Tuesday 22 September 2015

GBS Factory Runout

Not updated my blog for about 3 months, so here's an update on whats been happening with the Zero...

Did a 500 mile Day trip with my son Alex from home to Wales to see family then back home the same day for supper ! She performed fantastic, no problems at all and returned a fuel consumption of 38.5 mpg.

Then a GBS Factory run out. We all met at Donington Park at 10am and had a good drive through the countryside for 95 miles before ending up at a pub for a spot of food. A great day out with good company.

In between these, lots of little trips all over the place, also to a local classic/sports car meet every other Wednesday at a local pub, average attendance about 200 cars in the evening.

Now for some photos....












Enjoying every minute !

Thursday 4 June 2015

Day 2 of essential work... Overheating issues.

Now that the wife is happy she has somewhere to put her coffee on cold day run outs, I turn my focus to my overheating issues ?

Long story, but I'll condense it down... The Zero overheats for no apparent reason ? It can go for a few hundred miles and no problems, then a short 10 mile journey and she overheats, sometimes spitting coolant out from the expansion bottle all over the floor, or the temperature gauge reaches 110 degrees before the fan kicks in ?

I now carry a 2 litre bottle of water with me to top up when necessary.

So last week, after talking to countless friends, other Zero owners, and the factory I have identified 4 possible issues...

1) Got the plumbing of the expansion bottle the wrong way round ? Well in earlier blogs I had found I had plumbed it in wrong, but that is not an issue now.

2) No hole in the thermostat plate, took a look and there is one there.

3) Pressure cap not sealing properly... well the one that I got was a sample pressure cap from a supply company that GBS where looking at to supply them with caps when they ran out of stock ? Could this be the problem ? So I removed the cap and with a file "faced" off the top of the thermostat housing for a better seal a few months ago. Having returned to GBS last week, for the sake of a few pounds I purchased another cap, which they have been using now for 18 months and have had no reported issues. Fingers crossed.

4) Broken bracket on the water rail. For some unknown reason the bracket has snapped off the side of the water rail, leaving it floating in the air with just the hoses holding it in place. While at GBS I got a replacement one of these as well.



So all replaced and topped up with water.

Guess what... STILL OVERHEATING !  .... GGGRRRRRR.

 Put the Zero back in the garage and locked the door !

Next day 1am 

Woke up with a thought ! (wife not happy) anyway, it has just accrued to me that every time I topped up the coolant level over the passed year its just been with water, and have I diluted the antifreeze properties to the point that its not cooling efficiently ?

At the auto factors at 8am... Antifreeze purchased.

Time to drain the system, in order to reach the lowest point I've got to take the nose cone off, while doing this found another problem... The radiator fan fell off !

It is only held in place buy clipping into the radiator, but is this the reason for overheating ? anyway, a minute later its clipped back in.



Took the bottom coolant hose off the radiator and drained off. Basically the colour was clear, hardly a sign of antifreeze, just water. Hose fitted back on and topped up with 50/50 antifreeze/water.

Got the Zero warmed up, got to 98 degrees and the fan kicks in, cools it to about 95 degrees. It continues to do this for 4 cycles. Fingers crossed its seems to behaving its self !

Going to let it cool down and check for air locks, and repeat up to temperature again.

Oh the fun of owning a kitcar !

I now carry a bottle of 50/50 antifreeze/water in the car after this. Will update if it's a cure or back to the drawing board.


Back to the drawing board

Well spoke to GBS about the issue, because its frustrating not knowing the answer ?

Basically got to try different things one thing at a time to try and eliminate possible problems, so first, go for a run and get it up to temperature, then see when the gauge reads overheating (above 98) if the voltmeter also rises, to see if there is a problem with the rectifier in the alternator ?

Well got the temperature over 100 on the gauge; and the voltmeter is a steady 14v, and when driving remains  at 14v. Sat idling and voltmeter drops to 13.5v. At no point did volts go over 14.2v.

OK, so in the video below, I have found what could be another issue, while sat idling, watching the temperature rise, I turned off the side lights and saw the temperature gauge drop 10 degrees, also the oil pressure gauge did something similar ?


Will have a think about this... will update soon, hopefully with a solution !

OK found the problem.... Its a ground issue, found the offending connection under the dash on the passenger side. Looks like the rivnut is loose ? Simple repair though ?

Wednesday 3 June 2015

Essential upgrade

Been a while since I have updated my Zero build blog, been a bit busy enjoying driving it ! and had other projects and jobs to do. See my other blog page,,,

http://bills-2nd-arcade-machine.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/upright-design.html    Some 20 odd posts !

So back to the Zero and an essential upgrade ...

It has been mentioned on several occasions that the Zero is lacking a "Cup holder" especially when going through a Costa Coffee drive thru ? So just for the wife, Alison, one has been fitted.

A neat folding one ...


Happy days !

Thursday 26 March 2015

GBS Factory Runout - March 2015



Woke up to a cold and slightly frosty morning, had to move 2 cars to get the Zero out so that soon warmed me up ! Quick check of the fluids, tyre pressure, and a visual all round inspection and we're ready to go. Today's passenger ... my Son Alex.

Arrived at the GBS factory just before 10am, and within minutes the car park was nearly full !








After tea and coffee we all set off for just over a 100 mile run through local country roads. Ruth and John from GBS where at several different locations along the route taking photos, many thanks to them for some excellent action shots.















A fantastic day out, good weather, good roads, and good friends ! Looking forward to the next one.