Another Cordite Is Born ...

[Paul L]

Monday Evening - Part 2:
So the bonnet opening currently looks like this.



By the time this is tidied up and painted it should look distinctly hand made.

There were just a couple of other jobs I managed to do…

I opened up a small chip in the gel coat near the rear cockpit corner on the driver's side.



Before filling that will a generous blob of fibreglass filler.



Unfortunately, my attempts to "soften" the top edge of the scuttle wind deflector made a bit of a mess.
( Previously I had sanded this down to something close to a knife edge. )



I used some blocks of wood to keep my wooden tonneau cover off the filler.



Before putting the covers on for the night.

So until next time, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

"Real" Work:
Without wishing to get into the politics/details of it, Brexit has left my current project with a £100m+ 'EU shaped' hole in its budget.
Which means, understandably, that until the dust settles on final funding/specifications, my personal workload is very unstable at the moment.
So I was in the client's office yesterday, but back in "stand by" mode today and I currently have no idea what I will be doing tomorrow.
Whilst this isn't really what I'd hoped for when I switched to "freelancing" in January, I'll give it a few more months to see if things improve.
In the mean time, thankfully, my finances are solid, so I am happy to keep taking advantage of any free time I have to work on the car…

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Sweaty Tuesday - Part 1:
Was washing my normal car first thing in the morning to remove a layer of Sahara dust before taking it to the garage.

As the air-con packed up the other day as soon as the first really hot days of Summer finally arrived.

I threw my mountain bike in the back and it was a 20 min cycle home and I couldn't believe how hot it was this early in the morning.

Back at my "garage", I checked the grille against the bonnet opening.

The driver's side was good.



But the passenger side needs to be a bit deeper.



But before I started sorting that out, I added some masking tape around the grille like so.



The idea was to show where the outside edges of the grille had been cut to shape.



Then I finished sanding the fibreglass filler around the bonnet opening.

The driver's side is now done.



But the passenger side needs more work.



So it was fibreglass filler Round #3.



With the grille removed, I could add a matching layer of masking tape on the other side.



End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Sweaty Tuesday - Part 2:
As I have come up with a rather odd solution to the secure the "cut" sections along the outside edges of the grille.

This involved mixing up some bonding paste and covering the exposed edges.
( Note: I underestimated the amount of bonding paste required so I didn't complete the whole area. )



Unfortunately, as soon as I started applying the paste I started having second thoughts.

As I could feel the paste oozing in between the two layers of masking tape.



But I stuck with it and then removed the masking tape as it was starting to set hard enough.



While that was setting, I sanded down the filler on the bonnet opening.



I also sanded down the scuttle wind deflector.





Next I added some "normal" filler to the bottom lip of the bonnet opening.





I also gave a few sections of the scuttle a quick skim with the left over filler.



There was then a break from car work as I collected my Mondeo and enjoyed an air conditioned drive home.

I also racked up a load of domestic chores, where the sweat was pouring off me.

End of Part 2…

[Paul L]

Sweaty Tuesday - Part 3:
When I returned to the car, the normal filler was sanded down…



And the etch primer came out.









Next I sanded down the bonding paste around the outside edge of the grille.





My belt sander has been playing up a lot lately and "ate" four new belts while doing this work.



The good news was that this all felt very solid.

But the real test was to see if any paste had leaked into a visible part of the grille...

And the really good news is that it is all safely tucked in behind the lip of the bonnet opening.





And there is a big improvement on the passenger side of the opening, that I widened earlier.



End of Part 3…

[Paul L]

Sweaty Tuesday - Part 4:
Now that I was happy that bonding paste was the answer, I taped up the "missing" areas.



Having opened the bonnet to test the fit of the grille, I realised it also provided a shady area to work in.



So, just like before, bonding paste on.



Masking tape off.



Now just before I started this job, the rest of the family begged for a meal out down the pub in the sunshine.

Which reminded my of my Ice Cold In Wembley post the last time I was working on the car in 90+ degree heat.



When I went back to look for the photo above, I discovered it was almost exactly 2 years ago (18/07/14).
( Just after I'd cut the whole back end of the body shell in half. )

To be honest, despite taking on over 3 litres of fluids during the day I was actually toast by this point anyway.

So, once again the passenger "seat" was filled with lots of car building related stuff.



And the dust sheets.



I also threw in the wooden tonneau cover while I was at it.



As this normally rests against the scuttle wind deflector, which I've just painted.

So, at some point, I need to build a new tonneau that will fit around the Brookland aero screens.
( Just to stop the rain filling the covers inside the cockpit. )

Anyway, I've just got back from the pub, where two, well earned, cold pints really hit the spot.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Tuesday - PS
Sorry, it must be the heat, as I completely forgot an important update from earlier today…

The guy that sorted out my Mondeo's air-con will also be the person giving my Triumph Swordfish its first MOT.

So I bought some photos along with a list of questions and it is all good.

Car in primer - No problem.

Headlight missing the outside ring (so the beams can be adjusted) - No problem.

Spare wheel - Don't need one for the MOT.
( Although I am toying with the idea of getting a space saver wheel if I can. )

Brookland aero screens & no wipers/screen wash - OK.

Oil pressure gauge & fan speed switch - Don't need to be working for the MOT.
( In my head I thought that if something was fitted, it had to work, so this is really good news. )

He is really looking forward to seeing/testing the car.

But not half as much as I am looking forward to driving the car to his garage for the test.

Cheers, Paul.

[Mister Towed]

Good luck with the test Paul, don't forget to update us when it's done!

[Scottie22]

Good luck with the Mot Paul!

( Believe it or not, a working speedo is not required for the Mot either, as it is not part of the test)

[Paul L]

Mr T & Scottie - Thanks chaps.

But just to ensure there is no confusion, the MOT is likely to be in August at the earliest, with September still being a good result.

As I know that the last few jobs will be time consuming, but it still feels like great progress when I have the MOT as my target.

With a bit of luck, the grille will be fixed into position later on today ( ) and that will be another job ticked off the list.

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Early Wednesday:
I've got to pick my mum up later on this morning, so I've already spent ages tidying away all my tools & parts.

I did manage to sneak in a couple of "quiet" jobs in the Summer House while I was storing stuff in there.

First was fitting the Triumph logos the previous owner had bought for the wheel centres.





Note: To avoid any accidental damage, I will only fit these on the day of the MOT.

I've also decided to use my original perspex template for the rear view mirror wind deflector.
( Note: It is not marked/scratched, that is a reflection of the light coming through the trees above. )



I do have a "fresh" section of perspex I was planning to use, but I should test this original in action first.

That way, if the design needs changing, I can incorporate that in a MkII version post MOT.

So I just needed to round off the cut edges with a mixture of hand files and sand paper.
( Not easy to get any decent photos. )

Before:



After:



That's all for now, but I hope to get more done later on today.

Cheers, Paul.

[softfeet]

Paul

I have been following your 'build thread' for some time and I continue to be very impressed with what you are doing.

I am sorry to hear that the 'Brexit' decision has impacted on the stability of your employment. If you are as diligent and detailed focused at work as you are on the 'Swordfish', then you would be an asset to any employer!

I will send you a PM.


Regards

David

[Paul L]

SoftFeet - Welcome to my build thread.

Thankfully I know a lot more about my real work, than I do about car building.

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Wednesday Continued - Part 1:
I've grouped together the various areas I was working on, rather than follow a strict timeline...

Sanded down the remaining sections of bonding paste around the outside of the grille.



I am actually quite chuffed at how well this has worked out, as all the cut ends are now solid.
( I had visions of wires unravelling & the grille looking like a tennis racquet with broken strings. )

So now it was time to see if I could secure it into position…

I started at the top and bottom edges, as the bonnet hoop doesn't reach this far.





The screws went in where the holes in the builder's band lied up with "holes" in the grille.

These first two brackets were enough to hold the grille in place while I went around bending the other 8 brackets into shape.
( Which took me ages to do. )



Eventually, the whole grille was secure.



Which means that after 4 days work, the bonnet opening has gone from this (with the grille held in by tape)…



To this, with the grille fixed in properly and ready for the MOT.



Thankfully, the re-profiled "mouth" doesn't jump out at you.

I must confess I did have two slight mishaps…

The first was where I used a tek screw which was a bit too long.



The second was where I slipped while drilling a pilot hole and went straight through.



So at some point I will repair these holes with some fibreglass filler.

If anything, it was actually too sunny to get a decent photo.



End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Wednesday Continued - Part 2:
I decided to stick at the front end of the car for my next job, as I tried to find out why the side lights are not working.

Removed the headlight, so I could get access to the side light bulb.



Checked the bulb using my old battery and that is fine.



Then I dragged the battery outside with a couple of wires to help me test the loom itself.



Please forgive the connecting blocks, they were installed as part of my previous electrical testing.



But by putting power directly to the loom at this point, the side light came on.



This was on the passenger side, so I went back to the split of the front loom at the driver's side.



Again, if I connected the battery to the connecting blocks, the driver's side light came on.



Not easy to see in the photo, but the side light on the passenger side also came on.



So the problem is going to be somewhere behind the dash.

I did take a brief look under the dash, but I just couldn't face dealing with all the wires in there in the heat.

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The sun was blazing down over head, but the weather forecast mentioned the chance of a heavy shower.

So I decided to rebuild my wooden tonneau cover, which was originally a single piece.



But I rebuilt it as two separate sections and as long as it worked, I didn't care what it looked like.



I also added some cross bracing underneath with what ever I could find lying around.



These should keep me going until the steering wheel is permanently fitted.



End of Part 2…

[Paul L]

Wednesday Continued - Part 3:
Given my failure to sort out the side lights, I wanted to fit something shiny to cheer myself up a bit.

Unfortunately, the "simple" side mirror fitting turned into a bit more work than I was expecting.

I had to trim one of the fixing bolts as I couldn't get it through the body shell via the cut away I'd left in the cockpit wall.

Then the two bolts came out as a very slight angle to each other...



Which made it impossible to fix the mirror into place.

So I drilled a bit of wiggle room into the holes and that seemed to do the trick.



It is currently a bit of an odd fixing arrangement...



Where the bolt is tightened fully into the mirror & then the nut pulls the mirror tight into the body work.

Thankfully, the rear view mirror wind deflector was very straight forward.





The perspex sits a a gentle angle, like so.



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Yesterday, I managed to make a "paste" of suncream, sweat & filler dust, which I rubbed into my eyes on a regular basis.

But today I had to knock off early, or there was a real danger of me ending up with sun stroke, it was so hot out there.

So until next time, take care, Paul.

[Roadster]

As ever Paul - great work

Forgive me if I missed it, but have you checked the fusebox for your sidelight issue.

It maybe as simple as a fuse or tarnish on the contacts like the number plate lamp issue

[Psycho pops]

Brexit hasn't helped my prospects any either, lol 10 months into my forced Holidayand still no signs of an oil price recovery or work prospects.. While the break has been excellent the lack of income is a concern..
Managed a uk visit last week but unexpected car accident while over there curtailed any Sammio visits I had in mind...
Your recent progress is great though keep it up ..

[Paul L]

Roadster - Cheers.

I am using a modified version of the original Spitfire wiring loom.

This has a very low tech fuse board with just 3 glass fuses, which are all intact.

The weird thing is that the rear loom is effectively on the same circuit and that all works fine.

Similarly, it can't be a problem with the headlight switch itself, as, again, the rear lights wouldn't work.

Also, the main headlight shares the same earthing point as the side light and the head light works.

Which, by a process of elimination, means the problem has to be after the loom spits between the front & rear.

To be honest I think my head was being cooked & I couldn't think straight enough to work this out yesterday.

So I will have another look to see if I can work out what is going on, as I am sure it is something simple.

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Pops - Hope you were OK after the car accident & you are always welcome here if you fancy a Sammio visit.

By comparison, the oil industry has been hit a lot harder than most, so I hope things improve for you.

Thankfully, I am in a much better financial position than many, as I had built up my "reserves" over many years.

It is hard to believe that it is almost 3 years since I walked away from my last permanent job after 18 years.

It was the right decision to make at the time, but the 3 years since have been "interesting" to say the least.

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Restricted Duties - Part 1:
"Only mad dogs, Englishmen & kit car builders go out in the midday sun."

Whilst I wanted to make the most of my time off & the fact it was not raining outside, I may have over done it in the sun/heat.

So today's plan was to tick off as many "simple" jobs as I could, that didn't involve really hard effort…

Although I should have known better than to start with the passenger side mirror.

As these holes were not quite right either.



This was before 9am, so I used a hand file to create some wiggle room, rather than my noisy drill.

But I was still having problems which I eventually traced to my big washer.

When one mirror hole was covered.



The other came up short.



So a bit more filing was required.



Until I could finally bolt the mirror into position.





Next up was the Brooklands aero screen for the passenger side, which was a piece of cake by comparison.





And my home made washers worked well here too.



To be brutally honest, I should really have waited a bit longer before fitting these.

However, I wanted to see some positive progress before I started removing sections of the dash for my next jobs...

End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Restricted Duties - Part 2:
I removed the centre section of the dash.



So I could get access to the underside of these holes for the rear view mirror.



Whilst this mirror location seemed like a great idea at the time, I now have a very restricted area to play with.
( The holes are behind the black metal section at the top of this section. )



To make matters worse, I had forgotten I had taped some foam underneath to keep the dust out of the dash.



This was a very fiddly job with me dropping the washers, &/or nuts and cursing on a regular basis until I could finally get a socket into place.



You will just have to take my word for it, but these bolts have penny washers and nylock nuts fitted to them underneath.



And at least the mirror looks good behind the wind deflector screen.





End of Part 2…

[Paul L]

Restricted Duties - Part 3:
Whilst I don't need the oil pressure gauge to be working for the MOT, I do need to fit the steering wheel!

Therefore, it makes sense to tackle this job now, before the steering wheel is fitted.

The steering column cover was removed.



Then I spent ages with my head in the front footwell trying to remove the nut behind the dash that holds the outside corner in position.

But even with that removed the dash wouldn't budge.

At which point I remember that I had made my own supporting bracket for the oil pressure gauge that pressed against the Spitfire's metal dash support.

Once that was removed…



I could pull out the gauge, while leaving the rest of the dash in place.



There were no instructions supplied with the gauge, but it seems I need to make 3 connections, despite only have two blades to play with.
- One to the oil pressure switch in the engine.
- One to a regulated power source.
- One to earth.



I assume the threaded rod used to fix the gauge to the dash also doubles up as the earthing point.

The connection to the engine switch is straight forward.

Which just leaves the power, which I should be able to take from the voltage regulator attached to the speedo.

Unfortunately, this means removing more of the dash board and this was a real pain.

The choke cable had to be detached from the carbs, as there isn't enough slack to play with.



I even had to remove one of steering column brackets to give me some wiggle room.



Despite all of this, the dash still refused to come out cleanly.



At which point I realised that I really was too tired to think straight, so called it a day.

This was only a short while before I had planned to stop working on the car today anyway.
( As I didn't want to be caught in the sunshine when sun reached the driveway. )

Also, in the usual "Ying & Yang" way, lots of time on the car recently has left me behind in other areas.

So we will see how things go from here, take care, Paul.

PS
Any suggestions on the oil pressure gauge wiring would be appreciated.

[Scottie22]

The front grille looks really nice Paul, it should stop small children being sucked in there as you roar past schools at knocking off time!

[Mick O'Malley]

Which just leaves the power, which I should be able to take from the voltage regulator attached to the speedo.

Unfortunately, this means removing more of the dash board and this was a real pain.

If you revisit the photo' with this caption

Restricted Duties - Part 2:
I removed the centre section of the dash.

you'll see a pale green wire into the back of the fuel gauge. Cut this, crimp in a piggy back connector, and thread a new piece of pale green wire over the two big clocks to the point required. Job done without further dismantling.

Regards, Mick