Sep/092
I’m Home! – Pedals/Wheel attached | Cowling Cutting & Fixing
Hey Guys! I’m back from Italy after an incredible 8 days in Milan. The Grand Prix was fantastic. Now I’m back in the real World and I want to get this cockpit finished!
I’ve lost track of whats left, but as far as I can remember this is it:
- Steering wheel cowling
- Mount Pedals
- Mount Steering Wheel
- Decals/Stickers
- Carpet Front Section
- Final Coat of Paint & Touch Up
- ARC Wheel
So, really there’s not all that much left, the decals are out of my hands. I’m waiting for a response on those. I need more carpet, which I will get ordered.
Anyway, last night I started on the Pedals, Steering Wheel and Cowling – and a quick test 
I began with the task of attaching and fixing the pedals in the cockpit. I put the pedals in the front section, rested on the back edge. They stood up quite nicely under their own weight. I got into the cockpit and found the nicest position for them. Unfortunately this was about 2 inches from the back of the cockpit – so they wouldn’t be able to rest and get fixed right there. I marked where the pedals rested, bottom, top, sides – so I could fix them in the exact same place.
I needed a solution and after some ideas of using wooden batons, I went with a carpet gripper! I cut a carpet gripper to the exact width of the front section, two pieces. One part for the bottom, this would prevent the pedals slipping down and it gave a lip for them to sit in. I hammered the sharp grippers down and it proved to give a clean look whilst doing it’s job. For holding the pedals at the correct angle, I used the second piece. This was a bit longer, 3 inches on either side. I used a vice to bend the final 3 inches on the ends around, 90 degrees to the main section. This would allow me to screw it into the side of the cockpit and use the main length to rest the pedals in! Because the carpet gripper already has holes in, I only needed to drill an additional two holes through the metal to fix it to the cockpit and prevent it twisting.
I placed the pedals in and they fitted snugly and completely secure. I put a lot of force in every direction on the pedals and they didn’t move, so just driving won’t be a problem at all.
The next job was fixing the wheel to the cockpit. I already had a section of wood about 30cm long, 0.75in deep and wide enough for an extremely tight fit within the cockpit. I found it quite difficult to find the best position for the wheel and it was very tight with my knees. The clamps on the bottom of the wheel base were about 1cm away from making contact with my legs. I decided it was ok. :-O
I marked where the board was in the same way I did with the pedals and then removed it. I decided it was far too deep, un-necessarily. The wheel base is only about 18cm, so this was sparing 12cm or so which wasn’t needed. So I sawed the unused part off in favour of a smaller support section.
I used 4, 90 degree metal brackets to attach the support to the cockpit. Attaching it to the support first and then screwing it into the cockpit. Because of the tight fit, it was supported under it’s own weight whilst I tightened the screws.
The final thing I wanted achieve last night was the wheel cowling. I had a few ideas, as I had done in my mockups. I was initially going to place a section over the wheel, flush with the top of the cockpit. However, the G25 base proved too high. There was about 4mm clearance from the top of it to the surface of the cockpit. Not enough. I decided to place the wooden cowling ontop of the cockpit surface. It was 0.5mm ply board. Easy to cut, easy to sand, easy to paint.
I firstly decided on the rough outline of it, using a pencil, marker pen and a ruler. I cut it a little too bit so I could sand it down, rather than it be too short and have to cut it all again! I used a jigsaw to cut it out. After doing so I used a fine sandpaper to smooth it all, round the corners and remove any possibility of splinters.
Now, for the fixing. I put a line of wood glue around bottom of it. This dries transparent so any excess squeezing out wasn’t a problem. I used 0.75in hardboard pins. They are just like panel pins but brass and a bit stronger. I used 8 in total, spacing them evenly. There was no possibility of the MDF or Ply board splitting with these. Finally, I used a damn cloth to remove the excess wood glue.
This will need to be primed, undercoated and painted red to match the cockpit.
Now all in place, the final thing to do was to have a quick test! My first outing with it! The perspective with the Display was different and will take a little getting used to. But the wheel felt completely solid, the pedals felt solid and everything went smoothly.
So, this leaves me with the following:
- Decals/Stickers
- Carpet Front Section
- Final Coat of Paint & Touch Up
- ARC Wheel
Enjoy the pics!
Aug/090
Seat Kit Arrived & Painting Finished & Decal Designs
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- Seat Kit
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- Desktop Files – Decal Images
My seat arrived today. The kit looks great, can’t wait to try and mould it. Will possibly be doing that tonight, fingers crossed! The process seams quite lengthy, but it’s best to be thorough and get it perfect than to rush it. After all, if it goes wrong, I may as well have just thrown £145 down the drain!
I think I will have to add some more wood to the bottom of the cockpit, the seat needs to be raised slightly, the front being level with the entrance to the front half. It might be possible to shift the beads enough to fit it perfectly, but I’m unsure. The last thing I want to happen is for me to end up getting pins and needles/dead leg whilst driving. That would be a nightmare.
I’m also thinking of covering the seat in either black suede or Nomex cloth.
Anyway, the painting is completely finished!
Paint process:
- Sanding
- 1st Coat of Zinsser Grey Primer
- Sanding
- 2nd Coat of Zinsser Grey Primer
- Sanding
- Grey Undercoat
- Sanding
- 1st Top coat
- Sanding
- 2nd Top Coat
- Sanding
- 3rd Top Coat
- 4th Top Coat
Glad thats over! Each of the Top coats required 16 hours drying time in between. Although it will take around 10 days to fully cure.
Last night I drilled a hole in the bottom of the front half of the cockpit for a couple of wires to enter the cockpit. I will finish this off with a silver metal disc, so the hole is completely tidy.
I also spent a couple of hours last night preparing the decal images. This was a fairly length process. Each image requiring the correct size (in CM/MM), a blank backgroud, correct naming etc. Having to pull each one off the internet in a decent size was more difficult than I thought it would be. My desktop is now littered with the files!
In total there will be 37 decals on the cockpit. This seems a lot! However, every decal on one side also needs to be on the other. And then 7 decals for the top. Just like my initial design.
If the printing company can do the job, I’m ready to go!
Aug/090
Third Top Coat & Pedal Cable Tidying
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- 3rd Top Coat Finished
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- 3rd Top Coat Front done
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- 3rd Top Coat Front done
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- 2nd Coat dried
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- Complete
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- Complete
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- Insulation tape
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- Insulation tape
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- Insulation tape
I applied the 3rd top coat of red today. I’m thinking about the possibility of a fourth, but I’m not entirely sure yet. I will see what it looks like tomorrow when it’s dried.
Yesterday’s coat looked pretty good, but still a little patchy, todays seems pretty much perfect. I’ve used a foam roller again and gone over it with a brush to remove the orange peel effect. The brush creates a far more reflective finish than the roller.
I finished off the cable tidying of the pedals today. Since the pedals will be inside the cockpit and won’t be seen the look isn’t massively important. But I did want it to be completely secure.
I took off the original insulation tape, and re-did it. I put a few more layers on and made the covering thicker. This will prevent any possibility of cross-talk between the cables. I insulated each individual wire first, and then insulated two together, and then all 4 (all clutch wires) into one group. There were a few wires that are usually quite far apart in the pedal housing, so I insulated those as well. After I finished insulating the wires themselves, I wanted to secure them to the aluminium to prevent them moving. On the back of the pedal mount, there are two grooves, so I put the wire through those and used insulating tape to secure them. Then I put the cables tidily on the base of the aluminum and taped them down.
Insulating tape is ok for a short time, but long term it’s not strong enough to keep them in place. So I used duck tape which is far stronger and sticker. I put this over the black insulating tape and now its absolutely solid.
Aug/090
2nd Stage of Sanding & Priming
Today I’ve re-sanded the cockpit after the first prime coat with an extremely fine sand pad. I also went over the end grain – I filled this with decorators caulk.
The second coat went on so much easier than the first and really filled in a lot of the bits that needed touching up. This will dry overnight. Tomorrow morning I will paint one coat of grey oil-based undercoat. And tomorrow evening, I start with the red! I purchased the red today, its RAL 3020. I will paint two coats of this for best coverage and possibly a coat of lacquer on-top. I will be ordering my seat on Thursday. Once I have this, the cockpit should be painted. I will get the carpet and CF Vinyl fitted. The main parts remaining are attatching the wheel, and pedals in the correct place.
I didn’t 2nd coat the areas I intend to cover with carpet or carbon fibre. One coat was ok, just to seal it and harden it slightly. It will also take away that awful MDF smell.
I’ve also decided to add a curved cowling around the front steering wheel edge of the front section. This will cover over the wheel and add another dimension to the whole thing. I will post a photoshop of what I intend to do later!