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THE BUILD:
Don't be
mislead into thinking that, because the Tojeiro is a high performance muscle
car, that it is more difficult to build than the average kitcar. It
isn't.
Most kitcars of whatever type take about the same amount of skill
and mechanical aptitude to construct. On the other hand, don't under-estimate
what is involved. Do not imagine that building any kitcar is a doddle. It takes
time, patience, persistence and a certain hands-on-ability. In the case of the
Tojeiro, it requires about 400 hours of your time, but this will vary depending
on the individual. It comes with a very well illustrated, 100-page instruction
manual and there's telephone assistance if it's required. Briefly here's what's
involved.
Lets look at things in a little more detail and we'll assume
the car is being built from scratch. If time is at a premium or you don't feel
able to cope with the mechanical side of the build, the company can supply you
with a rolling chassis, where all the suspension and brake parts are fitted
and, if you wish, with the bodyshell fitted in place with the doors, bonnet and
boot hung and gapped.
As we said earlier, you can buy a donor car and
strip the necessary parts from it, but it's much easier just to purchase the
components you need from a specialist supplier - Dax will give you the
contacts. On the donor car, both front and rear suspension systems are
self-contained and are carried on subframes (cross members). These subframes
are discarded when building the Dax and only the individual components are
used.
With the parts on the bench, it is easy to replace service items
such as bearings and oil seals and to clean and paint the various components.
Use the Jaguar workshop manual or the Haynes manual as the prime source of
information about rebuilding donor car parts.
The rear driveshafts and
lower wishbones need to be shortened because of the Tojeiro's narrower track
and this service is carried out by DJ Sportscars, so these items need to be
stripped, cleaned and returned for modification on an exchange basis. The
company supplies a new steering rack, anti-roll bar, coil/damper units and
front damper mounting brackets.
In fact, arriving at the rolling
chassis stage is the easiest and quickest part of the build. Once you have
refurbished the donor car parts it's simply a matter of bolting the
reconditioned items to the chassis. The exploded diagrams in the construction
guide supplied with the kit are excellent and you can't really go wrong if you
work carefully and take your time.
So, using standard Jaguar parts,
first the upper front wishbones are fitted directly to the chassis pickup
points, then the lower wishbones go in and the uprights are fitted to the
outboard ends of the wishbones. These are followed by the brake discs and
calipers. Dax supplies the lower damper mounts and coil/damper units and these
are then installed. After the anti-roll bar and posts have been fitted, the
steering rack is bolted in place.
The easiest way to tackle the assembly
of the rear suspension and final drive is to assemble the unit before fitting
it to the car. First fit the calipers and brake discs, shimming to ensure
central running of the discs if necessary. After fitting the fulcrum shaft
brackets with shims for adjustment, the driveshaft, wishbones and hub carriers
can be fitted to the diff., then the whole assembly is bolted into the rear
section of the chassis. When this is done, the radius arms are
fitted.
With the main suspension components in place, the static brake
pipes are run in, and the battery lead and the fuel tank. You will have decided
on your choice of engine and gearbox before ordering the chassis and it will be
supplied complete with the correct engine and gearbox mounts. The engine and
gearbox can now be fitted, followed by the prop. shaft and the cooling
system
After the Jaguar handbrake and cable have been fitted (supplied
by Dax), the bodyshell is fixed to the chassis using adhesive and rivets. It
really is as quick as that and in a matter of hours you have a recognisable
car. Now comes the time consuming bit. Fitting out the body shell always seems
to take longer than all the mechanical work put together.
First, the
doors are hung and gapped. This isn't quite such a complicated job as it first
seems because the hinges are fully adjustable, but even though it's a bit time
consuming and fiddly, it is worth taking the care to get a good fit with even
gaps all round. It's similar when fitting the bonnet and bootlid, but these
have re-turned edges and do not require gapping - measure twice and drill once
is the secret of success, but the beauty of working with glassfibre is that if
you do make a mistake you can fill the damaged area and start again.
The
legs of the windscreen frame pass through holes in the bodyshell that have been
precut at the factory and are bolted to the scuttle hoop after the correct
angle has been obtained by measuring from the top of the screen to the rear
cockpit surround. Then the seatbelts, rear hoop, steering column and pedal
assembly are fitted.
With the battery fitted in the boot compartment,
and the heater installed (Dax can supply a really neat unit or use a Spitfire
heater), the task of wiring the car can begin. Don't be scared of this job. The
wiring looms are specially made and come fully labelled and with wire-by-wire
instructions. Don't be tempted to use the donor car wiring loom or lash
something up yourself, it just isn't worth the hassle. Do take care to ensure
good earth points. First the rear loom is run in and plugged into the lights
and indicators, it runs inside the boot and into the cockpit to mate up with
the dashboard loom, which in turn connects with the front loom that services
the engine bay and front lights. If you use instruments supplied by DJ
Sportscars, then the wiring loom simply plugs into them. It's the same with the
lights and steering column, it's just a matter of connecting up.
Now
we're on the home straight. If you're budget will allow it you can have the
cockpit professionally trimmed. However, the company does supply a variety of
complete trim kits that are very easy to fit. The shape of the cockpit is not
difficult and the carpet, seats and door trims fit very easily and an extremely
pleasing finish can be obtained with a little care. There is a choice of three
instrument panels and a variety of weather equipment sets.
Comprehensive
instructions are supplied on setting the suspension and ride height and it pays
to follow these to the letter. So many people build lovely kitcars and put up
with indifferent handling. With the suspension adjusted properly you will
experience sharp precise handling and excellent ride quality. |
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