New Cordite Build, with a twist....

[Viatron]

Thanks Paul, I did spend quite a bit of time working out how the body was going to be fixed and as you said it has now paid off, in total the complete fitting of the body to a stage where it was rigid on the frame and very secure was probably about 5 man hours in total! much quicker than I could have hoped for, as I said above the nice thing is that its solid as a rock, even pushing against the rear wins moves the car before the body moves!

TTFN
Mac

[mas123mas]

Originally Posted by Viatron

Nope didn't pay a penny :-) guess they were feeling generous or more likely we having a kip when it went past on the conveyor!
I'm very happy with them and they were a piece of cake to wire up, have you got yours working yet?

Unfortunately, not opened the box looked and them, then put them on the shelf, the only thing I get done this time was have the chassis shot blasted then weld the hole that where camouflaged with underseal.

I managed to shot blast a few other parts, then we had a few family problems (Father and Step-Father both ill), so I manage about 2 days out of my 42 days planned tinkering.

Chassis and frame will painted as soon as I get home, the rebuild will commence.

[Viatron]

Well I can tell you that they won't take long to wire up at all. Hope your dad and step dad are on the mend.
TTFN
Mac

[Mister Towed]

Quite a milestone fitting the body. You'll be surprised how quickly it will all come together now.

[christinedmc]

Hello Mac,

It looks very smart. Good job. I like the ideas of the aluminium at the underside of the body a lot.

Michiel

[phil9]

going to be one of the best i think... top job ..

[Viatron]

Cheers Phil, hoping it will come together quite quickly now fingers crossed!

[Viatron]

Ok so another good but bad day. remembered to dig out the jigsaw today, 2mm Ali is much easier to cut with a jigsaw than a 1mm cutting disc, the disc just tries to melt its way through!

Measured up and cut both side panels and offered them up and immediately discovered an issue. When I widened the cockpit did it with the body off the car, now its on the sides don't really line up!
The drivers side is too far inboard and the passenger side is way too far outboard.

No point whinging lets come up with a solution, cut the returns off the drivers cockpit side so that the Ali lining panel now lies in its desired position which left me a gap between the top of the panel and the top edge of the Ali panel. I didn't take as many pics as I should have but basically I bolted and boned a new return in place made of Ali angle. You'll hopefully see what I mean in the pic below:



The bolts that hold it in place are well countersunk as luckily I had the sides massively beefed up in anticipation of cutting the skin out to use as door skins so there is plenty of meat. The small gap that you can still see will fill fine using P40 and a skim of normal filler to finish. The Ali panel has been left higher than needed so that it can be trimmed down exactly flush once the filler work has been done.
More Pics that hopefully make it clearer.

Internal Drivers side Ali Skin in final position


In this shot you can see the Ali angle I used to join the panel to the floor, I managed to do it in one continuous piece.

[Viatron]

Some more random shots:






Passenger side panel ready for fitting.



Rear Panel is going to be reworked as at the moment I'm not making use of the full length of the cockpit, ill use a similar process as I used for the passenger side panel. you can see in this pics how much it curves from top to bottom. Please don't forget that this body has been fitted using a hybrid frame based on a prototype from from Ribble so I'm pretty sure these issues wont occur on the current offering.




TTFN
Mac

[Viatron]

Some of you may question whether just riveting and bonding the panels on all 4 sides is enough to hold it securely and not let the panel flex and drum, answer is yes its fine, remember I'm using 2mm Ali which is pretty rigid just by itself, with a bit of thought in the order the rivets went in its a very tight fit and I cant deflect the centre of the panel at all by hand.
Sorry for the disjointed posting but I'm doing this and a couple of other things at the same time and am dipping in and out as things pop into my brain!
TTFN
Mac

[garyh]

How are finishing the top edge of the ally? Will ther be a piece allround?

[Viatron]

Gary, I'll be trimming with a hockey stick profile, hopefully my trimmer will be able to cover it with a thin foam and leather to match the interior, if that doesn't work out ill just polish it.
Mac

[Paul L]

Mac - It is a big help to me seeing your build coming together.

The fact you know that the gap along the side can be filled without it showing gives me hope I can do the same.

Good luck getting the rest of the cockpit panelling sorted out.

Cheers, Paul.

[slartibartfast]

Aha ! alluminium .... another idea to steal! I was considering plywood ..
Mind you I may still but it's a long way of yet.
Looking good
Keep it up
Slarti

[Viatron]

I know traditionally these have been plywood lined but in my mind wood doesn't belong anywhere on a car except the dashboard of the gear knob :-)
Using 2mm Ali sheet I can already feel that the panelling is adding even more rigidity to an already pretty rigid body. It may add more weight than ply lining it but I save the weight saving OCD for my other track oriented vehicles.
TTFN
Mac

[Viatron]

There may be a slight pause in proceedings as I have just been discharged from hospital after undergoing an emergency procedure yesterday to untwist my left nut and stitch it in place. Never ever felt pain like it!

[oxford1360]

I thought it was a Cordite with a twist. In which case, I hope both Cordites stop aching. Get well soon.

[Paul L]

OUCH!

Get well soon, Paul.

[Mister Towed]

Probably too late to suggest not twisting your nuts in the first place. Still, everyone's got to have a hobby...

[Viatron]

Thanks Oxford and Paul, Towed hmmm don't think I can publish my reply on an open forum......:-)