Aaron's Dax De Dion build thread

[aaronjb]

Crap powder coating - there were sections where it hadn't adhered to the chassis at all due to (most likely) poor prep, but because powder coat becomes a sort of homogenous thing, that didn't become apparent until chunks started flaking off.. once it had started you could lift sections almost like stripping poorly-glued-on wallpaper!

[tonym]

No mention of the seats or digidash......

[aaronjb]

Lost, to the mists of time I can't even find the pictures, now, of the seats in the car..

[KevinW]

...from Digidash to old school....that's quite a transition!

Sorry to hear that about the powder coating. You are not the first to find poor prep in that dept....which the customer has indeed paid for: perhaps others should take note.

[aaronjb]

I'm sure Jon Kox's chassis preparation is to a better standard - don't forget, I bought all my stuff under previous management, as they say

Anyway - we're almost up to when I moved house in 2016 now, so .. onward with the story!

Trying to prepare for a house move, refurbishing the bathroom prior to moving out, taking a very long holiday (three weeks - one in Hawaii and two driving Route 66 - amazing!) nearly killed me, but with the help of my Dad I managed to get to the point where we could move house with it..


Shortened driveshafts were refurbished and fitted with new quality bearings:



Which meant that all four wheels could go on:



We temporarily mated engine and gearbox - note the spacers made out of 15mm copper tube due to the too-long input shaft:



I'll bet I sat in it and made brum noises here:



We also threw the 428FE together enough that it could be moved - the (scrap) crank is stopping the pistons from falling out .. but there aren't any bearing shells:



And then we fitted the body! Here's a top tip:


Don't try and fit the engine first and body later if you are using an FE! The exhaust ports won't clear the bottom of the footwells, so we ended up 'jacking' the footwells apart to clear and then letting them relax again once the body was over the engine. Such fun.



Finally everything got packed into a covered car trailer, hooked up to the back of my pickup (I still miss that pickup..) and dragged from Bracknell to Northampton to its new home:

[KevinW]

You missed out that you also baby-sat my Crendon whilst I was moving house, which cut your garage space in half, and was, and still is, much appreciated!

[aaronjb]

You were most welcome! Strangely I can't find any pictures of that.. I must have kept it incognito

I also missed out the time I spent the day on my back under your car wrestling with engine mounts that turned out to be ... back to front, IIRC?

[KevinW]

You were most welcome! Strangely I can't find any pictures of that.. I must have kept it incognito

I also missed out the time I spent the day on my back under your car wrestling with engine mounts that turned out to be ... back to front, IIRC?

that is correct - back-front, and upside down - thank you Mr Huddart!
It was an abs freezing day in Feb.

Here's you on the angle grinder.....

[String]

Nice one Aaron. Pace yourself tho, otherwise it’ll all be over in a flash...

Will you be swapping out that massive bonnet scoop, or is it needed for clearance issues?

[kitcarsareus]

Good to see the progress Aaron

Bit of a surprise the early pics are in colour though.....been that long

I take it the 428 will be the final option, have you got someone to rebuild or are you tackling yourself?

cheers