I have made some good progress on replacing the front bulkhead. The original was rather tired and had a scary crack from pressure from the pedal box.
cracked by
Robin Martin, on Flickr
I have made the replacement in steel, the same as the rear bulkhead. Proved to be quite tricky getting it right particularly at the bottom arround the chassis members. I have a couple of closing plates to still to fit there.
The pedal box is also trial fitted. I have made a L & H shaped reinforcement from 25mm angle to help spread the load. The clutch pedal needs a little adjustment using the blowtorch and hammer it seems.
The observant might notice there are 2 rows of fixings at the top rear of the bulkhead. The original design used the same fixings both to fix the scuttle (dashboard) moulding and secure the bulkhead to a chassis crossmember. I decided to make those seperate thereby improving the strength. I know the fixings are stainless, generally frowned upon for anything structural, but there are enough of them to well distribute any loads. On the final assembly I will also bond the bulkhead using a Sikaflex adhesive - same as I did on the Pembleton.
front_bulkhead1 by
Robin Martin, on Flickr
front_bulkhead2 by
Robin Martin, on Flickr
Next job: overhaul the steering rack and decide on the position for the steering column. I want it under, rather than through, the dash as in the original design. The orginal Marina steering column is pretty shot so I am thinking of using one from a Triumph Spitfire for which you can still get things like bushes.
Cheers for now, Robin