Dave - Thanks, although I'd certainly recommend everyone follows your KISS DVLA approach.
Mr T, Mac, Swifty & Scottie - Cheers gentlemen, that all makes sense.
As when I did my first test, the weight of the lid easily squashed the very small section of rubber seal I used.
Clearly when the full length of rubber seal is in place, the same weight of lid will not squash it down as much.
Guess I really should have paid more attention during those Physics lessons at school.
So I will continue to trim the lip a bit at a time until the lid seals nicely when locked.
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Play Misty For Me...
The dampness in the air is stopping the rain channel from drying out enough for me to add some fibreglass filler to it.
And I want to use the filler to consolidate the lip a little bit before I do any more trimming just to ensure it will not crack / break.
So instead I spend ages looking through my pile of boxes in the Summerhouse before I could finally track down the original fog light switch.
I knew I had put all the bits in a jar (just in case I ever got around to selling it on Ebay), but I really need to check & re-label all the boxes.
( As it is no good keeping things if I can't find them when I need them!)
I have plenty of spare wire, so I just need to study the wiring diagram again to work out the best way of re-connecting the fog lights.
I will also need to drill a hole in the dash board and will probably use the original choke hole I filled in (bottom left of rev counter).
The original fog light switch was fitted beneath the oil pressure gauge in the photo above, but I moved the choke lever over to there.
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Last Big Jigsaw Pieces:
It is great to see paint going on
Mac's car.
However, it does remind me that I still have a long way to go & I really must finalise my plans for the body shell / bonnet.
So I've been looking back at these photos of the original Ribble Cordite demonstrator at Stoneleigh 2013.
As there is no escaping the fact that my own 13 inch wheels will also look "lost" in the front arches.
In addition:
- The small section of body shell that extends beneath the bonnet is a different length on both sides.
- The sloping angles at front of the body shell, where the bonnet sits, are also different on both sides.
This last point lead me to build the new scuttle bonnet lip at a slight angle so the two sides of body shell would meet up.
Finally there is Spitfire chassis issue which seems to stop the Cordite/Navigator bonnet from opening as far as a Spyder one.
E.g.
Mister Towed
As with a lot of issues I have faced on this build, I can't fix one thing without a knock on impact on many other things.
Bonnet Plan:
- Sort out the hinging arrangement.
Clearing the chassis
may be helped if I pull the bonnet forward & down a bit (compared to the Cordite demonstrator above).
Whilst this would move the position of both the wheel arches & rear edge, these areas already need work (see below).
- Follow
Mac's approach and cut/extend the driver's side to cover the wheel.
- The rear edge needs to be re-profiled to match shape of the my body shell's new scuttle area, using a similar "slit" technique as
Micky1Mo.
- Create a "tighter" opening in the wheel arches to match the wheels & tyres I am going to use.
- Extend the nose/grille opening to provide a square front edge and a deeper lip to support the grille.
- I might also need to build a small "bubble" over the brake master cylinder depending on how the other work goes.
Body Shell Plan:
- Cut the lower rear sections of the bonnet off to extend the body shell, as per
Mac & Michiel.
This will allow me to set the same gap between the body shell and tyres on both sides.
It will also give me the option of fitting side repeaters as they will no longer highlight the different gaps/angles.
- "Square up" the bonnet lip on the scuttle so it matches the newly formed body shell extensions above.
Given all the remedial work I did at the back of the car, I might as well make the front square as well.
Writing down a "To Do" list that is clearly going to involve a ton of work may seem like madness.
Especially when I am currently struggling to finish off the boot lid work at the moment.
But if I want to finish the car, then I just need to have a plan and keep chipping away until all the work is complete.
So until next time, take care, Paul.