Introduction and progress so far

[Eddy]

Afternoon all,

Another long gap since my last update. I’ve continued to make progress:

Fitted the front wing stays
Drilled and tapped the front hubs/mushrooms for a second fixing point
Fitted the rear arches with p trim
Fitted a prop
P clipped rear brake lines
Heat wrapped the exhaust manifold
Installed the rear lights
Roughly cut out the dash and boot panels
Made the rear bulkhead panel
Made a panel for the front of the scuttle
Probably a few other things I've forgotten!

A couple of reasons for this update though…..

I picked up some black Team Dynamics alloys (used to belong to Ben on here, who sold them to Bob on locostbuilders, who I got them from) and had them fitted with some Toyo T1Rs. I was hoping they would be a bit lighter than the Escort alloys they were replacing…. Escort alloy with worn ‘Camac’ tyre 14.7kgs, Team Dynamics Monza with new T1R 16.1kgs. I was a little disappointed that they weigh a little more, but I guess they are 6.5J wide as opposed to 6J and a little bit of weight in the trye. I do think they suit the car a lot better though.

I wrapped the side panels and rear panel in gloss black vinyl. The rear panel didn’t go too well – It was the first thing I’d ever tried to wrap. I pulled all the backing off in one go before placing it, which made it a bit of a nightmare - I have ended up with a crease under the fog light and another that will be hidden by the rear arch, but I think it is good enough for now. I am very happy with the side panels though – They came out really well and were surprisingly easy to do. I stuck a bit of the vinyl on towards the back of the car and left the backing on the rest, and once I adjusted the angle so I was happy that it was lined up all the way to the front of the car, I pulled the backing back on itself and the vinyl stuck to the aluminium as I went. After that it was just a case of smoothing out any bubbles with a felt edged bit of plastic before cutting and folding over the edges. It may have been easier with better quality vinyl and if my heat gun didn’t decide to set fire to itself at the start of the day, but for a total cost of £40, I’m chuffed with the results.

These are the pics I took as I was going, and one with the car reassembled, I’ll get some better ones when I can roll it out of the garage:










Next up, I’ll be making the transmission tunnel panels, finishing the roll bar, securing the tank and properly wiring everything up ready to start AND move under its own power.