Final Assembly

Patrick · #1 10th April 2009, 16:01

I thought I'd create a thread for the final assembly of the car rather than put it in the build progress

Shame about the rubbish weather, but today's job was mostly done on the kitchen table anyway!

Interior and rear lights

Dash board re-trim without glove box (wiper motor in the way)

Rear of re-trimmed dash showing pod for speaker

Divers side behind the dash

Test fit on car, the mount holes needed drilling out as the paint had filled them a bit.

The speakers could do with a grille mesh to finish them off but other than that it is coming together.

Rear lights installed with new waterproof plugs - a bigger job than you might expect!

Patrick · #2 11th April 2009, 20:00

Speakers, hazards and other stuff

Got quite a lot done today, the stainless piano hinge has been drilled to fit the bonnet, the end pieces cut and drilled to fit to the nose cone and scuttle. The hinges on both doors are painted and fitted also the door latches are installed. The doors have also been lined with damplifier pro to give them a bit more weight and less tinny sound when closed. The rear lights on the passenger side have been installed and rewired with a waterproof plug. The new chrome surround side repeaters are also wired in.
Finally some finishing touches to the dash:

Final touch to the passenger speaker is grill chopped up from a larger speaker.

Final touch on the hazard button is a chrome surround - now the leatherette is cut properly the switch does not need the large ali surround we made for the last dash.

The driver side speaker also gets a speaker grill. The grill also acts as a barrier to keep the speaker inside the ali pot.

Patrick · #3 12th April 2009, 18:25

Nose cone and centre console

Nose cone fitted.

hmm pretty colours

Starting to piece together the centre console

Two supports cut and shaped to get the angle of the radio correct with enoughclearance for the rear of the radio.

Radio supports glued.

Just need to make up some sides to hold the midbass speakers under the dash.

peterux · #4 12th April 2009, 21:49

Looking really good!

Patrick · #5 13th April 2009, 18:20

Thanks Peter

Mk 2 fuse holder bracket

This bracket also holds the wiper motor. The clamp has been moved up a bit to reduce flexing.

The centre console is taking shape with a small recess to keep your glasses.

Managed to find some room to fit a speaker above the steering column.

There's some sides and top to try and keep the front and back separated as much as possible.

Once the dash is in you can't see it any more.

Patrick · #6 14th April 2009, 16:32

Had a day off so I had some time to do a bit more today:

Passenger side speaker and also hidden underneath the amp that runs it all.

Driver side done now covered and a grill on to protect it.

This side still needs some more brackets so it's all solid.

Patrick · #7 19th April 2009, 10:52

The centre console coming together, this will also act as a duct for heater down to your feet. There's also a 12V supply in the side of it for the all important sat nav (or I'd get very lost all the time):

Here is is from a higher vantage point:

The 77MP's styling fits the car quite well:

It's all wired up now and been quickly finger in the air setup and it's better then I thought it would be. Those little BB 2.01's sound bloody brilliant. The midbasses are a bit fluffy but then I'm used to Dynaudio's in my daily driver. I need to get the scope on it, set the gains properly and do a bit of mic work just to confirm the XO points and levels.

All the wiring needs a final tidy up after settings are finalised.

Door hinge bracket, one of four. The metal the door is bolted to is far to thin, it flexes all over the place. Hopefully these will add enough structure to fix this.

Exhausts bolted up, bumpers fixed in place, rear lights in place and working. Just needs the other wing and a number plate.

Patrick · #8 19th April 2009, 16:26

I was hoping that the car would get finished today, but as always there were more and more little things to do!

The centre console now has bracketing to hold it securely in place, the tub is secured and positioned right for the doors. The doors with re-enforcement brackets are on but not adjusted yet. The demister vent connections are nearly done. I tried setting up the amp with the scope but either the amp is chucking out some funny signals or the scope is on the blink (the scope is from the 60's complete with 11 valves

). Headunit has clean output to setting 60 of 62. Higher than 60 and you get a tiny bit of distortion creep in.

Once the demister vents are sort the scuttle can go on and the doors adjusted. After that it's just bonnet side panels and head lights.