kindled my love of the outdoors.

LED Tail lights

A little for the sake of it - but also a general effort to reduce power consumption at low revs. I especially get short on juice with all lights on and engine on tick-over - eventually I'll start to lose stable idle as the voltage drops and typically it happens at the end of a long drive in city stop/start situations.

First step - easiest step is some replacement LED tail lights. Offically marked for off road only - so I'll run a few tests until I'm comfortable running them permanently.

The P21/5W compatible bulb has no trouble with the exact same location - all round illumination and in line with the normal reflector. I purchased a red led one so shouldn't have any issues of white light bleed through.

The central ring of LEDs lights for when the main headlamps are on, all 3 rings light with the brakes.

Not scientific - but comparing LEDs on the right, and normal filaments on the left there doesn't seem to be much in it so installed on both sides. Hopefully helps my voltage/current budget into the bargain.

Headlamps are next - but thats a slightly more complex mod.

Cake Day pictures!

My birthday rather than GN13's. 

This picture was commissioned and printed as a present from my wife.

Love it!

It even has my bonnet badges, vents and wind deflector details.

Perfect spot for it in the hall.

No kick-backs to me, but if you want a copy of the above or to contact the artist - all the information can be found on RedBubble - 3pedaldriving.

What is it like to drive a Zero?

I was discussing with someone/somewhere what it's like to drive the Zero.

On one hand its just a car, an open top car, very/too low and impractical by any measure of a transport mechanism in the 21st century.

On the other - It makes me feel like this....

The 'Maxell Man' from 80s telly - the concept of being overwhelmed by the power of moving air/music. I get it now, for me its just more fun to get this 'hold on and enjoy' experience when the seat is moving!

The more sweeping curves in the road - the singular focus on the machine, its feedback through the wheel, pedals and seat - the more enjoyment.

The freedom, the simple freedom to look in any direction and view unconstrained by a roof or fixed framing of the windscreen, as well as the freedom to take any route which happens to look more interesting at that particular moment.

Just a thought.

Vienna - best trip yet

Success!

Got back from Vienna on Tuesday 3rd October evening as planned.

Austrian and Swiss mountains the jewel of the trip - but to be honest, Germany and the Black Forest and France with its open country on the outbound and return legs - all combined to make a great experience.

This really was a road trip with a reason: a journey to/from Vienna. 

Places to visit had to be generally en-route with a little license to visit some interesting waypoints. No dawdling, but at the same time as few motorways and autobahns as possible - all A roads.

Top down all the way!

Numbers

Days: 9
Crew: out 2, return 1 (my wife flew back I didn't leave her behind!)
Countries: UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland
Mountain Passes: Grossglockner, Stelvio, Gotthard, Furka, Grimsel
Distance: ~2,546 miles round trip

Altitudes: 40m below sea level to 2,757m above
Route Plan

Souvenirs

A few souvenirs - some of which may end up on the car, I have an idea for the walking stick badges on the roll-bar diagonals, the Edelweiss badge has some family meaning too.

Car

One trusty Zero back in the garage - needs a wash!

A few items to look at, nothing failed on the drive, but something is amiss with the driver's seat runners, the heater switch illumination isn't working and front suspension/shocks don't seem to have even bounce. (all minor!)

Crew

My Wife and me on the loop south prior to the Grossglockner run,

..and one windswept but very happy driver about 20 minutes after getting home. I love mountains, I love driving this car, with it's 360º views, over mountains!

More to follow - I have some video footage and photos of various waypoints to post in due course.

Video

Various clips of the major passes are in this Youtube Playlist