Headlights and Front Wings (cont’d)
 

It looks good with the light in place..

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1771.jpg

Now for the other side..off with the old pod and clean up

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1772.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1773.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1773.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1775.jpg

Bonnet fit check..

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1779.jpg

Removal of paint around areas to be glassed..

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1781.jpg

Re-shape the perforated aluminium that was used for the other side, recover it in cling film and position then clamped it in place

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1782.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1783.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1783.jpg

Now for the glass..

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1785.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1786.jpg

When set cleaned up to the bonnet profile as before

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1790.jpg

Now for the support

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1788.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1791.jpg

Made another pod and cut to shape..

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1792.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1795.jpg

Cut body to fit..

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1794.jpg

Prepped and glassed upper wing..

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1797.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1798.jpg
And that’s where it ends for now, the resin in the tin has gone off for some reason, not sure why yet, can’t be the age of it, I will ask at my suppliers when I see him again….. I hope you like the build so far, it has been a long journey and I still have some way to go so the diary will now continue in real time, what you have read up until now covers the last twelve years, I promise it will NOT take another twelve years to finish it……Hmmm my status on here is still a "Dreamer", yeah right...lol

pompeyal - This is an impressive build, with a huge range of great fabrication skills involved. :cool:

Given how small the engine bay is, it is amazing what you have managed to squeezed in there.

Good luck with the rest of it, Paul. :)

PS
I'm heading towards my 4th year of building and that seems a very long time, so fair play for sticking with this for 12 years! :eek:

Your exhaust routing idea and cut section weld techniques for the bends are as inspired as your steering spline mod.
The McCoy I saw was in Brighouse west Yorkshire travelling with a hard top quantum and a mustard coloured allegro towards hebden bridge so they probably came off the M62 so could of been from anywhere. It was odd because when the quantum came out I recall drooling over it particularly the use of Sierra sapphire back lights but yet now it looked very dated and the rear lights looked massive whereas the McCoy looked more like a traditional yet very small sports car lotus élan esque.Ed.

Thanks for the comments guys, I am still enjoying the challanges it brings me, I have a major dilema know, i want to buy an Aston Martin but do not want to keep it on the drive so I have a big insentive to get this project finished so I can clear the garage, I have looked at having another smaller garage built onto the other side of the property but the council got a bit funny about it..

I have just sat and read the whole thread ,very interesting great skills and innovative thinking ,keep up the good work ,can't wait for the next instalment !

Thanks, had a bit of a problem last week, 2/3rds of a tin of resin went off in the tin so put me on hold, as if I need it, so I have since gone and got another 5 litres, and continued with the off side wing, I will show the progress when I have it done, hopefully over the weekend..then onto moding the bonnet..deep joy...

Check your local planning laws about temporary garden structures, in theory as long as you are below your local boroughs height limit you can cover about 74% of your garden with "temporary" buildings. There are some fantastic timber garage/workshop / car barns available and many look superb I built a green oak open fronted 3 car barn with shingle roof last year it would be an asset to most homes. Ed

Headlights and Front Wings (cont’d)
 

Well off to the glass suppliers and I was told the resin may have been contaminated, he was probably referring to me doing it but no, I didn’t so no joy there then, I have bought some more and some gel coat and continued with the off side wing…..

The pod was glassed in and allowed to set the layered up to build any low spots but keeping a small under-flush amount in readiness for the gel coat, as it is difficult at this stage to judge the final shape, I have laid on some gel coat and when it cures I will rub it back to see how much more and where I will need to build the low areas, hopefully I should have the wing in shape by the end of the weekend….

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1800.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1805.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1810.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1811.jpg

Headlights and Front Wings (cont’d)
 

Got a bit more done over the weekend, I just need to sand out the hole again to build up the shape to be the same as the near side….

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1816.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1817.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1819.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1821.jpg

Once I am happy with the shape I will then be cutting up the bonnet to fit into the new profile and remove the old bulge and build in a new one to suit the extra height required for the Vtec engine..

Headlights and Front Wings (cont’d)
 

Well had a short while to spare this evening so I prepped up the offside light port by cleaning back to the gel coat and plugged the hole with a coil off lino wrapped in cling film, then weighted it so that it fitted snuggly, then flooded the space left to just over flush with the wing with gel coat, when it has cured I shall shape it back to suit the near side port..

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1822.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1825.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1826.jpg

Headlights and Front Wings (cont’d)
 

A couple more hours spent on the wing, I removed the plug, sanded back the gel coat rounded the edges and filler primed, it looks much better now and the same shape and size as the other side…

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1827.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1828.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1829.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1831.jpg

Next I shall tackle the bonnet, I will probably reshape the bonnet I have then make a mould from it then make a complete new one, I am sure that will be more successful than using a patched up one.

What's your plan regarding the front bumper? It might look good cut off on the seam and back at an angle with some fab and mesh grill the entire shape and look could be changed. Ed

I quite like the front as it is, I have a Mazda Rx-7 FD rear spoiler that I want to fit at the front and shape to the under valance, from the seam forward I will be painting it yellow and run the stripes back from there, similar to the old Lotus 7 idea.

In the Cabin
 

I have done a bit of work over the last couple of evenings and firstly I wanted to sort out the hole for the gearshift. The original shift was for an early mini and required a gaping cut out, first I made an expanded foam plug then covered in cling film, supported the plug from under the car and glassed over the hole, then a coat of gel and recut the new hole to suit the new Honda gearshift.

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1627.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1628.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1629.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMAG1726.jpg

Now for the bonnet
 

I have just cut out the original bulge from the bonnet and sanded back the ridge that was left, I will refill the hole flat with glass over the weekend then tackle the areas each side to reform them to the shape of the wings, after that more cuts and shaping for the new bulge to clear the Honda cam cover.

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1832.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1833.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1834.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...IMAG1836_1.jpg

Bonnet continued
 

Bit of a rush today, out to lunch later so just the morning on here, I have cleaned back the underside of the bonnet, sprayed a sheet of PTFE with release agent and gaffer taped it over the hole, prepped some gel coat and applied to the bonnet…

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1837.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1838.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1839.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1840.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1841.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1842.jpg

two sheets of chopped glass mat cut to size and the corners clipped

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1843.jpg

2 sheets of glass applied and 2 hours later hey, hole filled…..

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1844.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1846.jpg

next the sides…

Bonnet continued..
 

First I gave the patch a sand over then prepped up the sides, one at a time I cleaned paint from the areas I needed to glass the side patches, sprayed release agent onto the PTFE sheet as used on the hole and clamped into position, applied the gel coat and after about an hour I applied 1 sheet of chopped mat, I will be beefing that up when I have trimmed to shape and formed the flange….

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1848.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1847.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1849.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1852.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1853.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1854.jpg

The bonnet continued
 

I have had other thoughts on how I should approach making a new bonnet, as I had half a sheet of 9mm MDF kicking around I though I would try to shape it into the form of the bonnet. There is a double curve on the existing bonnet and unfortunately it doesn’t correctly follow the curvature of the wings, reason being is from the original light pods forward, the curvature wasn’t in close proximity of the wings so it wasn’t obvious, now that the new bonnet is, I will need it to follow the wing curve precisely. I placed the board over the car covering the engine bay and weighted the corners to encourage the board to deform.

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1896.jpg

To help along the process I draped a damp sheet over the board

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1897.jpg

Over night there was some movement in the shape of the board so to encourage it even more I re dampened the cloth and added more weight

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1899.jpg

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1900.jpg

Continually dampening the cloth in the morning and evening the spring back has reduced quite well so I have started reducing and re positioning the weights. I will be continuing this until the board stays in the form required without the aid of weights.

http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMAG1902.jpg

The double curvature is also happening so when finished it will not just look like a one dimensional curved board.

Now that is what I call genius....

Robin

Thanks Robin.