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-   -   New Cordite Build, with a twist.... (https://madabout-kitcars.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3501)

Viatron 9th December 2013 20:24

Clive, as I said a couple of posts ago I am probably being a bit fussy but having spent a week staring at the old one far too closely I wanted it to be as perfect as possible hence I am tweaking a few bits to my taste. There is nothing wrong with the body out of the mould, especially compared to the Sammio shells.

AndyP57 10th December 2013 09:22

Mac, That loom does look the 'Mutt's Nuts'. I'll be watching this very closely as I think it may provide the answer for the turnkey line rather than stripping the old Triumph loom and making a good one out of three variables :biggrin:

Viatron 10th December 2013 10:27

The time saving alone would make it a no brainier for me on turnkey builds and no chasing dodgy 30 year old connections!

pee wee 10th December 2013 15:17

Ikon , having seen Sammio , Miglia and Ribble bodies , I can tell you that they all need a bit of straightening out if you are looking for perfection.
The original Sammio bodies are fairly basic and not particularly symmetrical. They were cheap and did the job. The cars look great.
The Ribble versions are better. The Spitfire based one is the better of the two having had work carried out to straighten it out.
The Miglia is better than the Sammio. It is a Cordite body with a longer bonnet basically. Miglia have straightened them out a lot over the original but they still need work .
I believe all 3 bodies have sloping rear deck panels. It is disguised by the headrest fairing
Wheel arches are all a bit wobbly and not completely rounded and so on.
It would be easy to get caught up in the aim for perfection . I think its best to build to a decent standard , accept the shortcomings of all 3 of them , they are all priced low end at the end of the day , and enjoy your car.

ikon246 10th December 2013 16:58

pee wee
yes i agree, i will be picking up a miglia bady tomorrow so the proof will be in the pudding as they say...............i will post the build on here so we shall see? what are you building?

thanks for your thoughts ikon

pee wee 10th December 2013 19:05

Still trying to raise funds , draw ideas from peoples builds and make a decision on which one to build !
I like aspects of all of them.
A Sammio / Ribble profile without the flip front would work for me.
I like the cockpit location / bonnet length etc of the Sammio original but the flip front would be better if it didn't , if you know what I mean !

look forward to seeing your build shape up on here Ikon.

ikon246 10th December 2013 19:55

yes pee wee
i do know what you mean about a one piece body for the sammio\ribble............you dont like the miglia?
hope you get the funds.............good luck ikon

Viatron 10th December 2013 20:14

Nothing to stop you joining the bonnet to the body and cutting a hood aperture
:-)

Mister Towed 10th December 2013 22:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by pee wee (Post 49634)
A Sammio / Ribble profile without the flip front would work for me.
I like the cockpit location / bonnet length etc of the Sammio original but the flip front would be better if it didn't , if you know what I mean !

For my two new pennies worth I was so glad of the flip front when the clutch failed and I had to take the engine out to replace it. :doh:

Access to the nuts'n'bolts that hold the engine to the gearbox bellhousing is pretty tight even with the bonnet completely removed. With all the nuts and bolts removed, my six pot is a heavy old lump of cast iron that has a will of its own once it gets free of the gearbox input shaft, which takes an awful lot of wiggling wobbling and winching in itself.

I wouldn't have fancied the chances of my paint job escaping unscathed from my single handed approach to engine removal if I'd had to feed it out of a conventional hole in the bonnet. :twitch:

Each to their own though whichever one of these cars you end up building it's going to look the business. :high5:

pee wee 10th December 2013 22:30

The Miglia is a good looker , dont get me wrong , but I think it has a very long front for a short engined car. there is enough space to fit a spare wheel in it. the engine and gearbox need modifications as well as steering and pedals so its a more complicated build.
I like the centre cockpit styling of the original Sammio. as a first build not having to move any major components helps a lot. Sammio developed a car to fit the chassis and drivetrain in its stock locations , which appeals to me.
Its horses for courses really.
At the end of the day , Sammio , Ribble , Miglia , whatever you choose , they are all great cars and all have their place.
The development of this car has given me the chance to own a type of car I felt was out of my reach and I have to thank the Sammio founders for that whichever one I choose.

oxford1360 11th December 2013 08:16

Another halfpennies worth........

I think that this has been mentioned before, bit I like the fact that the body is not perfect. There are two reasons for this; 1) it means that I was asked to part with well under a grand which I still think is a steal, and 2) it gives me the freedom to cut into it without the thought that I am "damaging" it.

I am going to have a bonnet (for checking oil etc.) and retain the flip front (which will be removable with large pip pins) for engine and suspension work. That's the beauty - you can do what you like.

I see us builders as recreating that fantastic era of special building. I doubt that the initial quality of the bodies was particularly high so it's all part of the authenticity.

And, just for the record, I think that the quality is amazing for the price - on all three.

Sorry for hijacking the thread, Mac. Back to building.

Viatron 13th December 2013 19:05

Bit of an update, unfortunately my Lupus is flairing so moving around is an issue so didint get as much done today as i had hoped.
1. The banjo bolt and union for fuel tank outlet arrived but when i test fitted it it bound up on the recessed taper inside the fitting before nipping up tight so a little surgery was required.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8.../IMG_01180.jpg

Only needed about 3mm removing then it nipped up nice and tight so finished swapping it out. Apologies for the lousy photo.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-e.../IMG_01182.jpg

2. Had another look at the loom kit, the only issue i could find was that the 2 flasher units wouldnt sit down flush and were very prone to falling out.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-r.../IMG_01185.jpg


Closer examination revealed both the problem and the solution, 2 minutes careful dremelling and voila, below is a before and after shot of the mod required.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-K.../IMG_01184.jpg


After trimming the units both now seat much better

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-O.../IMG_01186.jpg

Am much happier now as at one stage i was considering having to cable tie them in which felt much too like a bodge.

Apart from an hour burning rubbish that was it today. Am back at it tomorrow and armed with industrial pain killers and Dave's help hopefully we will have more progress to report.

TTFN

Mac

Viatron 13th December 2013 19:33

Oh and did some retail therapy and ordered myself one of these

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h...2_13_19_34.jpg

Paul L 14th December 2013 17:09

Mac - Hope you are feeling better today.

Does the new loom replace all of the old wiring?

Or do you need to join any of the old wires to it?

Good luck, Paul. :)

Viatron 14th December 2013 17:49

Paul, thanks to my lovely pain killers today wasn't too bad although a little hazy in places! Dave did look a little nervous a couple of times when i picked up the grinder :-)

As my donor cam in kit form with everything except the body i don't have a loom to start with, to be honest though for the price of this brand new one even if i did i would bin it in favour of the new one.

Going to have a quick bath and will then update with todays progress.

Mac

Viatron 14th December 2013 19:57

Got quote a bit done today with Dave's help
1. Fabricated the final rear centre placed seatbelt mount for the 3 point belts, bit awkward as i wanted the plate to end up as close to the rear ali panelling as possible, the pictures probably show it better.

Assembled the basic mount and frame off the car
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8.../IMG_01187.jpg

Tacked the bottom of the frame to the bottom so that the upper part id far enough forward for the rear panelling to be almost flush
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-C.../IMG_01189.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V.../IMG_01190.jpg

As you can see the top needed to come out nearly an inch , its 19mm box. Easily fixed though.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Q.../IMG_01194.jpg

A pice of angel made an ideal top mount with plenty of welded area joining them together.

Quick coat of paint
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G.../IMG_01196.jpg

Job done!


2. Next job was to rivet and glue some 3mm plate to the sides of the frame to give me the extra surface area to joint the body to the frame using rivets and PU adhesive.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8.../IMG_01198.jpg

My big orange rivet supply is slowly dwindling! Plate was placed to drop 15mm below the existing frame, probably only need 10mm but would rather have to remove 5mm that try and add it :-)

Coat of paint paint and bobs your mothers brother.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-y.../IMG_01202.jpg

3. At this point we also permanently fixed the tunnel in place but i forgot to take any pictures! Doh!

4. Started on mounting the steering column, first we welded a mounting point to the front of the frame.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l.../IMG_01199.jpg

Then used and exhaust type clamp to clamp it in place.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E.../IMG_01204.jpg

It was at this stage we started working out the angles etc for the extra joints in the steering to make the column straight.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-J.../IMG_01203.jpg

We have a plan but it probably involves shortening the column itself a good six inches, tune in next week to see how it works out!

TTFN

Mac

Viatron 16th December 2013 19:19

No real update today as i have been doing so,e crimbo stuff. But whilst present wrapping, shopping etc i have been mulling a few things over and reached some decisions that i thought i would share.

1. Steering column.

When we started mocking up a way to get the steering column straight rather than cocked over as Triumph intended we noticed that we were running out of room for the 2 shafts and 3 U/J's ( actually 2 U/J's and the triumph flexible rack to column joint) before we reached the end of the steering column. My initial thoughts were to cut and shut the original column using a machined Ali sleeve and some industrial adhesive, welding isn't an option as the column out is made of what can best be described as monkey metal.
A bit of googling though has revealed that the two inner column bushes are still available and in fact are held in by no more than rubber locating bobbles on the outside of the bearing. These locate into holes in the column outer. As this is the case my new plan is to just shorten the column out to wherever i need it to be then drill 2 bush locating holes thereby allowing me to fit a new lower bush pretty much anywhere i want it, sometimes the simplest solution is the best!

A quick Google revealed that mevspares sell them in a column set of 2 for just over £8 delivered so a pair have been ordered and hopefully an update later this week will show the column becomes very much shorter than it is now.

2. Cockpit space.
I am by now means the Pillsbury Dough Boy but have definitely been described as big boned. Sitting in the car on Saturday trying the new fibreglass shell seat revealed that although not uncomfortable there was very little space for my right shoulder before it cam in contact with the body. Not a problem in itself as i intend to fit a leather trimmed foam section around the rear of the cockpit anyway but it set my mind to thinking about how easy it would be to increase the available cockpit width. After mulling it over i have decided that if im even thinking about it then i should probably do it as to do it now is fare simpler than trying to do it later when the body is on.
After messing with a dry board marker on saturday i reckon i can get another 5 to 6 inches of cockpit width fairly easily.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H.../IMG_01205.jpg

I haven't quite worked out in my mind the exact sequence of events that will allow this to happen but the first step will be to cut out the area inboard of the line after doing a more accurate marking job. I will then have to decide the best way to make good the missing flange, shouldn't be too difficult though, a piece of waxed board or Ali will be clamped in then fibreglass relaid from behind resulting in a new cockpit flange in the new location.

Tune in tomorrow night for a run down on how it goes!

TTFN

Mac

micky1mo 16th December 2013 20:12

I had the same idea regarding the steering column.
It is surprizing how far off-set the standard triumph steering column is.

I had the added problem of the BMW exhaust manifold to get passed :frusty:

I think I ended up using the top part of the Triumph column and the lower part of the BMW column which left a U/J in the centre. This just passed under the exhaust manifold with mm's to clear.

I'll get a few photos in the morning.

Viatron 17th December 2013 15:29

And so the cutathon begins!!

Firstly I cleaned the shell so the tape would stick then taped up where the cut needed to be so I could use a biro to give me a nice sharp line to cut to

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-d.../IMG_01206.jpg

Then I carefully measure the 3 inch width I wanted along the side of the body and threw a line at the back keeping it to the existing return.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-p.../IMG_01209.jpg

Next I used a 5 litre paint tin to get a nice radius at the back and then used a steel ruler clamped to the front dash area then bent to meet the new side to give me a nice caurve.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-w.../IMG_01208.jpg

Sorry if the pictures aren't as clear as they could be but wanted to get it cut out before the light went outside as I didn't want to be cutting inside and cover everything with fibreglass dust.

Then it was out with the cutting implement and off I went!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S.../IMG_01211.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0.../IMG_01212.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1.../IMG_01213.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U.../IMG_01214.jpg

Well there is no going back now! Hopefully Sean next door will be in tomorrow so I can wheel it round to him to reform the return for me using leftovers next time he is making anything. If he cant do it ASAP ill just do it myself but I would rather be cracking on with the steering than up to my pits in fibreglass! :-)

TTFN

Mac

Paul L 17th December 2013 16:37

Mac - It is always interesting to see how you can cut and rebuild the bodywork.

Good luck, Paul. :)

PS
I was covered in white dust myself today. :rolleyes:


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