Another Cordite Is Born ...

[Paul L]

That Friday Feeling - Part 1:
I was outside sanding down filler before 8am in an attempt to get some car work done before the promised rain arrived…





Thankfully, the return lip of the bonnet is now done, so it got a coat of etch primer.



Whereas, the body shell extension lip got a coat of normal filler.



Including the bottom corner that I had to rebuild.



Once again, the filler set before I could smooth it out nicely.

Still, at least it all looked a lot better after it had been sanded down.





Not easy to highlight in a photo, but this bottom section has quite a "3-D" shape to it.



Then this section got a coat of etch primer too.



Then it was time to get all the covers off to take some "After" photos.

End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

That Friday Feeling - Part 2:
You can see how I have slightly built out the bottom corner of the body shell extension.



Whilst I haven't watch all of the Jaguar video that Roadster posted the other day, I did spot one thing.

And without trying to get ideas above my station, the bonnet of a C Type had a curved rear edge too.
( Although the rear bonnet section itself is miles longer. )



Back to my car and the passenger side is now one colour for the first time.



This is the side view comparison.

Before



After - Still "tilted" on the driveway, but you get the general idea.



Note: I accept the arches are not perfect, but there are miles better than what I started with and that is good enough for me.

So that brings the count up to 3 down and 1 to go.



But that was it for today, as I had to pack up & clean up so I could pick my eldest daughter up early from school, as she finished her last GCSE today!

Obviously, I was happy to spend some time with her and the driver's arch can wait until the weekend.
( Along with the underside of the passenger side panelling. )

As you can probably imagine, I am in a very happy place at the moment.

Take care, Paul.

[Roadster]

Paul all this time you had us believing that you were bodging your way through this build with little skill and experience.

This clearly isn't the case, far from just a small adjustment of the wheel opening.
The bottom of the trailing edge looks great and matches the curve at the bottom of the leading edge.
That whole side has been transformed.
The original Sammio always had the Italian look about it. They built them light and delicate and when something broke they would beef it up a bit to make it last the race.
The English however built them sturdy and them lightened them until they were competitive.

The Swordfish looks like a british thoroughbred - I can't wait to see it in BRG

[Paul L]

Roadster - Hmmm….

So what you seem to be saying is that I've spent the last 4 years faking my limited skills and experience?



Jokes aside, thanks for the positive feedback.

Although, I can honestly say that I am just as surprised as anyone reading this to see how well this modification work has turned out.

When I searched for the photos of my sanding block set the other day, I came across this statement I made back in July 2014.
( Just before I cut the back of the car in half! )

Originally Posted by Paul L

…I really need to work to an acceptable / achievable standard, not begin an epic quest / crusade for perfection…

So if I was still wearing my "OCD Goggles" my eyes would be naturally drawn to the areas of the body shell that are not perfect.

But these days I force myself to ignore the small imperfections and focus on the overall impression that I am trying to create:

"a 50 year-old race car that has been into the hay bales a few times in its life"

All hand build British racing cars from the 50s & 60s had "wonky" bits, so my car is in good company.

Hopefully I will be back later on today with another build update.

Cheers, Paul.

[Paul L]

Short Saturday Sessions - Part 1:
This was one of those days where I just had to fit whatever car work I could in around "life" and that is fair enough.

I've decided to make a start on the driver's arch now & come back to tidying up the underside of the passenger side later.

The first job was to check how the gap between the arch and the tyre differed between 'on the road' & 'on the driveway'.

However, it dawned on me yesterday that the road also slopes from the centre of the road to the kerb.
( And I had previously measured the gaps with the passenger side at the kerb and the driver's side towards the middle of the road. )

So the car was moved onto the road, with the driver's side along the kerb this time.



Initially I measured the gap as 1 & 3/4" at the top of the arch, which was spot on.



Then I moved the car closer to the top of the driveway, to give me more room to work on the driver's arch.



Quite by chance, the gap remained exactly the same here as on the road.

There then followed a prolonged period of beard scratching, as I couldn't work out why the arch and template didn't meet at the top?
( As the template gives a 1 & 3/4" gap above the tyre. )

Eventually, it dawned on me that I was reading the measurements on the inside of my set square, not the outside.



So the gap was actually 2 & 3/4", but at least I could now fix the template to the wheel.



I also marked up where the body shell extension needs to line up.



As you can see, this side is a lot closer to begin with.
( Ignore where the black line ends on the front of the arch, that is not where the cut started. )



But a couple of points to note:

The bottom of the bonnet "kicks out", so that will be removed & re-attached.



When I was building the new scuttle, there was a difference in the bonnet/body shell angles/gaps on either side.

So I will need to expend the deeper scuttle lip in this area.



At this point, I really thought it was going to rain, so stopped to put the covers back on the rear of the car.



End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Short Saturday Sessions - Part 2:
Then it was time to take a deep breath and here we go again…



I cut three big chunks out.



Leaving the body shell looking like this.



And the bonnet looking like this.



My normal metal snips were more than enough to cut the "Builders' Band" into smaller sections.



I know it is a bit late in the build to start using this stuff, but it really is ideal for this sort of "cut & shut" work.





And it really came into its own on the return lip, due to the mis-match in angles of the some of the pieces.





Used parcel tape to bridge the gap on the inside.



And cover the fixing brackets on the outside.



End of Part 2…

[Paul L]

Short Saturday Sessions - Part 3:
As it turned out, I only had the chance to do one fibreglassing session today.

But at least I have made a start on re-joining the leading edge of the arch.



While that was setting, I did have a look at how I could extend the body shell here.



The large piece I cut came from around here.



Excuse the poor photo, but I could dropped this all the way down to the bottom edge of the body shell like so.
( Obviously, I would trim this piece to match the shape of the body shell. )



This would then leave me with this section of bonnet to fill in with some of my 'left over' fibreglass panels.



But I'll worry about the details of doing that another day.

Finally, I'm leaving the plywood template fixed into position, so just made sure the tarpaulin covers it.



Until next time, take care, Paul.

[jones]

Looking good Paul, look at the rate of progress already! Don't forget to make a cardboard template of the other side to match new bonnet/scuttle profile or your OCD will grind at you...

[Paul L]

Jones - Cheers.

So far, the driver's side is going back together much quicker than the passenger side.

Spookily, I did start working on a cardboard template for the curve of the bonnet yesterday.

But I have definitely left my OCD Goggles in a locked box in the back of the garden shed.

Which is just as well, as the two sides are different, so I will have to settle for an approximation of similar.

I plan to use the Spitfire bulkhead as my guide, so the horizontal panel to the side extension will be roughly right.

Everything else will then be a best fit around the shapes and gaps I have on the driver's side.

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Happy Father's Day:
One advantage of having teenage children is the chance to work on the car while they are still sleep first thing in the morning.

Although, obviously I couldn't make any noise, so I just got the next round of fibreglass matting across the join.



When this has fully set I will be able to remove the fixing brackets and finish off the inside surface.

But that will have to wait, as we will be having an early family lunch soon.

Take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Sunday Update:
Late this afternoon I had the chance to quickly nip outside, so I removed all the "scaffolding".



Tidied up any stray matting around the fixing screw holes.



Then added some fibreglass matting over the holes.



Leaving the arch looking like this.



Anyway, I've got to go, cheers, Paul.

[Scottie22]

I stand by what I said once before Paul: Bloody awesome!!!
That will be one very special car eventually, and the end is ever closer!!!!!

[Paul L]

Monday - Part 1:
So much for making the most of the Summer Solstice, it was raining relentlessly for hours here today.

But at least it finally stopped in the afternoon and I could finally remove the covers and get some car work done.
( I also checked in with "real" work this morning and my project is still on hold at the moment. )

I tidied up the fibreglass matting I added to the inside of the bonnet yesterday.

Then marked up the side extension piece.



So it would fit around the existing body shell like so.



Before I started, I'd even double checked that the template was still centralised.



However, as soon as I lowered the bonnet back down I realised I had a problem.



Yes, somewhere along the line, I've clearly nudged the template out of position without noticing.

So I had no choice but to nudge it back so it lined up with the re-shaped arch.



But, obviously, this meant the piece I had just cut out needed to shift to the right to match.





In a testament to my OCD recovery, I just muttered to myself for a bit and then got on with it.

As, for the sake of a few mm here and there, I am not going to lose any sleep over this.

I then cut off the bottom section of this piece as it was a bit "manky".



I cleaned up the edge of the body shell, where the bonnet lip needs to be extended.



Note:
My plan at this stage, was to build this section up a bit using fibreglass matting, before adding filler.
However, in practise this was a bad idea and the matting was transferred to the section below.

As I also cleaned up any excess bonding paste on the plywood panels joining the body shell to the bulkhead.



End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Monday - Part 2:
The first round of fibreglassing saw this section get covered.



I also added the final round of matting across the join on the inside of the bonnet arch.



Then I fixed the body shell extension piece into position.



I can highly recommend this builders' band stuff, it really is ideal for this kind of thing.

The only change from the "norm" was an extra bracket screwed to the template itself.
( Having very carefully checked that I wasn't going to drill straight through the tyre. )



As the arch on this side sticks out a bit further than on the driver's side.



At this point the arch was looking like this.



My final job for the day was to cover the outside of the extension panel with parcel tape.



Before adding more fibreglass matting along the inside of the join.



Note: This is a real pain in the to reach, but at least a large section was sorted out in one go.

That should be set enough in the morning for the brackets to be removed.

So until then, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Scottie - Sorry I missed you reply as I was copying & pasting, but cheers mate.

To be honest, I absolutely love the way the car looks in this photo.



And I've still got to add the aero screens, mirrors, grille, etc.

Without doubt, this has been an epic build, but, as you say, the end is finally in sight.

Take care, Paul.

[jones]

I think someone had a meccano set when they were a kid! Great effort for the limited number of hours too

[Paul L]

Jones - Thanks, I can't quite believe how fast the driver's side is coming together.

Unfortunately, we were poor, so no fancy Meccano sets, or things like Scalectric for me to play with as a boy.

Still, at least I've got a very big toy car to play with now.

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Tuesday Morning - Part 1:
It was been a very busy day, balancing my car and domestic chores.

Started by removing the "Meccano" from the body shell side extension.



Which gave me my first view of the open wound.



Note: I have only one small section of the original arch left to play with.

Made a cardboard template to fill in the gap in the bonnet, that would "wrap around" that small arch piece



Cut the panel out of what remains of one of my fibreglass floor pans.



Unfortunately, due to the angles involved, if the bottom edge lines up, the top edge doesn't.



Thankfully the experience I gained on the passenger side taught me two key things:
- Any high spots can be ground down.
- Any low spots can be built up.

So I just cut the panel in half.



Came across one small technical hitch when I tried to fit a screw near here…



As if I tightened the screw fully in, it would join the bonnet to the body shell!

So when I fixed all these brackets in place, there was "a screw loose".



I can't sing the praises of this stuff enough, it really does make this work much easier.
( Although it does take me a while to work out the best way of connecting everything. )

Then I could open the bonnet, tighten the last screw and then cut the bottom of the screw off.



Which allowed me to lower the bonnet back down without anything fouling the body shell.



Note:
The bottom corner of the bonnet is deliberately 'oversize' so that I can trim it back to shape and add the curve later on.

Thankfully, the inside of the bonnet looks much better than the outside.



End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Tuesday Morning - Part 2:
Then it was the moment of truth, as I removed the template to see how the wheel looked in the arch.



I know this isn't quite what I had planned, but I think the leading edge actually looks marginally better than the passenger side.

As the curve from the bonnet under the headlight to the arch opening ended up looking a bit "clunky" around the "10 O'Clock' mark.



So I will keep going for now, but I may come back and "tweak" this bottom section of return lip that sticks out a bit.



Next, I started preparing to fill in the gaps in the return lip at the other end of the bonnet.



I was going to build this up with matting, before it suddenly occurred to me to add a couple of off cuts like so.



This will certainly speed up the process.

My finally task of the morning was to add parcel tape around the outside surfaces.



Before putting the covers back on, packing my stuff away and cleaning the driveway.

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Tuesday Afternoon:
Just enough time for one fibreglassing session, so I starting joining the bonnet pieces together.



I also covered up the screw holes & beefed up the join on the body shell extension.



Overall, I can't complain about not having much car time this afternoon, as this is only "Day 4" on the driver's side arch.

Anyway, I have more domestic stuff to do, so I'd better go.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

PS
It would appear that Swifty & I share the same sponsor.

[deggsy]

Paul you must have very understanding neighbours? all that filler dust!

[swifty]

It would appear that Swifty & I share the same sponsor.

Paul how much did you get for the sponsorship, i got £6k. LOL

[Paul L]

Deggsy - The dust is only a problem for my neighbours if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction.

Normally, I spend a lot of time sweeping up as I go along while I'm sanding/grinding & even hoover up at times.
( Although, this means I will need to buy a replacement hoover for the house when this project is over. )

I also hose down what is left of the dust to stop it spreading & will hose down my neighbours' gardens/drives if required.

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Swifty - Unfortunately, my car is so "wonky", Heuer would only allow me to advertise their products if I paid them!



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Tuesday Evening:
The main reason I finished early yesterday was so we could take a family trip to the West End for…



And in preparation for this, we had a family viewing of the DVD over the weekend.

So never let it be said that this car building male is not in touch with his feminine side.

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Wednesday - Part 1:
There were two problems this morning:
- A misty rain had descended, so I couldn't actually work outside.
- I kept finding myself humming Abba tunes.

Eventually the rain stopped, even if the Abba tunes plagued me for the rest of the day.

I started by removing the brackets from the bonnet extension pieces.



Looks like the last fill in piece got twisted a bit.



But at this stage, I just need to build a solid foundation for the tidying up work that will be done later.

Then I cleaned up any stray matting around the screw holes.



I counter sunk all the holes that had been covered with matting on the other side.
( Parcel tape covers the holes still to be done. )



Then shoved some fibreglass filler into the holes.



Note: I'm still mixing up too much filler / using too much hardener and running out of time to apply this.

At least it looked a lot better when it was sanded down.



Ground out the joins along the bonnet and body shell extension.



Moved the car so I could wash down the drive.



End of Part 1…