Saturday 11 January 2014

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.