Swifty's Navigator

[swifty]

Made a couple of inner rear arches today out of 1mm ally sheet.

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Inner arches keyed and ready to etch prime and top coat. Sealer applied around the inner join for good measure. Hopefully i have left enough clearance for the rear suspension movement.

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Used brackets to help position and attache the ally wing to the fiberglass, these have been pop riveted to the body and once i am happy with the rear arches i will seal and glass them to the body.

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Picture of the arches temporarily fitted as i need to remove them to spray paint each one. I intend to seal the gap between the arch and body with sealer then glass the top face of the arch to the body, i may even put a couple of strengthening bars from the rear sub frame to the side ally plates.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

[davecymru]

v.nice! Exactly what i am planning on doing

In case it's of use/interest, when i made the Ply ones on my Sammio i did end up adding bracing from them back to the frame as they weren't as rigid as i'd liked when only bonded to the shell.

[swifty]

I think it may well be wise to fit a couple of strengthners to the side and top arch for good measure may be bend some round tube to match the arch profile, , this will be easier to do before the body is finally fitted so will post the pictures when complete.

[swifty]

I've just received a headlight rotary switch from http://www.europaspares.com/auto-ele...1-amp-12v.html and the quality is poor so i am looking around for a different supplier.

Has anybody bought a similar type headlight switch which is of good quality, the problem with this one is the black plastic part is very femur and thin while the rotary function is rough.

[Viatron]

Swifty, Google Lucas PCL6, its available with or without the ignition key.

Mac

[swifty]

Cheers Mac, do you know if the genuine Lucas switch is stamped with an id number, the reason i ask is i don't want to buy another sub standard switch which mimics the Lucas or is from China.

Hopefully the Lucas is of good quality?

[Viatron]

http://www.holden.co.uk/displayprodu...es&pCode=34055

[Viatron]

This is where I got mine, not cheap but you pay for good stuff I guess!

[swifty]

Made some steady progress this weekend.

First off i turned a cover to slip over the steering column to hide the original tube plus i wanted to get rid of the original spitfire steering column plastic cover.

Turned on a manual lathe from a 80mm round billet of ally, 25 degree taper to match the original column. The lower portion of the column is hidden by the dashboard so the ally cover just goes beyond the dashboard.

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Original tube with the lugs bent in to allow the new cover to slip on.

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The ally cover in place, i think i now need to make an ally insert ring to fit into the top to hide the lip of the original steering tube as you can just see it and it does not look right, the original tube will have to be slightly trimmed to allow the ring to push fit into the new cover.


Also finished the rear internal arches by adding a strengthening ring bent from 20x20mm steel box section with a brace welded onto the sub frame.

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Used a bending rig to match the rear arch curve. The box section was then pop riveted to the ally arch and a little sealer used for good measure.

The rear boot has also been fitted and welded into place which means the shell can longer be removed so the next thing is to bond the shell to the sub frame etc.

My plan is to glass the outer sill area to the floor section then to back fill the internal sill area with expanding foam but place plastic conduit into the sill void before using the foam, the conduit is for the cables to go to the rear of the car plus the battery is fitted into the boot so i have to bring the main battery cable through to the front. The cable is a pretty hefty 25mm squared cable capable of handling up to 180 amps, i had the amp meter on the cable while cranking the engine and it pulls 150 amps so this cable will be ok with a voltage drop of .8 volt.

Once the foam has gone off i intend to glass over the top to bond the shell to the inner floor section.

Well that's it for today see you all soon.

[Paul L]

Swifty - I thought your arches were pretty good, but that steering column cover is simply amazing.

It sounds like you are really making great progress getting the body shell permanently fixed.

I normally say good luck, but luck doesn't appear to play any part in your build.

Cheers, Paul.

[swifty]

Paul Why thank you kind sir.

Crimped the lug onto the battery cable today with a large crimping tool.

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Thought i would put a 5 pence piece in the photo for scale.

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Lug crimped in position then sealed it with self amalgamating tape for good measure.

Not a lot done today so that's it for now, see you all soon.

[micky1mo]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Swifty - I thought your arches were pretty good, but that steering column cover is simply amazing.

I'll second that

[swifty]

Cheers Micky1mo.

Today i cleared the garage out as it was starting to get a little untidy with gear all over the place so no progress on the body.

Did some more manual turning of a petrol cap mount, i wanted to keep the original flip cap but add a little extra to the cap mounting, will have to replace the rubber seal as it's perished.

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Machined the mount tube and clamp ring out of ally bar with 8 counter sunk holes and the clamp ring has 8 tapped holes, cut two cork gaskets 1.5mm thick.

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The second image has the original spitfire flip cap fitted, its had a quick polish on the wheel to bring out the chrome while leaving the marks for a patina look.

Tomorrow i hope to have some progress with the bonding of the body to the sub frame all been well.


Well that's it for today see you all soon.

[Paul L]

Swifty - Are you planning to "brand" your car as a tribute to another marque?

If not, with all your unique finishing touches, no one will have a clue what it is.

Well apart from being a seriously stunning car.

Good luck, Paul.

[swifty]

Paul Never gave that a thought I'm just adding bits and piece that i think will look good, however i am trying to replicate a 50's sports car as far as possible with the interior finish, may be somebody can suggest a brand of car that the car may replicate with the bits i have added so far.

[garyh]

I'm going to call mine a 'Triumph Italia'...

[Paul L]

Swifty - Oddly enough, the fact your car is not a true replica means it is a bit easier to "cheat".

I know Mister Towed put a lot of effort into his Lancia branding, but I think the final colour will be the key.

If you paint it red, most people will think it is a Ferrari.



Similarly, BRG brings you into the word of Jaguars and Aston Martins.



But paint it silver and add a three point star and now you have a Mercedes.



Personally, I think your attention to detail would allow you to claim Bugatti heritage.

But you would need to pick a Bugatti racing blue to really make people scratch their heads.

In fact you could even claim it was the missing link in their racing history.



All jokes aside, branded or not, you will definitely end up with a classic '50s race car.

[phil9]

red .....ferro vecchio...........or..... ferro vecchio trionfo.....

[swifty]

Phil The Italian version sounds exotic wheres as in English it sounds like something step toe and son would use. lol

[Viatron]

Don't use that blue!!!