Some minor progress at last

[Bonzo]

Having not touched my build since May, I have finaly found some energy to potter about doing some of the light jobs.

Over the last few days I have managed to fabricate the alloy side panels.
Cut the two blanks on Saturday, Fabricated one on sunday .... Spent most of Monday in bed, tweaked my back lifting the chassis up onto stands :rolleyes: :o
Managed get on the move again today & got the second one done.

Can anyone think of any, must do jobs, before I bond & rivet the side panels onto the chassis !!??

It'll be a right pain in the rear if I fit them & later find out that I cant get to something because the side panels are getting in the way :eek:

I have had the chassis rolling so all of the suspension brackets & the likes are all fitted.

Feels great to be able to do a little to my build at long last :)

I'll post up some pictures once they have been fitted.

[twinturbo]

have you got your seat mounts in.

TT

[Bonzo]

Errrm .... No :o :o

That's the first job on my new, to do list :D

Thank's Rob :)

[HandyAndy]

Great to hear you have had some time on your build Ronnie :cool:

I suggest before you fully fit the side panels to........

make up your tranny tunnel panels & drill the holes in the chassis for when you come to fit them......I,ve had to take my side panels off to make it easier to be able to drill the holes, otherwise I would have been head first in the footwells with legs in the air :D

Also.....for the same reason....... fully finish the pedal box fitting, makes it alot easier when adjusting the pedals for the first time without the side panels on ;) , in fact if poss, bleed the brake system totally , just makes getting to the M/C a whole lot easier:)

look forward to your photos.

cheers
andy

[flyerncle]

Front brake pipe brackets ?

[Bonzo]

Thank's Andy :)

That is some good advice there .... Whilst I am still feeling a little wonky I am going to make all of the alloy parts first & with my new set of trestles I have a nice easy working height for fabricating all of the sheet stuf :cool:

Must admit, I hadnt given a thought to the drilling of the holes for the trany tunnel .... Like you say, that could involve a fair bit of bending over if the sides are fitted :eek:

Pleased to see you back on line mate :)

[HandyAndy]

:D :o I,m no "spring chicken" & the thought of me being head first in the footwells drilling holes would no doubt be a task & a half :eek: :D

Another mistake I made.....fitted the seat back panel without cutting holes for the bolt position of the diff hanger , I was being too eager to get the panel into place, DOH, lol. sorted now tho.

cheers
andy

[twinturbo]

Basicaly..

Work out what else has to fit in place and how easy it is to do with other bits in.

My example on the seat rails is that If I put on my ally floor then I would not be able to weld in the seat rails. And they need to be in place to easily cut the trans pannels.

TT

[Enoch]

Start from the middle of the car and work your way out. Have you fitted your speedo cable? How about reverse light cablesa nd anything else running down the tunnel? Have you adjusted your pedal stops? What about the seat belt mouts. All of these would be a lot harder to attend to once the panels are on.
Best and all that,
Enoch

[Bonzo]

Plenty of food for thought there chaps.

It certainly seems like I will be jumping the gun big time if I go & glue those little devils on too soon !!

Definately sounds like permanent fitting of the sides should be done at a much later date .... Too eager, methinks I was just getting a bit ahead of myself :D

Paul

Timely reminder about the front flexi brackets, completely forgotten about those :o

Enoch

All good stuff there & makes a great deal of common sense .... Rolling chassis round 2 coming up :)

Andy

If you have problems getting into those confined spaces, there is no hope for me .... Methinks Carol is going to have to learn to use a drill & spanners :D

Going to be spending the next couple of days fabricating all of the alloy parts.

I'll then be able to clear the decks & get the chassis rolling once more .... Test drive before Christmas .... I would love to think so !!

Thank's chaps, all of that advice has probably saved me a lot of awkward work.

Promise I will post a few pictures soon.

[davidimurray]

Ronnie - do as much as you can without wheels adn the engine in. If you have a look at my gallery 3 you can see all the bits and bobs I have been doing on mine. I plan to fir the panels as late as I possibly can - will probably wait until after the first drive and then strip and pop them on.

Hijacking your thread a bit - front flexi pipes are mentioned. Ash had problems as they cannot pass through the aluminium panel even if a grommet is fitted. With aluminium sides it is acceptable to just fit the bulkhead fitting straight through the alu ?

[Bonzo]

Thanks David

I have just had a good browse through your build diary.

Certainly gives me a good idea of all the things I could be doing :)

Must say, that is some cracking progress on your build. Looking top notch :cool:

Been thinking along the same lines as you re: the front flexi pipe .... Sort of thinking about a steel bracket behind the side panel, drilling through both the bracket & side panel, then fitting the male end of the flexi pipe through hole & holding it secure with a shakeproof washer n lock nut.

I hope that makes some sense, I can't see that being a problem with IVA ( Don't know for sure though ) :confused:

[davidimurray]

Cheers Ronnie - it is definitely a big stage forward when you get the panels on. I must be one of the few builder who has fitted their bodywork and started the wiring before even having had the car on wheels :p

At the moment I have mounted my bulkhead fittings straight through the alu with no steel brackets as I assumed this would be ok - we fix the pipe with plastic clips so I couldn't see why mounting through the alu would not be acceptable - but who knows when it comes to the IVA man!

[flyerncle]

I had the same idea and will fit a bracket inside the sidepanel and put the bulkhead fitting through the panel but not fixing it to the fibreglass.

[drury318]

With regard to the front flexy pipes mine were fitted to the chassis as in the book and the alloy side panels were drilled with a large hole saw, perhaps 40mm ish so the pipe couldn`t touch the alloy, this hole was then linked into the top wishbone hole and edged with rubber strip. it looked really neat and the IVA man was more than happy about it. Dennis.