Litton Corse build with 2.0l Lancia 8v TC

[MichaelEustace]

First side window fitted



Windows seals are next to be fitted.

[Allora#2]

Wow Michael,
you did a great work step on the car,
fantastic solution with the door hinges and straps,
btw: you did mount the catches on the front bonnet strange, why?
Enzo

[mr2by4]

Could well be. I'm not sure of all the weights of a Beta TC engine and chassis versus a V6 engine and chassis. Perhaps someone else on here would know? Would be interesting to find out.

I would also be very curious the comparison. Looking at engine options I am curious how a Busso, QV and the little Fiat match up.

[MichaelEustace]

Hi guys,

The car is going in for its IVA test on 3rd June. Also finally got my Dad to join the SEC.

Here are the latest pics.

[Bernard]

Well done .......... Good luck with iva !!

[john]

Yes, good luck on Wednesday.
Thanks for suggestion on Clio door check straps!

[Sando]

Looking good Michael, great to see it being finished off and getting on the road.
One thing to think about for IVA is that the front indicators are also visible from the side for the test. Maybe mounted on a block to bring them forward? Also hazards need to be visible when the front and rear clams are open, so short retaining straps or different mounting point for the test may also help.
if you still have the 'Nose' on the alloy X1/9 clam clips you may find these may need rounding off or nose removing so that they meet the radius requirements as they are contactable.
hope that helps
Rob

[MichaelEustace]

Thanks for the advice Rob, much appreciated. Have passed it on to my Dad to keep him busy for the next few days.

[NoCorseChris]

It was back in 2005, and SVA, not IVA, but when I had my Corse tested I had to remove the side windows as I had no documentary evidence that they were made of 'suitable safety glazing' and of course, they had no markings on them. Yours may be different (marked) or you may have suitable supporting documentation and be OK. Mine also had a problem with the front tyre not being covered by the arch, right at the front, where the plan of the arch turns inwards, part of the tyre was exposed. The inspector looked at it, scratched his chin and suggested that I might like to double check the tracking as it appeared to be toeing out a lot......after he repeated that and I finally twigged what he was on about...a quick handful of toe-in sorted it.... Again, that one is very dependent on what rims & tyres you have.

I too went with very short straps on opening panels - top tip that one.

Looking at the quality of the build, I expect the examiner will be looking for ways to pass it, not ways to fail it.

Good luck - not long now!!

[Paul Eustace]

Michael (my son) and I had a great day at the Norwich IVA test centre on Wednesday. Dennis, our tester, was a great guy and made the entire IVA experience good fun and informative. We didn't pass but only due to relatively easy issues to resolve. My car was the second Stratos he has seen at Norwich and he has worked their for many years.

1. My terribly old rear fog lamp was 'E' marked but not with the additional 'F' marking so at this point we knew we could not pass.

2. The very cool front DRL and Indicators are above 350mm high at the centre but the measurement is taken from the bottom of the lamp. Although thanks to the advice on this forum their positioning was good. We could have increased the front suspension preload and jacked the front of the car up but I there was no point. I now have smaller, slimmer indicators to mount as high as possible.

3. The front clam opens too far pointing the headlights at the ground making the car invisible if broken down in the dark! We knew we could shorten the restraining straps and pass but due to (1) we didn't bother.

4. One of the bottom front suspension bolts wasn't quite long enough to fill the nyloc completely. This was a 'fair cop' and very obvious when the car was up on the hoist. Ironically these 9/16 UNF bolts were part of the original kit! I now have longer bolts.

5. The steering self centring didn't perform as it should. In my driveway it worked but I suspect the gradient of my driveway helped. I have ordered new ball joints and I will increase the camber and see if that helps. The rack is well greased and the pinion appears to be set up correctly. I have never been convinced that the lower balljoint is correct but a thread on this forum pointed me at the correct part number.....

6. When putting the car on the trailer I noticed that I was doing 20mph. The speedo had consistently read correctly in first and second gear on the drive. During the test the speedo was very erratic and the nail in the coffin was doing 20mph standing still! I suspect a bad earth as the rev counter was also erratic.

7. The drivers door mirror needs to be positioned further out as the cone placed on the ground behind the car, directly inline with the off side, cannot be seen as the rear wing is in the way. Easy to fix.

We look forward to returning to Norwich soon. Michael has some photography of the day and he will likely post these soon. Paul