Noble M500 Upgrades & Overhaul

[craig]

Excellent work Pete, really taking shape now!

[Magic Beans]

Love the attention to detail and the main course is yet to come

[Peter Gidden]

So tonight i started on the electrics. In the interests of their pockets, as opposed to any wisdom, Noble used cheap spade-type multiway plugs for all chassis loom connections. Over the years many of the terminals have grown fur or turned green, or a combination of both. Net result being unpredictive behaviour of any electrical device forward of the engine bay.

So i invested in a full GM Weatherpack Terminal Kit and Delphi Crimping Tool. Expensive at £400, but a one stop solution to the problem. Some people may recognise them as being the same found on custom engine looms. Fully water and weather proof, fully locking - one of the best terminal solutions around.



Crimpers crimp the terminal and weather seal in one controlled action.



First candidate was the wiper motor. Well not the orignal motor. That had given up working in the wet some time last year. Still worked in the dry though!



Plug cut off new wiper motor. Wires stripped, weather seal placed over end of wire, carefully inserted into crimper et voila:



Repeat for other wires:



Finally insert wires into plug housing, and lock shut:



Next job is to fit matching half of plug to chassis loom. Then repeat for all other chassis loom plugs.

BTW, if anyone building a custom loom wants to use my kit, PM me.

[pistol pete]

looking good, that will keep you busy

[str160]

As a Noble fan, I'm definitely keeping an eye on this.

[Donato]

This is going to take some time

[Peter Gidden]

New parts still arriving. Assmebly session with pics later in the week.

Found out i need a new radiator. I've decided Pace Products will be making my new rad. Since i'm cooling my gearbox oil with the engine coolant i've opted for a 30% larger core 65mm thick, as opposed to the stock 48mm.

Bad news is i've seen at least 5 cars on the first page of the MR2 For Sale section, without looking at individual adverts, that are cheaper than my new rad.

[jasongtr]

i had to check and reckon the rads between £600 and £700

do i win a prize?

[Peter Gidden]

do i win a prize?

You can have a "not far off" prize.

[jasongtr]

that sounds like feck all then

[Peter Gidden]

So first job for today was to finish the wiper motor plugs. Wiper motor side already done, so after noting down the relative wire positions, i cut off the old spade plug on the loom and fitted the Weatherpack plugs:



Heater box on the later cars was bigger, and as a result, the air-con dryer was moved from centre of car to the n/s/f. So, since i'm fitting a later heater box, i decided to unwrap the loom, and reroute the relevent wiring:



Some time ago i located an M400 front clam with minor damage. I bought it and repaired the damage. 2 years ago Racecar Engineering magazine paid out to have a Noble tested in MIRA's wind tunnel. It was discovered that at high speeds the car was lifting at the front. An aero package was developed consisitng of wheel arch vents, canards, front splitter with interfaces at wheel arches and undertray extensions. Reverie in Essex produce the kit in prepreg. carboc, honeycombed where necessary, vacuumed and cured in an autoclave.

Money was saved, and a 4 figure cheque that would buy a cheap Rev3 Turbo was handed over in exchange for some very nice carbon bits...

The clams are honeycombed too, so to fit the vents i first cut out holes in the clam that overlapped the flange on the vents.



I then carefully removed the inner layer of grp down to the honeycomb.



Clamped in place with Cleco pins to ensure depth of material moved is correct:



Lots more Cleco pins clamping vent to clam whilst epoxy adhesive cures:



Finished vent, which although made in carbon, will be painted body colour.



Canards and splitter were then fitted, so when the clam is painted, they just need re-fitting.




New clam mountings were fitted to chassis, and clam test fitted:







The moulds for various panels varied slightly through production, and the joint between A post (very early mould) and clam (very late mould) is not perfect and will require some work.

[craig]

ooooh, excellent work squire!:thumleft:

Gonna look awesome all painted up, I'll have a nosy next time I'm up there, and a noble chat while consuming 2 brews. One with sugar, one with out!

[Peter Gidden]

One with sugar, one with out!

You're the only person i ask "are you having sugar today?"

[pistol pete]

Looking awesome
Love the way you just happen to have a spare noble clam around

[Peter Gidden]

Love the way you just happen to have a spare noble clam around

I've got two more outside the workshop.

[b4nk51e]

Very impressive, the detail, time & care being taken is fantastic what a machine this is going to be when it's finished. Looking forward to seeing the end result keep up the good work

[Magic Beans]

Very nice work Peter

You could fit Martin's kit for him with those skills

[craig]

One with sugar, one with out!

You're the only person i ask "are you having sugar today?" Image Replaced With URL For Quote http://www.jonrb.com/emoticons/jester.gif

I like to maintain unpredictability.

[slipping clutch]

Very nice work Peter

You could fit Martin's kit for him with those skills

In his spare time when hes not working on Karls conversion and the noble and not been held up making tea for Craig
Oddly enough, Phil, I had a conversation about two hours ago with Peter about my cars paint etc.- will update you soon

[Peter Gidden]

Had an hour free Tuesday evening, so another job done:

Noble's method of attaching hoses to air intakes on early cars was "pull hoses as far up intake as possible and secure with rivets." Not ideal as the rivets tear through the hoses.



So bought some aluminium pipe, cut to size, sanded and reshaped intakes, and bonded pipes to inside of intakes:



Test fits well. Final trimming of hoses and securing with clamps will be done when refitted to chassis.