eSteve's build pictures...
 

This car building lark is easy... Look I'm almost done. :D

Just having a flight of fancy whilest finishing welding up the chassis!

And before anyone asks... Yes, we did sit in it and go "broom brooms"

Looking good, I like the colour

Lol i like it :)

Looks breezy. I'd invest in some warm pants.

That's the lightest chassis Ive ever seen lol. I like the colour choice

Looks good but I think the tracking is out or there is a nut loose?

Good luck

Re: colour
 

Thanks for the comments.

With respect to the colour, my plan is to have all the GRP in blue (ultramarine blue RAL 5002, thanks Saturn) the rest of the body work (i.e that I can make my self) will be brushed ally.

I'm planning on having the chassis and suspension grey/silver (see Janne's build).

Everything else will be either; black, white, silver, grey or chrome.

That's the plan anyway.

It should look like something along the lines of the first picture below, however, it might looked better with the bonnet blue see second picture below.

But there are many more things to worry about yet apart from the bonnet colour! Back to the welding.

All progress is good progress
 

Pleased to read that you have made some progress with your build Steve :cool: :)

Absolutely loved the first picture, did think the roll bar was a tad low though :o

Looking at other peoples build progress really helps to spur me on, that's for sure :cool:

Personally I like the grp bonnet but ive got a full kit. ral 5005 with black wings and aero screen.

If you are going grp bonnet buy and test fit before you fit the scuttle as mine was in the wrong place (even though I had the bonnet).

Proper pictures this time!
 

SeriesLandy, thanks for the advice I'll bear it in mind.

Now some real pics...

Got my donor last year £200 off eBay with 2 wks MOT and 2 months tax.

See first picture.

Drove it down from Burton-on-Trent after sorting out a day's worth of insurance (~£15).

Now it's gone (just this evening), see second picture. Spent parts of the last 3 or 4 weekends stripping it. Goodness knows how it ever got its last MOT, many of the suspension bushes were severely perished and in fact the rubber was almost crumbly. Two feet of the driver's side sill was rusted through! Surprisingly all the fasteners came un-done without too much struggle, although a two-foot breaker bar helped.

To get the shell taken away I phoned around a few scrap metal / car breakers. Most of them didn't want to know 'cause I wouldn’t sign the V5 over to them (i.e. scrap it) and 'cos it didn't have any ID, I'd removed the chassis no. and the VIN plate. I remove the VIN plates of the bonnet slam panel by cutting out the full length of the slam panel as this made it easier to get the engine and g'box out.

Eventually found a smaller operator in the scrap metal business (although still a licensed waste carrier) who winched it on to the back of his flat bed just a few minutes ago.

Although I have a long, long way to go yet, having the parts from the donor on my bench and the donor its self gone feels good.

Couple of little tips, wish I knew these at the time as it would have saved me a lot of time and annoyance today.

Undo the bleed screws on the brakes and leave them loose, I sheared mine today (very pissed off)

There is no need to undo the hub nuts (41mm socket), you can remove the bolts (13mm) that hold the backplate onto the rear uprights through the wheel carrier (bit with studs on).

If the cv boots are perished you can get expandable ones rather than having to strip them down. DO NOT cut the cans as per the haynes manual.

If you buy any bits in, dont assume as they came from a company that does specific roadster bits that they are correct. Measure them to make sure they are correct eg mushroom depth, steering rack extensions have an internal thread (both have happened to me)

can sort the mushies for a tenner plus p&p

Thanks for the offer kev, I think my next door neighbour has a lathe so ill ask him If I can use it one eve 1st.

Ahhh even more beterer;)

A little update...
 

Well, big progress this weekend.

For a few months now I have had all the RHS bits of the chassis done, but was putting off doing the 'important bits'. That is, the seat belt mounts, roll-ball cross member, roll bar rear stays suspension mounts, etc.

So I called in the A-team: My brother-in-law (BIL) is a ticketed Llyod's welder, so time to call on his expertise. I had welded up all the RHS for the chassis but wasn't so confident in doing the 'if that weld breaks I'm in a ditch' bits of welding.

So spent last two weeks preping (sp?), the roll bar, seat belt mounts, suspension mounts, blah, blah...

Then this weekend with BIL in charge of the MIG and me in charge of the hacksaw, file and kettle, and fuelled by a mixture of bacon butties and coffee off we went.

Six hours of hard graft later and all seatbelt mounts, roll bar, suspension mounts, fore and rear towing eyes, extra gusseting on some of the lower side rails (gussets nicely cut on BIL co's laser cutter) and general making good some of my more dodgy looking welding and we're done.

I finally feel like, that instead of having a large collection of RHS welded together in an interesting shape, I now have a car chassis. At last, I have things on the chassis with holes in! I can bolt things to it! The chassis building phase is over (pretty well) (the end of the beginning?, as WC said) and I can think about actually building a car once again.

Thanks BIL.

[Adrian H: have recessed your/my VIN number plate into the engine bay diagonal, I've yet to grind it back flush with the RHS but when I do it should look rather good, thanks for making it up for me.]

Good news
 

Pleased to read that you have made some progress with your build Steve

Sounds like you have managed to get a fair bit done over the weekend, well done :)

I look forward to seeing some progress pictures :cool: