Swifty's Navigator - Page 18

Paul L · #**341** 30th January 2015, 20:22

Swifty - More nice shiny bits.

swifty · #**342** 31st January 2015, 19:59

Mounted the boot brackets to the body and lid, it's now obvious that i will have to make a spacer tube for the lower bracket so that the arm will clear the channel, pictures to follow.

Looked at a way to mount the front indicators under the head lights and decide on a boss made with fiber filler to use as a base.

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A roll of brown packing tape is the ideal size for a mount, lined with cling film to act as a anti stick agent. Pushed out when still warm which stops the cling film sticking firmly to the sides of the fiber filler as it did to the bonnet scoop i made earlier which was left to dry overnight which made the cling film a bugger to get off the surface so my advice is remove when still warm.

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Two bosses before shaping to suit the body profile. I made a couple of cardboard template profiles and transferred onto each boss then cut and filled to shape matching the curved profile.

I needed a datum to follow and make sure both of the indicator base's were in the correct position.

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Drilled a 6.4mm clearance hole through the center and into the body, tapped out the car body for a 6mm thread and screwed a cap head in to align the boss to the body profile, the bolt also keeps the boss tight against the body while bonding in place.

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Bonded to the body with fiber filler, the surface was roughed up before applying the fiber filler to act as a key. You can see by tightening the bolt it has squeezed the excesses filler out.

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Fiber filler cleaned away. Tomorrow i should have the hole cut in the mount for the indicator body to fit into and then finish with body filler.

Started to check the whole bonnet surface for imperfections and gave it a light smear of body filler were necessary.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

Paul L · #**343** 1st February 2015, 07:25

Swifty - That looks like a much neater job than my effort.

With the added benefit of leaving the indicators pointing forward.

( Whereas mine will be pointing slightly downwards. )

It did remind me that at one point I was going to use a Pringles tube for mine.

Good luck, Paul.

swifty · #**344** 1st February 2015, 18:51

Paul I find that i look for the easiest way to do things as this build is complicated enough what with the amount of body work required just to make it reasonable.

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Trimmed the mounts down slightly so that the indicator top edge is flush with the body and drilled a 34mm hole through the mount. Just need to give a slight coat of body filler and jobs a good one.

After running my hand over the bonnet i have come to the conclusion it requires a lot of work to fill in all the hollows although the rest of the body is much the same, i think i will start with body filler sanded back then finish with upol reface using a guide coat to finish off.

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These two images show how much extra filler has been required up to now.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

swifty · #**345** 2nd February 2015, 18:47

A few photos of the boot lid stay made earlier, the mount bolts used are temp for the moment but once fitted for good they will match most likely stainless.

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Will more than likely give the boot lid bracket a covering with fiber glass followed by body filler to blend in.

Its worked out pretty well in that when the lid is opened the arm lock's into position and to close i have to push from the center pivot to collapse the arm.

Started to work out how to tackle the front grill so will post some pictures soon.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

1iTim · #**346** 3rd February 2015, 05:18

really nice work there swifty. Have you considered mesh for the grille? (like a 1 or 2mm wire mesh)

swifty · #**347** 3rd February 2015, 05:58

1iTim I am looking to fabricate a rectangular section grill similar to what was used in the mid fifties, am thinking along the lines of 75mm x 50mm section made from 1mm ally sheet and will post pictures when i've finished.

Paul L · #**348** 3rd February 2015, 07:57

Swifty - I am sure your grille will be to the same high standard as everything else you've made.

Are you planning to permanently fix it in place, or make it removable?

As obviously I will be following what you do to steal ideas for fitting my own grille.

Good luck, Paul.

swifty · #**349** 3rd February 2015, 18:44

Paul More than likely the grill will be a permanent fix due to the way i have fabricated the hinge mechanism tubular steel mounts which will make it very difficult to remove once fitted, the tubes may make it difficult to fit the grill in one piece but i hope to find a solution for this. I am going to have all the ally parts I've made anodized to protect them this includes the grill so hopefully there is no need to remove in the future.

Today i managed to cut the ally sheet to size and cut slot along the matting edges, now need to polish and assemble hopefully tomorrow.

See you all soon.

swifty · #**350** 4th February 2015, 18:09

Progressed the grill some more tonight, cut all the slots and roughly assembled, the next move is to make an oval frame from 1mm ally sheet for the grill to attach to.

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Started off with lengths on 1mm x 30mm sheet.

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Marked out and cut slots at 75mm pitch on the horizontal bars and 50mm pitch on the vertical bars, each slot was cut 15mm's long which is half way.
A little tip a standard 18tpi hacksaw blade cuts a slot nearly 1mm wide which i then pushed a 1mm thick 12 inch steel ruler down the cut slot to open out to the required 1mm, the hard bit is keeping the slot straight and square may be using a band saw with a guide may be easier.

You then need to de-bur the slot which creates file marks across the uncut section but don't worry as these marks are hidden when slotted together.

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Assembly is by slotting each bar into each other at the point where the slot is cut, this photo shows what i mean. You can see one bar has the slot at the bottom where as the other bar has the slot at the top if that makes sense.

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All assembled just need to trim to size and pop rivet to the outer oval ring which i have to fabricate later. It does look good and once anodized it will last years.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

1iTim · #**351** 5th February 2015, 07:47

Nice job swifty!

Paul L · #**352** 5th February 2015, 13:58

Swifty - Your grille looks amazing.

swifty · #**353** 5th February 2015, 19:13

Cheers Guys.

Due to the cold weather i turned my attention to a little bit of turning to tidy up what was a dull looking gear lever from the type 9.

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Its made in three separate parts the gear knob, shaft cover with taper end to cover the ball socket of the original type 9 gear lever and a ring.

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The first image shows the original gear lever with rubber shroud at the base while the second is the new turned ally cover with an ally ring hiding the plastic cup socket at the base of the rubber shroud. I hope to be able to fabricate the gearbox tunnel from ally sheet and for the turned ring at the base of the rubber shroud to sit on top of the ally gearbox tunnel, well that's what i hope to achieve.

Another part made to help with the final illusion and hopefully confuse any body that looks inside.

Been mulling over how to attach a tow eye to the front in case the car ever needs to be pulled up onto a flat bed in the future and my solution is to buy a modern screw in tow eye and weld a mount to the front chassis cross member, the tow eye will be long enough to pass through the grill and screw into the mount, once i've finished i post some pics.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

swifty · #**354** 8th February 2015, 18:02

Have been mainly filling and sanding over the past two days so my fingers are a little stiff.

Also trial fitted the front grill before it goes off for anodizing.

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It all went pretty straight forward although i had to cut out one of the tubular bonnet hinge supports to give me enough room to fit the grill, will weld the tube back in once the grill is permanently in position.

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Shot of the grill lying against the nose, i think i will fasten the grill to the body with a couple of angle brackets onto the nose edge i built up with fiber filler.

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Front indicator mount filled and sanded back, so far i have used over half a large tin of body filler to try and remove the many ripples and imperfections in the shell. You can see from the side shot the area i have covered so far, once the shell is as flat as i can get it with the body filler i will then give the whole shell a couple of coats with Upol Reface then flatten back so hopefully most of the ripples and hollows will be hidden along with any light scratches.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

Paul L · #**355** 10th February 2015, 07:16

Swifty - I know you have done a ton of filler work, but it will look great in the end.

Good luck, Paul.

PS
This view makes the car look very "menacing".
( In a good way. )

swifty · #**356** 15th February 2015, 17:50

Not a lot of progress of late as i have had other things to deal with so today i tried to make an effort and push the build on.

Gave the whole body a guide coat dusting, used normal matt black paint.

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Rubbed the whole body down to reveal the low points and filled over before giving it another dusting of guide coat, it pretty close to spraying the whole body with polyester spray filler which will give me an idea of how the shell really is plus it will then be one colour which helps with the looks.

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Built up the bulk head bonnet edge with fiber filler so that its 35mm deep across the lip which will be a good surface for the rubber strip to attach too. The original lip narrowed at both sides which looked wrong plus i intended to fabricate an ally sheet bulk head so the parallel lip will be easier to fabricate up to.
Also cut out the fiber glass where the master brake and clutch cylinders go, i've just bought two master cylinders with remote fluid reservoirs.

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Made a card board mockup for the radiator to see what size will fit and it look's like an RS500 Cosworth rad will do.

It's very tight due to how low i've set the bonnet but hopefully it will be ok, just need to order the rad and make a couple of mounting brackets, then connect the cooling system.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

Paul L · #**357** 16th February 2015, 11:05

Swifty - It is always a good sign when the guide coat goes on.

Although I am sure that getting it all one colour will be a huge boost to morale.

If Mac doesn't get back from his holiday soon you will be overtaking him.

Good luck, Paul.

PS
Glad to see you can squeeze a radiator under the bonnet.

swifty · #**358** 17th February 2015, 20:14

Paul I don't know about overtaking Mac's build as i still have the interior to finish and an ever growing list of things to complete but you are right about the morale boost that one colour gives you so here's looking forward to starting the paint job.

Has anybody fitted a thermostatic fan switch to an after market GT6 engine rad if so what temp was it rated at as i have a choice of several to choose from as follows -

On 88 degrees Off 79 degrees
On 82 degrees Off 68 degrees
On 92 degrees Off 87 degrees
On 88 degrees Off 74 degrees

swifty · #**359** 18th February 2015, 17:49

Quote:

Has anybody fitted a thermostatic fan switch to an after market GT6 engine rad if so what temp was it rated at as i have a choice of several to choose from as follows -

On 88 degrees Off 79 degrees
On 82 degrees Off 68 degrees
On 92 degrees Off 87 degrees
On 88 degrees Off 74 degrees

I forgot to mention i am fitting electric fans to the rad and the thermostatic switch position is at the top of the rad.

Mister Towed · #**360** 18th February 2015, 18:22

As far as I'm aware, the thermostat usually goes at the bottom of the radiator so you're sampling the temperature of the cool water coming out, not the hot water going in.

That way the fan will only kick in if the radiator is struggling to get the temperature down sufficiently on its own. If the 'stat's at the top, it will trigger the fan to come on all the time once the engine's warmed up as the water coming out of the engine will obviously still need cooling.

When sited at the top it may also fail to trigger the fan when needed if there's any drop in coolant level as they don't react to hot air, just hot water.

I can't quite remember what on-off temperatures my fan switch has, I'm sure it's on my build thread/on the road thread somewhere though.