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3/3/2002
Finished shaping the lhs panel, then marked and drilled all of the
rivet holes for both panels. The front corner of the lhs panel
overlaps the engine bay side panel rivnuts, so holes were drilled in
it to go over the whole rivnut rather than just to let the bolts
through, as this makes the panel flush with the chassis rail.
Rivet holes in the rhs front bulkhead panel were marked and drilled, to go into the horizontal chassis rail and the thick strip holding the brake master cylinder..
The inside edges of the front wheelarches were both sanded down to get rid of the sharp bits.
5/3/2002
The rivet holes in the chassis for the front rhs bulkhead panel were
marked and drilled, and the holes in the lhs front bulkhead panel were
marked and drilled.
6/3/2002
The lhs bulkhead panel was refitted, and all of the rivet holes marked
onto the chassis. The lower holes were then drilled out.
After some talk on the list recently about seatbelts, I thought I'd have another go at measuring up to check the SVA requirements.
According to the manual, a block which is 53mm tall and 136mm long is placed horizontally on the seat, and the distance from the top of the front edge is measured to the top seatbelt mounting hole. This distance must be a minimum of 450mm to pass. So, this means that if the base of the seat was totally flat, then the distance from the seat to the mount needs to be 503mm.
I measured the distance between the top of the floor chassis rails to the seatbelt mount that is on the side of the chassis, which was 480mm. So, I would need a seat with a base of minus 23mm to pass the minimum height requirement (which is a little bit difficult to get hold of), as with the block just placed on the floor, the height is only 427mm instead of 450. So, there is absolutely no way that this mounting point can be used - its well under my shoulder when I sit on the floor anyway, so is of no use at all.
So, I checked the height of the bolt hole on the roll hoop, which was 710mm. With the block and seat in place, the distance comes down to 575mm, which is more than enough.
Just out of interest, I measured the height of the highest point on the chassis above the seatbelt mount, which was around 600mm from the floor. So, with the block in place, there would be 10cm available for the height of the seat. As the bases of my seats angle back a bit, from the floor to the lower front corner of the block is around 8 to 9 cm, so fairly close, with a height of around 465mm.
So, the roll hoop seatbelt mount is the only place that will pass the minimum height requirement. The SVA manual goes on to give requirements on the strength of the seatbelt mounting points, which for a steel spaceframe chassis says that there needs to be sufficient bracing or triangulation around the upper anchorage structure. Unless you count the 8 bolts holding each roll hoop onto the chassis sufficient bracing, there is bracing or triangulation at all, so will probably fail on that point.
This leaves me with a kit that doesn't seem to be SVA compliant, when it was supposed to be and was sold well after they started doing SVA tests. I will have to check with an examiner at an SVA station to see whether they class the roll hoops as being strong enough for the seatbelt mounting point, but if they say it isn't then I don't know what the solution will be. Either another mounting point would need to be welded onto the chasis as high as possible, or some bracing added to the roll hoops, which isn't really possible due to the bodywork being in the way all around them.
As always, the build just keeps on being more and more fun...
7/3/2002
Well, the opinion on the list is that the roll hoops will be
fine. Apparently, the Cat has the seatbelt fitted to the rollbar,
which only has 2 bolts on each end, and has 2 seatbelts attached to
it, so if that can pass SVA then mine should be fine.
Got 2 holes drilled in the master cylinder bracket for the lhs front bulkhead panel, which took quite a while as I had to be very careful not to hit any of the brake pipes with the serrated bit of the drill's chuck. I then got 2 more holes marked and drilled next to the clutch pedal where a small bit of alloy needs to fill a gap behind the heater hose clip, where the bulkhead panel doesn't reach.
9/3/2002
Picked up a couple of things at the Stafford show - some sticky backed
closed cell foam strip which will be used to try and seal the edge of
the boot lid (and anything else that needs sealing or a sharp edge
covering up), some small rubber u-channel to go on the alloy panel
holes around the steering rack just in case the edge of the alloy
would be a problem for SVA, and some jute mat which will be used as
sound/heat insulation for the footwells and the bulkhead panels.
Saw a couple of other cars that have seatbelt mounts on the roll bars, so it seems like that should be fine for SVA.
10/3/2002
Marked and drilled rivet holes for the two long thin panels under the
doors, and the rear corner panels. Drilling the holes in the grp was a
bit tricky, as I did the holes in the alloy first and then marked them
on the gelcoat. The problem is stopping the hole moving around too
much, as even putting a small hole in the surface with a sharp point,
and then carefully taking a little bit out by hand with a sharp drill
bit to get the hole started, it can still wander a bit until it gets a
couple of mm through.
Another possible problem is that the bodywork is very thick on the sides above the wheels - about the same as the rivet head, so I'll either have to get hold of some longer headed rivets of the same size, or drill a recess in the back of the holes so that there is some space for the rivet to expand into (which won't be very easy).
11/3/2002
Drilled chassis/body holes for rhs rear corner panel, and started
marking holes on central rear panel.
12/3/2002
Finished marking and drilling the holes in the central rear panel. As
the bit of bodywork between the roll hoops isn't supported at all, and
is fairly narrow, it moves around quite a bit. So, it had to be
supported with some bits of wood and cardboard, and clamped in place
so that the holes could be accurately marked onto it and drilled.
I can't tell how rigid its going to be with the panel attached to it, but I would guess that wouldn't be enough to stop it moving around. There is a section of tubing welded onto the chassis in the middle, but no easy way to attach it without bolt heads showing. So, I'll just have to drill a hole at each end of the tubing (which is the only place where there would be access to put a nut on), and bolt the bodywork down onto it, using bolts that have heads which won't look silly sticking up in the middle.
13/3/2002
The chassis holes for the rear panel were drilled, along with some
extra ones in the box section that the roll hoops are attached to.
14/3/2002
The top corner holes of the centre panel where it overlaps with the
corner panels were marked and drilled, then an extra pair of holes
were drilled to attach the corner and centre panels in a second place,
which should help to make the join a bit more watertight.
The middle of the centre panel was trimmed a bit where it stuck up over the bodywork, and the rhs corner panel was also trimmed slightly to fit.
16/3/2002
After a comment on the list recently about the handbrake cable being
close to the brake pipe, I decided to move the rear section of pipe
away from the handbrake cable outer, as they had ended up a little bit
too close together and could end up touching.
I had originally routed the pipe down the rhs of the rear chassis rail on the lhs of the tunnel, which is right next to the handbrake cable. So, the lowest p-clip rivet was drilled out, and the pipe bent diagonally across so that the clip could be fitted on the lhs of the chassis rail, giving about 15mm more clearance than before. I also fitted another clip to the section where the pipe bends round into the tunnel, just to make sure it is totally secure.
Next, I started sorting out fitting the relay and buzzer for the headlight on and ignition off warning, and my home-made immobiliser. This is going to be mounted next to the wiper intermittant relay, so the first thing was to finally work out how the loom is going to be fitted, as it isn't tied down yet. With the heater fitted, the loom was laid in place so that I could work it all out.
The loom emerges from the tunnel at the top lhs corner, goes up the side of the heater, across it using the heater bracket to get to the steering column support, up and then diagonally down the steering column brace that I added, with the column stalk and dash connections going back to the right, and the rest going to the left.
A hole was drilled in the side of the heater so that a cable tie could be passed though to support the vertical section, and the sharp edges of the heater bracket were filed down and covered in sticky foam pads where the loom touches. Cable ties will be used to attach it to this bracket, and also to the steering column supports. Where the loom doubles back on itself for the stalk and dash connections, it was cable tied to itself.
Once I had it all temporarily held in place, I checked that there was enough room next to the wiper relay, and then cut a section out of the relay clip I have (from a Granada that originally held 8 relays), which was then drilled to fit onto the chassis.
17/3/2002
The headlight buzzer was cable tied to the relay clip after a couple
of holes were drilled to hold it, and all of their connections were
wired into the loom, using the sidelight and ignition leads from the
mysterious 'AC' connector that doesn't seem to have any purpose at
all. Extra leads from the connector were also taken to the dash for
some side and dipped warning lights.
23/3/2002
The connections for the headlight relay were re-done correctly as I'd
got two of the wires the wrong way round, and then it was tested. It
worked fine, but the piezo buzzer is a tad too loud, even with a bit
of tape over the hole. With the dash in place and the carpets
etc. fitted it will help to quieten it a bit, but it might need
something else doing to it, as it wants to be loud enough to hear, but
not too loud.
I then decided to cut a hole in the left side of the passenger footwell to fit the battery isolation switch. This is just an extra security (and safety) measure, and will be bolted through the alloy panel. Some galvanised steel washers were made to spread the load on the other side, as it only has 5mm holes in the switch.
Next, I spent a while working out where to put the hidden immobiliser switches and starter button, and made a clip for one of them.
24/3/2002
I finished off the swich clip and drilled the mounting rivet holes,
added in the wiring for the immobiliser switches, and made a start on
a rubber seal for the battery switch which I'd forgotten to do
yesterday.
25/3/2002
As the petrol tanks sit quite close to the rear bodywork, the cables
for the lights end up pressing on the back of the tanks, and are
probably too tight a fit anyway. So, a few weeks ago my dad made some
plywood disks to fit in the recesses, which wil move the lights
further out away from the tanks, giving enough room for them to fit
without any of the cables being squashed up.
While I was at work, my dad and brother shaped the disks to fit, as the light recesses are (surprisingly) anything but round or similar to each other.
29/3/2002
We worked out how the bolts were going to be fitted for the boot
hinges. The bit of wood going across the rear bodywork will have two
rectangular recesses cut into it. Holes are then drilled in these
recesses for the bolts to pass through to the hinges, with a bit of
metal strip in the recess to stop the bolts pulling through, and some
thin bits of metal pushed in along the sides of the recess, which are
used to stop the bolt heads turning round. This will then allow the
wood to be glassed onto the bodywork with the bolts in place, so that
only the hinges will need attaching to the wood.
So, the bits of metal were cut and drilled, and the recesses in the wood were chiselled out and the holes in that marked and drilled. Now that the position of the hinges is known, the rest of the wood was shaped to get rid of the sharp corners, which will make it easier to glass over.
The position of the wood was marked, then the area around it was rubbed down, partly to smooth off the bodywork, but mainly to remove the paint so that the glass can stick properly.
30/3/2002
Two extra bits of wood had been made a while ago, which go vertically
down the rear bodywork, and will attach to the section with the hinges
on. This should strengthen the rear bodywork, and stop it twisting so
much around the horizontal hinge bar. These were more accurately
shaped to fit the bodywork (they had initially been shaped according
to a cardboard template), and then screwed onto the hinge bar with a
couple of strips of steel.
To make it all as secure as possible the recesses for the bolts were filled with resin and some small bits of glass, with the bolts in place. This should stop them falling out, and will help to stop them from twisting. It probably isn't necessary, but would be pretty difficult to do later on if things started moving around...
Once that had cured, a start was made on glassing the wooden structure to the bodywork. Sections of woven mat were cut to shape, and the middle and lhs support were stuck in place.
Total hours this month -
46.0
Total build hours -
1058.0
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