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

Testing hydraulics

I noticed a small pool of fluid sitting on a chassis cross member which appeared to be coming from a brake union. As the brake system isn't under any pressure this had me a little confused. Having bought a rolling chassis it led me to consider if any of the brake fittings had been tested before I took delivery. Common sense would tell you even if they had it made sense to check them myself so I set about mocking up the pedal box asssembly in order to apply some pressure to the system. You'll see from the pictures, I basically made a wooden frame to mount the pedal box and master cylinder and then used the supplied pipes and fittings in a tempoarary fashion to connect it all up to the chassis.

Once it was all connected and I'd bled the fluid through the system I tested it with a few pumps and finally held the pedal down for as long as my leg muscles would stand. There were a few leaks, nothing horrendous and a quick tweak with the spanner was all that was needed. I used a Gunson's Easibleed to bleed the fluid through the system and it worked flawlessly, thoroughly recommended.

Fuel Lines tightened... wheels arrived

I've fitted the sensor on the intake and tightened all the fuel lines after having to remake one of them after mistakenly cutting it to length when it was supposed to be a bit long .....!

I've also picked up and fitted my own wheels after having Andy's factory wheels on loan until mine were ready. Hopefully next weekend I'll get a chance to connect the battery and add some fuel and we'll be running. That'll be a bit of a milestone for me and then tidy up a few wires (p-clips on order) and it's on with the body and cutting holes in the rear deck for the roll hoops. If you've followed this blog from the early days, rest assured I'll be using the correct size holesaw :-)

Preparing to start the engine

Had a little tinker today and mocked up the fuel lines from the pump/regulator to the tank and from the fixed fuel line to the engine. I'm going to start the engine before I put the body on partly to satisfy my curiosity but also to check for leaks in the fuel line. All the joints can be accessed once the body is on but I'd probably have to do it from underneath.

I've also built a "starting box" housing water temp gauge, oil pressure gauge and rev counter along with several switches rigged up to mimic the the action of an ignition switch i.e. power on and start but also the action of holding the clutch down. My system includes a switch similar to that found in modern vehicles which requires either the gearbox is in neutral if automatic or the clucth held down if manual. This often referred to as a neutral safety switch and is the switch labelled NSS on the box.

I've also loosely mocked up the air filter assembly and you can see how the GD system draws cool air from in front of the radiator which should help performance. The air box will be bonded into the body when it finally goes on.

This was the first time that I've moved the body whilst on it's new frame which has been designed to allow me to move either the body or chassis out of the garage independently on each other.

I also wired the fan and fuel pump. Next job will be to tighten all the fuel lines, put some petrol in the tank, connect the battery and it should fire right up !

Few more pictures...

Ta Daaaa....

My new arrival... !

GD Euro chassis with LS3 engine and Tremec t56 Magnum gearbox

Andy kindly lent me the "factory" wheels while waiting for my wheels and tyres to be delivered.

All tucked up safe and sound

I'll post some further pictures and a few more details once I've had a chance to take it all in... !

Chassis complete

I spoke to Andy at GD last week and my chassis has been built and was being sent away to be powder coated. This next part of the build should see some major progress and it's fair to say this is the quick but expensive part. I'm busy putting together a list of things to be done before the body goes on. If everything goes to plan I aim to collect chassis, engine, gearbox, propshaft, exhaust system and a few other bits on a Friday and by Sunday lunchtime have all this bolted together with the body on... Wishful thinking ? maybe, but working in a single garage with no room to store both body and chassis seperately kinda makes it a necessity, nothing like a bit of pressure to sharpen the mind eh !

Bonnet Locks Finished

Quick update.. Cut the slots into the bulkhead to take the bonnet locks and repaired a few scratches with gelcoat. Still need to finish the edge in places but otherwise the bonnet is now finished and just needs polishing. I'm going to leave that for the time being and keep to my plan to trial fit all components and then take them all off again before polishing the body. Once that's finished, the parts can all go back on and be fitted permanently.

Everything seemed to take a long time today and I don't feel I've got much to show for it. One thing I have done this week is order the chassis. I'm also shopping for an engine and gearbox. When that lot arrives there should be some major advancement in a very short space of time. I've gone for the "Euro" option which comes as a rolling chassis with all the suspension components, hubs, drive shafts, diff etc already bolted in place . The plan will be to bolt engine, gearbox, exhaust and a few other bits onto the chassis and then drop the body straight on. I've still got a long list of jobs to finish before hand but I'm really quite excited !