Frankenstein's Cordite comes to life...
I have opted to fix the height of the frame at the side by eye.
Note:
You will laugh/cry later in this post when this approach turned out to be a much better idea that I initially thought.
So I propped up both sides of the frame with whatever I had lying around.
The slope of the drive means I need more spacers on the driver's side as that is how the suspension has settled.
This is the view from behind and the frame is horizontal (ish) as the bulkhead is bumpy in places.
I just needed to enlarge one of the holes in the mounting plate.
After cleaning up the frame & bolting the mounting plate into position, I could clamp the bracket in place and weld it.
So far, so good.
But when I took the same length of box section to the other side I came up short?
Because obviously the two sides of the frame work are completely different lengths!!
This is the driver's side:
Note the gap from the front cross member of the frame to the leading vertical edge is approx. the width of the box section.
And this is the passenger side:
Where the same gap is approx. twice the size of the box section.
So it is completely pointless to measure anything on this [American Slang]POS[/Cussing]!!
Following the wise words of
Mister Towed to simply "Just Do It" I carried on....
I found a longer length of box section and only needed to make a cut out at one end.
With everything cleaned up I could bolt the mounting plate in and clamp everything up.
After the first round of welding the bracket was looking like this.
I then just needed to cap the box section.
With all the props removed the frame remained rock solid.
Looking at the last photo above, you can see the different lengths of the frame / box section "joins" on both sides.
By the time I add the two upper "join" brackets the whole structure will be very strong indeed.
Note:
As always, these frame problems will not be present in the Ribble Navigator.
So although the day didn't quite go to plan, I passed significant landmark in the build.
It is now clear that my
Frankenstein build option will work.
There is still a lot of work to do before I can finish joining all the big "jigsaw" pieces together.
But this was a major step forward, so I will take the little victories when I can.
So until next time, take care, Paul.
Video Link:
I posted this on
Scottie's build thread as he has an old Jag in his back garden.
But it is well worth sharing again here as it is living proof you can get things done one step at a time.
22 year Jaguar MkI restoration
Having said said, I'd like to be on the road within 4 years of starting this project, not 22!
