It's looking good Andrew,
Ref the upside down pose, I suggest that you get used to it as it will become quite a regular requirement. I hope your younger eyesight can cope with focusing only 10" from your nose as needing to wear reading glasses is a pain when you head is under the dash.
You might consider moving the clutch reservoir to being a direct mounting on the master cylinder which I think is more original.
Peter C
I thought I would change to the more original reservoir arrangement later on - I've got a few links to suppliers of the decals and reservoirs stored in the wiki, but will pursue that one when IVA is done. I had wondered in an idle moment whether there is any way that a level indicator switch could be built into those older style reservoirs so that I could retain both originality and safety, but not developed that thought much further.
Progress is coming along nicely. I trimmed the proud end of the steering column and pinion shaft yesterday (as per the manual), there is still slight binding in the steering. Peter - do you recall trimming the Hawk-supplied mid section when you built yours? There's plenty of length in those splines. I'd ring Gerry up but I think he's in Poland.
I thought I would change to the more original reservoir arrangement later on - I've got a few links to suppliers of the decals and reservoirs stored in the wiki, but will pursue that one when IVA is done. I had wondered in an idle moment whether there is any way that a level indicator switch could be built into those older style reservoirs so that I could retain both originality and safety, but not developed that thought much further.
Progress is coming along nicely. I trimmed the proud end of the steering column and pinion shaft yesterday (as per the manual), there is still slight binding in the steering. Peter - do you recall trimming the Hawk-supplied mid section when you built yours? There's plenty of length in those splines. I'd ring Gerry up but I think he's in Poland.
Looking good, Andrew.
No decals originally, just plain black short reservoirs at the top of the footwell connected by rigid pipe to the two brake m/cylinders. Clutch reservoir was integral with master cylinder - but probably not a good idea on a Hawk. The reservoir is easy to reach on original cars from below, but Hawks have a fibreglass 'floor' in the way.
Safety? We used to do (and some of us still do) a regular fluid levels check as a routine. Helps you keep on top of the car generally. The more you rely on idiot lights, the more detached you become from the bits that do the work, in my view. They're not known as idiot lights for nothing...
Hi Andrew,
I can confirm that I did not add any trim the column at all.
I assume you mean the section inside the car from where it enters the footwell box up to the dash area. It didn't even occur to me to bother as I don't think any of the cars I have owned have had any trim. Did the original Cobra have it trimmed like the twin central bracing for the cross bar?
Where the column protrudes through the dash it has an Ali tube which supports the VW indicator switch. I can't remember who supplied it but expect it came from Gerry with the column.
I don't have any problems with access to the clutch master cylinder and yes I have changed the fluid last year.
Peter C
Thanks Karl - that's what I meant. Do you recall how much you cut off it? I've taken about 1mm off the end of the upper column, and 2mm from the pinion shaft that comes out of the rack.
Andrew, from memory (10 years ago) Ithnk it was more than 1 - 2 mm. I had the steering rack in place and the column where I wanted it to be. Then you connect the two cardan joints and you get a good idea of the length. Filing the half round was more easy than I expected.
Bitte sehr! Karl
