Navigator MkII
 

Gents,

I'm glad to say that this past week has seen the first shell come out of the new moulds for the Navigator and it looks every bit as good as we'd hoped. Many thanks go to Mac (Viatron) for effectively 'project managing' this stage. His enthusiasm and generosity has gone above and beyond the call of duty and I'm sure his build will start accelerating from now on.

I know he's put together a few words and photos of the modification process and I hope he adds to this thread soon so you can see what was involved to get it to this shape.

Essentially, the last shell taken out of the old moulds was severely sliced, chopped and filled so that the whole thing is now as symmetrical as possible (I can't say I wasn't a tad worried when the entire Left wing was detached and moved back a full 3 inches!), cockpit sides are straight and even with an integrated dull depth dashboard, both rear wings align and centralise with the wheels, the scuttle has even slopes on both driver's and passenger's side and the bonnet shut line is straight. The bulkhead is now one piece as you will see so it has a degree of solidarity and can be easily utilised for Left and Right Hand Drive. (Oh, and the hump has been removed)

This is the first stage in the Navigator rebirth. Next comes a pair of moulds for Left and Right hand humps (to cater for UK, European or Double Hump variants) and a pair of retro fit doors and shuts. (More on that when it's in process).

I know Mac will put some of the process photos up (Go for it mate) but here's some good ones of the finished Buck and the first shell:

The Buck
http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps60c171da.jpg

Shell 1

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3927f961.jpg

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...pse1265496.jpg


http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...pse58a1a92.jpg

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...psab8bc78f.jpg

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1ce64972.jpg

The shell comes to our workshop this week so we can finish the improved frame. As that is finished, expect more photos. For those asking, yes, it has cost us a fair bit to get this far but for the time being you won't see an increase in the cost of the kit. It may have to rise eventually but for this season, I'll do my utmost to hold it where it is.

Cheers all :biggrin:

Well done, guys. The shape has now received the attention to detail that it deserves. The finish looks stunning. I am sure that this improvement and consolidation period will bring its rewards.

As an aside. This was always on the plan to be done during the winter hiatus but events brought it forward. The plan now is to have the same process done to the Pilot this Winter.

Brilliant work, lovely finish. Is the red one Macs? At some point I may buy an extra hump. Look forward to seeing photos of workshop, must be humming.

Thanks Gary. No, the red one in the background is the buck. Mac's should be popping out of the mould on Thursday. Some interesting stuff coming into the workshop this week so I'll take some photos.

The new shell does look pretty darn good. Well done guys, now get those sales rolling out of the shop.

Very impressed, especially getting it symmetrical. I have one of the first sammio bodies and it was all over the place, i ended up having to chop it up quite a bit to get it right, but a body like this i think i could have avoided all that work.

Its really great to see this kind of jump in build quality.

Welldone :-)

I have been trying for the last hour to convert the write up on this from a PDF but all the buggering about with image links has left me tired and emotional so I am instead posting a link to a PDF document version for you all to download and read or use as toilet paper as you see fit :-)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7b5u0th9w7...tor%20Buck.pdf

What an amazing job! Well done seeing it through to the end, probaby securing the future of the car I'd guess...

Baz from Brussels

Phew, that looked like a nice, simple way to while away an afternoon off...

That is a brilliant document. Thanks for recording and sharing. Some great skillls on show that many of us will learn from.

Do you know whether the Pilot/Spyder bodies are quite as, er.........asymmetric?

So, if you own a Sammio don,t measure it!

I suspect it will depend on what day of the week it was made ...the short answer is from the bodies i have seen there are a few........ Eccentricities shall we say. One of the failings of both is that for reasons best know to the former owners the front of the moulds was left open, this leads to the mould being unstable and you therefore end up with quality issues. Andy and i havent discussed the Pilot at length but for the cost of the extra fibreglass i would hope the pilot will also end up with a boxed front for buyers to trim to suit. Boxing the front in also makes the bodies much more stable during transport and storgae as they cant spread at the front.
I havent examined the Pilot moulds in any real detail, yet, but i am hopeful that the sort of differences in the 2 sides of the navigator mould will either not be present or will be of a lesser degree.

My Spyder body was about 20mm longer on the passenger side and about 25mm shorter in height on the driver's side. As it didn't create any real problems with the fit or the look I just left it as it was. It would've been better to start with a symmetrical body though. It was as structurally sound as a blancmange until it was bonded onto the chassis and frame though.

The work you've done so far does look like a big step up in quality. imho you need to get a driveable demonstrator out to the kit car shows asap and it'll sell itself. I would never have bought mine if I hadn't had the chance to sit in '66. Good luck getting the orders in now you've developed the project.

Yesterday saw the arrival of the first shell at Ribble HQ. As Viatron's is now in (or possibly by now, out) the mould, we're getting a wriggle on with the new frame.

You will have seen previous photos of the prototype but in the interim, we've had some thoughts as how to make the design even better so we're starting over. Firstly, we realise that virtually everyone will want lowered floors so why not build that into the frame itself?

By replacing the side and cross rails for the floor support with 3" x 1" box section, and lowering it on to the chassis so that the top of the section is level with the top of the chassis, we can weld in a steel plate at the bottom, effectively giving a lowered floor as well as some good strength to the frame.

To that end, we've measured the shell at the floor position, placed the rear cross member position where it can support a bulkhead tucked in to the rear of the cockpit and the centre cross member so it rests at the front of the chassis cowhorns. When this is dropped down, an angled bracket will allow the frame to be bolted into the original mounting holes.

As it progresses, I will put photos up here so the words above can make more sense so here are a couple to start with. Note that the floor is being initially fabricated as one piece and when we're happy with everything, it will be cut to fit either side of the chassis rails.

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4db70bb3.jpg

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps42bc17a6.jpg

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1f042d75.jpg

It's a good idea to incorporate lowered floors into the frame design. After Monday's blast up to the MOT centre in mine with the seat 2" too high, take it from me, you really don't want your sweed sticking up into the slipstream and spoiling the aerodynamics, it's not a comfortable experience. :(

Just a couple more photos with front and rear supports fitted with side rails. The Rear frame sits in the right angle between the cockpit rear and its return and the front supports the bulkhead 'shelf'

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps93b2648f.jpg

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ps90bb5a05.jpg

Next step will be to fit a lower brace to the rear bulkhead and then cut the rear and middle cross braces to fit the chassis so we can get the bracketry sorted.

Viatron: - Thanks for the new buck guide it was very useful (if a little depressing).

The good news is that my alignment issues are not in my imagination.

The bad news is that fixing my shell will take a lot of work and push my limited skills.

AndyP57 - The Navigator MkII is clearly going to be a much better kit as a result of all this extra work.

Feel free to charge more for it, as the time saved in building the car would be well worth it.

Good luck, Paul. :)

Thanks for the vote of confidence Paul (and others). The vision is that from a position of having the rolling chassis in as restored a state as required, the basic kit should take no more than 2 hours to have the frame with integral floors fitted and the body shell bonded and bolted on. This should enable a completed build to be at least MoT-able within a month of weekends.

finally found some mould pics I had misplaced, the thickness of the mould is what will prevent movement during layup, the original moulds were at best 4mm thick. the new ones are about 1.2" on average.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j.../IMG_00738.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n.../IMG_00739.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r.../IMG_00740.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-n.../IMG_00741.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U.../IMG_00742.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N.../IMG_00743.jpg