Swifty's Navigator - Page 9

swifty · #**161** 16th August 2014, 20:59

Now that the spoke wheels are fitted i decide to start to try and ballance the body. I decided to start with the offside rear wing, the pictures tell the full story as to how far the body is out.

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You can also see the rear valance dips on the nearside which will require some work.

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I took various measurements across the back of the body and finally came to the conclusion of how much and where to make the cut.
Another area i think will require work is the nearside rear arch, the first image shows the leading edge standing slightly prouder than the offside so i may have to cut this area to move the arch in slightly.

IMG_4606.jpg IMG_4607.jpg

These images show the amount i have had to move the wing out over, it certainly looks like more than the other guys have moved their body out over but this was the only way i could get the end result that was symmetrical and balanced.

Well that's it for now, hopefully i will have the rear arch filled tomorrow and may be a bit more body work completed.

davecymru · #**162** 17th August 2014, 06:59

That looks _so_ much better matey! and, no offence, but i'm _so_ hoping that i don't have to go through all of this with the Miglia! <fingers crossed>

One thing about the hub adapters, make sure you loktite or better still 'punch' the nuts in place as i had my nuts come loose (oooh err missus) while driving as i'd forgotten to do that!

Paul L · #**163** 17th August 2014, 07:14

Swifty – Those wheels do make your “moon buggy” look great.

But that picture of your “rear end” really does paint a 1,000 words.

I think I’ve mixed up photos of Mac’s work to create the MkII & work on his MkII.

Putting the flat surface under the brackets will definitely help the healing process.

Good luck, Paul.

PS
Sorry I forgot to mention that my original screen perspex was 4mm thick.

swifty · #**164** 17th August 2014, 07:16

Dave I haven't used thread lock but did cross my mind, when you tightened yours nuts did you lock the wheel up to prevent it from spinning like i did?

Paul Yes the rear end is not the best, but what is strange is the fact that i thought most of the rear end problems had been virtually ironed out, when you compare the gap on Macs and mine his looks a lot narrower and the rear valance area does not slope to the nearside, strange.

swifty · #**165** 17th August 2014, 20:04

Fiberglas the rear arch and rough filled with fiber filler, it now looks some where near to being symmetrical, will have rub down to smooth out before using a filler. The nearside arch may need a little blending in to match the offside but will wait and see if i can create a more definite line on the offside arch.

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Made a profile of the nearside arch to see how much filler was required on the offside.

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Split the nearside lower rear arch to move it in to match the offside.

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A before and after shot which now look more in keeping with the overall body shape. Glassed up and waiting to fill hopefully next week

Viatron · #**166** 17th August 2014, 20:34

Nice work, is the body on the frame or just resting on the chassis?

Viatron · #**167** 17th August 2014, 20:37

The more I look at your body mate the more I think it may have warped a bit in the heat! The issue you had with the pass side rear didint exist in mine....

Viatron · #**168** 17th August 2014, 20:38

Btw got your pm on the seat shells I'll let you know eh when there done, mould will be ready next week fingers crossed.
Mac

swifty · #**169** 18th August 2014, 07:31

Viatron The body is sitting on the frame until all glass work is completed and the subframe needs more strengthen work.
Its possible the body has warrped, I did try and push the nearside arch in but it ws having none of it so cutting was the solution.

Cheers on the seat news.

Paul L · #**170** 18th August 2014, 08:55

Swifty - Looks like you have made big improvements in a very short space of time.

I think the time/budget restrictions Mac worked under to revise the MkI into the MkII meant it wasn't 100% perfect.

However, given all the issues he had to deal with, the MkII is certainly miles better than the MkI.

Are you going for one hump, or two?

Good luck, Paul.

PS
I can certainly gently push in the leading edges of my arches with no resistance.
( There are photos of them strapped into place in my build thread. )

davecymru · #**171** 18th August 2014, 09:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by swifty

Dave I haven't used thread lock but did cross my mind, when you tightened yours nuts did you lock the wheel up to prevent it from spinning like i did?

Yup, i did the same as you with a bit of steel bar. But about 3 weeks (i think) after it was on the road it came loose! Squeeky bum time as it did wobble like heck!

I ended up refitting them with loktite and that sorted them for the rest of the year i was driving it, but this time i'm going to do belt-n-braces and 'punch' them as well

Mister Towed · #**172** 18th August 2014, 12:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by davecymru

Yup, i did the same as you with a bit of steel bar. But about 3 weeks (i think) after it was on the road it came loose! Squeeky bum time as it did wobble like heck!

I ended up refitting them with loktite and that sorted them for the rest of the year i was driving it, but this time i'm going to do belt-n-braces and 'punch' them as well

I thread-locked my hub nuts in (oo-er, missus) from the word go as it was quite difficult to get them really tight due to them being shrouded by the hub flange. A year on and my nuts are still nice and tight up against the flange (fnarr, fnarr).

swifty · #**173** 24th August 2014, 20:48

Took your advice guys about thread locking the adapter nuts just in case.

After looking at the way the rear end of the body dipped down on the offside i decide to to make s few adjustments to bring it in line with the nearside.

Started by running over with 80 grit flap wheel then built up the surface with fibre filler followed by body filler and it now looks more balanced with the nearside and the two humps sit better on the body.

IMG_4602.jpg IMG_4635.jpg

The first image gives you some idea of the problems with the body alignment and the second is after some major work.

Also opened the width of the cockpit by trimming the sides to give more shoulder room this has left an edge with no strength so decide to add a rolled edge. Made a mold to make a trim to go around the edge of the cockpit out of a 3 mtr length of plastic oval conduit, this was used to wrap the fiberglass around then once cured i ran a slitting disc down one side to leave a rolled edge trim which turned out good.

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swifty · #**174** 24th August 2014, 21:24

The curved inbuilt dash has been removed as i am going to fit a flat dash board, this has left a curved section in the middle which needed to be filled in. I used a piece of 1/8th ply covered in brown packaging tape and screwed to the under side on the dash to use as a surface for the fiberglass to rest on.

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Area glassed in and marked up before cutting the straight edge.

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Filled the newly glassed area with fiber filler before the body filler is used.

swifty · #**175** 24th August 2014, 21:37

After sorting the area on the offside i decide to tackle the rear valance area which was uneven and sloped to the nearside.

IMG_4622.jpg

First the edge was trimmed straight and filled with fiber filler as the valance profile was all over the place and i wanted some continuity.

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Body filler was then used to finally give a flat smooth finish before the primer goes on.

I fitted the body back onto the chassis only to find that the nearside rear arch was slightly lower than the offside so a cut was made in the rear arch trailing edge, if you look at the image above you can see the difference in the formation of the two rear arches.

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This image shows the cut after fiberglass was applied.

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These images show the slight difference before the cut was made to the nearside arch. The first image is the offside while the second image is the nearside you can see the difference which i marked with a marker pen before cutting.

Well that's it for today hopefully will get some more body work done soon plus the sub frame is going to be re made to fit the body better and look more in keeping with the style of car.

Paul L · #**176** 25th August 2014, 07:46

Swifty - Looks like you are making great progress on the body shell.

I saw you post this on Mac's thread...

Quote:

Originally Posted by swifty

… once you start to look closely at the misalignment of the body it becomes an obsession a little tweak here and a little tweak there...

At this point I think I am trying to avoid looking too closely at my body shell.

Good luck, Paul.

swifty · #**177** 27th August 2014, 20:21

Its been a while since i did any machine work for the car so today i decided to think ahead and make a couple of bonnet locate pegs, these i hope to bond into the fiberglass body and bonnet once i have made a few adjustments to the standard bonnet.

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Made the peg and base plate from stainless steel, the peg has a 20 degree taper and is welded to the base plate. I made the female part from nylon to eliminate any future rattles, the hole also has a taper to help guide the pin into the hole.

The grub screw is to allow initial adjustment to set the pin and bonnet up as the hole in the female part is a blind hole, this will then be bonded in permanently. The nylon holder is made from ally with flats machined on to help give a more permanent fixing in the fiberglass.

IMG_4637.jpg

Also made a former for the cockpit corner curved edge's to match the straight edging made earlier, it's made from 1/4 ply with a piece of plastic central heating pipe screw on to give a rounded edge.
This will be covered in brown packaging tape before fiber glassing.

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

swifty · #**178** 28th August 2014, 20:28

Today i started to fill the cockpit rolled edge trim with fibre filler to blend in with the body so whilst i was waiting for it to set i decide to trim the top of the bulkhead on the nearside as it was not symmetrical with the offside which has bugged me from the beginning.

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Made a cardboard template of the offside top edge profile then transferred over to the nearside. removed the bulk of glass with a flap wheel and tomorrow i will glass the underside before applying the magic glass filler.

So if the weather holds tomorrow i should get the bulk head re glassed and the rolled cockpit edge finished.

Paul L · #**179** 29th August 2014, 06:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by swifty

... I started to fill the cockpit rolled edge trim with fibre filler to blend in with the body ...

Swifty - If you get the chance, could you take a close up photo of this work?

As I am still debating what to do along the edge of my scuttle and this might be a solution.

Although it is clearly hard work at the moment, it looks like you will have a great body shell when you are finished.

Good luck, Paul.

swifty · #**180** 29th August 2014, 20:18

Paul I will take some photos tomorrow as i forgot to take some today, i have however just about finished the rolled edge now which looks good, it also adds a little strength the cockpit edge which is a benefit.

It does take time but i think the end result looks good and i have a few ideas for the interior to try and replicate a 50's style race car but not sure as to how to tackle this, more thought required or may be just start to do it and make adjustments as i go along.