Back panel

 I decided to fit the back panel as i was getting to the stage of the body panels. This i sone of the panels that would be on and off a few times.

Overall look

Trial fitted nose cone and overall was pretty pleased with the look. I had to make a support for the rear of the bonnet to rest on and to provide a bit of rigidity for the scuttle. It would also be where the bonnet would slot into. It would be held down by IVA friendly catches. To keep the top level with the scuttle I fitted a couple of bonnet locks too.

The bonnet

 I was never keen on the bonnet layout of the original design because if the bonnet flipped up while you were driving, the windscreen would hit you in the chest and the top of the bonnet would cut your fingers off on the steering wheel.

 I decided on a scuttle and removable centre while the nosecone would hinge forward at the front.

It was a nervous time cutting the bonnet. But with patience and going slowly the end result wasn't too bad.

Dashboard

 I decided not to use the included stainless dashboard. Instead I opted for a fibreglass one to match the rest of the bodywork.

It took a bit of fiddling with and cutting to get it to fit but eventually it was in

Random

 Things were progressing rather well, if a little slowly

 I finally found a master cylinder that actually fitted. Here you can see the pedal arrangement from the zero kit car.

Things were starting to take shape. I started on the cooling pipes and more electrics.

Most of the original wiring was not needed so was cut out. Things like electric windows are not needed in a car with no doors nor windows. Some had to be put back after it was discovered that some of the systems are connected to other unrelated systems. I'd like to take credit for the electrics but it was my good friend Jez from the owners club who is actually responsible. Jez helped me a lot during this project.

Firewall

My idea for the firewall panel is beginning to take shape.

Handbrake

This was my first attempt at doing the had brake cable using the brackets that were welded on. As you can probably see this wasn't going to work.

This is what I came up with to solve the problem. Much better and actually works. There are many bits on this car that didn't fit or work but this was by far the worst, however this is what makes every robin hood unique.

A bit of brakes

It took me a few attempt on ebay to find the right master cylinder. Eventually found this one. Without a brake servo it remains to be seen what the braking will be like.

With the master cylinder in I decided to trial fit some brake and rule pipes. These would later be moved due to reworking the handbrake cable.

Alternator

Because the original arrangement of the xr4x4 had the alternator on the left of the photo it had to be moved to allow the steering shaft through. The only other place was to place it on the opposite side. After cutting up the original bracket I had to create another bracket from angle iron to act as an adjuster and belt guard.

Steering Shaft

So with the seats trial fitted it was time to move on to something less interesting.

The steering shaft was always going to be a difficult problem to overcome because with a pinto the shaft is just 1 straight bar from wheel to rack, but due to the size of the v6 it just wouldn't work. So after a lot of searching and head scratching I eventually found something called a pillow seated roller bearing and a universal joint. I cut the shaft and added another universal joint so that it would clear the exhaust manifold and then follow down to the rack. Another problem down. A few hundred left to solve.

Seat mount idea and ground clearance

I was never very happy about trusting my seat anchorages to just the stainless steel floor so this was my first idea. Underneath the car are another 2 pieces of box section that run from side to side of the car. One at the back set of mounts on both seats and one at the front. This would also give me something more solid to attach my seatbelt to on the inside of each seat.

As you may probably guess, ride height is going to be a bit of an issue with this engine. Not only that but I would find out towards the end of my build that this engine has a few more problems to throw at me.

Trial fitting panels always makes you feel better after a hard day when you can kind of see what the end has in store.

Bit of wiring and Problem handbrake

Trying to fit the original ford wiring loom in was tricky as it was so big and long, but with a lot of electrical tape and cable ties it was in well enough to start building around it. A lot of the wiring would be cut out later on as it wasn't needed in my 2b.

You can just about see the handbrake arrangement in this photo. The problem is that where the bracket for the cable is welded it is hard up against the dion tube holding the diff leaving no reeom the get the cable through. You'll see later in the blog how I eventually solved this design flaw.

Throughout this build I didn't use the supplied "Instruction tapes" as they were pretty useless. Instead I followed other blogs and advice from RHOCAR and other 2b owners. This is what makes every 2b different from others.

Firewall

I didn't really like robin hoods idea for the scuttle so decided to try something for myself that would also hold the battery (instead of in the passenger footwell). I used marine ply and then planned to plate it with stainless steel sheets. It took a few attempts to work out but eventually made something that worked. You can also see the GBS Zero pedal box arrangement welded onto my frame.

Trial fitting panels

The original sierra wiring loom. I decided to keep this and use it instead of any other type as I figured it would give me the best chance of getting it going.

Trial fitting the interior panels. I was in fact missing some panels from the kit.

Engine fitting

Time to attempt to fit the engine!

As you can probably tell, this chassis wasn't exactly designed with this engine in mind. To get it passed the front I had to take off the water pump and crankshaft pulleys.

Eventually got it in and soon found out how much spare room was left for other things that needed to be in the engine bay.

Quick check to see if the bonnet would fit over the top

Engine

I cleaned up the engine as best I could and got a sump from an xr4i to replace the 4x4 one. I decided to not strip and rebuild it as the chances were that I'd get it wrong and I couldn't afford to have it professionally done.

All I did was paint it up and check that it wasn't seized.

Front wishbones on for trial fitting. I lost count of how many times I had these off and on during the build

Rear sierra frame

After a lot of struggling me and my friend Stuart finally got the rear diff and dion tube attached. The suspension at the back was on loan from Jez (There will be a lot of mentions of his name throughout this blog) until I could afford to buy my own.

One of the advantages of the xr4x4 was that it had rear disk brakes instead of drums.