Welsh Kiwi's Build Thread - 275GTB

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by Lucky@LeMans

Why all the rivet heads through the body by the exhaust mounts ?

Hi lucky,
If you look further back in my thread I have strengthened the fibreglass with t6 alclad panels bonded and riveted on. The hangers for the exhaust bolt to these panels and drop through a slot in both panel and body. The rivets will be filled and over painted, but if you look at the original car it also had rivets in this area. Makes sure I get no flex in the body from the exhausts, they are a fair weight. Cheers.

[Welshkiwi]

Hi guys,
Should be some photos tomorrow hopefully after a few hours on the car. Lost a very close family friend unfortunately in the last few weeks so the car has not been a priority at all.

Have managed today to get the exhaust fitted, still need to remove the back tips for final painting, but very pleased with sound and look.

Chrome wrapping finished on bumpers with issues. Idea was good but the company I chose had issues. From the pictures I post you will probably think they look smart, and they do from a distance. Just areas that I am not happy with the finish or process they used. So will leave for a few years and develop final options for those parts...
More to come soon.... cheers.

[classiccoachworks]

hi Kiwi.
my condolences, very sorry to hear that. I hope that all are doing as well as can btw, in the circumstances.

You've done a great job so far. we are trailing far behind with our build, due to other commitments bt, she will be drive able with roughly fitted kit soon.

sorry again to hear of this sad time for you.looking forward to more build photos soon.

belle
classiccoachworks.org

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by classiccoachworks

hi Kiwi.
my condolences, very sorry to hear that. I hope that all are doing as well as can btw, in the circumstances.

You've done a great job so far. we are trailing far behind with our build, due to other commitments bt, she will be drive able with roughly fitted kit soon.

sorry again to hear of this sad time for you.looking forward to more build photos soon.

belle
classiccoachworks.org

Thanks Belle for the kind thoughts, these things happen I know but when unexpected and a good bloke it is a hard pill to swallow.

Below are some photos, the body is still not bonded on yet, but I needed to get the exhaust guy finished and paid so concentrated on the back bits there. Need to get the pipes off so I can final paint the brackets/tips and paint the red bands on and polish the ends. You can see the bumpers look pretty good, just a finish thing for me there are some opaque areas where too much heat has gone into the wrapping and we needed a pin stripe for a cut line in the centre as too much tension was causing the vinyl to unwrap itself when it was wrapped from one side thru the compound curves to the other. A learning curve (expensive one) but at least I have a better idea of what may be needed to think about for final finish etc.

The exhaust sounds good, just got to see the cert guys and hopefully he feels the same way! Has a good deep growl to it and a crackle/burble when you back off the throttle a bit. - Acid test will be what it does at cruising speeds and noise in the cabin.
I think the car is starting to look the part, the wheels go and the looks that I got with it on the back of the trailer going down the road seem to suggest a bit of interest in it. Cheers.

Exhaust and rear bumper

Rear quarter bumper and exhaust

Exhaust fitted

[Egdik]

Wow ! Those pipes do look good . . . it is 27 years since I last drove in NZ and I guess the roads are now billiard table smooth . . . and you will have enough ground clearance ? My 275 graunches just occasionally still, so I raised the rear a few millimetres when putting on new tyres recently.


It may be the angle of the camera, but might your boot lid hinges be on a bit of a convergent line ? I tried grinding the bases of mine, but they are still not quite spot on. Might try a rubber sheet 'gasket' next year.


Hope it is all ready for the Kiwi summer.

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by Egdik

Wow ! Those pipes do look good . . . it is 27 years since I last drove in NZ and I guess the roads are now billiard table smooth . . . and you will have enough ground clearance ? My 275 graunches just occasionally still, so I raised the rear a few millimetres when putting on new tyres recently.


It may be the angle of the camera, but might your boot lid hinges be on a bit of a convergent line ? I tried grinding the bases of mine, but they are still not quite spot on. Might try a rubber sheet 'gasket' next year.


Hope it is all ready for the Kiwi summer.

Hi Kidge,
Thanks for the kind comments! Yeh pretty happy with the pipes. Currently back off so I can finish the paint and striping on the ends. They are no lower than the original back box so will just have to see how they fare, but billiard table flat the roads are not! So may need to re-evaluate depending on road experiences.
As far as the boot hinges, they are not the ones I am using, they were fitted by the Tribute guys just to mock up initially. So yes they do converge which I don’t like. So I am patiently waiting for a set of Alfa spider hinges to turn up and I will fill the holes and re-position accordingly.

I was all gang busters until my dear mate passed away in China, so haven’t touched the car in the last 5 weeks really. We managed to lay him to rest on Sunday, so once my hangover clears, (we were avid Red wine drinkers together 🍷 ) I will be getting back into it, and likely some late night needs to occur now. Want it on the road before the end of Oct now.....cheers.

[Welshkiwi]

Hey guys very little progress but have started again on the car.

Exhausts are finished - Tips need a polishing but the black paint and red bands are finished and pretty much as I envisaged them.

IMG_20190914_153747

IMG_20190914_153810


The sills now need a lot of filling and flatting to get the trims to look good on them so a bit of elbow needed this week.

[Jaguartvr]

Rear hangers look a bit kit carish/bodged, certainly not what you would expect to see on a 275. If you hit a bump all the forces will transfer to the GRP shell and could crack the paint finish, even with flexible straps.
I routed mine either side of the diff just to gain a little more clearance from the road, worth considering if you are going to be fitting lowered springs.
There are plenty of possible mounting points underneath. I have mounted mine from the alloy bumper crash beam.

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by Jaguartvr

Rear hangers look a bit kit carish/bodged, certainly not what you would expect to see on a 275. If you hit a bump all the forces will transfer to the GRP shell and could crack the paint finish, even with flexible straps.
I routed mine either side of the diff just to gain a little more clearance from the road, worth considering if you are going to be fitting lowered springs.
There are plenty of possible mounting points underneath. I have mounted mine from the alloy bumper crash beam.

Kitcarish and bodged? You really do need to educate yourself on how to win friends and influence people. That forked tongue of yours needs to have a small clip from its tips and a little less acid in it. Suggest you school yourself on the 275 exhaust and what it looks like before freewheeling the tonsils attacking others. If you don’t like the original design then take it up with pininfarina and scaglietti. Not sure what you expect to see on a 275?
If you bothered to look at the photos closely you will see that the exhaust is supported mostly from the front by the diff/original hanger mounts. In several places. You will also see that the fibreglass is strengthened and the loads dissipated by the t6 Alclad plate bonded in behind. What would I know tho, only an engineer.....
Have a little more respect for what people are trying to achieve, be a little less forward in your scathing comments and also get all your facts correct before going to print. I believe I have a pretty good idea of what the 275 exhaust looks like and by the way those “flexible bodged” hangers are the originals from the car.....I will now drop my microphone 🎤. Thanks for the sage advice but this time I think I will pass......cheers tho!

[Jaguartvr]

Didn't intend to piss you off, haven't studied the rear end of many 275's must most appear to be like this.

[Ace]

Well done! Looks like the original. Eager to see what you are doing next.

[IMG][/IMG]

[molleur]

I'm sure Jag's remarks were meant as constructive. Appears that you have closely duplicated the original mounting as far as practicable. Keep on keeping on!

[lancelot link]

Originally Posted by molleur

I'm sure Jag's remarks were meant as constructive. Appears that you have closely duplicated the original mounting as far as practicable. Keep on keeping on!

They look pretty good to me ...like the exhaust hangers , I have some here , one of the Ferrari parts companies had an offer on them a while back ...I think they were £6 each ...

I too think Jagtvr didn't mean to be too attacking ... Hes a regular contributor who has regularly commented on various builds on here ...often not the most diplomatic , I agree but a genuine enthusiast who obviously gives these things some thought ..... He's also a born again Vintage Ferrari expert nowadays too ...

lol ... JOKE ...

[Welshkiwi]

Thanks for all the good comments etc guys.
I hate this social media universe that we live in and people’s anonymity behind a keyboard saying things that they likely wouldn’t say to someone’s face, especially as in that forum they are more likely to ask a question first to understand a bit more.
I know Jag didn’t mean it in an aggressive way, but if people can’t post progress or ask questions without ridicule (or suitably offensive comments) then the questions will dry up and the posts will too. This is supposed to be a load of enthusiasts with the same goals and enjoyments in sharing their experiences. We are spending huge amounts of time/money and marital stress on these things!
I have seen plenty of things in posts that you would consider another way of doing it etc, but people should remain silent or ask a question to understand more, especially when they may not know why something has been done that way. You never know the constraints that someone is under with their builds, whether it be time/knowledge/location/parts restrictions/certification etc,etc.
Anyhoo all good my end and will be back to the build with progress soon. But the sanding of the sills is going to take a fair bit of tender loving care....cheers.

[Mister Towed]

Love the work you're doing. When the car's finished, if anyone starts studying the detail of the exhaust hangers (which look perfectly matched to the period to me, btw) then they've clearly got stuck in one of Freud's developmental stages - in technical language 'a bug up their ar$e.'

99.99% of people are just going to see your car for what it is, a stunning 60's styled coupe that looks like it could be worth millions.

Good luck sanding the sills.

[Welshkiwi]

Originally Posted by Mister Towed

Love the work you're doing. When the car's finished, if anyone starts studying the detail of the exhaust hangers (which look perfectly matched to the period to me, btw) then they've clearly got stuck in one of Freud's developmental stages - in technical language 'a bug up their ar$e.'

99.99% of people are just going to see your car for what it is, a stunning 60's styled coupe that looks like it could be worth millions.

Good luck sanding the sills.

Thanks MR T, appreciated! I will need every bit of the luck on the sills. Only because I used 1.2mm BA stainless for the trims, they are engineering flat compared to the fibreglass surfaces they are bolting to, so some customising req’d. I have one almost there, just needs a bit more filler and manlove.

From what I envisaged though for the car it is slowly getting there in looks. Unfortunately haven’t been able to spend much time on it lately, so feel as if spinning the wheels. Really looking forward to that first drive though so that will have to keep me going for now. Cheers.

[Welshkiwi]

Hey guys, so you can see what I am up to this week.

Some photos of the sills and the stainless trims made that bolt through the fibreglass. These will be primered and the trims polished and then onto the car for the final time hopefully.

As you can see I am faithfully trying to get them to sit in a nice visual way in relation to the sills surface. Not far away but just put more filler on........

IMG_20190917_161653

IMG_20190917_161636

IMG_20190917_161624

[lancelot link]

looks bodged mate ......... JOKE !!

Nice trims , these details make all the difference ...like the way this car is shaping up ...

[jones]

Loving the details on this! Keep it posting great updates

[molleur]

Looking good. Details like this make a big difference.
Well done!