A few more bits and pieces

Finished off a few more bits this weekend. First off I finished fitting all the body mounts bolts ensuring they weren't too long and rubbing on the chassis. Where the tolerance was a little close I just used another washer to space the end of the bolt away from the chassis. I also trial fitted the stainless mesh in the front of the hood scoop. Becasue of the style of engine I'm using, the scoop itself is just for aesthetics and serves no purpose other than looking great ! I haven't cut the front out of the scoop but instead painted it matt black and then fitted the mesh across the front to match the oil cooler and brake ducts.



At long last I fitted the drivers door, this always caused me a few problems in the past as I couldn't quite get the top bolt through the hinge plate, I must be on a roll as this time I tried it went together almost straight away. I also had a little trail run with the polishing machine which is why this door looks a little shinier than the rest of the car.




Lastly I trial fitted ( a lot of stuff's trial fitted :-) ) some stainless steel rings I had made up by a friend from the owners club. Thanks Steve! The top ring will be used to trap a large rubber boot/gaiter I'm going to use to cover the main engine loom as it passes from the engine bay through the bulkhead to the rear of the dash. I'll probably rig up something similar for the smaller hole which is used for things such as the oil pressure line and washer bottle hose. The rings were made in identical pairs and each have another behind the bulkhead sandwiching the bulkhead between them. I may just use some 1mm rubber sheet sandwiched between the rings with a small hole cut in the middle for the wires to pass through. A little trial and error is needed to determine what works best.

Windscreen on again

Just an excuse for a few more pictures, I put the windscreen on again in order to finish fitting the centre stay. It'll have to come off again so I can drill and tap the screen supports for the side mirrors but for now, I'll leave it fitted because it keeps it out of the way and somewhere safe. Really looking like car now. Oh ! and I .... err .... washed it :-)

Finishing off the body mounting

I seem to have spent the whole of yesterday trying to dodge the weather, everytime it rained it was down tools and push the car back in the garage, 10 mins later the sun was shining and I was pushing it back outside again. I had my Dad to help in the morning but I had to do it on my own in the afternoon. Anyway I finally got all the fixing bolts in place. I did have a little trouble lining them all up, I seemed to be able to get either the front ones, the bulkhead or the rear to line up but not all at the same time. After a quick phone call to Andy at GD to confirm, I decided to concentrate on the bulkhead fixings and get them in place first. It then took a little fettling to get the rear ones lined up but a little tickle with the small sanding drum on the Dremel saw everything fall into place. I probably opened the holes up by 1-2mm rearwards. When I finally got around to the front section. 3 of the 4 fell straight into place with no adjustment and just a little work required on the 4th so it wasn't so far out afterall. To think the body and chassis were made independently of each other and approx 3 years apart, the level of accuracy is very impressive.

The Bodies On...!

Well, I finally run out of excuses and it was time to put the body onto the chassis.
I borrowed a couple of the lads from work Friday lunchtime and it was literally a 5 minute job. I've still got a little fettling to do to get all the bolts in but it's a major step forward and it feels just great.
Before

After