Davecymru's Miglia build :)

[davecymru]

I've now taken all of the heaters and fabricated parts off for painting, but while i'm waiting for those to dry i've also decided to take the plunge and add a badge to the back!!

I've dithered on and off for years about what, if anything, to put on the back but after talking to lots of people at lots of shows over the past few years i think it's only right (for me) to put this one on it

[Paul L]

Dave – Sorry, I meant to say I like the Vitesse badge before the photo was hi-jacked.

I also like the way you have sorted out the heater and can simply make any parts you need now.

Good luck, Paul.

[davecymru]

Cheers Paul, i'm willing to try most things with this car now, knowing that if it goes wrong then i can re-do it!

So my heater has been stripped, cleaned, painted, reassembled and fitted



I've now plumbed it in and done a test drive to make sure it's all water tight.
Although i don't have a flow control valve in place yet, so atm it's hot-or-not.



Now it's onto the centre console ready for the incockpit piping, controls and electrics to be finished off and tbh i'm happy with how this is going, but it needs a bit more tidying yet.



BTW i've put these on photobucket, but i'm aware of the faff, so if anyone can advise of an alternative photo host that we're all going for then it would be greatly appreciated!

[Paul L]

Dave - I think the copper pipes add to the look.

I've been using Google+ for my photos, but the code is literally hundreds of characters long.

This was a change they made to beef up security, but I regularly hit the forum limit of 10,000 characters a post.

Good luck, Paul.

[scimjim]

Paul, try tinyurl.com

[davecymru]

Slowly getting there, but other projects and real life seem to be getting in the way this year!
But after a trip to the Haynes breakfast club last weekend where it was noticeably colder going over the hills, i've been spurred back into action on the heater.

Original idea was to reuse a modified version of the Bentley pull switch. But.. as per the vents, i was a bit surprised at it's construction "behind the scenes".

Yes the knob is chomed metal and the main shaft is brass, but everything else is plastic and designed to give the illusion of quality. i.e. it feels so smooth not because it's all made of top quality materials, but because there is a small plastic spur gear that that is encased in grease and designed to give the smooth feel. The world moves on i suppose...

Plus it was also a bit long, so i ordered a marine pull switch which was <£10 and is made all of brass and is lovely behind-the-scenes, but has a rubbish plastic knob.




So a quick bit of tinkering resulted in me transplanting the knob from the Bentley switch onto the Marine switch and it gave me just what i needed!

Centre console was then painted, some pull/push cable recovered from the original Vitesse was found in the back of the Garage and everything assembled on the car.



You can see the heater ducting on the passengers side where it comes out of the Vitesse distribution box, so i'm making it shiny, for the moment. Whereas on the drivers side it will all be hidden and you can just see the end of it where i was starting to fit it under the dash.

The Distribution box is wired up to the hot/cold lever and works a treat at regulating airflow.
Whereas the lever on the left for demisting the windscreen is just there for comedy purposes atm but may do something later.


I'm getting there!


(see how i avoided one single knob gag in this post! i must be tired!)

[Barber]

Get a grip!

[Paul L]

Dave - Glad to hear your got your heater sorted out.

And I'm still lovin' your alien hand gear lever gate.

Enjoy, Paul.

[davecymru]

love the alien comment! I am still trying to fabricate a surround out of alloy that will make it look a bit more professional but other projects (making a fancy dress Groot costume for no.2 son etc) have got in the way!

I've been out a few times with the new heater working and it does take the edge off the chill on the Mendips! So as long as its dry i plan on getting up to the last show of the year at the Bath & West this sunday. If any of you lot are about then please come and say hi!

Ive also been tinkering with the suspension settings and i now have the front shocks on 8 clicks and the rears on 4 clicks and its made a nice difference to the handling.
That said, i will admit that the front springs are a bit hard and so i will be popping in an order to Merlin for some softer ones over the winter.

Fun fun fun

[Paul L]

Stolen from 'next door'.

[davecymru]

Thanks Paul!

It was a good day at Shepton and really nice to meet Graham and see the Formosa in the flesh!
Despite no planning, i arrived just at the right time to get parked next to it and the day turned out all the better for it, as it would seem that Sammio, Ribble, Miglia and Formosa owners are all of a similar ilk (and sense of humor!) !

i.e. A real Ferrari pulled up behind us, looked at us and saw that more people were looking at our cars than his, which raised a chuckle from the two of us

Actually both of our cars received a LOT of attention and even more so for being parked next to each other as some people liked bits of one more than the other and visa versa. TBH I would say that they actually look a lot more 'related' in the flesh and that's not a bad thing.

And that seems to back up what Gary said, as even i was expecting the Formosa to be more of an evolution of what's gone before, but it's actually more of a different-take-on-a-similar-theme.
e.g. some people liked the wider look of the Formosa, some preferred the narrower Miglia. Some liked one headlight style, other the other etc..

Personally my 2 favorite ideas that i may blatantly nick from this new upstart are:

• The rim around the top of the doors and cockpit, I thought that gave it much more professional finish in that area.
• The Door hinges - they're simply just cool!

Next challenge is to get to a show with one of each of:
Sammio Spyder
Cordite
G46 (this may prove tricky!)
Miglia
Formosa

(have i missed anyone?)

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by davecymru

Next challenge is to get to a show with one of each of:
Sammio Spyder
Cordite
G46 (this may prove tricky!)
Miglia
Formosa

(have i missed anyone?)

HOW could you possibly forget the Swordfish? Shame on you...

[lancelot link]

Dave , if you pm me your address , I will send you 4 hinge blanks so you can do your hinge conversion ...They will need a bit of playing with but will give you a good start ...

[Alex]

A couple of photos of Dave on his travels, no matter what I try they keep coming out in this orientation

[deni]

Wow, both cars look really great, so hats off to Gary and Dave. I like the stance of Dave's Miglia a lot.

BTW, Dave do you have the original wind screen? If you do and if you don't intend to use it I would be interested in buying it.

Cheers, Deni.

[lancelot link]

Originally Posted by deni

BTW, Dave do you have the original wind screen? If you do and if you don't intend to use it I would be interested in buying it.

Cheers, Deni.

If Dave can't help you ...I think I have a spare one kicking about that I could sell you ...

[davecymru]

Opps, sorry, forgot about the Swordfish, me bad.

Hi Deni, many thanks for the nice comment. Sadly i only have the fibreglass windscreen fixing strip as i never received the perspex wind deflector, or grill.....
<insert std Poole / Grill / Bermuda triangle joke here>
But you are more than welcome to have that if you're ever in this neck of the woods!


I've managed to rotate Grahams photos and add them to my Photobucket, although i don't know why seeing as he captured me at an especially unflattering moment trying to put my helmet on!

Weirdly the Miglia looks a darker red in these pics on it's own. scroll down to the side-by-side pic to see what i mean!





Heres another pic I managed to find that i took from behind <ooh err missus> that is a good comparison of how much wider the rear of the Formosa is, although I still want to lower the rear of mine a bit so the height comparison may be misleading?
This also reminds me that i need to move and recess my rear lights!





Thanks for the hinge offer Gary, but I've got to do the front springs, gearbox, front indicators and now the rear lights before i re-do the doors.

[lancelot link]

when you are ready mate ...got a whole stack of them in the cupboard !

[deni]

Originally Posted by davecymru

...Sadly i only have the fibreglass windscreen fixing strip as i never received the perspex wind deflector, or grill.....
<insert std Poole / Grill / Bermuda triangle joke here>
But you are more than welcome to have that if you're ever in this neck of the woods!

Poole triangle, hahahaha, definitely mate. Thanks anyway Dave, I thought I'd ask. The same here, only received the windscreen fixing strip...

I will contact Gary as he has one possibly knocking about and has kindly offered to help.

[Marc F]

Guys. I have my screen if you need a pattern