Cheers Ronnie, its getting there but slowly. I'm fairly pleased with the GRP work on the nose cone so far and think it will be alright in the end. I'm just in the process of joining the Hagley car club and thinking about the possibilities of doing some hill climbs, although not in the Dragon as yet. I'm looking out for a cheap Fiesta Zetec S as my eldest daughter has one and it goes really well and handles prety well too. Probably won't do anything this year but looking to do a "driver's school day" at Loton Park next year and take it from there. In the meantime I'll keep just tinkering away at the dragon whenever I get a spare hour or two.

D.

I've managed to get a few hours in this week on the nosecone and overall I'm rather pleased with how well its shaping upalthough I've spent about six hours removing all the old horrible paint from it. I have about an hours work this morning finishing off a service on motorhome thn the rest of the day is mine! Got to pop out late morning for an hour on the golf driving range but other than that its Dragon day! I hope to get the nosecone into primer and possibly mount the seat runners, watch this space.

D.

Hopefully this post will include a link to my Facebook page where a photo of the Dragon should be, as she sits this afternoon:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

Nosecone is now in barcoat and there are a few little details to tidy up before final painting but overall I'm well pleased with it. Seats are now fitted on runners. Headlight brackets are there but need altering to suit the new headlight/sidelight/DRL/indicator units as shown in photo. I need to make some mounting plates for the mirrors (as seen in photo) and weld them in plus a mounting bar into the roll bar for the upper harness mounts.

I think the chassis will be ready for stripping down ready for powder coating then and following that I can start the final build up.

D.

PS, anyone mentions "BRUM" and they're off my Christmas card list for good :-)

Hi davey

Looks as if you have made some cracking progress with the Draggon :cool: :)

That nose sure looks as if going to be really nice once you have the top coat on.

The Draggon has totally transformed since you first bought her into the workshop :) :)

Had a good day today. Started off with a quick trip to Shrewsbury to the best steel stockholders in the county (possibly the ony one:D ) for some 33.7mmX4mm wall round tube for the cross bar of the roll bar to take the upper harness mounts. I also grabbed a couple of feet of 42mm X 2mm wall round tube to remake the headlamp mounts (new headlamps need a 16mm mounting hole and are fixed with a 24mmAF nut so existing tube was too narrow).

Got to the workshop late morning and got stuck in. I've mounted the cross tube by cutting 34 (ish)mm holes into the rollbar upright setions and inserting the cross tube into these. The harness mounting bushes are cut into the tube and tig welded in place then the cross tube MIG welded into the rollbar. I beleive this will give a good strong upper harness mounting.

I've also done the headlamp mounting brackets in bigger diameter tube to acomodate the larger fixing nut but I'm not sure I like the look of those mountings, I'm thinking that a curved tube from the chassis up to the lamp mounting position would look better but haven't figured out how to access the fixing nut with such a design:confused: . I've now fitted brackets to take the brake hoses as well.

For fun I've fitted the seats and the harnesses along with the nosecone and headlamps. Apart from the headlamp mountings (which I'll probably just go with as I can't figure out a better option) and final welding/dressing of welds I think I have just about got a complete chassis.:D

Here's a link to my facebook page with a photo. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...unt=1&re f=nf
D.

Nice one
 

Just had a gander at the picture Davey :)

Boy, what a transformation, the Draggons come a very long way indeed & if I may say so, a vast improvement. :) :)

Still following your build with interest mate. :cool:

Cheers Ronnie, nice to know someone is following my build;) . Spent a few more hours on it today dressing a few welds down and starting to strip it all back ready for shot blasting and powder coating. I also spent a couple of hours tweeking the steering rack length as trials were showing it still had some bump steer, I'm pleased to say that is all but dialled out now and the tiny bit that's left is (hopefully) not going to be a major issue. down to 2.5 turns lock to lock now but I wll have to make some rack extensions as there is less than 20mm of track rod thread into each track rod which seems a tad short to me.

Got a quiet week at work this week, job in tomorrow with a doc visit in the afternoon for a stubborn cough, nowt Tuesday, golfing Wednesday, my birthday on Thursday and my golf mate's on Friday. Saturday could be messy:D but hopefully I can finish stripping the chassis tomorrow/Tuesday and get it away for powder coating before the week is out.

D.

Its got a v in it so I am watching with interest.


You have got that lump nice and low ,is that in its final postion?. I was wondering if it all ends up under the bonnet. :cool: Are those the headlights with the indicators built in?

Bob

Hi Rob, yes that's the final position for the donkey, Throttle bodies will be above bonnet line so a large cut out in centre of bonnet is planned with a clear perspex dome over them. Sump has been cut and shut to accomodate engine position. Headlights are the Venom 5 in 1 units with LED indicators and LED position/DRL lamps. I had to remake the headlight mounts as the tubes weren't big enough dia for the fixing nuts, I've also raised them by about 20mm from this position.

D.

Well late last week I completed welding on the chassis and at 07.00 this morning delivered it to the local powder coating outfit for shot blasting and finishing in glorious gloss black. Will post photos when it comes back in a day or two.

D.

Quite surprised this afternoon when the phone rang about 4 o'clock and it was the powder coaters to say "it's all done and can you come fetch it please?" 'cos its blocking our track up. Got it back still warm from the oven and a nice job they've made too. Just got to get the wishbones done and I can start to build for proper.

D.

From now on its like freewheeling down a hill on a pushbike:cool: Cant wait to see it in the flesh.

bob

Don't know about that Rob there's still loads to do. I've just painted the diff last Friday so that's now ready to go in. Then I've got the wishbones to paint, drive shafts and uprights to clean up and paint, front uprights to clean and paint, calipers to overhaul clean and paint etc. etc. etc.

D.

We were supposed to go to a motorhome club AGM this weekend but circumstances overtook us and we couldn't go so I've had a day on the Dragon instead. Got the rear wishbones dressed up and three out of four in paint. The welding was done with my old MIG welder which wasn't very good, the welds are perfectly good just looked rough so I've ground off all the rough crap, derusted and primed then top coat in Hammerite smooth red. Also managed to get a bargain set of BBS wheels for "Dierdre" off the bay of E this afternoon for the princely sum of £57 so taking a ride up to Buxton tomorrow morning to collect them. Touring cars on ITV4 tomorrow afternoon so that's tomorro sorted. Monday hopefully I can get another day on the Dragon and finish the rear wishbones off. Leave them to harden for a week or three and sort out the rear uprights for paint then the rear end can be re-assembled.

D.

We wont get to smoke it round the car park then in a few weeks time :( :)

Bob

Just a quick update, I've cleaned, painted and re- assembled all the suspension, diff and driveshafts so the Dragon is now back onits wheels. Tomorrow morning I have to check my son's "new" car over (52 plate S3 Quattro) then I plan to clean and paint the front calipers and steering rack.

Haven't done much to the Dragon for a couple of months due to my new toy, Roary the MX5 which is going to be racing up hills next year.

D.