Thanks Peterux, my mantra with parts like door latches is to keep it simple and stick with what I know.
When I restored our Midget I was impressed with the simplicity and effectiveness of the hinges and latch mechanism, so I figured it's be a good idea to use them on my Speedster. They're cheap too, which is a bonus.
I also want to be able to truthfully say
"There is not one single Volkswagen part in this car" should anyone ask if it's a converted Beetle. Of course, I'm not going to add that it's substantially constructed from British Leyland parts...
My task for today was to come up with some sort of inner surface panel for the doors. I'm taking my inspiration from Porsche's 718 and 550 Spyders, and I really rather like the minimalist look that the inside of their doors have -
So, a bit of CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) and I came up with this -
Quick check that it fits both doors, which it does if you flip it -
Then transferred onto a bit of aluminium sheet and cut slightly oversized so it can be trimmed to fit -
As I want the openings to be chamfered inwards, I cut a bit of rubber hose and used it with some plasticine and parcel tape to make a suitable former -
Then a nice thick coat of gelcoat -
I've finished it off with three layers of 300gsm mat, but you'll have to wait to see the result until tomorrow as it's curing in the garage at the moment.
If it looks the part it's just a case of popping out the recess former and taping it back through the hole on the other side of the alloy sheet to make the panel for the other door.
More tomorrow
