After a long day with our family Bar-B-Q on Saturday, it was hard getting up & out yesterday.
But by 9.10am I'd driven the 80+ miles & was waiting for the gates to open...
Stoneleigh Kit Car Show:
I knew I couldn't stay all day, so I stuck to my priorities of seeing a real Cordite/Navigator.
I'd forgotten to write down where the Ribble stand was, but that's when
AndyP85 came in handy.
He is a "Big Lad" and I could spot him from a long way off &
AndyP57 was there too.
It was great to finally meet in person after such a long time & we had a great chat.
I also crawled around the car with my camera, tape measure & note book & asked lots of questions.
It really was a big help and it was worth the trip for my time here alone.
Here are some of the areas I wanted to cover...
Stance:
The first thing I wasn't to check was the overall height of the car.
This demonstrator does not have a lowering block fitted at the rear & has standard springs at the front.
It also has 13" wheels, which are the same size as the ones on my donor.
Clearly, this is not as near to the ground as lowered cars like
Mister Towed's...
Or Barry's (which just happened to be on the same page of Mr T's build thread as the photo above)...
But in reality it is still low enough to get into without any problems despite the lack of doors.
( More on doors later on.)
[i]Rear Wheel Arches:[i]
The Demonstrator has around 11cms of clearance from the top of the tyre to bottom of the wheel arch.
I will bear this in mind when I finally test my Spitfire shell & Cordite body combo over my chassis & wheels.
I was also able to confirm that the body shell does not cover the whole tyre.
Dash Board to Steering Wheel Gap:
My plan to use the Spitfire bulkhead will leave metal "poking out" beyond the Cordite dash area...
However, a standard Spitfire column sits quite a way back from the body work anyway...
So extending the Cordite dash back over the Spitfire bulkhead should be OK.
Pedals:
I forgot to ask if the brakes were connected, but the brake pedal did hit the floor when pushed...
This was one of the main reasons for wanting to use the Spitfire bulkhead.
As there was significant re-working of the frame needed with lots of knock on impacts.
( More of the new Navigator developments later. )
Seat Belts:
I have got a set of these belts myself after
Viatron posted the link the other day...
It was also good to see where the mounting points were, this was behind the seat...
Doors:
AndyP57 simply sealed his doors closed which you can see from the inside.
( Although the plan is to extend the internal panelling to cover this. )
But the amazing thing for me is that if you were looking from the outside you'd never know...
Which is the comment I made on
Mr T's build thread the other day.
Just a single coat of primer leaves no traces of how you achieved the final body shape.
Sealing the doors is still my last resort solution if working doors can't be made.
Front Wheel Arch & Bonnet:
There clearly plenty of clearance to play with in the front wheel arch...
Although the fact that the bonnet can not be fitted before the re-body inspection is a real pain.
( You need to remove part of the chassis in order for the bonnet & its hinges to fit. )
Also the Demonstrator has opted for a fixed bonnet (4 bolts) and an access panel instead.
So technically, I have still not seen even a photo of a working Cordite bonnet yet!
However, if you look closely at this previous photo you will see the front corner of the access panel isn't flush.
That is because the top of the radiator cap just fouls the bonnet & needs to be lowered a fraction.
So I'll worry about the bonnet another day &
Mr T has shown it can always be adjusted to fit.
Rear Lighting:
Even simple things like seeing the rear lights I also have in place was a help.
The rubber edge seems to take up any slight curve in the body shell with no extra work...
Navigator - MkII
AndyP57 showed me some photos on his mobile of the work being done on the new mould.
These will be published on here shortly and it will be good to see what they are doing "full size".
By the looks of it, some of the Spyder's alignment issues have remained with the Cordite/Navigator.
The only good news is that I can take comfort from the fact it isn't just me who can't square things.
Tribute:
Finally I also wanted to say hello at the Tribute stand as I love the work Chris & Dan are doing.
I had a brief chat with Chris and had a look at the way the A352's boot lid worked.
I might also steal their idea for supporting the side screens...
Note:
There are some extra brackets & screws in the photo as this was "thrown together" for the show.
It took me a while to realise that the "slammed" low rider effect was due to the missing chassis!
Shopping:
I did pick up a few things at the show, but I'll cover them another day.
With a bit of luck, I might even get a chance to work on the car later on.
I've just got to take my daughters on a quick shopping kit and then take it from there.
Cheers, Paul.
