Are you madabout kit cars      
 "We've Got Kit Cars Covered" Information about Madabout-Kitcars.com Contact Madabout-Kitcars.com         Home of UK kit cars - madabout-kitcars.com Various kit car write ups All the latest kit car news Kit car related and general discussion

Search
Manufacturers
Kit Cars
Kit Car Data sheets
Picture Gallery
SVA Knowledgebase
Clubs & Communities
Build cost estimator
Kit cars for sale
Knowledge Base 
KitcarUSA.com
Classic-Kitcars.com
 

Go Back   Madabout Kitcars Forum > Mad Build Area > Sammio Builds and discussions

Sammio Builds and discussions Sammio bodied car builds and specials

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1121  
Old 21st July 2014, 19:19
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

Dave & Mr T - Thanks for feedback chaps.
I have a long way to go before I make a final decision, but I need a lot of thinking time in the run up.

Mac - Thanks again, obviously I will be following your bonnet work very closely.
The good thing for me, is that I have someone who knows what they are doing to follow and learn from.
Also the body work set you sorted out for me has really lifted my spirits (see below).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Too many other things going on at the moment to get a decent, uninterrupted, run at the car.
So I tried to make the most of the two short sessions I did get...

Odd Jobs - Part 1
I separated this fibreglass from its mould by crushing a beer can with my bare hands.



OK, technically, I was wearing thick gloves to avoid fibreglass splinters, but that doesn't sound quite as "manly".

Jokes aside, after trimming the edges I now have two sections that will eventually be joined to the body shell.



After removing the screws, the hardboard peeled away nicely from the spare hump.





Most of this new "extension" will need to be trimmed off to fit the profile of the body shell.

But I want to add some more fibreglass on the inside before I start cutting anything off.

So for now, I just gave it a light trim to reduce the number of splinters I have to dig out on a daily basis.



I did managed to build quite a seamless join in some places.



But I will still be adding a layer of matting, followed by filler, over the top of this edge.

At this stage I am not going to lose any sleep if the profiles of two humps are not identical.

Then I took the spare hump and a seat to do some more testing.



So much for my theory of centralising the passenger side hump, as there is no room to do this.

At best, I can move it about an inch to the right of the line that which marks the equivalent location of the driver's side hump.



At least the hump will cover more of the "wound" in this position.



So I roughly marked out the shape of the hump so I could tell what body shell repairs work would be hidden.



However, before I started making more of a mess sanding, I had a bit of tidying up to do from the last time...

I had to hoover the gel coat dust out of the inside of my twin tail pipes.

Before:
( And this was after using a hand brush on the worst of it. )



After:



Then I could seal the pipes off before the next round of dust arrived.



End of Part 1...
Reply With Quote
  #1122  
Old 21st July 2014, 19:19
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

Odd Jobs - Part 2
Following on from my reply to Mac this morning, I sanded down the filler I applied yesterday.

I used my angle grinder for the major high spots and then my new sanding block for a smoother finish.





Then I removed more of the gel coat to give me a slightly bigger area to put some matting over.



I will worry about the lower section edge another day, as I still need to start the basic fibre glassing work on the underside.

At this point my available time was running out, so I was looking for a small job to do.

As I had my new long board and a sanding block to hand, I decided to make a start on some of the "flash lines".

This work is not even close to being on a priority list, but it was good body work practise for me.

I'd already given the high points of these lines a quick once over with my angle grinder.

But by the time I'd finished, it was clear that these sanding blocks are a better bet than power tools.
( Well, for me anyway. )

Passenger Side:

Before:



After:



Unfortunately, there were some areas where the fibreglass broke through, but I will add some matting to the underside.



Driver's Side:

Before:



After:



Now I didn't really have enough time to finish the job, but I was amazed at the improvement I was able to make.

Following my adopted "Project Hillbilly" theme...
- Will I be left with a body shell that has smooth flowing lines as far as the eye can see? No.
- Will I at least be able to get the somewhat lumpy lines smooth enough for some paint? Yes.

So whilst this job almost qualified as a waste of time at this point of the project, it actually turned into a bit of a morale booster.

All in all, one of those days were I didn't actually get much done, but it really felt like a positive step forward.

Until next time, take care, Paul.
Reply With Quote
  #1123  
Old 22nd July 2014, 21:02
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

My available time today was split between a short session in the morning & a longer one in the afternoon...

Morning:
Rather than unwrap the car on the front drive, I picked a smaller job I could do in the back garden.

I ground down some of the gel coat and fresh fibreglass on the spare hump / extension work.



I then put a single layer of matting across the join between old & new, which also sealed the holes from the outside.



I will add some filler to the inside of these holes and then cover the filler in more matting.

I decided to use up some of my "creased" matting on the inside of the hump, as it will not be visible there.



However, this was a real pain to work with and it took quite a bit of effort with my rollers to calm it all down.

It is not very easy to tell in this photo, but I have covered the front face and the sides opposite the new extension.



Despite the initial "creases", when this had all been flattened out and set, the hump did feel a lot stiffer than it was before.

Compared to my work on the flash line yesterday, this was a lot of effort with very little to show for it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Afternoon - Part 1:
This time I did unwrap the car and move my fibre glassing operation to the front drive.

I laid out all the matting I needed to cover my gaping wound.



But the order got mixed up after the wind blew a section away and I only noticed after putting a section in the "wrong" place.



I included some extension strips to cover the bracket fixing holes.
( These holes were to one side, because the frame work was in the way on the other when I was fitting the brackets. )



I have left the top and bottom edges for now, as they will be done when I finished sealing up the remaining gaps.

I also added some extra matting to the passenger side of the scuttle.





As the curve on this side was not as complete as the driver's side, although I will still be adding filler all over for the final shaping.

Then I went back to the spare hump to add filler to the holes on the inside edge.



Unfortunately, the heat was reducing my working time, so before I could smooth all the surfaces they had already set!
( Plus I had mixed up / applied too much filler as well. )



At this point my wife was roped in to help me lift & move the body shell.

I noticed that the new scuttle was clearly rubbing against the fresh primer I'd put on.



It has always been my intention to "tidy up" the underside of the scuttle and now seemed as good a time as any.

After a quick session with my angle grinder, there were no more rough edges.



But there were a few small voids given the number of steps I took to build up the scuttle in the first place.

So I added a bit of filler to fill these and give me a smooth edge.



Once this has been sanded down I can check the clearance of the scuttle to the Spitfire bulkhead.

My final bit of filler work for the day was on the fixing holes on the inside of the "wound".

Again I mixed up too much filler, but at least I worked a bit quicker and got it a bit smoother.



End of Part 1...
Reply With Quote
  #1124  
Old 22nd July 2014, 21:03
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

Afternoon - Part 2:
Then I added some parcel tape to the underside of the last set of fixing brackets I'd put on.



By now, the wind was playing havoc with my "laminating table".



But eventually the job was done.



My final bit of fibre glassing for the day was to add some matting to the inside of the body shell on the passenger side.





I will continue to beef this section up to support the cutting, moving & shutting of the body shell on this side.

Just before I started to tidy up, I made a bit more mess by grinding down the filler in the spare hump.



At some point I will add more of the creased matting "left overs" to this side of the hump.

I have also been thinking about how to support the rear of the cockpit when the body is bonded on.

I've already mentioned my plan to add a flat section between the humps to support a "bonding blob".

I think I will also do something similar underneath the corners of the cockpit.



So if I add a small flat surface "two fingers" high here...



I can leave a bonding blob on top to be squashed to size.

I just need to measure and mark things up carefully, as I will be widening the cockpit corners as well.

The heat meant that everything was set enough for the body shell to be put back in place so I could tidy up.

At least we don't have a hose pipe ban, as it takes me long enough to clean the drive as it is.
Reply With Quote
  #1125  
Old 23rd July 2014, 08:14
davecymru's Avatar
davecymru davecymru is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Somerset
Posts: 1,671
davecymru is on a distinguished road
Default

One good thing about all this heat is that it should "bake" all ur new new glassing and any air bubbles should pop-up well before you get any paint on it?
Reply With Quote
  #1126  
Old 23rd July 2014, 08:30
Scottie22 Scottie22 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 2,161
Scottie22 is on a distinguished road
Default

I was thinking the same Dave, the "baking effect" is better in this weather than the winter for sure!

Paul, you are becoming a bit of a wizard at this fibre-glassing!

Does not take take very much to make a bloke an expert, and you are certainly up in that league now! Well done mate.
Reply With Quote
  #1127  
Old 23rd July 2014, 17:14
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

Dave & Scottie - Cheers gents.

I will still take a heat gun to the body shell before I get to the painting stage, just to be on the safe side.
I do find the constant mixing and cleaning up afterwards a bit of a drag while doing fibreglass work.
( I can't mix more than 200ml of resin at a time in this heat as there is such a short pot life. )
However, I am really enjoying the fact I can make "something from nothing" as it were and that it is so solid.

When I first cut out the Cordite scuttle I did start to panic a bit, thinking I'll never be able to fix it.
But now I know I can get it to a decent, if somewhat Hillbilly, standard that will work well enough for me.
Plus the "Mr T in the supermarket car park" test means most people will not know what it was supposed to look like.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Slow Progress...
Yesterday I managed to get a lot of time on the car, today "not so much", but that is the way it goes.

First short session saw me finish off the re-enforcing of the underside of the spare hump.



In addition to making use of my matting left overs, I was also using up some of my "old" resin which wasn't helping either.

You may recall that I had left all my fibre glassing stuff sitting in my shed for over a year, so I bought some new resin for comparison.



This was been much easier to work with, so I have been predominately using that, but working my way through the old stuff when I can.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I removed some more of the fixing brackets from the body shell.





Then I roughed up the edges, removed any flaky fibreglass & applied a layer of filler to fill any of the small voids I found.



That leaves just two gaps remaining.



But these will not be filled in until I move the body shell into the back garden to tackle all the other work required.

Thankfully, the repair work I have done so far has restored more than enough strength to allow the body to be carried.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The only other thing I worked on was the gearbox tunnel cover.

I gave all the edges a final sand to ensure I had flat surfaces to play with.



I cut up an old bicycle inner tube to act as a "spacer" to represent sealant between the cover and the bulkhead.



Which ever way I look at it, there seems to be no way to get a tight fit between these two parts.





Looking at old photos, this whole area was a mass of sealant and simply covered in carpet.

Thankfully, the three holes in the joining bracket line up with the three holes in the hand brake panel.



But I will need to drill two new ones for the base of the bracket through the panel / floors.

Initially, I was simply going to mark where I needed to drill holes in the bulkhead.

But looking in the bag of fixings that I had removed from the donor I found the self tapping screws' "clips".



Clearly I needed the holes to be the correct distance from the edge of the bulkhead for the clips to work.

So with my bits of inner tube on the front face of the bulkhead I could align the clips on both sides.



However, with the holes in the tunnel lined up with the clips, the hole for the gear lever is off to one side.



I don't appear to have any photos of the original gear lever in position without the gaiter in place.

Question:
Does anyone think this is going to cause any problems?

Next time I will dig out the gaiter and test fit that before I start drilling any holes.

I will also wait until I have drilled the six holes on the bottom edges of the bulkhead before I mark up the holes required on the front of the bulkhead.

As this will be a lot easier to do when the bulkhead is off the chassis.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Shopping List:
I've ordered another tub of the green fibreglass filler as I still have a bit of shaping work to do.

But I make a big mistake by thinking about the extra fibreglass supplies I needed...

Another 5kg of resin seemed fair enough, and I have used up most of the first 5kg roll of matting that I bought.

So I started to quickly write down all the remaining jobs involving fibreglass I could think of.

What was I thinking?

I should simply have just ordered another 5kg roll and not have created yet another "To Do" list.

However, since I have written this down, I might as well share it...

Fibre Glassing Jobs - To Do List:
- Finish repairing the major cut along the rear of the body shell
- Re-enforce the final section inside the spare hump - Now Done
- 'Cut & Shut' the rear of the driver's side rear wheel arch to a similar shape as the passenger side
- Reshape / reposition the wheel arch openings front and back as required
- Reshape the rear cockpit corners, including a new lip along the rear line
- Realign the front face of the driver's hump (may just leave as is)
- Build the wind deflector base across the top of the scuttle
- Build a lip along the cockpit edge of the scuttle in front of the dash board
- Re-enforce the sides of the body shell where the old scuttle was cut away
- Add extra matting on the under side of any "flash line" that reveals fibreglass when sanded down
- Add the tail pipe mounds to the body shell
- Re-enforce the bonnet lip on the body shell
- Seal the gaps between the rear wheel arches and the rear frame work
- Extend the Spitfire rear wheel arches to join the sides of the body shell
- Bridge the small gap between the Spitfire bulkhead and the rear frame / floors
- Seal the gap between the sides of the bulkhead and the bodyshell
- Major surgery required to bonnet to ensure front wheel on driver's side is covered
- Possible "hockey stick" bracing on the inside of the bonnet
- Other bonnet work vs. extending sides of body shell (see Mac's build)
- Fibreglass the body shell to the "Moon Rover" after bonding the shell in place
- Rebuild top edges along both cockpit sides to cover a plywood support structure attached to to the framework
- Build front inner wheel arches (not really sure what I am going to do here yet)
- Sort out a boot opening of some sort with appropriate cross bracing, rain channel, etc.
- Something else I am bound to have forgotten

So much for starting to dream about joining Mr T for a drive in 12 months time.

On the plus side, I had another chat with Mac on the phone today and he really does give me hope.
Seeing the work he is doing on his Navigator is a real inspiration and a great way for me to learn.
Whilst he has done car bodywork before, seeing the finish he has been able to create gives me something to aim for.
Not saying, I can achieve it mind you, but my body work will be much better than I initially thought possible.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Next Steps:
- I need to tidy up the filler on the underside of the scuttle and test fit that to the bulkhead.
- Then I can start marking up all the changes I need to make to the body shell & rear frame work.
- Then I can start removing the bulkhead and rear frame / arches / floors, to allow me to work on their undersides.
- Once I have finished working on those pieces off the chassis, they will be bolted into position for the final time.

That's all for now and I'd better go, as I am meant to be doing something else!

Take care, Paul.
Reply With Quote
  #1128  
Old 23rd July 2014, 19:17
mas123mas's Avatar
mas123mas mas123mas is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Teesside
Posts: 234
mas123mas is on a distinguished road
Default

Paul,

Where do you get your fibre glass supplies from.

Can you give me the details also details of the product you have used.

Keep up the great work. Enjoying your thread from Vietnam.
Reply With Quote
  #1129  
Old 23rd July 2014, 19:25
Viatron Viatron is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 1,163
Viatron is on a distinguished road
Default

MAS don't know who Paul uses but I have always found east coast fibreglass to be very helpful. Just google them they will be top of the list, there web site has some good how to's as well.
HTH
Mac
Reply With Quote
  #1130  
Old 24th July 2014, 00:12
mas123mas's Avatar
mas123mas mas123mas is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Teesside
Posts: 234
mas123mas is on a distinguished road
Default

Have you got references for the Matting (grade/grams/size etc...) and the Resins used plus can you recommend any other useful tools required, never tried fibre glassing before looking forward to it and the splinters.
Reply With Quote
  #1131  
Old 24th July 2014, 07:08
redratbike's Avatar
redratbike redratbike is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,446
redratbike is on a distinguished road
Default

I love updates to this thread,and the underlying time restraints as you keep the mrs /family happy doing all the other stuff.

The amount of work you've done recently is amazing ... Keep up the good work and the detailed posts
Reply With Quote
  #1132  
Old 24th July 2014, 09:43
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

Mac - East Coast were recommended by the fibre glass book & DVD I bought.
( Although I can't remember why I ended up using someone else. )

RedRatBike - Thanks for the kind words.
It is only when I look back at the detail that I can see just how much effort I have put into this project.
Which in turn explains why it is taking me so long, as this has been nothing like a "standard" build.

Mike - I took a few photos this morning for you and hope the following makes sense.

I've ended up using Glasplies.co.uk for the stuff I've bought so far.

They call this "Resin A", AKA General Lay Up Resin.



Just ask for the corresponding catalyst and they will know what to send.

I use a plastic syringe to measure this out and in the heat use a 1% mix.

I've simply marked up old milk cartons with 100/150/200 ml levels.

As this makes working out the catalyst mix easier to do.
( 200ml resin = 2ml catalyst @ 1%, or 4ml @ 2%, etc. )



I use the 600g weight of CSM (Chopped Strand Matting) and initially got a 5kg roll.



As for tools I use a small brush to apply the resin.

A small roller to press over the matting to ensure no air pockets and that the resin in soaked through the matting.

I ordered some "lollypop" sticks for mixing, but when they run out, any old stirring stick will do.

You may have seen the photo I posted of the brush and roller handles wrapped in newspaper when in use.

This just makes the cleaning up operation a bit quicker.



Talking of cleaning up, I use acetone to clean the brush & roller.

So I have a couple of pots with lids to store the stuff I am currently using.

My system is wipe off an excess resin & wash in pot #1.

Wipe any excess off again and then wash in pot #2 before leaving to dry.

Once pot #1 is too dirty, empty that out, clean it & refill with fresh acetone.

That then becomes pot #2 and the previous pot #2 becomes pot #1 etc.

( The book recommended a 3 pot system, but two pots have worked OK for me. )



You will need a stack of rubber gloves.

I simply use loo roll for wiping things and an old carrier bag for the waste.

This really is a messy job, so I use newspaper and dust sheets as well.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Have a think about the fibreglass work you need to do to gauge how much stuff you need.

I'm sure your Speedster will not require any of the wholesale butchery you see going on here.

Just bare in mind it had a short shelf life, so don't order it miles in advance like I did.

Hope that helps, Paul.
Reply With Quote
  #1133  
Old 24th July 2014, 10:14
Mister Towed's Avatar
Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 5,328
Mister Towed is on a distinguished road
Default

I used Glasplies stuff too. Worked a treat but as Paul says, it's a very messy job.

Oh, and acetone dissolves nitrile gloves in about five seconds, so I borrowed a pair of marigolds from the kitchen. Permanently it turns out as for some strange reason my better half didn't want them back...
Reply With Quote
  #1134  
Old 24th July 2014, 10:56
oxford1360 oxford1360 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,152
oxford1360 is on a distinguished road
Default

Always wear eye protection. You really don't want resin and catalyst in your peepers. Whilst stirring a recent batch (vigorously I admit), a blob flew out and hit my protective glasses.

I did get some in my hair yesterday, but that was just me being an idiot.
Reply With Quote
  #1135  
Old 24th July 2014, 19:30
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

Mr T - No doubt I was copying you when I started to use Glasplies.

Oxford - Good point, I should have mentioned for safety I also wear a proper filtered mask.

Although ditching the NCIS white suit has stopped me boiling over in the heat...
Wearing shorts has occasionally seen me get resin in my "hairy legs".

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Not Much To See Here...
RedRatBike's comment about juggling the build with family life sums up today nicely.

Family = 99% + Car = 1% (although that involves some generous rounding up. )

But I did manage to do a few tiny bits that will help next time I am playing with the car.

I dug out my best photo of the original gear lever set up.



Thankfully my donor came with both a spare metal bracket (original was cracked) and a spare rubber seal.

Although it did take me quite a while to find the box with these parts in it.

After some significant elbow grease, I did get the rubber seal looking pretty good.



Unfortunately without a "before" photo, you can't really tell how crusty it was when I started.

So I should now be able to test fit this to the gear box tunnel cover and see it everything works OK.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I also found the box with my locking bonnet pins in, as I need to mark up where they will go on the bulkhead.

To help me do this, I also tracked down a few photos of bonnet pin brackets from other builds.

TlrTone



Mr T



Michiel



I also found some "L" brackets I had in a box, but I'm not sure if they are suitable.

So I might have to buy / make something to hold the threaded rod part of the bonnet pin in place.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Finally we put the "Circus Tent" up in the garden as my daughters have some friends coming around tomorrow.



At some point, this will become my "Body Shop" for the all the remaining "fixes" to the body shell.

Although I still need to get the body shell through my neighbour's garden, before it can reach mine!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Given the huge amount of progress I have managed recently, I am relaxed about missing the odd day here and there.

So until next time, take care, Paul.
Reply With Quote
  #1136  
Old 25th July 2014, 14:58
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

Another few millimetres, but only just...
Spent the early morning sorting things out in the house/garden before my daughters' friends arrived.

This left me the smallest of opportunities to work on the car, so I grabbed my chance.

I unwrapped just the back of the car and gave the last round of filler a quick buzz with the angle grinder.
( I will return with the sanding set to do a proper job on this another day. )





This was my feeble attempt at multi-tasking as I really wanted the grinder for my next job.

So after fitting a cutting disk, it was time to remove a bit of the rear body shell to allow for the twin tail pipes.

Before:



After:





Note:
The angles of the photos make these look like gaping holes, but they are not as big as they look!

I will also be extending these holes when I get around to blending in the beer can casts.

But for now, I just needed to ensure there was a small gap between the top of the pipe and the bottom of the body.



As this will allow me to do the final round of body shell measuring.

Then it was a frantic round of tidying up all my car related mess and re-using my long extension lead...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As we had turned the inside of the 'circus tent' into a bedouin tent, or at least a Tribute to one.



I then had to man the Bar-B-Q which was seriously hot work.

Thankfully the sound & sight of the thunder & lightening slowing rolling in gave us enough time to clear the tent.

As went the rain finally came it really did hammer down.

If I don't get another chance to play outside this evening, then I hope I will get a decent run at it tomorrow.

Cheers, Paul.
Reply With Quote
  #1137  
Old 25th July 2014, 19:14
Viatron Viatron is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 1,163
Viatron is on a distinguished road
Default

I was in that shower coming out of east London Paul, manhole covers were popping on the north circ!
Left East Ham at 12:50 and drove onto the drive at 19:00
!@£$£@@£$£ traffic!
Reply With Quote
  #1138  
Old 26th July 2014, 20:46
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

Mac - I would not have fancied driving in that downpour.
If you are going to be working in town, perhaps I can buy you a beer one day?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A Long Day - Part 1:
Had a good run at the car today and covered a number of areas.

So I've grouped the different things together, rather than follow a strict time line.

Gearbox Tunnel Cover:
This was actually the first job of the day and it was painfully slow progress.

I did a side by side comparison of the old & new & the hole in the old is off set to the right a tad.
( Which ties in with my previous test fit of the new cover. )





The holes in the old cover also line up with the bracket, whereas they don't on the new.





The good news was that the rubber seal had plenty of room to move from one side to the other.





My first attempt at marking up the new holes failed as one was right on the edge of the hole.





So I used the self tapping screw clips to come up with a best fit location.



Then I could finally drill the holes, fit the seal & test fit it.





At some point I need to work out what I am going to do for a gear lever gaiter.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Indicator & New Scuttle Design:
I mocked up the Spitfire indicator and re-fitted the steering wheel.



There is absolutely no potential clearance issues at all.



Although I did go back at find this old photo of my original donor set up.



Not easy to see, but it does show the plastic steering column cover does sit in front of the dash.
( I have only temporarily fitted the top end of the column & was worried it was in the wrong position. )

The even better news is that when I was viewing the clearance from above...



It dawned on me that I could actually extend the scuttle back a couple of inches with no issues.



I swapped the hardboard former around so you can see the gap that I can now fill.



This means I will be able to mound the aero screens further away from the actual scuttle edge.

I can also commit to a simple "visor" design for the top of the dash.



End of Part 1...
Reply With Quote
  #1139  
Old 26th July 2014, 20:46
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

A Long Day - Part 2:

Blending Scuttle to Cockpit Sides:
I needed to work out how the front cockpit corners were going to work if there was no lip in front of the dash.

As my original thoughts were to make the lip deeper at the corners to cover the ends of the Spitfire bulkhead.

This is the view of the inside, where the frame joins the bulkhead.



I can run a plywood panel along the frame so that the bulkhead make a nice 90 degree join.



So rather than cover the view of the end of the bulkhead with a lip sitting in front of it.



I will try to blend the bulkhead to the cockpit sides, although the cardboard doesn't really help illustrate this.

Plus the plywood would extend further upwards as well.



Either way, that is one less thing to worry about for now.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Locking Bonnet Pins:
I had a couple of these brackets lying around, but there were too small.



As what I'd forgotten is the bonnet lip on the new scuttle is a long way in front of the bulkhead.

The pins would sit somewhere around here, or maybe a bit closer to the bonnet lip.



Which means a bracket bolted to the bulkhead would need to extend 6 inches (or a bit less) to support the threaded rod..





So I will have a look for a longer bracket, so make something myself.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cockpit Sides:
On the surface, it appears one side of the body shell is "fatter" than the other.





But I also need the sides to work relative to the frame underneath.

So I pressed a plywood off cut up against the frame rails.



This allowed me to mark where the internal panelling would touch the inside of the body shell.



This is what the markings look like on the underside.





But there is also the added confusion of the frame actually running at an angle to contend with.

I ran a length of wood from the edge of the bulkhead to the rear corner of the frame work.



I should be able to re-create this line on the underside of the body shell.

As you can see the angle of the framework here.



So I need to run the internal panels at the same angle as the frame.

But try to keep the top edge of the cockpit sides running square to the front and rear edges of the cockpit.

I am sure I will be able to work this out eventually.

End of Part 2...
Reply With Quote
  #1140  
Old 26th July 2014, 20:47
Paul L's Avatar
Paul L Paul L is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Wembley, London
Posts: 5,056
Paul L is on a distinguished road
Default

A Long Day - Part 3:

Tail Pipe Exits:
For some reason I was struggling to picture how the casts I had made were going to work.

So I decided to start the fitting process, so I could cut them out & start again if I made a mess of it.

I started by making two messy holes in the body shell.



Then I taped my beer can casts into position from the outside.



Which left me this area to seal from the inside.



Multiple layers of matting later and both casts were fixed into position from the underside.



Which means I just need to trim these casts to match the shape of the body shell & seal them from this side too.



With the body shell back in position, the tail pipes do actually line up with the curves.



And when this has all been trimmed, there will just be a gentle curve in rear edge.



Even though I didn't get a chance to finish this job off today, I am happy that the idea works well.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Damage Report:
Moving the body shell so often was bound to end in tears at some point...

I managed to break off the bottom corner of the bonnet lip on the driver's side.



But I will not worry about fixing that until I know what I am doing with the bonnet itself.

There has also been a crack in the rear passenger corner for some time.



This was something that I did fix today.





- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Other Fibreglass Jobs:
I added the first round of extra matting to the driver's side of the body shell.





Plus the second round to the passenger side.





I also added some matting to the underside of four areas where removing the flash lines revealed the fibreglass below.





I added some extra layers of matting to the very bottom edge of the "gaping wound" repair.



End of Part 3...
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 3 (0 members and 3 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +0. The time now is 01:01.

copyright © madabout-kitcars.com 2000-2024
terms and conditions | privacy policy