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Go Back   Madabout Kitcars Forum > Mad Build Area > Vintage and Classic Roadster Kit Car Builds

Vintage and Classic Roadster Kit Car Builds For Vintage and Classic era kit cars. Post your build reports, problems and progress here

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  #121  
Old 16th July 2017, 17:57
Car photographer Car photographer is offline
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click on the image itself first - and it should open up the page with that as an option

it's not letting me share it but I'm presuming that's because it's not my image (could be wrong though)
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  #122  
Old 16th July 2017, 18:04
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Car photographer
1-screengrab by paul ward, on Flickr
I can't find a screen like that one, must be doing something wrong?

Regards, Mick

Nope, nothing like that available. Bizarre!

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 16th July 2017 at 18:11..
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  #123  
Old 16th July 2017, 18:19
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Talking

Quote:
Originally Posted by Car photographer View Post
click on the image itself first - and it should open up the page with that as an option

it's not letting me share it but I'm presuming that's because it's not my image (could be wrong though)
I've found the hoops they need me to jump through, at last. Pictures now in original post.

Many thanks!

Regards, Mick
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  #124  
Old 16th July 2017, 19:00
Car photographer Car photographer is offline
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cool
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  #125  
Old 10th September 2017, 09:52
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Any updates on the Moss?
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  #126  
Old 11th September 2017, 08:21
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Not a lot............

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaguartvr View Post
Any updates on the Moss?
Not a huge deal of progress made over the summer months. There was a long wait for my latest batch of welding jobs to be done by my contact of almost 40 years as he has had staffing problems at a very busy time: his real work takes precedence! I've been driving the A352 'D' quite a bit and have had a holiday so the months seem to have flown by.

Anyway, at last my extended gear change remote, hand brake lever mounting plate and multiplier lever mounting bracket are ready for installation. I've now realised that final bolting of the body to the chassis will be almost the last job of all as being able to pop it off facilitates so many of the building tasks.

I've run the battery cables from the 'boot', through the transmission tunnel, to the starter solenoid and cranking motor mounting bolt respectively, with an isolation switch in the +ve. Working out how to crimp the terminal eyes caused a bit of head scratching until I hit on using my water pump pliers with inch box over the arms to multiply the effort. This worked a treat .

Careful measuring of the limited space for the handbrake effort multiplier lever showed that it could be used, slightly modified, as the manufacturer intended, rather than by my previous idea. The problem of shortening the primary cable was overcome by substituting a length of angle cut from some scrap box section. I've angled the mounting hole in the top of the tunnel to align said rod with the business end of the multiplier lever. As soon as a dry day comes I'll bolt the handbrake bits and gear lever in position with the body off. End of part one.
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  #127  
Old 11th September 2017, 09:29
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Not a lot, part two...............

This weekend I dug out the loom which I'd carefully wound into sections secured with cable ties. Offering it up to the body revealed two problems 1) The front section for the lights and indicators is missing. This isn't a great problem as 'Spitfire Steve' can bring me one when he drops off my stainless steel exhaust on his next foray up the M5. 2) The rear lights and indicators, being wing mounted, will need their cables routed along the wing stays. Offering up the brackets supplied revealed that, not only are they substantially over-engineered for the lightweight GRP wings, but they're designed for bolting to some other style of chassis frame. Scratchbuilding will be required!

Here are a few pictures of the various bits and pieces mentioned above.





I'll need to create an access panel to fold up the P clips holding the earth lead once the body is mounted.







Regards, Mick
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  #128  
Old 13th September 2017, 07:58
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Thumbs up More Body Mounts and Wiring

On Monday I decided to finish off the body mounting hardware. This involved visiting my local fixings supplier where their warehouseman supplied the imperial screws I needed. He's dug me out umpteen times over the years, never failing to have in stock the obscure threads and lengths I've requested.

I had considered using large flat washers to spread the load on the inside of the body, but decided to cut some bigger spreader plates. Under the seating area there are two long ones to be bolted through to two manufacturer's body mounting tappings and two redundant seat belt tappings, the Monaco seats being well aft of the Spitfire position. The picture below shows the 12 mountings: the front four attach the floppy front body; the next two through the angled outriggers; then the inboard seat belt tappings; then the aforementioned original body mounting tappings; the last two into the rear suspension bridge. Once these are all finally in place I don't think the body will be detaching itself in a hurry!



I next turned my attention to the rear loom. As the layout of the various electrical components is significantly different from the Spitfire I decided to re-manufacture it. I've done this on previous projects: my Lomax 224 two years ago being the last. I really enjoy wiring, especially binding my creation with self-amalgamating tape before fitting. The part I don't like is removing the manufacturer's sticky tape underneath. It's just so messy. Once I'd separated the wires I gave each a wipe with acetone so they're now ready to be cut to length; bound together; and fitted with their connectors. I bought a spotlight as a reversing lamp (it hasn't arrived yet - picture will follow) - the loom has provision for this.



To make sure the wiring doesn't come up short I drilled the rear wings for the lights and indicators, balanced them in position and carefully measured the loom runs. I first had the indicators below the lights but transposed them as I thought they looked better that way around.

This last picture is of the modified radius arm mountings which will bolt through the floor. I doubt this will be strong enough so some sort of anchoring strap to the angled outriggers will be needed.



Regards, Mick
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  #129  
Old 13th September 2017, 16:53
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Earths and Battery

Today I concentrated (between showers) on the battery area of the 'boot'. In my box of electrical bits and pieces I found a terminal block for earthing? The screws for clamping the wires were the right size for mounting three double ended 6mm spades (from Volks Spares) to the block, the fourth clamps being used as intended to secure a spare length of 6mm diameter cable. To the other end of this I crimped an 8mm eyelet connector which will go behind the battery earth clamp pinch bolt. Once it's bolted to the boot floor just below where the rear loom will run, the six spades will provide sound and hopefully corrosion proof earth connections for all the rear electrics . The picture also shows my Heath Robinson heavy duty crimping tool.



I next pondered the attachment of the battery to the wooden boot floor. I built up stepped strips from 12mm ply which fit nicely over the end flanges on the bottom of the battery and screwed them to the floor. A similar strip is across the back. In a bag of bits which might come in useful I found some straps which originally held down BMW motorcycles in their delivery crates. I cut one of these to suit and fixed it to secure the battery fore and aft. Once the sun comes out I'll post a picture of this arrangement. It isn't pretty but it's very secure.

Regards, Mick

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 13th September 2017 at 16:55..
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  #130  
Old 13th September 2017, 21:53
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Paul L Paul L is offline
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Good to see you are still chipping away.

Good luck, Paul.

PS
Feel free to post photos of your A352 'D' out and around "next door".
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  #131  
Old 15th September 2017, 09:27
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default As Promised :)

Here's the picture of my battery restraint system and earth block. I had to buy a new +ve battery clamp when the one that matched the earth proved too small. 'I'll just lever it open a little' - it promtly snapped in half. Monkey metal! Buy cheap, pay twice



Regards, Mick
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  #132  
Old 16th September 2017, 09:22
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Talking Reversing Light and Battery Clamp

Yesterday my jumbo old-skool reversing light arrived. Down in the man cave I was eager to ensure that it worked. Touching the wires to the battery resulted in a flash which left a few copper strands welded to one of the posts. Hmmm? I drilled out the rivet (which should surely have been a self-tapper?) to access the innards and connected just the bulb to the battery. It lit correctly. Hmmm? I cleaned all the contact areas on both the bulb and its holder, paying particular attention to the area around the fibre insulator under the +ve. Bulb in holder test? OK. Hmmm? I noticed a small area of discolouration inside the bowl opposite where the +ve bulb holder would sit. Emery and acetone ensured a surgically clean area for a small square of insulating tape. I did the same to the offending area of the bulb holder. On re-assembly it worked perfectly . Interestingly, despite the lens having the moulded legends 'Lucas' and 'Made in England', the sticker on the back of the reflector was 'Bosch'!

I carefully slackened then cleaned the mounting bolts after WD40ing them, drilled a mounting hole and balanced my new toy (and number plate) in position for the shot below. The space to the right of the plate awaits a suitably distressed AA GB pressed metal badge. I also have a boot rack so the rear end of my creation will look suitably busy.



The monkey-metal battery clamp. Its replacement is very sturdy!



Regards, Mick
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  #133  
Old 20th September 2017, 08:05
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Talking Looming

Yesterday the nice man brought my distressed AA GB metal badge. After freeing it from its bumper mounting plate I gave it a mild clean with WD40 taking care to not destroy any character. I opened up the mounting holes to take number plate bolts and offered it up to the project, held by a loop of gaffer tape. Once I was happy with its positioning I drilled the body and loosely mounted it together with the other rear-end bits and pieces. I really like the busy look which I'm sure will elicit many WTF? moments from following motorists once I'm on the road.



I then turned my attention to the rear loom. Working on the outside of the car (to ensure everything was a little longer than necessary) I cut all the individual wires to length, loosely gaffer taped them to the body in their respective sets and joined them at their ends and junctions with insulating tape. Last preparation job was crimping on the female earth spade connectors for my overkill earthing block. I used my new Machine Mart ratchet crimping pliers for the first time. They're a little awkward to handle but they do an amazingly secure job! My creation was now ready for binding with self-amalgamating tape. I really enjoy this, something to do with its being shiny and new maybe? It took a good couple of hours (in the sunshine ) to complete. I deliberately left untrimmed the part to be joined to the front loom so that it can be mated tidily when the time comes.



Not my best picture ever but it does show the general layout from front to back.

I then let my son loose with my easy-tongs riveter while I held the ally P clips in place inside the rear body. I used the utterly unnecessary 'Dreadnought' rivets purely because I love the look of them . Installation of my baby will be today.

Regards, Mick
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  #134  
Old 20th September 2017, 17:04
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Talking No Problems Looming

Today I spent threading the ends of my 'new' rear loom through the relevant holes in the body, loosely folding over the retaining 'P' clips and connecting the earth spades. Once everything was to my satisfaction I tightly folded the clips to immobilise the cable runs. I also drilled a hole in the rear bulkhead, threaded the forward section through and secured it to the inside of the body with more riveted on ally clips. I taped or coiled the external cables out of the way, awaiting the long distant day when they'll carry current in anger. Very last job was to perform a final continuity test which proved positive all round



I routed the driver's side 'over the top' on the 'great circle' principle.



The spider-like earth matrix will be concealed by the battery; the hole to the outside will eventually be blanked off with an ally plate.



Primitive, but effective. The rivets are in a straight line parallel with the ground when viewed from outside.



Not sure how I got the reversing lamp wiring quite so overlong, but better that than too short

Regards, Mick
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  #135  
Old 20th September 2017, 17:25
molleur molleur is offline
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Electrifying news! Looks neat.
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  #136  
Old 20th September 2017, 18:11
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Electrickery, aaaaaagh, you might as well be speaking Polish.
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  #137  
Old 23rd September 2017, 08:03
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Question Head Scratching Time

On Thursday I lay the front section of my pre-owned loom along the Monaco in a rough approximation of its eventual location. It was obvious that, due to the rearward cockpit position compared to the Spitfire, alteration was necessary. The choice was which side of the bulkhead to extend? Further close examination of the loom's layout compared to that of my dash blank and alternator/headlamps/indicators made the answer obvious. Both! I think I'm going to have to take it apart and rebuild it as I did for the rear section. When I was discussing buying the chassis frame I innocently asked the vendor if he had a loom - yes, I'll throw it in for another fifty quid he replied. It's definitely not for a Spitfire! However, the standardised colouring used in British cars of the period means that it's not difficult to work out what's what.

A marathon (albeit interesting and challenging) task awaits to brighten the dark winter days

DSCN0284 by Mick O'Malley, on Flickr

I couldn't use Phukubucket as it's been tweaked to prevent copying the url. The land of the free . Not.

Regards, Mick

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 23rd September 2017 at 08:19..
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  #138  
Old 29th September 2017, 10:42
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Thumbs up More Looming

Over the last few days work on the front section of the loom has been progressing. My first task, after donning the customs officer gloves, was to remove both the self-amalgamating tape and the horrible sticky tape wound around each junction and terminus. I replaced the latter with loose-ish cable ties as I went along to preserve the layout.



A couple of weeks ago I was pondering how to shoehorn my dash into the scuttle without its interfering with the gear lever/steering column brace/scuttle brace. I hit on the idea of having a bend in it in a similar fashion to my A352. I made a cardboard template marked with the instrument/switch locations and offered it up with a couple of trial folds before bending the real thing. Once I'd decided I clamped the dash blank to the workbench with a length of inch box packing and, using a block of 8" x 4" wood, bent it to the required angle. It will now sit further to the nearside with the instruments central.

Next job was to fit all the clocks and switches to the dash, reverse it and lie the naked loom along in the correct orientation. I then commenced connecting everything, feeding the cables through the ties to shorten or lengthen them as necessary. I removed the redundant wiper wires whilst I was at it. I then realised that I hadn't made holes for the dipswitch and horn cables so I left sufficient slack in them to feed through. I searched in vain for a voltage stabiliser so bought a solid state one on eBay which arrived this morning. I've also ordered in-line blade fuse holders and a two pin flasher unit. I'll also need a switch, warning light and dash holes for the reversing lamp, as I hadn't originally anticipated fitting one.



The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that there are no earth wires - these will be the last fitments once I'm happy with all the positives. Hopefully, my next update will detail finishing the dash connections prior to moving on to the engine bay. Happy Days!

Regards, Mick

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 3rd October 2017 at 06:12..
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  #139  
Old 3rd October 2017, 06:50
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Dashing Around

Yesterday I decided to bite the bullet, cut my dashboard to match the scuttle's profile, and temporarily fit it.

I first made a cardboard copy of the dash as the real thing's a little unwieldy, removed the scuttle and hung it over the workbench. I was then able to easily manoeuvre the cardboard until I was satisfied that it sat correctly. I then marked the top corner cuts and the mounting bolt holes and, after returning the scuttle moulding to the body, transferred the marks from the cardboard to the real dash.



I clamped the dash to the worktop and cut as much as possible with my jigsaw. The size of its shoe meant that I had to complete the longer of the cuts with my padsaw. I then filed the cut edges smooth and drilled the 5mm mounting holes.



I stuck the dash to the scuttle with loops of gaffer tape, carefully marked through the holes, drilled the fibreglass and loosely mounted the dash with M5 bolts.



Next job was to make a cardboard scuttle brace as a template before cutting the folded aluminium that will be the real thing. I stuck in in place with more gaffer tape.



I tidied everything away as I'd arranged to pick up an eBay item I'd won. It's a rear hub puller I need to replace the off side bearing on the A352 which was an advisory last test. The seller (and his wife, who immediately took some pictures) was very impressed with the beast. He opened his garage to reveal an Elan +2 in metallic blue with a silver roof. Beautiful! As ever, I hadn't taken my camera with me - sorry!

Regards, Mick

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 25th October 2017 at 05:58..
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  #140  
Old 4th October 2017, 05:53
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Unhappy Mr Thickie!!! (with apologies to Lt George)

As I wandered down to the sunlit but somewhat chilly man cave yesterday morning I was feeling pleased with recent progress and was looking forward to finalising my dash and scuttle brace installation. This reverie was rudely shattered when I realised that I hadn't taken account of the steering column! Once my rage at my stupidity had subsided a little I pondered the options. Cut a hole for the column through the tacho. with a thermic lance? Probably not. More measuring (with brain in gear this time) showed that raising the dash by 44mm and cutting a recess for the column would solve the problem. Five new 5mm mounting holes later it was back in the car in its elevated position; the white paper dot being where the column will run. I'll probably fill the redundant holes with my dreadnought rivets.

I appreciate that it looks as though it'll be stuck out in the elements but the rake of the wind deflector will cover it nicely.



Luckily for me I'd suspended operations the previous day before cutting the scuttle brace which would, of course, have been too short. Half an hour with the jigsaw and files and it was resting in position .



I then removed the scuttle with dash attached, hung it over the bench again and carefully marked the GRP where it will need to be cut for the gubbins sticking out of the back of the dash. This done, I remounted the clocks and switches into the dash, added the reversing light switch and warning lamp, popped the horn and dipswitch wires through their grommets, and set to with wiring the earths for the panel lights, voltmeter, accessory socket etc. Once again my new Machine Mart ratchet crimping tool came into its own: it really is light years ahead of the flimsy combination cutter/stripper/crimper I've used for the last five decades!

Once my newly made black insulated earth festoons were in place I called it a day.

Regards, Mick

p.s. Don't forget the Castle Combe Classic meeting this Saturday - unmissable!
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