Swifty's Navigator

[DapperDan]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Swifty - At this rate, your car will look better than some original factory cars!

I agree! stunning work

[swifty]

Paul L & DapperDan Thanks for the comments.

Finished the boot compartment off today, i basically made the frame with the body loosely fitted so that i could see the maximum area i had to work with then dropped the frame down onto the floor to remove the body and fully welded the frame before fabricating the sides etc out of 1.5mm mild steel sheet, i am possibly thinking of lining the inside with ally sheet but will wait and see what the steel looks like once painted the same colour as the chassis. One thing i will do is extend the sides up to suit the curved profile of the body to both bond/stiffen and seal.

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Frame in position after removing the body to check all is ok after fully welding the joints as you can get some movement after welding, all was ok so next moved onto cutting and bending the 1.5mm mild steel sheet to suit the frame, all open ends of the box section were capped to prevent future corrosion.


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Sides etc welded in place and etched primed ready for the top coat.

I've made the frame sit unaided on the rear sub frame to make it easier while welding into position with the body in place. This had to be done due to the size of the boot frame (the distance it sticks out to the rear) and the front bulk head sub frame means i can't drop the body onto the chassis so i had to be able to sit the frame on the ground, drop the body in place then reach through the boot hole in the body and lift the boot frame into position to weld without using clamps etc to hold in place.

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Also welded a piece of 10mm o/d stainless pipe in position to guide the handbrake cable through. The rear of the pipe sits inside the 50x20mm rectangular section to help support the tube, I've not welded this section of the pipe to the 50x20 section as i want to be able to remove the prop shaft tunnel as and when required in the future.

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

[garyh]

Inspiring to see all these variations for framing and boots.

[swifty]

Made a little progress over the weekend. Ive decided to fit a heater which i bought online from car builders solutions, it's a 4kw unit in a small box.

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Made a distribution box from ally sheet as i wanted warm air blown into both foot wells, the main box is 1.5mm ally sheet folded with welded seams. The tubes were hand rolled from 1mm ally and tig welded up the seam, each tube is welded to the ally box section. The tube ends are blanked off with a hole in the side so that air is blown down over.

Next job was to start mounting the steering column. I paid a visit to a local scrap yard and came away with two UJ's attached to a 300mm rod from a corsa, this will be used to align the spitfire steering column to the lower steering box rod with a slight modification.
Will make a couple of adapters to mate the corsa UJ's to the spitfire parts.

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Used the original spitfire steering column u clamp by fabricating a bracket to the front sub frame. You can see the steering column hanging off the bracket. The second picture is of the corsa steering column parts.

[swifty]

After working out what is required for the steering adapter i decide to start work on the rear wheel arches to fix the uneven gaps.

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Picture of the near side rear arch before i started to cut and shut.

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Cut around the arch then used a wood spacer between the Tyre and the cut edge to get an even curve.

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Gap glassed up with four layers of fiber glass and roughly filled in for now, the leading edge will have to be blended in as its too low at the minute, i intentional left it longer than required until the body was refitted to the chassis to be able to see where it should blend in.

Both side have been done so its down to smoothing off with filler. This is probably the last job where i had to be able to remove the body so hopefully very soon the body will be bonded to the sub frame.

Looking at ways to mount the fuse board under the passenger dash board area but still be able to gain access for future maintenance. I am thinking along the lines of hinging the unit but will have to see what room i have to play with.

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

[oxford1360]

Swifty, does the Corsa shaft have 9/16" 36 spline connectors at each end?

[swifty]

Oxford Nope its a pre fabricated unit that can't be dismantled so in the future if one of the UJ's requires replacing then the whole unit will have to be re placed. The profile of each UJ fixing is 18mm o/d with two flats at 14mm across, once i make the adapters ill post some pictures on here for future reference. The adapters will be very straight forward to make if you have access to a lathe.

Also it has a facility to collapse if involved in an accident.

[DapperDan]

Utterly superb work as ever!... those gaps on the rear arches really bug me!

Cant wait to see your car all finished!... loving black wires with chrome spinners too.... top of the range Sir!

[phil9]

great work ...swifty this is going to be a fab car ..can not wait for next bit ...going to look very good in colour ...some very nice bit 's top job

[DerbyDreamer]

Brilliant timing! About to tackle the steering column myself & just got access to a lathe!

Looking forward to the next installment

[Paul L]

Swifty - Lots of good progress there.

What distance from the tyre to the rear arch did you end up with?

Good luck, Paul.

[swifty]

Paul 40 to 45mm.

I've still to tidy each arch so that the curve has a smooth even look plus the leading edge is to blend in as i want the side sub frame box sections to be hidden by the body and for the lower sill to run parallel to the rectangular box section.

I am still trying to figure out the best solution for the boot hinges so that the lid lifts clear of the surrounding body which is curved from the near side to the off side, had this area been flat then it would not be an issue.

More thought required.

[swifty]

The steering is eventually finished although it has worked out differently from what i had in mind. The UJ section i took out of the corsa did not fit as anticipated so i had to leave it and come back to it another day.

Will post pictures in the next couple of days.

Made a few bits to finish off the rear reflectors.

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The reflectors came with a black plastic rim that does not look in style with the fifties race car i am trying to emulate so i decided to turn two ally covers which fit very snugly over the plastic rim, these were turned on a manually lathe from stock 70mm ally bar, its probably pointless putting the dimensions on as it will depend on where you buy the reflectors from but if you need the dimensions drop me a line.

The left hand reflector is as standard while the right hand one has the ally trim fitted. I am going to do the same for all the light fittings so that they match.

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Finally finished the screen and rear view mirror support, I've gone for a 4 inch round stainless steel mirror in keeping with the fifties style.

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The heater i bought came with a plastic control knob which again does not look like something from the fifties so i decided to make a control knob out of ally. Used 30mm ally bar turned on a manual lathe, internal recess bore to match the switch shaft which has a hex profile.
Milled a hex profile on round silver steel bar with a dividing head, this was used as a punch to match the switch shaft hex profile, the knob was held in the lathe chuck while the hex profile silver steel bar was held in the tail stock chuck and wound into the internal bore of the knob to cut the hex shape, a knurling tool cut the serrated edge plus all edges are chamfered.

Machined a steel plate to match the self aligning bearing mounts etc, this has been welded into the front sub frame to both align and hold the steering column shaft, more pictures to follow.

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Machined plate and bearing.

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

[DapperDan]

This mans a genius!

[davecymru]

pretty pretty.....

[Mister Towed]

Good skills! Some nicely turned out billet parts there (pun fully intended). Looks like you could open your own 'rod detailing business if you so chose.

You might want to make a couple of brackets similar to the rear view mirror support for side mirrors as raising them up is the only way to get them anywhere near the height they are on a conventional car and actually see anything out of them -



Keep up the good work!

[Paul L]

Swifty - You skills and attention to detail really are jaw dropping.

Good luck, Paul.

[swifty]

DapperDan , Dave and Paul Thanks for the comments

MrT May be when i retire i may set up a small machine shop with a cnc bed mill to do one off bespoke parts. This is something i have thought about after seeing your side mirror mounts, so will definitely look into how i can possibly lift the mirrors up.

Made a base out of 3mm ally plate for the fuse board to mount onto.

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The cut out is clearance for the wires that attach to the bottom of the fuse board with a couple of spacer's to lift the fuse board up slightly. The hinge is to gain access in the future.

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Plate and fuse board in position on the passenger side behind the dash board area, a length of 8mm studding welded to the 20mm box section is used to lock the plate in position with a wing nut to drop the plate down for maintenance, this can be seen in the second image.

I am thinking that the safest position to run the wires from the front to the rear of the car is on the passenger side down in the sill area, I've bought a length of black plastic conduit that i will put in the sill area before back filling with expanding foam, the tube will allow in the future if needs be any cables to be replaced may be a bit over the top but while at this stage it easier to do now.

[swifty]

A couple of pictures of the steering column.

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Left hand image is of the UJ joint that i attached direct to the original steering box. Right hand image is of the second UJ just after the shaft passes through the bulk head. The steel plate with the self aligning bearing is the one i posted a picture of in an earlier thread.

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This is the inside of the steering column, the rusty bracket is the original column mount bracket and the second bracket is an exhaust U clamp bought from Halfords, i will be painting it to match the other box section paint.

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Made another eight ally rings to finish all the light fittings off, the first image is of the inside of the ring so you can see whats required, I've machined a small lip that sits on the black rubber light base.

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

[Paul L]

Swifty - There are certainly no short cuts being taken on your build.

Good luck, Paul.