View Single Post
  #303  
Old 27th January 2018, 21:15
peterux's Avatar
peterux peterux is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,074
peterux is on a distinguished road
Default Getting my body into shape....

This weeks report is a miscellany of updates but all with the same aim of getting the body tub in shape for the paint bodyshop.

Following on from last weeks update I've done some more work on the gearbox tunnel reshaping.
I reinforced the gearbox tunnel mods by first grinding back the gelcoat on the surrounding bodywork and then bonding on a layer of chopped strand mat followed by a layer of tissue. I then sanded back, smoothed out with a skim of P38 filler and then sanded smooth. It will be finished off by the bodyshop.

Gearbox tunnel mods by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

The modified gearbox tunnel jointing angle doesn't quite fit flush to the body. My original idea was to fill this gap with a closed cell foam strip but I wasn't happy about the size of the gap. So I covered the angle in parcel tape and filled the gap with body filler. When I finally fit the gearbox tunnel it will only need a thin smear of mastic sealant.

Gearbox tunnel mods by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

Another small job was to enlarge the heater hose hole to take this rubber grommet.

Heater Hose grommet by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

And the bulkhead had this rather ugly hole where the OB had cut a hole for the loom connector.

Body mods by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

I have tidied up the hole by cutting a circular hole with a hole saw. An off-cut of MDF was screwed to the bulkhead to support the hole saw's central drill bit. The mounting holes will be filled and I'll fit a suitable grommet after the tub is painted.

Body mods by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

I then turned my attention to the windscreen surround sides which are supported by steel inserts. According to the Royale build manual these should be painted and then bonded to the GRP frame with body filler. On my car the filler has cracked and I wanted to see if the supports were still bonded securely.

'A' Post steel by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

Close up of the cracks.

'A' Post steel by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

On the drivers side I had already removed the door hinge, so I cut out the filler with a plunge cutter multi-tool. The filler was really soft and came away easily. When I finished cutting out the filler, which only took about 5 minutes, the steel support fell out.
The bond between the steel and GRP had completely failed!!!!!!

'A' Post steel by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

Here you can see the very little bonding used by the OB.

'A' Post steel by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

And the bond between the 'A' post steel and the back of the hinge box had also failed.

'A' Post steel by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

This photo shows where the windscreen surround steel bonding has failed.

'A' Post steel by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

I'm thinking of using something like Tiger Seal to re-bond the 'A' post and windscreen surround but I'm open to expert advice


Hopefully more updates next week....

....peter
Reply With Quote