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6/1/2002
The central rear panel template was checked with the corner panels in
place, and then cut and shaped in alloy. Some more GRP was filed off
to get this to fit, as there is a join in the middle between the roll
hoops with a large step in it, so one side had to be filed down to
make it level.
7/1/2002
Dimples to go over the current panel rivets were put in the middle
rear panel. Templates and alloy were cut for the long thin side panels
under the doors.
9/1/2002
The side panels were shaped and dimpled for the rivets. The template
for the lhs bulkhead panel was then tidied up a bit, and the alloy was
cut to shape.
12/1/2002
The lhs bulkhead was trimmed and bent to shape, and the holes were
cut/drilled for the bulkhead bracket bolts, the clutch cable, and the
lhs bonnet latch.
13/1/2002
Finished off the lhs bulkhead panel, and then made 3 small panels to
cover up the gaps around the master cylinder.
Put the bulkhead brackets and wiper motor back in place, and made a start on fitting the dash. With the wiper in, the dash goes in far enough to hit the wiper spindle, so a small bit of the dash was chopped out to fit.
14/1/2002
Measured up the lhs dash bracket using a bit of alloy, then cut and
shaped it in 3x25mm steel strip. This one is just an L shape, which is
attached to the front of the crossbeam under the dash. The lower hole
was drilled in the bracket and through the crossbeam (taking into
account using some rubber between the dash and bracket), and
temporarily fitted. The far rhs one was then measured up using a bit
of alloy again, and then another section of steel strip cut. As the
crossbeam angles across the car, it is more to the front at the rhs,
and further away from the dash. So, this bracket has to have 2 bends
in it, one at the top to attach to the dash, and then one at the
bottom to move it in line with the dash.
15/1/2002
Bent and drilled the rhs bracket and chassis hole, and then made the
centre bracket. It seems fairly sturdy with just three brackets, but
until the rest of the clips are in for the front edge I won't really
be able to tell whether any more are needed to stop it moving around.
16/1/2002
Marked the positions of four clips to hold the front edge of the dash
in place (which involved putting the dash in place, then lying on my
back with my head at the end of the footwell so that I could reach up
to draw on the bodywork), then cut the clips out of some thin
galvanised steel strip. These will then be bent to match the shape of
the body and the edge of the dash, then glassed into place on the
bodywork.
19/1/2002
Shaped and tiedied up the freshly cut clips to roughly the shape they
need to be.
20/1/2002
Drilled some 8mm holes in the clips which should help the glass hold
them in place, then sanded off the black gloss paint from the areas
the clips are going to go.
The dash was then put in with the brackets holding the rear edge up, and I laid on my back in the footwells again to check the fit of the clips. They were then shaped to fit by my brother, and were passed between us until they fitted as closely as possible. Some more reference marks were made on the body so that the clips will go back in the place they are meant to.
The clips and bodywork were then cleaned up with some acetone, ready for fibreglassing on. We had 2 attempts at trying to fit one of the clips, but as they have to be stuck underneath, its pretty much impossible to hold them in place and apply the matting and resin at the same time. So, we decided to do what we should have done originally - glue the clips in place with a bit of Araldite (and some tape to hold them in place), then glass over the clips to provide the strength needed, which should be quite a bit easier.
Before it went off, the 2nd batch of resin was used to glass in one of the steel strips in the front of the bonnet for the location pin.
24/1/2002
Decided to bolt down the rest of the bodywork. Some bits of inner tube
were cut to go under the large penny washers used under the doors, the
long domed head roofing bolts were trimmed to the correct length (I
could only get extra long ones at the time), and then the top sides of
the bodywork were bolted down. The rear wheels had to be removed to be
able to tighten the rear bolts up, and even then it was still a bit
awkward, but at least its finally done now.
25/1/2002
The pin hole in the bonnet that had been glassed over was drilled and
filed out until it was the right size. Doing this is much easier than
it would have been to put something in the hole and try and glass
round it. The resin that had run through was chipped off with a sharp
chisel, as it wasn't stuck to the gelcoat that much.
A bolt was fitted to the top of the throttle pedal to act as a stop. Initially this can be used to make sure it never revs too high, but once the engine has been run in it can be set to the full throttle level so that pushing further on the pedal doesn't put any extra strain on the carb linkage.
The throttle cable hole in the chassis tab in front of the pedal was moved down slightly, so that it lines up properly with the redesigned pedal.
26/1/2002
The 3 dash clips were glassed in place, which was much easier now that
the clips are glued on. Its still not easy as the resin tends to drip
a fair bit, but they should be secure enough to hold the dash. The lhs
bonnet pin strengthening steel strip was also glassed into place.
27/1/2002
The excess resin on the edge of the bonnet was chipped off, and the
hole drilled and filed to shape. Unfortunately, the steel strip had
gone in slightly off to one side, so the hole in the steel had to be
widened a bit to line up with the hole in the GRP, but now the bonnet
fits in place with both of the pins in.
The dash was trial fitted in the clips, and it all seems to be fine. The position of the 4th clip was marked, and then the wiper motor was removed so that the area around it could be rubbed down to remove the paint.
29/1/2002
Sanded down the bodywork for the centre dash clip, shaped it to fit,
and then glued it in position.
30/1/2002
Glassed the centre dash clip in place. Also had a look at the
positioning of the rear fog light. I had planned on putting it on the
rhs to balance out the exhaust hole, but this is just too low to meet
the minimum height requirement for SVA, so it will have to be put
higher. So, the best place for it now seems to be in the middle under
the boot. The problem here is that it has to be mounted vertically,
and the bodywork curves back a fair bit, so it would need to be either
mounted on a block or recessed. The higher up it goes, the less the
curve of the bodywork is, but then it could get in the way of the rear
hinge for the boot that still has to be planned, so I'm just going to
wait until the boot hinge has been figured out before fitting the
light, as its a relatively minor thing to do.
31/1/2002
Checked the fit of the dash with all 4 of the clips in place, and it
seems to fit alright. With some bits of rubber to hold it in place in
the clips, it should be fine. I am planning on putting a strip of
something like door seal along the front edge of the dash, which
should stop it rattling against the bodywork. Holes were drilled in
the top of the rear dash brackets, which were then marked onto the
dash.
Total hours this month -
34.5
Total build hours -
957.5
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