Frosty Drive to GBS for Mince Pies

Sliding towards a mince pie


GBS have for the last few weeks advertised that they have a bit of an open day on December 13th with tea/coffee and mince pies. Always up for a drive over to the factory to meet up with the GBS team and other owners; but the weather has had a change the last two weeks from dry days to strong winds, rain, temperatures in the minus figures and a couple of days beforehand... sleet ? But the Sun was shining early in the morning with a blanket of heavy frost.

Warmed up the Zero in the garage before heading out, Alex was the passenger for today, but also the nominated Christmas card deliverer. On route we decided to drop off some cards to friends. Main roads where frost free but a little damp, however the side roads with little traffic where a bit icy, even in single figures on the speedo the Zero was more happy to go sideways, than forward ! This was an excellent lesson for Alex on how to steer into a slide ? Good fun !

After about an hour of driving (sliding) we arrived at GBS, Coffee and Mince pies went down well.

As usual I forgot my Camera, but thanks to Ruth @ GBS who took a few photos.

 Thank you GBS for the hospitality.

Now to get all that salt off the car !

Day trip to South Wales

The Zero has been running very well lately except for one issue... It keeps dumping coolant from the expansion bottle ? I have been following a thread on the GBS Zero owner club about this particular issue and it looks like I may have an air-lock within the coolant system ? So the main man in the workshop @ GBS gave me the procedure on bleeding the Zero/Zetec system. This did take a total of 3 days due to the fact you have to let the coolant cool overnight and re check the level before topping up and getting back up to operating temperature before cooling again. A total of 1.5 litres of coolant was added ! All I need now is a good test run.

So Autumn is nearly over, the trees have just lost their leaves and now the roads are getting a bit slippery and seem to take ages to dry out after the night time chill. Watched the weather forecast at the weekend and it looks like we may have a dry patch about mid week ? So too plan a road trip to my Uncles house in South Wales a 470 miles round trip, plus as he has never seen the Zero I would plan another 30 ish miles for a bit of a blast round the country lanes ! This would test the cooling system and if the bleed procedure has worked.

4;20 am and I leave the house en-route to South Wales, trying to beat the traffic at the most congested parts of the trip. Frost on the windscreens of the other cars at home so I would imagine -1 or -2 at the start. A stop half way for a quick splash & dash, and a top up of fuel so I make it to South Wales without stopping again. Of all things I'm spotted filling up fuel by an old school friend at 6;00 am in the morning 130 miles from home !

8;20 am Arrived safely at my Uncles House. Temperature on the gauge never went above 85 degrees throughout the trip down... very pleased with that as it usually runs anywhere between 95 and 100.

After a bit of breakfast time to take my Uncle out for a spin...

A good spin out... He loved every moment !

14;00 pm Time to make a move back home once again wanted to miss the rush hour traffic, plus didn't fancy too much cold air driving once the sun goes down ?

18:55 pm arrived home... finally

Technical summery...

498 total miles
62 litres of fuel used
Miles per gallon 36 approx
Temperature while moving max 85 degrees on the gauge
Max temperature while standing still on the M42 for 5 minutes just under 100 degrees on the gauge.
Weather... Crisp and Dry all day, however very cold before sun up and after sun down.

So fingers crossed I am hoping the coolant issue may be sorted, just keeping my eye on it as time and miles go on.

Condition of the driver...

Bottom half ... COLD
Top half ... reasonably warm
My bad elbow... seized up !
My legs... Stiff (even 2 days after)
My mind... pretty good after a total of 10 hours behind the wheel

GBS October Factory Run Out 2014

The back end of the summer in the UK has been glorious, in fact according to the news report its been the driest September since records began ? So the GBS factory has organised a "Run Out" in the Zero's,
A total of 14 Zero's turned up at the factory early Sunday morning, all polished up ready for the run which would take us on some local country roads for some 70 miles to a pub for Sunday lunch and a stop half way for refreshments. GBS factory Zero at the front leading the way, and another at the rear just in case we got split up.

Parked up at the factory while tea and coffee was served inside.

More Zero's turning up at the factory.

Ready for the off... Alison all wrapped up !

Leaving the factory...

See you at the next stop !...

Travelling through Newark 

A Long line of Zero's... I'm in the line somewhere ?

Enjoying the Bends...

Final destination... The Plough at Cropwell Butler, Nottinghamshire.

Back home just before dusk, shattered but smiles all round !

Many thanks to the GBS team for taking photographs along the way, and also to all the Zero owners and passengers for making a great day out.

10 months on and 2000 miles

Having Fun

The Zero have been performing well, only a couple of issues which I will explain further down the blog page. I managed to get a steering cowl from EBay as second hand Ford ones seem to have disappeared of the face of the Earth. Fitting this retro cowl took a bit of modification, fabrication, and fettling to fit round the switches, key hole, and hazard button but in all looks 100% better than having wires visible.

Our Alex turned 15 and as a treat for all the help building the Zero, I let him have a drive in it ! Not on the road, but there is a local driving school which has use of an old car park at the weekends which they set out with cones and teach 14 to 17 year old's. So before lessons started he had half an hour on his own driving around the course.

An external view...

An internal view...

Petrol consumption

So the mileage has reached 2000 miles and have done calculations.

While on the track at Blyton Park, so giving it a bit of stick ? managed 24 mpg

On a spirited run out 28 mpg

Short local journeys with cold starts 28 mpg

A steady drive down to the Kit Car Show at Donnington via the motorway (sticking to 70 mph), then a steady drive back home via A & B roads with no real hard acceleration   31 mpg

So with a 6,5 gallon tank should get between 120 and 175 miles depending on the style of driving and leaving a reserve in the tank to get me to the next filling station.

Couple of issues

Had a dull rattle sound coming from the bell housing While in neutral ? depressed the clutch and it went away ? No rattle while in gear and driving ? Then after a few miles and when up to temperature the rattle disappeared all together ?  Further investigation led me to one of two things... the clutch arm or the release bearing. A quick trip over to see Richard at GBS confirmed one of my thoughts... the clutch arm.
Basically its a lose (ish) fit around the shaft and release bearing and possibly the clutch arm pin, and when things warm up and expand it can't rattle any more. Its not detrimental to any thing, just an annoying noise.

Next, and more seriously I broke down, and had to call the very nice man from The AA. (for those reading this blog outside of the UK,  The AA is not Alcoholics Anonymous, but the Automobile Association which offer roadside assistance when you have broken down)

What had happened is that the rubber "O" rings holding the gear linkage pins in had perished over the year and had allowed the pins to fall out. Then while selecting a gear the linkage fell apart, leaving me in gear unable to select neutral while in the outside lane of a dual carriageway, and with heavy traffic was unable to pull up in a safe position !

A long story, but to cut it short the roadside assistance turned up, took apart the transmission tunnel, located the problem, stuck a temporary nut and bolt in an got me going within an hour.

  Note to self... Carry some basic tools or at least have your mobile phone charged up to call for help ?

An update from the brake down...

GBS have kindly sorted out replacement pins and "O"rings, however the fix has lasted 200 miles so far, so I am carrying them as an emergency fix if the nut and bolt fail ? Think this will be a winter check and fix, but until then I'll keep driving the Zero and having fun.

Possible more permanent fix's to this issue from other Zero builders are...

High tensile bolts and lock nuts instead of pins ?

Replacement pins with metal clips not rubber ones ?

Use the rubber "O" rings as before but coat them with rubber grease to stop the perishing process ?

Use the rubber "O" rings as before but coat them with rubber grease to stop the perishing process plus cover the whole assembly with heat shrink tubing to seal it all in ?

If anyone reading this has any other ideas, please leave comments ?

Rattling Exhaust

Little annoying problem has arisen since the last blog... a rattle from the exhaust at around 2000 to 3000 rpm. Quick talk to Richard at GBS seems to be a small issue with an internal pipe which slots into the tailpipe section. Recommends a rivet through the tailpipe and the internal pipe which should stop the rattle ?

Well did this on Saturday, and it worked !

1300 miles so far, but horrible weather this Bank Holiday :-(

First Track Day

So after a few nice runs out over the past few weeks I booked myself onto a track day at Blyton Park with some other GBS owners and the factory. The Zero has just covered 700 miles and besides a couple of small hiccups has run very smoothly.

First hiccup was the coolant was disappearing at an alarming rate ! replaced approx. 4.5 lts in 600 miles ? checked all the hose's, connections and radiator for leaks... none ?

After talking to a few other owners and Richard at GBS found that the expansion bottle had been plumbed in the wrong way round, so instead of the coolant returning to the system when cool, it was in fact draining out onto the floor ? Simple fix... swap over the pipes. A note to other builders... the expansion bottle has 2 pipes sticking out of the top, they are different heights and the higher of the two feeds back into the coolant system, and the lower one is the waste. On my bottle the difference between the two pipes is only about 1.5mm so its easily missed, but easily fixed.

Second issue... Possible throttle body icing ? According to GBS it has been reported a few times, in certain conditions that the throttle bodies could ice up ? usual when its cold and damp ? Rather technical series of events but as soon as some warmer air reaches the throttle bodies it all runs sweet again. It did splutter and cough for about a mile and this did get my mind spinning as I had just filled up with fuel the night before and thought of all sorts of possible issues ?

So back to the track day...

The Zero performed all day without any faults ! just over 100 miles on track, (just over 60 laps) and only used 20 litres of fuel ! Had a few "drifting" moments but the tyres really did surprise me how good they where. Is it worth getting some sticky track day tyres next time ?

Roll on the next track day.

Mega grin factor !

Dry winter driving and a couple of modifications

Over the Christmas and New Year break I have clocked up nearly 400 miles on lovely crisp, dry, winter days. Getting to grips with the handling and finding very quickly the limits of grip on slightly damp cold  road surfaces ? Been mainly local driving, visiting friends and family, and a trip out to Derbyshire, an old stomping ground back in my motor biking days.. Matlock Bath ! The Zero got a lot of attention in the car park, that was until a Cobra turned up !.. oh well. ( John Housego... take note !)

Although the days out have been dry, the road surface still holds moisture, and I have found that I am constantly cleaning the rear wheel guards, the sides of the Zero, and the exhaust of dirt thrown up from the front wheels, and finding stone chippings from the road everywhere inside the cockpit ? Solution... Mud guards !

Good old EBay... universal mud guards £5 plus free P&P !
They do need a bit of modification, but that's the fun of kit cars.

Out with the saw and a few minutes later...

A mud flap ready for fitting, drilled 2 holes for the bolts, and tidied up the saw marks.

 Quick test run out and already on wet roads very little spray hitting the rear wheel guards, however still hitting the stainless steel exhaust which looks dirty again ? So a good improvement, and no chippings in the car either !

Next modification... a rattle from the exhaust ?

Talking to Richard from GBS this can be a common issue, not a massive one but still an annoying one, the exhaust can rattle a bit on the rear support bracket. Simple fix... a small length of exhaust wrap to cushion the tail pipe while resting on the bracket.

Wrapped around twice and held in place with a couple of metal tie-wraps.

Once again another quick test ride out ! Some of the rattle has gone, however there is something else giving a rattle noise ? More investigation required I think, however late in the afternoon and lost the light, and a frost is forming ! time for a cuppa.