Background


Of the many options and kits available we have chosen the South African Birkin - a kit which faithfully reproduces the beauty of Colin Chapman's original car and which you build up with component parts from the factory, adding in your choice of engine and transmission.



This holds true to the tradition of garden shed mechanics without requiring quite the level of welding skill, or CAD programming, that some of the amazing, home built clubman cars require. Or at least we hope not, as neither of us have done anything like this before.....



Sunday, March 11, 2012

Oil catch and Expansion tank

We decided to place a small oil catch tank to connect vapour from the positive crank ventilation valve and the cam cover vent. This was bought from Car Builders Solutions who have supplied numerous bits and pieces during the build and who have always been extremely helpful over the phone and delivered very promptly. The unit is very small and the bracket was made simply by riveting an aluminium plate to two large hose clips which gripped the tank. The plate was shaped so it could be hose clipped to an adjacent chassis tube and the job was done. We ran the two vents via a Y-connector into the tank, and then ran the outlet of the tank into the the silicon hose behind the airfilter to remove excess vapour.

We have also added an expansion tank to the water rail to catch coolant when things get over excited. Again, it was a simple item from CBS, as above, and the bracket was a piece of bent aluminium attached to the mounting plate and padded with self adhesive foam. This then attached neatly to the from chassis cross member and is nicely out of the way. It is a bit low down and I'm not sure if it will return well when the radiator cools, but it is an underwater seal and the system should generate negative pressure so we'll see. At the least it will stop coolant from leaking everywhere.

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