Some more done. I just need to weld up all the joins.







Oh, and polish it!

Sweet. Where are the seats from

These but with black piping. http://www.passionauto.co.uk/product...-kit-cars.html

I bought mine via eBay though from a chap who bought but never used them.

How snug are they

Looking the part mate very impressed with the quality of your build.

What have you covered back panel and sides of tunnel in?

Gary

In the car, very. On me (I'm a 12st rake) they're a glove.

Thanks Gary! The back panel is a carbon look vinyl wrap where's the tunnel is just satin black paint.

Hi mate

I like that very much where did you get the vinyl from? Did the paint etch to the alli ok

Gary

eBay. Carbon look vinyl wrap is everywhere! I used an etch primer on a keyed surface so the paint has held on well. I used the Simoniz tough black satin spray and it cures very hard. I've not chipped it yet despite my clumsiness.

Cheers mate


Gary :D

I managed to get an hour in the garage today so I tackled some more of the trans tunnel.





That's a cv boot around the gear stick. I need some heat shrink to secure the rather than a cable tie. Also that carbon wrap is going, satin black is more preferable.

looking cracking mate, some nice ideas in there :D

one thing, i found useing the normal black bolts they go rusty very quick, i sand blasted the heads and painted them black :cool:

Thanks Rosco, I'll give them a spray for sure. Your p section rubber trim idea has worked out perfectly and wasn't too difficult to complete either.

I'm hoping to wrap up a few of the last remaining jobs I have before more parts are required to move forward. My fuel lines need tidying at the tank end and my handbrake cables look more like an open autopsy than anything resembling an iva pass...

Does anyone know where I can have my chassis number milled into a piece of steel?

Hi lovely build and great to see you cracking on
Re bin number I used a guy on eBay who stamped it on a piece of flat bar then I seam welded it to the chassis
Will see if I can dig his details out but it's been a while or any local engineering works should be able to stamp it

Thanks Gary that'd be really helpful thank you!

Some odd bits sorted today. The fuel lines are now finished and the last few needed tweaks to the tunnel panels. I also made a bracket to attach the Toyota ignition could to the engine.

I was quite pleased with this one.

Before paint mock up.



And painted!





They don't budge even a millimetre now!

I'm gonna have a punt at stitching together my own boot cover I think. Has anyone tried this themselves here before? I'm hoping there's a reasonably priced sewing machine local to me that's capable of stitching heavier fabrics like vinyl or the mohair types.

Not sure how true it is but someone once told me that the old singers were good for that kind of thing

I was hoping that was the case. I read somewhere that a heavier duty machine is needed plus a 'walking foot' type machine is very helpful too. Annoyingly I took a big heavy duty one apart recently to make a new table :mad:

Sewing machines
 

I recently bought an old Singer sewing machine to fabricate some vinyl covers for my boat seats.
Works a treat with the right size needle & correct thread.
Stitches perfectly through 2 layers of vinyl + the pvc piping.

unless the fabric is very grippy you could probably get away with just using a Teflon foot.
Walking foot attachments are available at reasonable cost, bought one but never needed to use it.

Just look out for any cheap metal bodied domestic sewing machine, Singer Brother ect.

I did think about buying an industrial walking foot machine but simply can't justify the cost.
Another thing about industrial machines is the stitching speed, way too fast for a novice like me to control. :D

There are some great sewing tutorials on youtube ;)

Never touched a sewing machine in my life before but I am more than happy with the seat covers I made. :)

Here's a poor photo of my first crack at sewing.



Quite therapeutic once you get the hang of things. :)

You are a star thank you! That's the reassurance I needed to push on with it. Can you tell me which model Singer you have please?

The model I bought was Singer 3105

Stitch length up 5mm, center stitch + Left or Right ( straight stitch )
Also has a zig zag stitching capability.

Circa 1970s , a good solid basic machine.

One currently on ebay item: 191964756706 Cheap for what it is.

I paid £129 for mine but it was from a sewing machine center & had been fully serviced/set up.
Worked brilliant straight from the box.

I don't doubt that there are better machines out there but for a one off bit of trial & error, works fine for me. :)

Going to have a go at some covers just as soon as the weather warms up. :)

Thank you again. I'm going to go for it. I've never done anything like it before so I'm looking forward to the challenge. Watch this space...

I'm stuck on material choice for the boot cover and other parts. Black vinyl is an obvious choice but I'm not keen on the look. I thoughts of using a black outdoors canvas but, I don't know, I'm not convinced mainly because I've never handled it.

Also, will it need a second layer of something to give it more weight and substance?

Good place to start https://www.profabrics.co.uk/collections/all/Marine

Well, I found some black mohair for a very reasonable price so have that on the way now. Not long before I ruin it now!

I'll be alright :)

Watch a few online tutorials & grab an off cut to practice with.
Working with an off cut will also help you to ensure the sewing machine is set up properly for the material being used. ;)

Just take it slow & easy, will turn out just fine.

I'm sure it'll be fine plenty of planning a nd practice as you say.

With regards to the pop fasteners, what's the best way to mount them to the sheet ally?

The back face of the hole in the fastener is not flat on the surface it mounts to. I've just tried fitting one with a rivet to some scrap sheet ally and the ally gets pulled inwards towards the back of the fastener. Its not particularly neat and risks pulling through the ally panel destroying the hole.

Personally I would use a stainless countersunk screw of the correct size to suit the popper.

You could also get poppers that are a screw fit.

Another possibility is to pack the back of the popper with washers to stop the alloy deforming.

Here is one of the types of popper I use.



Ebay is a good source of all things related to cover fixings, just search for " Boat cover fasteners "

I made some progress with the boot cover today. I've fitted all the poppers to the bodywork, I used load spreading washers on the back side of the panels which worked perfectly. I need to cut some side pieces out and stitch them to the main piece. Once that's done I can stitch the edging onto it which sounds easier than it looks!

Good work
Apart from the rivets I can see securing the rear panel how else have you secured it over the rear tubes?

Steve

Looking great, that's going to be a nice tidy job once complete. :cool: :)

Someone will correct me if I am wrong, I would imagine that the rear arches will cover those rivet heads once fitted.

Thanks guys! The front edge of the cover is held on by poppers as well. They'll hold it on all the way around.

If you mean the rivets around the suspension opening then yes the arches should cover them all.

I meant how was the rear panel secured

Rivets where it meets the suspension aperture and by being formed over the top and bottom rear panel hoops. I added some sikaflex in a few places to get rid of some vibration noises when you tap it.

I'm just about to order some shocks for my car but before I do I'm trying to find a thread on here where we talked about the front shock length. I've built my car to Saturn plans which stipulates a 13" front shock but I was advised to go with a 14" front shock on here somewhere. Does anyone know why and if so, is that a full 14" shock or 13" with a 1" extension?

I used Gaz 14" open 9.5" closed shocks from Rallydesign. I read several posts that indicated these were the correct ones and they seem fine on my car

Is that for a Sierra based build? Mines an MX5 build using the Saturn Sports Cars plans.

I vaguely recall someone saying to use 14" front shocks for mine as 13" shocks can top out easily causing some handling issues (I presume the wheel could potentially leave the ground or go very light?)

Try emailing protech the should know what people have been buying

I've spoken to them but they're only aware of the 13/12 combo for the Saturn cars.

The thread I was thinking off preceded talons gaz shock group buy thread however, that appears to have been deleted.