work suspended.

Captains log...
I thought I would take a look at the rear suspension yesterday,and in doing so I found that one of the supplied bolts did not fit through the fiesta hub. Looking into the problem,I discovered that the reason was that the other end of the bolt was captured by a bush that was 1/2" inside diameter,but the hole in the fiesta hub was 12mm. A whopping difference of 0.7mm,which is plenty big enough of a difference. I had a go at drilling out the hole,but got nowhere fast. I checked with Jeremy that I was doing the right thing,and he suggested that taking the hubs to a local engineering firm might be the way to go. A trawl round the local industrial estate found a likely suspect,and sure enough,they were only too happy to help. I will pick them up on Monday.They are going to charge me £15,which is the same as 2 high quality drill bits,so not too bad.
So I switched my attention to the front suspension today,and trial fitted the components...






All went together perfectly. I love the rocker arms an inboard shocks setup.
I will get some nice alloy brackets from ebay for the steering rack and fit that next.
Cheers,James

More panels

Once the floor was on,I got a bit carried away and attached the other panels that I had made...












I am really pleased,the car is now something that you could sit "IN",rather than a skeleton.
It seems like a substantial thing now. Brilliant!! :-)

Floor on

Floor attached.
Took me about 2 hours.
A job well done,I think.

Finished the drilling for the floor today...



But I found out that I am 19 rivets short!!.
I have ordered some from e-bay.Hopefully they will arrive quickly,as I would like to have the froor on at some point over the weekend.
I am going to paint the drilled holes with hammerite to seal them,and use sikaflex to help fix the floor to the chassis.

I have attached the drivers side end plate,and drilled the tunnel side too.
Today I started on the floor. I have drilled the front half. I need a new drill bit for the rear half!!



So far,so good though!! :-)

get stuck in.

I got back from work today,and for some reason just decided to attach a panel.
So I painted the inside face of the passenger footwell end plate.Then I drilled the chassis for the rivets.
Then I realised that I had to drill the passenger tunnel side rivet holes before attaching the end plate,so I did this too. Then I riveted the panel onto the chassis,hooray!!
Then I covered the passenger tunnel side holes with masking tape to stop moisture getting into the chassis,as the actual tunnel side wont be attached for a while.
I will try and do the drivers foot well end plate tomorrow.











Cheers James!

I have painted some of the cockpit panels with gloss black spray paint,and they have come out perfect. I am waiting for a job lot of black spray paint to arrive from ebay,as buying from halfords is expensive. I also re-made the drivers tunnel side panel,as I wasn't happy with it. It fitted OK,but was made using the passenger side as a template,and I know that it would have niggled me that it wasn't great.

I am nearing the stage where I am going to drill holes in the chassis.
Some of the holes are going to be drilled and hot filled immediately,ie: the tunnel sides.
I have been worrying about leaving exposed holes in the chassis fr any period of time,as the chassis lives outside,albeit under a weatherproof cover. All I can think of doing,is covering all holes with electrical masking tape once drilled,hopefully that should keep any moisture from getting inside the chassis until I rivet the tunnel sides into place.
Anyone have any better ideas? Or think that this will be sufficient??
Thanks alot,James.

SKCC

Just addad a link to the Southern Kit Car Club...


A very friendly bunch,with whom I plan to hook up with once I am on the road.
They plan some great outings,including trips to france,or just a blast round some local b-roads.
I cant wait!! :-)

panels

Just as a note.
I have used my trusty jigsaw to cut all the panels.
I bought some snips,but found them slow and awkward.Also the clean cut edge from the jigsaw is much better than from using snips.
I have quite a few hours racked up using jigsaws,and if anyone else is thinking of using one,and you want a few tips,using a slightly worn blade means that the saw doesnt run away from you,and when marking out cutting lines,mark an inside edge,and cut upto the edge of the line,rather than cutting down the middle of a marked line.You get a much more accurate cut that way.
Cheers James :-)

Black panels

I would like to have black panels in the cockpit area.
I am thinking at the moment of just spraying them with halfords best.
I know that powder coating would be longer lasting,and give a nice smooth finish.But if it chips or cracks,it could be difficult to repair. Where as a sprayed panel could be just gone over again.
Any thoughts gratefully recieved!!
James

Progress

Hi all.
Back from holiday.

I have been fairly busy prepping the workshop.Here are a few pics...








It is working quite well. Cosy but not too cramped.

I have been cutting panels,and have enough to get on with...



I will get some 4mm rivets from CBS and get stuck in.
Although I am debating whether to pre paint/powder coat some of the cockpit panels.