MadaboutKitcars

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Ordered some new boots for it, and borrowed a mates lathe and knocked up some adapters for the spinners.

This was my fuel filler pipe, lots of head scratching to get this right.

So, dry fitted the kit, tried the lights in front and rear etc.


The thing that always bugged me on the kit was the rear window, it just looks too flat on the back and also too recessed all IMHO of course, so out with the air saw.


Oh dear, no turning back now, so off down to my mates place who runs a fabrication company, he bent me up some alloy strips to acts as a former around the aperture and also hold the new rear screen.


These were cut and bent to shape (ish) then I screwed and bonded them in place, I took the screws out once it had set, then I flipped the roof section over and glassed them in to place from behind.

The black stuff is flow coat, it sort of protects the matting from water ingress and also makes the surface a bit smoother so it will be easier to clean any crap or road dirt off, I treated all the exposed Matt with it.

I had to grind it off where the new matting was applied.

More to follow.

Looking good Jeff
Have you decided on a colour scheme yet?

I think it has improved the rear end, you may disagree of course, the rear window will now be perspex (Race car remember saves weight)

Yes bud,

Rosso Barchetta, a sort of darkish red, not the blood red you see on a lot of fezzas.

I actually bought the paint before the kit arrived, this is the look i am aiming for.

So,

Remember the one step forward, two back thing ? well in my wisdom I decided to add a cross brace to the rear cage, I have fitted a harness bar for the 4 point belts.

Back out with the welder.



So now I have even less rear view, these are supposed to be badish any way, still who needs to see what's behind you eh ?

I love the colour choice
I look forward to seeing this one coming together

More to follow.

This is the back end now with the bar in.
The other small problem I had was how close my head was to the internal roll bar, I will pad it before the car goes back on the road but I also got hold of some small bucket seats for it.

More to etc etc.

So,

The next brain wave was to give some shape to the doors, I know why Tribute done them the way they did and their is nowt wrong with it at all, however after a LOT of thought I hoped I could improve them.

So, masked out the cut lines.

And fired up the disc cutter.


Of course you can't just hack the skins off without moving the lower part of the door up, this is where A part of me wished I left the fecker alone.

And of course that mod also meant I had to build the sill up to meet the door, I think I took 40mm off the bottom of the door and added 30mm to the sill, or it may have been the other way around, not sure, been asleep since then.

I ripped all the Gel coat off the top and sides of the sills, this was more for the bonding to take better.

I then popped back down to the fabricators and had some steel plates folded up to bring the height back up.

Then I drilled some holes in them so that I could screw them on as well as bond them on, they were also welded the full length of the sill, I also filled them with builders foam and then glassed them in place.




More to follow.

Great to see another build and a good one at that ! If you get anywhere near the look you're after it will be a stunning car.

After this was done I was ready to finally bond the kit on, It really did put me back weeks on the build to do this mod, hopefully the finished result will be ok.

So, out with the Stickall and time to fit the top for the final time, I had already bonded some flanges on to the sills before I fitted them, I also waxoyled the hell out of the inner sills before they were fitted.

Not a great pic but you may be able to see the flanges I put on here, this was so the quarter panels had something firm to sit against.





The blue stuff is bonding paste designed for gluing 2 bits of fiberglass together,

The eagle eyed ones will notice I have not bonded the pillar trim on, I am going to bond it on but leave a small gap, 3mm maybe, I will then seam seal this and paint over, I think it will flex on the sealer then and not the body.

We live in hope.

Thanks,

I was originally hoping to have it done by now, customers work has to take priority over my own toy, I have to accept it is done when it is done, frustrating at times but there we go I guess.

So,

This is where I am up to at present, I built up the gaps left by the rear wings the same way as I done the sills, formed some steel sections, welded them in to the door shuts and glued ,screwed foamed and glassed them in place.





I think the sides look ok, will it crack ? that is the million dollar question, If it does I will deal with it at the time, I will certainly look in to the under brace that some body on here put up, it was in the States I think.

Still a lot to do, I have a lowering kit for it to fit as the arch to wheel gap is rather large.

Very impressive. Loving all the photo's too. Keep up the good work!

Fascinating, great to see another build, and new ideas and approaches. Looking forward to seeing future progress.

Good morning Jeff its good to see another SWB build on the forum , the work on the doors is very impressive , thank you for all the pics , Geoff .

That is going to be a fabulous car. Great number plate, love the seats and the colour choice, too.
I admire your willingness to go a long way for marginal( but important) changes, like the filler cap recess and the door shape.

I am looking forward to seeing this progress.

Best of luck,

David

Marginal? Wow! Think I'd argue that point with the doors - the door/sill depth and continuous join of the body is a massive part of the look of the original inspiration.

Really interesting to see how a pro (as in do it for a living) body shop person goes about it - all the changes really enhance it. Totally with you on the rear window it so needed to wrap into the rear butresses.

The 250 hot rod is also an excellent choice to emulate and I'm with you on the deeper red.

Without trying to upset anyone else, it looks (with all the mods and graft put in) like this one will be the benchmark for the coupe kit.

Only thing I'd change is going for wires (even though i now know what a complete PITA they are to keep clean!) but the beamer steels do look great as "premiered" on Bobs coupe

Wires would look great but you can't easily replicate the look of the real thing because you can't fit deep dish wheels with the wide BMW track.

Nobody has yet narrowed the track to fit the right wheels , I think the Jag ones stick out too far a and spoil the look. The deep dish Cobra wires would look great with a narrow track.

I've managed to get an old set of MWS bolt on wires that I've had powder coated.
I was thinking if I went a bit narrower than the Nubodies 225/70x15 it would look ok. However I picked up a second hand set of 225/70x15 on Ebay with 7mm of tread for 99p! That was of course a set of 4 with alloys, buy the time I sell the alloys I hope to have covered the £30 shipping cost!

Great build this, i love a build thread where you can learn as much as possible. Keep it up.