KM647 is here! (lots of pics)

[mreid]

That's so purdy...

[Bill Bess]

Beauitful Beast! It's such a solid car and so cool to look at, can't wait to see it done.
Best of luck, Bill

[Avmaviator]

Originally Posted by Bill Bess

Beauitful Beast! It's such a solid car and so cool to look at, can't wait to see it done.
Best of luck, Bill

Thanks Bill, I appreciate it

[Avmaviator]

Some updates,

I've been able to work on the car this week and got some stuff done. I wanted to finish the left side pipe but I ran into a problem with the steering cloumn/intermediate steering shaft, hitting the #6 header. Because of that I could not bolt the header on, nor the steering column, and couldn't mock up the pipe.
After a few email back and forth with Kirkham, they found out I got a wrongly sized intermediate shaft, too short by an inch. A new shaft is on it's way here. Thank you to Jeremy at KM for helping me out!

#6 header, which is not bolted, hitting on the steering joint.

About an inch away from being able to bolt it on


I finished all the wiring this week. Thanks to everybody who helped me out with wiring questions, especially you Mark. So far everything is basically hung up there as I would like to get the car running and see if everything works before making everything look nice. So far all the gauges and basic electrical components work (like the fuel pump, fan, etc...).





I put int the dash last night. Wasn't too hard but it sure is a mess of wires back there, well, not a mess, just a lot of wires. I'm glad I labeled everything beforehand otherwise I would still be working on it! These gauges are really nice. The quality is great and the movements are super smooth (at least on the speedo and tack which sweep at start up).



[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/avmaviator/KM647%20Build/DSC_0054.jpg[/

Light up gauges, looks pretty sweet in the dark!



Hope to be giving more updates soon

[fordracing65]

Looks very nice, is that a beer bottle in the dash pic, did you get a push button start, looks like the button to the left of the keys.

[Avmaviator]

I finished the side pipes today The weather was amazing (low 50s) and took full advantage of it by working outside, plus it keeps the garage a whole lot cleaner that way. Metal work is awesome but boy it is messy.

They came out pretty well. I need to do a last touch up/clean up, but that will be done before I send them out to get ceramic coated.




I also worked on figuring out the throttle situation. Once that is solved, I will be ready to start it up, hopefully. The TWM stacks use a cable system instead of the typical push rod set up. I asked a machine shop to make a wheel replicating the cable wheel on the stacks, but he quoted me a few hundreds of dollars... I'm not sure yet if I will go that route or make my own. So I made a prototype of my own tonight. I reused most of the push rod set up components that came with the car. I fab up a basic back plate for mock up, which of course will be changed to a beefy bracket in the future if I go with this set up. So far it doesn't seem too bad. I need to mount it on the car to see if I can realistically use this system. It is pretty fun trying to come up with a solution like that.

We'll see how it goes.

[Avmaviator]

Today I TIG welded the O2 sideband sensor bung on the right collector, and finished cleaning up the pipes. Now all is left to do on the pipes are to ceramic coat them flat black, but that will be done later.

Here is the sensor installed. I have to run and fastened the wire now, running it in front of the footbox, and through the factory firewall hole for the wires.

PS, I have no idea why the weld looks so bad in this picture... it is actually a nice weld, but I did file it a bit using a round file, to knock some corners down. Nevertheless, that picture looks bad, but the weld is good



Last night I pressurized the fuel system to see if it would hold 45 psi (since the gauges are installed). It does hold that value, but it takes a bit of time (15 seconds to fully build the pressure.) I hope that will be ok for engine starting and such in the future. So far, one found one leak. It is leaking from an AN fitting on the return side of the fuel rail, which connects the fuel rail to the regulator. I have to figure out if it is the swivel part that is leaking or just not tight enough, but it is very hard to put any wrench or anything to work on it. I will have to pull the fuel rail out
I think the fuel is coming out of the the collar, right under the blue portion of the fitting. I think that is the swivel portion.



I will focus now on the throttle system as it is the last thing in the way before starting the engine...

[kgs365]

sweet dash....i like the color...its simular to the alloy oracle machine

[mreid]

That looks great, Arnaud! Nice work and that longer shaft should fix you right up.

Just one comment...

...the light's on...

...looks like your battery is not charging...

[Avmaviator]

Originally Posted by fordracing65

Looks very nice, is that a beer bottle in the dash pic, did you get a push button start, looks like the button to the left of the keys.

It is a bottle, Fat Tire The button left of the key is the footwell air vent knob.

Originally Posted by kgs365

sweet dash....i like the color...its simular to the alloy oracle machine

Thanks! It will be similar, but this leather is darker then the Oracle car.

Originally Posted by mreid

...looks like your battery is not charging...

Must be because the guy who gave me wiring advice doesn't know what he is doing!

[mreid]

You should be okay, you got your advice before 12:00 when the serious drinking started!

[fordracing65]

What a great life, drinking beers, working on a Kirkham, and living in the USA, does it get any better.

[Avmaviator]

Originally Posted by fordracing65

What a great life, drinking beers, working on a Kirkham, and living in the USA, does it get any better.

Amen Pete!

[FatBoy]

Originally Posted by fordracing65

What a great life, drinking beers, working on a Kirkham, and living in the USA, does it get any better.

Yes, drinking beer, working on a Kirkham and living in the UK.

We know how to make real beer over here.

Paul

[kgs365]

real beer comes in a cold can

Originally Posted by FatBoy

Yes, drinking beer, working on a Kirkham and living in the UK.

We know how to make real beer over here.

Paul

[FatBoy]

Originally Posted by kgs365

real beer comes in a cold can

Nooooooooo.....

The Kirkham is looking great BTW. I like the dash colour. The Kirkham exhaust collectors are a work of art with beautiful welding and flowing.

[kgs365]

i'd have the boys at kirkham billet a piece for you....can't be the only stack set up in a kirkham

[Avmaviator]

Originally Posted by kgs365

i'd have the boys at kirkham billet a piece for you....can't be the only stack set up in a kirkham

I did ask them about it but they never got back to me. They are pretty busy running their machines for other projects so I understand. Another Kirkham owner, KobraBytes, has the same set up and he built a throttle cable wheel for his car. I contacted him about it and got some info on the specs of that wheel, which in turn I sent to the machine shop. Between all that I am bound to get something done

[mreid]

Hey, Arnaud, let us know when you get the shaft!

heh, heh, heh...I crack myself up!

[mreid]

I don't think the O2 bung weld looks bad at all and I like how you hid it, yet got it in a good location in the exhaust. Can't wait for first start. Mine is running great and is a thrill everytime I start it up! It's supposed to be in the 50's here today so I'll be driving around the neighborhood.