16 Dec 09
Well it has been awhile since my last update. I have been in the garage almost every day, bar weekends, which is ‘family time apparently!’ I only manage an hour or two some days and then others I get six.
I stopped messing around with the roll bar and completed the rear end welding on D12 and CP7 was OK but as I have gone for constructing the rear end to accommodate the fibre glass rear tub D13 was at a different angle and length. I used CP9 for the bottom of the roll bar stays only in a different location.
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The roll bar cross member required the ends re-profiling as they were not in line with each other, then I had to drill the holes for the upper seat belt mounts, as purchased from 3GE. Now I should have really used a pillar drill but as I don’t have one or have access to one I set to by hand. First a small pilot hole right through the cross member so I could see how far of I was then opened up with an angry big drill then opened up a little more with a stepped drill then finally a grinding wheel on my dremmal. The final hole was almost an interference fit which made it easier to weld up.
I then welded the cross member to the roll bar. I tightened the roll bar to the suspension mounts and held the cross member with to ratchet straps, when I took the bolts out to remove the roll bar the hole do not line up any more. They are out by about 3mm, I can pull everything back in line for re-fitting but it is just a little annoying having ensured that the roll bar was tightened down to avoid this exact problem. Ho Hum.
Steering column support, steering rack mount and all the suspension mounts to go then the Sierra is coming into the garage, from work, for its strip down.
Cheers Ginge