Fatbloke builds a Spyder - Page 18

Roadster · #**341** 29th August 2016, 07:00

Looks great
Yellow is not the easiest colour to paint and for me the level of shine you have achieved fits the car well.
Classic cars with a 2k lacquer shine are not as convincing.

Barber · #**342** 29th August 2016, 09:59

Fatbloke, what a great standard to set, recognising your caveats. By the way, can you tell us what you would do differently?

fatbloke · #**343** 30th August 2016, 11:55

Thanks to everyone who has commented. I took a trip to the Ace Cafe last night (it was a Porsche night but then you can't have everything) and the car certainly turned few heads. BTW - they have a kit car night there every now and again.

Barber - I think the main thing I would do differently is in the prep before painting. The gel coat finish from the moulds isn't perfect and the car would have benefited from a skim of filler over it all. There are also some very specific high points which have gone back to primer where I've sanded. I have seen people using a rattle can to find the high and low points and would probably do this before applying the primer if I were to start again.

The other thing I would probably do differently is be less aggressive when taking off the orange peel. I used either 240 or 320 grit paper and dry sanded. With more time and effort I could have got away with 400 wet sand and kept more of the top coat on and not had to go through so many grades to get to the final finish.

Ah, the benefits of hind sight. One of my better qualities is my perfect hind sight :-D

Barber · #**344** 30th August 2016, 14:33

Well, your hindsight is my foresight, so thanks for all the tips and pointers.

Paul L · #**345** 30th August 2016, 16:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatbloke

... I took a trip to the Ace Cafe last night ...

I only live a few miles from the Ace, so let me know next time you are coming down, as I'd love to see the car in person.

Cheers, Paul.

fatbloke · #**346** 30th August 2016, 19:39

Will do. The next Kit Car day at the Ace Cafe is 10th September (11 'til 4). Unfortunately I fly back in from South Africa that morning and suspect I won't have the energy to get down there but I will try and get back there soon. Fueltopia sounds fun...

peterw · #**347** 3rd September 2016, 11:31

Hi Fatbloke, Been following this with interest as am halfway through my build, Question what size wheels and tyres have you fitted, offset and or spacers as i am at that stage and finding sizes that look the part and give the same ish rolling diameter a bit of a minefield

Pete

mazdarazmataz · #**348** 3rd September 2016, 11:34

Petew can we see your car?

peterw · #**349** 3rd September 2016, 12:08

Yes, I will probably start a new thread for this

Mister Towed · #**350** 3rd September 2016, 12:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterw

...finding sizes that look the part and give the same ish rolling diameter a bit of a minefield

Pete

This should help with the tyre sizes -

http://www.kouki.co.uk/utilities/vis...ize-calculator

fatbloke · #**351** 3rd September 2016, 21:53

Hi Pete. The wheels are Rota Grid V which are 15" diameter and zero offset. The fronts are 225/60 15 and the rears 245/60 15 BF Goodrich "muscle car" tyres.

The only others I have seen which would fit these rims are Toyo R888's but these would be 215 front and 235 rear. When the Goodrich tyres are knackered I may well go down this route as the section is significantly smaller.

I had to do a lot of work on the inside of the rear arches to stop the wheels hitting when I go over bumps and the suspension is as stiff as a board. On really bad compression it does still hit a little bit :-(

fatbloke · #**352** 3rd September 2016, 21:54

Oh, and the speedo is now miles out so I use a GPS speedo instead.

TynoPrime · #**353** 4th September 2016, 10:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatbloke

Oh, and the speedo is now miles out so I use a GPS speedo instead.

You can fix this by "noting down" what speed you're going and what the speedo days, then custom make a dial like a few of uus have with custom placement of the numbers to match the "correct" speed. Just a thought! It would elliminate you having to use gps. I can send you over my design files?

fatbloke · #**354** 5th September 2016, 16:03

Thanks Tyno - I'll think on it as I may well replace the tyres with smaller section ones in the near future (funds willing) so may not need do this. Downloaded an App which works quite well at the moment.

fatbloke · #**355** 23rd October 2016, 18:01

Interesting chat in Tesco car park today. A young man approached me and asked if he could photograph my car. He is a professional photographer and wants some images of my car to add to his portfolio and will do it for free. Never look a gift horse in the mouth :-D

Oh, and he thought it was a TVR until he looked inside and realised it was an MX.

306craig · #**356** 23rd October 2016, 20:02

Hi fatbloke. Interested in the black outline and screws on your headlight covers. Couldn't give me a pointer could you? Cheers.

fatbloke · #**357** 23rd October 2016, 21:32

I bought something like this from e-Bay Craig and then just screwed through with some self tappers and cup washers.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL-...3D121668017693

I would advise drilling out the perspex covers to make sure the screw doesn't try and thread though them as they crack VERY easily.

TAZ · #**358** 8th November 2016, 22:09

The rolling out of your wheelarches looks really neat - how did you achieve it?

fatbloke · #**359** 8th November 2016, 22:33

On the front? Tribute made me some extensions which I bonded on and then got busy with the filler.

TAZ · #**360** 9th November 2016, 17:46

Hi - I actually mean where you rolled out the rear wheelarch metal to increase clearance for the wheels early on in the build before you put the rear end on. The roll-out in the sticky thread looks quite rough and I wanted to be able to do a neater job. Yours looks pretty good and I wondered how you did it?