Britludes NSX story

[britlude]

I managed to sneak a place at ‘supercar siege’ car show, so, whilst giving the car a once-over, I decided I was fed up with the green tinge to the top of the headlight hardware, the bit just under the bonnet/headlamp panel gap. Where the car lives outside, bits that can have water standing on them can get a hint of green.
2013-05-17-2712 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

Now I did consider some sort of micro organic production facility, but decided a clean up and paint would be easier, so, for the show, the offending parts were coloured in!
2013-05-17-2720 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

while the paint pot was out, I splashed a little on the ABS wiring bracket…
before…
2013-05-17-2718 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

after (obviously!)…
2013-05-17-2721 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

[britlude]

And the radiator supports given a quick tart-up! I’d already polished the edges and bright zinc plated them ages ago, but it was starting to show it’s age!
2013-05-17-2715 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

So a quick buff up, and quick slop of black!
2013-05-17-2716 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

post show (it was quite good! We should pencil in a club stand for 2014! https://www.facebook.com/Supercarsiege ) i finished the headlights, removing the covers and lights, to paint the steel frames
2013-05-20-2798 by jon sutherland, on Flickr
2013-05-20-2799 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

see, said I’d been playing since Japfest!!!


then I finally decided to find a solution to something that’s always bugged me about the car….. to be continued ……!

[TheSebringOne]

Are the headlights frames steel or alu?

[britlude]

very definitely steel! ali doesn't rust!

[Senninha]

... post show (it was quite good! We should pencil in a club stand for 2014! https://www.facebook.com/Supercarsiege ) ...

Make it so Jonathan ... its either this or you are nominated for Japfest 2014 ...

Is Supercarsiege always at the same venue?

regards, Paul

[britlude]

So, apart from the annual new rear tyres, I’ve had a play at an irritating bit of the engine bay to me. Everything in the engine bay is painted/ powder-coated to keep it clean and pretty, except the alternator! So I decided to do something about it… so choices are… clean to aluminium, polish, paint, or something else!


… of course I went to for the ‘something else’ option. Well, I did try the clean to aluminium first, but to do it properly the alternator would need to be stripped as I wasn’t keen on using strong aluminium cleaner with the coils/contacts/electronics still inside! Painting would have been an option but I would have wanted to remove any corrosion first… see above!


I’ve decided to move the alternator to under the engine, driven off a drive shaft. No, not really!!! Here’s what I tried…..


The engine bay as we all know it….
2013-05-21-2812 by jon sutherland, on Flickr


the alternator standing out like a dull grey blob amongst a sea of painted bits!


Stage 1… see if I can make a cover that can fit, be easily mountable and do what I want without adverse effects..


2013-05-20-2803 by jon sutherland, on Flickr


2013-05-20-2804 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

note the random chrome ratchet accessorisation....

[britlude]

With the basic form sorted, it was a case of now making it look good, with a bit of a ‘return’ to the edges and some slots to mimic those in the injector covers. Obviously the slots would have been a whole lot easier if I’d cut them when the aluminium was flat!!!... anyway, that’s the point of a prototype!

2013-05-20-2805 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

2013-05-21-2806 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

2013-05-21-2807 by jon sutherland, on Flickr


the slots were a pain to get neat by hand!

[britlude]

then a bit of primer and paint…
2013-05-21-2809 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

2013-05-21-2810 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

2013-05-21-2811 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

making sure to get a fabulously poor paint finish to mimic the finish on the surrounding black parts

[britlude]

then it was a case of fitting it on…

before..
2013-05-21-2812 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

after…
2013-05-21-2813 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

and a couple of others…
2013-05-21-2815 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

2013-05-21-2814 by jon sutherland, on Flickr2013-05-21-2816 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

[britlude]

And finally coloured in the mounting bolts… none of the others on the engine are as bright and shiny!
2013-05-21-2816 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

all done!




hmmm... might tie the cover into the pulley cover bracket.......
...just to close up the end a little more.....
...maybe a couple of other tweaks....

well it is a prototype