Even though it sunny when I got home, I had to cut the grass & do some pruning.
I managed to take one photo (see below) & before I knew it, it was raining.
Still, makes a change to get wet trying to tidy up after gardening, instead of after working on the car.
Seats vs. Lowered Floor Pans - More Thoughts:
Before I did anything rash in terms of buying bucket seats I thought I'd better double check the metal floors.
There was little room to spare in the fibre glass versions when I first test fitted a seat a few months ago…
So I dragged one of the metal floor pans & a seat out of the summer house to try the same test again…
Thankfully, the 'cut out' width in the metal floors is the same size (just under 46cm) as the fibre glass one.
Which makes these seats on Ebay (which made me consider buckets in the first place) a tad too wide…
So my next step will be to have another look at the space available to fit the driver's side floor pan.
If I can get the lowered 'cut out' as close to both the front & inside as possible, my current seat might fit OK.
As based on test fitting the passenger side seat, the inside curve of the rear cockpit can get in the way a bit.
If I still need to steal an odd cm or two, I might remove the runners & bolt the seat directly to the floor itself.
Then, if all else fails, I will be left with a simple choice to either alter the floor, or change the seats.
A bit more searching lead me to these seats which seem to be narrow enough to fit & look pretty good too…
I also realised there is yet another area I need to resolve as part of fitting the seats / floor…
Internal Frame vs. Rear Bodywork / Hump:
I've already mentioned the problem I have with the frame pressing against the body work / hump…
There is no simple fix, as both door cut outs in the body fit tight against the internal framework around them.
( So you can't move the body's position without removing the all the door frame work on both sides. )
Which means the Cordite body shell & internal frame work are effectively at an impasse.
In addition, I was planning to attach a section of plywood in front of the frame to build a rear cockpit panel.
But this would actually create an even bigger gap between the rear bodywork lip & the inside of the cockpit.
So I think I will have to cut off, extend & re-attach the body work at the rear of the cockpit, including the hump.
I know lots of Spyder builders have made similar cuts in their bodywork & rejoined everything successfully.
If you have been following the changes to the Navigator MkII mould, you will know there are alignment issues.
At this point, following my "pick your battles" approach to getting this car build, I will have some "wonky" bits.
I am certainly not going to attempt the wholesale changes required to make everything line up perfectly.
However, I did like the look of something
CharmanTech has done under his hump on his G46…
If I have to remove the "face" of the hump anyway, then this would make it easier to fit plywood underneath.
I am also considering building the rear cockpit panel up by trimming & fitting plywood
inside the internal framework.
I would then cover this "Mock Tudor" wall with fibreglass in the usual way to tie in the bodywork & the floor.
Other Odds & Ends
A couple of other things that will be related to the stuff above is the seat belt mounts & the 2nd hump.
I think the 3 point harness will be the most straight forward to fit as each seat just needs two mounting points.
( I will re-use the existing mounting points either side of the hand brake. )
I asked
AndyP57 about the spare hump and he confirmed that all the humps made to fit the "driver's side".
Which means if I want to fit it, there will be a shed load of work to do, similar to
CarNoob's approach.
So for now, I am going to concentrate on other priorities & come back to this at a later date.
With a bit of luck I will get some decent time on the car over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Cheers, Paul.
