Hello but I'm not building a Haynes roadster, quite

[Davey]

Our eldest daughter Zoe is brilliant, she will have a go at anything and always succeeds. She did a HND in fashion design but worked her way through college with part time jobs. After college she has worked mainly in catering and is now catering manager in a garden centre restaurant and a bloody good cook. she comes down to the workshop whenever possible and loves to have a go at new skills, she's mastered MIG, TIG and gas welding so far and she put in plenty of hours stripping the donor Granada down with me.

D.

[Davey]

Oh me oh my, I haven't posted anything on here since December! Well I managed to grab a couple of hours this morning and got the old Locust nosecone cut in half ready to widen it. I've followed Eternal's lead and fastened the two bits together with thin plywood to fit it up. I've got the brackets welded onto the chassis to fit the nosecone now so just a few weeks work with GRP laminating and bucket loads of filler and lots of sanding before I give up, chuck it in the skip and commission someone to make me one properly . To be honest I'm tempted to speak to the local company who will shot blast and powder coat the chassis for me as they do GRP work. It could be worth a ton to get it done properly.

Anyway here's a link to my facebook photo:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

D.

[Davey]

Due to a no show customer today I managed to get another couple of hours in and I now have the radiator mounted and the cooling fan tacked in place. Rad is from a Citroen C5 HDI and so is the fan. The fan is a huge unit fed by 6mm sq cables and on full pelt it blows like a hurricane! Hopefully cooling won't be a major issue.

D.

[Not Anumber]

H5 rad sounds like a large unit, is there much clearance when the nosecone is in place ?

[Davey]

Vertically the read just about fills the rear end of my nose one, horizontally there's about three inches at offside and two nearside. Its deliberately offset to clear the steering column.

D.

[Davey]

Just a brief update to let you all know I haven't given up, fell off the planet or anything. Being a double bank holiday weekend You might have thought we'd be away in the camper or perhaps I'd get a few days on the Dragon, not so. We had planeed to redecorate the spare room at home this weekend but I never quite found the time to aquire a double glazed window unit for it so we decided to remodel the office at work instead, extending it by 1.3 metres, doesn't sound too much does it! Bleeding knackered after three days of serious demolition and reconstruction but we're over the hump of it now.

So what's that got to do with roadsters I hear you shout. Well because we've been so busy for the last three months my bank balance has improved no end as I haven't had time to spend anything so the other day I went online and had a mooch for headlights, mirrors and instruments. Got me a pair of 5 in 1 headlights/sidelights/DRLs/indicator units (some people don't appear to like the looks but I do so there!), a pair of F1 mirrors with LED indicator repeater built in and a Vapor digital dash. £500 lighter in the ban kaccount but I can't take it with me when I shuffle off this mortal coil (no plans on leaving yet, way too much living to do still) and I only plan to leave debts when I do go.

D.

[twinturbo]

One day the dutton will live again,

TT

[Davey]

Originally Posted by twinturbo

One day the dutton will live again,

TT

It was never a Dutton, its worsee than that, it was a Locust!

D.

[Davey]

I finally managed to get a few hours on the Dragon today before the British GP so I'm glassing in the centre of the nosecone where I've had to widen it. I followed the lead of another builder who had done similar and pop riveted aly sheet across the break then glassed over the inside face, I'm now filling in the top surface with glass and resin. It may be ok when its done or it might be a complete cock up and end up three inches thick with filler . Got
planet rock on the radio, loud and the estate is currently empty except for me .

D.

[Bonzo]

Hi Davey

Pleased to read that you are managing to find some time for the Draggon

I am sure the GRP work will come out just fine

Looking forward to some progress pictures when your ready.

Been avidly following your progress from the start mate & can't wait to see the full transformation.