Steering Rack Rebuild

Checked my Steering rack as it got noted during a wof that there was a little play!
Turned out the rack ends were worn and the main tube had quite a bit of slop.
Upon removal from the car it became apparent that the threaded rods on the rack ends had been badly made.
The thread was made on a tapered rod so that as the rod tapered off the threads got finer!
I was told by the friendly crew at Autosteer in Frankton that this is quite dangerous and you could actually see that only around 10mm of thread was actually being used.
New bushes to the tube, new rack ends custom machined to length/diameter and she's good as new!
Although I could have done without the $220!
While I am at it, I lubed the steering column as it has always been quite hard to turn.  Hopefully this will help with self centreing, something my car never really had.  If this doesn't fix it, then I will have to reset the caster to suit!

Cold Air Box

Now my intake is complete, I have been working on a Cold air box which is to be fitted at the front of the car just behind the radiator and will take cold air from around the sides via ducting that gets cold air from the nose.
See image below for the basic outline.

I'll post some pics of the finished article shortly.

Pedal box cover

I decided to build a cover for my pedal box from 1.6mm aluminium.
It was a little difficult and I had to have the throttle cable point sticking up out of it due to clearance issues, but it now cleans up the whole engine bay.
The finish will match my intake, a nice dull polished look.

New intake

I originally made a MS intake plenum, but after closer inspection I decided to redesign it out of aluminium.
It is now a lot lighter and a lot better looking, with better airflow to the rear cylinders.
It still needs plumbing in, and now I can start on the new airbox which will sit behind the radiatior but will get fresh air from over the top.  Radiator will be changed for an aluminium one when I can afford it :)

New Guards

While i'm on Cad i thought i would model up some new guards.

I'm looking at doing something similar to the Caterham CSR with the small semi-wing part on top.
I'll make them from MDF for the plug, with the final guard being from Carbon Fibre.
Should make the car look real good :)
While i've got the carbon out I will do some rear guard protectors too.

Making a new intake Plenum

Just modelled a new intake plenum in Autocad.

Getting it made at work from mild steel plate, and tig welded up.
Will end up getting it powder-coated in black at some stage.
I will be moving the Airflow meter to the front of the car for greater efficiency and will possibly duct cold air around the radiator to a small airbox in front of the motor.
It gives me the opportunity to add a supercharger at a later date

Painted Headers

Decided to tidy the white painted headers up with a lick of high temp silver. Difficult to get into all the nooks but a worthwhile improvements.
Looks a lot nicer.