[alga]

norton, just open up the book and read the page about side panels. It's one of the easiest and most pleasant jobs on the car.

I made a paper template according to the drawing in the book and verified it on the car. Then I bought some sheets of 1mm half-hard 1050A sheeting, for about £30 an 8'x4' sheet. I did most of the cutting with the 1 mm disk on the angle grinder. Pretty acceptable if you don't have a power nibbler or something like that. I bent the edges of the side panels before trying them on, but the right way is to clamp the panels in place and then bend the flaps around the chassis. Don't put the bend in the middle where there's an angle in the chassis, let the panel find its own line, it's much neater that way.

I did the same with the back panel: a template out of thick paper, cut out with an angle grinder and 1mm disk, filed off the edges, attached to the back with two self-tapping screws (clecos would be nicer), wrapped the side bends, riveted the sides into place, then replaced the screws with rivets, then bent the top and bottom. The compound bends on the top and bottom rear corners are hard to do neatly, but even if they're crumpled a bit they're normally covered. I saw a film on youtube how Caterham does it, they mangle the sheet into place, too, and later sand it flat.

I didn't have to anneal half-hard 1050A, it's malleable enough without it.