Welsh Kiwi's Build Thread - 275GTB

[jones]

Love it! Great work!

[DaveP]

That does look excellent. Good work.

Oh and unlucky to Scotland; Ireland were just too strong.

[molleur]

Congrats, looks great!

[Welshkiwi]

Thanks for the positive support guys. Appreciated. This week is focussed on finalising all my bits for fixing the body, removing it, final checks and tidy up and hopefully with a mate of mine bond it on early next week. If I can achieve that and get certification clearance then I am all go on wheel arches/doors/boot and inner compartment panels.....
Fingers crossed. Oh and Wales have got two rugby games to play as well in that time!

[Welshkiwi]

Last 6 months have been a horror guys, but seeing as I am back considering putting an update on for the car, the clouds must be clearing!

Since I was last on:
- Body finalled and bonded on
- Cert guys cleared and OK's for building to cert inspection
- Working on front grille
- Rear extension carpeting started
- Exhaust finished
- Original style boot lid hinges fitted
- 3D printed wheel centres - gonna print in silver with Red Lettering.
- Windscreen A pillar covers bonded on
- Working on rain gutters - (Giving me "a bit of trouble Betty" getting them as I want them.....

A few pics how it looks as of today.

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3D Printed centres

[peterux]

Good to see you back WK with an update. I thought we had lost you off the forum? You seem to have made some good progress and I'm loving your attention to detail in every thing you do. Keep your chin up

[Egdik]

It is good to hear about & see your progress.

The rear bumper looks to fit well around the body. The rear window has a good clean line in profile.

As an engineer, have you come up with a solution for the bonnet stays / prop ?

The Fog & reversing light positions: do the NZ people allow or insist on the 'wrong' side placement ? In the UK the fog light must be on the centre line or right and the reversing light on either side [so usually on the left].

Could you tell me the diameter & depth of the rear lights and do you like them ?

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by peterux

Good to see you back WK with an update. I thought we had lost you off the forum? You seem to have made some good progress and I'm loving your attention to detail in every thing you do. Keep your chin up

Hi Peterux, thanks fella, I will be honest did drop off for a bit but that was due to what was going on over here and complete lack of want to get stuck into the car...but that is changing as I have some renewed hope in getting it on the road! Cheers appreciated.

Originally Posted by Egdik

It is good to hear about & see your progress.

The rear bumper looks to fit well around the body. The rear window has a good clean line in profile.

As an engineer, have you come up with a solution for the bonnet stays / prop ?

The Fog & reversing light positions: do the NZ people allow or insist on the 'wrong' side placement ? In the UK the fog light must be on the centre line or right and the reversing light on either side [so usually on the left].

Could you tell me the diameter & depth of the rear lights and do you like them ?

Hi Kidge, thanks for the comments, whilst nothing is perfect when we look at them, the bumper alignment is pretty good and work well visually. No answer on the bonnet stays yet as haven’t looked into it. I do tho have a great length of ex trampoline galv pipe that fits snug over the exposed nut for the alloy bumper fix location....works well, but got to carry it on the road...not a problem I have had to come across yet!
I’ll get back to you on the size of the rear lights, they are lancia/stratos gt40 replica ones. Really like them, build quality is not great on the ones I have as they are all plastic, but they work, are bright and I think give a good finish as some of the 275’s had this style fitted with the rectangular reflector in the middle...
Not sure on the fog/reversing lights, I thought I followed the low volume vehicle guidelines for over here, maybe I have swapped them....the cert guy has seen them and said he was happy, but he may have missed sides etc.

Cheers all, good to be back, somewhat motivated and looking forward to getting something on the road and sooner rather than later....

[Lucky@LeMans]

I fitted the Harrington bumpers on my car and they fitted neatly with the minimum of fettling. Expensive, but I think they really look the part. I used a Triumph number plate light that is very authentic looking.
I also fitted those type of rear lights with the rectangular reflector. The quality of my examples wasn't great, I had to modify the backs so the lenses sat correctly ! The biggest change I made was to taper the recess the lights sit into. A small change but its all in the detail !
I've posted a photo of my bonnet stay arrangement on the Tribute section. Standard struts for an assisted lift then locate the bonnet stay.

[Welshkiwi]

Hi guys,
some general visual progress, some of it permanent and some of it mock up so I can get it to the car show in a week or so's time....

Plenty going on. I think the rain gutter looks the part but it kicked my a**e to get it right because of the profile/bends it needs to be....Just hope I can permanently fix it in the right place!

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[molleur]

looking good!

[Car photographer]

looks good

[Welshkiwi]

Well guys I have completed my first car show. Had to trailer the car there and mock up some of the ideas for the finished article but had a great day.
Plenty of positive enthusiasm, comments and admiring thoughts from the the throng of people piling past. Spent all day talking about the project so didn't get much time to check out the other cars really, but there were 1100 there.... Was placed in between Aston Martin and Lotus. Highlight for me was the Chairman of the Ferrari Owners Club NZ coming over for a 10 min chat and how cool he thought the project was!

My favourite the Alpine rally spec original, (well after mine of course!)

Here's some pics.

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[Lucky@LeMans]

Well done getting the car to the show !

Looks great and not too far from completion.

[peterux]

Looking very good. I bet there were a few like that guy in the last picture scratching their chins wondering what it is!

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by peterux

Looking very good. I bet there were a few like that guy in the last picture scratching their chins wondering what it is!

Thanks fella, yeh a few foxed people as per the underpinnings....funnily enough it was the younger crowd who spotted BMW gauges the quickest!

The good thing was a lot commented that the proportions just looked right, which is testament to Chris and Dan back in the shop....Cheers.

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by Lucky@LeMans

Well done getting the car to the show !

Looks great and not too far from completion.

Thanks LLM, certainly was some “tonic for the soul” seeing others reactions etc. Gave me a shot in the arm that I am heading in the right direction, no matter how long it takes!
Also got a contact with someone who has a set of Borrani wheels in his garage so he is sending me some info etc. Good show and good talking about it.....cheers.

[Egdik]

Good to see your continued progress.

The photos look better out in the open.

We are envious of your parched grass !

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by Egdik

Good to see your continued progress.

The photos look better out in the open.

We are envious of your parched grass !

Thanks Kidge, yes the grass is a bit frazzled round here at the moment, if you can imagine that grass is quite green compared to most places!

The exhaust sounded just about right out in the open spaces, gave a good crackle/reverb once backed off the throttle. Might be a touch loud for cert, but i’ll see what I can work with that.

Apologies forgot about the sizing of the rear lights for you so just done it. They are total trim dia of 145mm and light lense dia of 125mm.
Hope that helps. Cheers.

[Mister Towed]

Looking very classy and really fits in with the big-buck Astons. The 'Italia 275 GTB Prototypo' plates are a nice touch.

Is there a rear screen rubber with a chrome trim available? If so, to my eye it might be more in keeping with the rest of the car.

Keep up the good work!