Formosa 120 GR Long Nose build

[lancelot link]

Rolled the car outside today after removing the 'truss' and after adding a bit of hairy filler , I gave her a quick sand .....it still needs some work , the rear arches are pretty decent but the front wing extensions haven't been shaped up yet ...need to add the top edge and roll the cill properly ...but its enough to see how the cars silhouette looks ...


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The widened / rounded rear arches and stretched front give the car a different look ....I like it ...I was worried the stretch might be a stretch too far , but it looks great , IMHO ...


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[molleur]

looks good to me! Great work.

[oxford1360]

Those proportions do shout, "Paint me silver....and add some red numbers."

[Jaguartvr]

Looking good, must agree with Oxford about the colour scheme. DaveCymru's triple bonnet side vents would look very nice IMHO.
Round rear arches look much nicer.
The Scimitar is such a good donor.

[Barber]

Now it really looks like it is built for speed.

[Paul L]

I did wonder how you were going to stretch the contoured section along the side of the body shell.

Now I realised that that section has been left completely untouched.

Is the grey strip where the bonnet was cut/joined/extended?

[lancelot link]

Those proportions do shout, "Paint me silver....and add some red numbers."

I agree , it has the proportions to carry that colour scheme ..... someone needs to do one !!

The Scimitar is such a good donor.

It is an excellent donor , really good front and rear axles and suspension that open up larger engine options etc...I just wish there were a few more about as it is easier to obtain Triumph donors and that's what kept me Triumph based ...

Now I realised that that section has been left completely untouched.

Is the grey strip where the bonnet was cut/joined/extended?

Yes it was decided that the panel would cope with being stretched in front of the vent ....that area is going to be opened up with some vent detail ...Grahams had the 250 SWB styled triple slots on the front edge which was quite subtle ...this will have something a bit more obvious ..

The grey is the grey gel repairs yes ...Christophe from Tribute did it for me ...he took the path that made joining less of a faff ..and he has done a really nice job ...across the wing , two lines parallel to each other along the bulge and then across the bulge on its flattest area .....so the rear slid backwards sliding along the bulge ...its made a really easy and strong repair ...cutting non-straight lines is always good for strength when re-joining two panels ...

When the car is in primer , I might ask him to mould the lower front wings and maybe the rear arches ...to make a conversion a lot easier in the future ...I'm not looking at remoulding the whole thing or re-tooling at this early stage , but would consider creating a roller for a customer doing the mods to a standard kit for them on their own chassis ...

[petercharman]

Gary

What can I say I have been lurking around this development. G46V8Mk1 lost log in details harder than a bank account to reset anyway back on!

Last post was declaring that we had gone far enough with the G46 and it was time to sell and then you come along with the formosa long nose. Could not bring ourselves to selling the G46 and I am so pleased we made that decision.

Just call me a customer from here on in. It must be satisfying for you it's must be everything you wanted the G46 to be, look forward to see this one complete and talking to you in the new year.


Peter

[micky1mo]

Looking good and the rear wheel arches really suit it.

[kevemm]

Looks really good and proportions are spot on K

[Jaguartvr]

Side mounted exhaust would look good, similar to Scotty's build.
It looks as if you have enough room to inset it as well.

[kevemm]

re side exhaust the only thing i would add is you just cannot get the right exhaust tone. I had a copy of a Masserrati 300s exhaust on my 860 Monza looked ok but sounded like a spitfire, i have now opted for the straight through under floor 4 pipes like the Testarossa of the era. Like wise my Ram D type i would never fit side onto them too fluffy that has straight under floor the sound track is amazing.

[lancelot link]

I HAVE STARTED SORTING OUT AN EXHAUST ..There is nothing off the shelf for a 3.3 in a Scimitar with an alternative body ! ..so its lots of cutting , shutting , welding , grinding ...I have roughed out the whole system but need to do a bit of finishing on the welds on the manifold but its a bit tight and will be a lot easier to finish when the engine and gearbox are taken out ..A stock tube style manifold was supplied with the engine , it is a 6 into 2 system and was all angled backwards . so that it exited the engine bay in the 7 o'clock position on the drivers side ..I needed to exit in the 6 o'clock position , so the front 2 were left as is , kind of , the centre 2 moved straight down and the rear two reversed to face forward and down ...it was also shortened and has about a dozen welds to get it where I wanted it ... A 90 degree bend takes the front manifold back , its joined from above by the rear omanifold and a single pipe travels to the rear ...around about the rear diff . a homemade Y piece splits and joins the 2 cherry bombs that I joined together with strap iron and fitted bobbin exhaust mounts .

A subframe that bolts to the rear chassis supports the rear silencers , they hang below it on bobbins fitted front and rear ...when final fit of body is done the subframe will be part of the boot floor area too ...



no real pics to share of the system yet ,it was getting too dark but here's how the silencers were joined and where they ended up on the car ...apologies for darkened pics ...

[lancelot link]

HAD A GO AT THE HINGES TODAY ....I put the pedals in yesterday , using stock Triumph Herald pedals and a Spitfire accelerator pedal ... should be getting the new m/cylinders tomorrow but the bulkhead has been fitted up and reinforced to make sure that its nice and strong ... I fitted some seat belt mounts and did some welding on the frame etc.... but today was all about the hinges .

I have decided to do the hinges slightly differently on this one ...the hinges on Graham's car needed quite a bit of work to get right and I didn't want to go down that path again.

I joined the two hinges together using some steel rod and made a nice strong unit ...



Then , using a scrap set of doors , I fitted the hinges to them , spacing them off the door using a spare set of hinge feet ...the hinges have been bolted right through the scrap doors as I will use them as the jigs to make the internal framework ... the proper doors will have hinge plates fitted with studs to locate the hinges ...I think ! ( could change !)

I then created the two pivot mounts in the A pillar / bulkhead area ...the hinges will have some 8mm steel spacers welded to them to act as pivots and be fitted using 8mm bolts ...My engineer mate is making the pivots for me , then I can weld them on but the trial run using washers , nuts etc worked very well ... I slotted the doorshuts to allow the doors to open to over 90 degrees from the shut but not enough to fold back and hit the bulkhead ...

crappy dark pics again , I'm afraid and wrong fixings , but it gives you an idea of the setup as it will finally be ....





I will start the door frames next using some tubing and steel rod ...

[Triumph Special]

Good job on the stretching and splicing, Gary. It gives the car a whole new character. A 'multi-donor' approach is a good one, as it increases choice for the customer and (dons his flame retardant suit...) anything that allows fewer Vitesses to be broken is a good thing! Runs for cover...!

[molleur]

Very well done!

[lancelot link]

Managed to get 4 hours in on the doors today ...I have decided to slim the framework down a bit on this one ...the doors are having their return edges cut right back too ...the internal frame and inner body is all being finished in black , so frames that can be bonded on , instead of bolt on fixing when they were highlighted in silver , is possible this time .

The skinnier outer skin should look more like an aluminium body too ...at a glance !

So a couple of hours gave me this ....



Using my scrap doors as patterns I was able to make the frames nice and snug and they are part welded but need finishing and tidying up , but I wanted to make sure they worked before I got carried away ...I need to add a latch mounting plate as well ...





The bolts holding them on will be replaced with welded on captive nuts and the hinges will affix to these using 8mm socket buttons...so doors can be removed with or without hinges attached ...( Grahams are welded on 0 so only come off at pivot point )

[molleur]

Nice work there!

[lancelot link]

Doors frames nearly finished , captive nuts welded on , plates for the slam latches fitted too ......then it was frames off , body off and engine and gearbox out ...I have finish welded the space frame augmentation , fully welded and box braced the gearstick mount , refitted the door frames , put an extra brace rod on the hinges and started cleaning the framework up ready to prime / paint etc.

should get some paint on tomorrow ...

then I can fit some missing bits on the engine , refit it into the car ....start to do gearshifter etc...and hopefully have the body back on by the end of the week and start to actually fit the car up and move forward ...

[lancelot link]

BODY WON'T BE BACK ON THIS WEEK NOW ....I'll take the opportunity to finish the floors etc whilst the body is off ...

frame and chassis has been primed ....


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and top coat of satin black on too ...( sorry about dark pic )


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Hopefully get the engine / box back in tomorrow morning ....