Progress.....And not some Take That Album.....Thankfully

Saturday 17th March
My next batch of components for the build were ready for collection so I made the trip to Hereford where I was greeted by Jeremy from Raw. I took the opportunity to take another look at the demo striker to make sure I had a few things relating to the build clear in my head.

Once I got home I spent a little while going through the box of parts identifying how various parts fitted into the kit and took the opportunity to place the Steering rack and clamps into the Kit, I'll bolt this up later.

Steering rack clamped in by alloy brackets

Saturday 24th March
My 1st task of the day was to get the differential into the chassis, fitting was is harder than it 1st appeared but this was down to the weight of the differential, after a little bit of jiggling all the securing bolts were in place.

I decided I would attached the rear nearside suspension and driveshaft assembly, with the coilover and lower wishbone in, the driveshaft pushed into the differential and allowed me to connect the upright, hub and upper wishbone, I even placed the disc and loosely bolted up the calliper for effect.

Rear nearside

At this point it was time to call it a day.


Saturday 31st March
I started the day with a list of task that I wanted to make headway on, not expecting to make much of an impact on them.

I thought I would start the day with a nice easy task by bolting in the steering rack and alloy clamps, job done, nice and easy as I had hoped it would be.

Brake Pedal clevis-pin / push rod set-up

Next up, the pedals, I removed the previously fitted pedal box cover and set about fitting the pedals, the pedals simply swing on a spindle bar which pushes through the pedal box. I started by lining up the brake pedal with the master cylinder and fitting the clevis-pin and push rod, The clutch pedal was quite a tight fit so required a little filing to allow the pedal to move freely. In order to fit the accelerator pedal I needed to fit a spacer to stop the pedal sliding along the spindle.

After lunch I moved on the offside rear suspension set-up, this went together as per the nearside without any issues, I now need to tighten the hubs bolts then I can fit the callipers and flexi brake hoses.

Steering column assembly

My last task for the day was the steering column assembly, this comprised of a number of parts, the columns itself, some UV joints, bearings and a bush, again this was a pretty easy, the good news being that the rack moves when I turn the steering column.

All Tanked Up!!

December 2011 - February 2012
In the last two months I have not spent a great deal of time working on the car, a few odd hours here and there, but progress is being made in the right direction.

I have continued to work on the brake lines, the front brake lines and the line running down the tunnel are all complete. I will complete the rear lines once I have the differential / driveshafts fitted so I can ensure adequate clearance from any moving parts.

Once I have differential and driveshafts in place I will be in a position to construct the wishbones, coilovers, hubs and brakes.

I have managed to work through the wiring loom identifying which wires I do / don't need, separating the wires I don't require capping and securing them out of the way. The loom is routed from behind the dash where the fuse box and relays are mounted, down through the tunnel top, into the engine bay or along the tunnel to the rear of the car.

Tank in place secured by two retaining straps,
routed fuel return pipe at the top of the picture 

There has been some good progress on the fuel side of things, the fuel pipes are routed down the tunnel with the return pipe bent and routed up to the the fuel tank return. The feed pipe is routed and ready for the fuel filter and pump to be be mounted, again I want to fit the diff / driveshafts before undertaking this so I can ensure adequate clearance from moving parts.


The fuel tank has been trial fitted, the tank is secured by brackets and straps. The tank sits on a bracket that runs between two wishbone mounts with two straps running over the top of the tank to hold it in place.



I have cut a hole in the top of the tank read for the sender unit which has to be shortened to read empty due to the depth of the tank. The sender will be secured in place using a retaining bracket with captive nuts which is fitted inside the tank.

Fuel Sender securing plate (fits inside the tank)

P-Clip to secure Fuel Pump

5 Steps Forward, 4 Steps Back

Tuesday 22nd November
Today started with me drilling the bulkhead base holes and fixing in place with some self tapers, once this was complete I moved back to the side panels, I needed to finish folding the panel top over the chassis rail, make a couple of brackets for the nose cone and drill the holes for the front flexi brake pipes.

So I have now fitted the floor, side panels, tunnel, seat back panel and the bulkhead base, sounds quite good progress, anyway this is where the build takes 4 steps back, as out came the side panels, seat back tunnel and bulkhead base.


Front brake lines routed

I spent the remainder of the day drilling various holes and clipping in various pieces of fuel or brake pipe and trying to fathom out the loom.

For the front brake pipes I decided to work from the flexi pipes back towards the master cylinder, securing the pipes every 100mm, this proved to be pretty successful, with only a small adjustment required to allow the pipes to reach the master cylinder.

fuel and brake lines routed down the tunnel, loom sprawled across drivers floor

For the rear brake pipes I decided to work from the master cylinder towards the back of the vehicle approaching the tricky bend into the tunnel before running down the inside of the passenger side of the tunnel, again securing the brake pipes every 100mm.

As I am fitting a zetec engine I am running the fuel feed and return lines down the drivers side of the tunnel, again securing every 100mm.

I have decided to run the loom down the passenger side of the tunnel along with the brake line, but before I can clip the loom in place I need to drill and 50mm hole in the tunnel top so feed the loom through, the fuse box will be fitted on the rear of the bulkhead (under the dash) where it is safest from the elements.

Panels Panels Everywhere.....Cont......

Saturday 12th November

Since the last update the car has progressed along, the floor has been fully marked up and drilled with a layer of vinyl applied to the interior facing side. The floor has been riveted to the chassis around 3 sides of the floor (the 4th side will include the side panels) and the chassis turned the right way up.

Vinyled Floor

Riveting Stuff

Monday 21st November
Today my plan was to attack the seat back panel and continue with the fitting of the side panels.

The seat back panel required some fettling before I was happy with its fitment, unfortunately due to the tight fit I have managed to chip the powder coating on the chassis, nothing that can't be fixed though. The seat back panel is currently held in place by a few temporary fixings, the final fit will be much later in the build.

For the side panels I had to remove a section of material as the side panels fit both the aero-screen and classic striker, once the access material was removed attached the side panels (using the previously drilled underside fixings and a couple of clamps and set to work bending over the top of the panel over the chassis, temporarily securing with a couple of self tapping screws.

Seat pack panel, side panels and bulkhead base in place

The final job of the day was trimming and the bulkhead base panel and clamping in place along with a section of angle for the scuttle upright, I will mark up and drill these at a later date.

Panels, Panels Everywhere!

Saturday 29th October
So 1st task, fit the tunnel, this will be fitted temporarily for the time being, as the fuel and brake lines along with the loom need to be secured before the panels can be riveted in place, it is much easier to fit the tunnel while no other panels are fitted to the car.



Floor in Progress, tunnel panel can be seen

After a small bit of fettling of the panels I was happy with the fit of the tunnel, time to mark up and drill, I have held the tunnel in place for the time being with a few self taping screws.

With the tunnel in place the chassis had to be turned upside down so the floor could be fitted, the floor comes in two pieces, passenger and driver side, the floor did not require and trimming, so I held in place with a few clamps and marked it up, drilled and held secured with a few self tapers, I will rivet the floor once I have applied some black vinyl to the interior side of the floor to give it a nice finish.

With 50% of the drivers floor fitted and the passenger floor still to mark an and drill I thought I would take a look at another stage of the build.


Side Panel clamped in place





I decided to line up the side panel to get an idea of how it fits to the car and understand its fixing points and what lies ahead, the panel supplied is designed to fit both the classic striker and the the aeroscreen model (which I have) so a small amount of triming is required but nothing to major, fitting the side will be a task for another day

The Exchange

Saturday 15th October

So the hood has departed (hopefully the new owner is enjoying), some four weeks ago I exchanged the proceeds from the sale for the new project.

Anna and my dad accompanied me on the road trip to Hereford to help me collect the Kit, we set off early doors in our wonderful hire van (no working stereo!!)

Left: Blue Demo Striker. Right: Supercharged Striker

Upon arrival we were greeted by Jeremy and Martin from Raw, I took the opportunity to look further around the cars and gain as many build tips and as much knowledge from Martin as possible.

Striker Dash with fitted Zetec Engine in the background

Jeremy helped us out with the wrapping up of aluminium body panels and loading of the van and in no time at all we were on our way back home.

Once home, van unloaded and returned, I took a few minutes inspecting the various components I had just picked up........roll on the build.

Where the 'Supposed Magic' will happen

Bye Bye Robin Hood

Sunday, 11th September 2011

In order to allow the Striker build to happen, I have had to sell my Robin Hood Sub-K.

 The car took 5 years of blood (lots of) and sweat to build and only 30 mins to go.

Hopefully the new owner will enjoy the car.

Bye Bye Hood