Welsh Kiwi's Build Thread - 275GTB

[Paul L]

WelshKiwi – Sorry to hear you’ve had problems ‘out of the box’.

I am planning to meet up with Kidge and his 275 next week for the first time.

Which lead me back to my first post on this thread back in Sep.17…

Originally Posted by Paul L

… I know the development of Kidge’s car took a lot of time and effort, but it looks well worth it to me…

So I really hope I will be able to post similar comments about your car at the end of your build.

Good luck, Paul.

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by Paul L

WelshKiwi – Sorry to hear you’ve had problems ‘out of the box’.

I am planning to meet up with Kidge and his 275 next week for the first time.

Which lead me back to my first post on this thread back in Sep.17…



So I really hope I will be able to post similar comments about your car at the end of your build.

Good luck, Paul.

Hey thanks Paul. You always expect some challenges, but after all the planning and “replanning” you hope it doesn’t come at the first build hurdle! Spent about 4hrs yesterday meticulously removing micron after micron of metal. Not sorted yet but optimistic I may have a solution, it is going to take a while though at best in a home garage with no chance of the heavy engineering workshop it needs. Hoping the optimism continues!
I have been looking at Kidges car and liking it a lot. Certainly something to look forward to. Cheers!

[Lucky@LeMans]

Originally Posted by Welshkiwi

Hey thanks Paul. You always expect some challenges, but after all the planning and “replanning” you hope it doesn’t come at the first build hurdle! Spent about 4hrs yesterday meticulously removing micron after micron of metal. Not sorted yet but optimistic I may have a solution, it is going to take a while though at best in a home garage with no chance of the heavy engineering workshop it needs. Hoping the optimism continues!
I have been looking at Kidges car and liking it a lot. Certainly something to look forward to. Cheers!

In my experience with welded fabrications and fibreglass moulded parts often require some "heavy fitting" at the early stages. It will need more than just trimming a few microns here and there by the sound of it, don't be afraid to get stuck in if needed !

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by Lucky@LeMans

In my experience with welded fabrications and fibreglass moulded parts often require some "heavy fitting" at the early stages. It will need more than just trimming a few microns here and there by the sound of it, don't be afraid to get stuck in if needed !

Thanks LLM, yeh you are right a bit of hard elbow grease will be required at stages. Just taking my time with the roof support as this is part of the certification process over here so it is tread very lightly. It is coming together slowly, I have been at it for another 5hrs today and it is starting to work. I do have angle of insertion issues with the roll bar, so once I can get them to go full insertion into the chassis tubes separately then I can try and play with the angles between them. At present they won’t insert into the chassis together.
Appreciate the good thoughts tho! Cheers.

[Jaguartvr]

I am presuming you are talking about where the roll cage drops into the vertical tubes in the car.
If they are slightly too close you can get a hydraulic body ram kit cheaply on eBay, amazing what they will move.
If it needs bringing in you could try using some heavy duty ratchet straps, again it is surprising how much pressure they can exert.

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by Jaguartvr

I am presuming you are talking about where the roll cage drops into the vertical tubes in the car.
If they are slightly too close you can get a hydraulic body ram kit cheaply on eBay, amazing what they will move.
If it needs bringing in you could try using some heavy duty ratchet straps, again it is surprising how much pressure they can exert.

Yup you got it Jag. At present they are too far out at the insertion point. I have had them to line up with ratchet straps but they are not in alignment enough to insert more than about 30mm without jamming up. As you know they have to insert approx 270mm! Once I have them freely moving in and out seperately it at least gives me the starting point to work on alignment. At present they won’t insert fully on their own. I may find that it is just “spring” and aligning the lower end squares everything up. It may tho be that the stresses are coming from the top end so a bit more persuasion with heat may be required. Just have to wait and see but the good bit is I can strap the tubes so they start. Cheers.