GD427 in action
Monday, 8 June 2009
Fitting the Heater - 20:20 hindsight
With a bit of hindsight (there might be a few of these) a better way of fitting the heater would be to make a template of the heater face before drilling any holes and perhaps include an outline of the outside edge, place the template into position on the footwell side and then decide where you'd like the holes to be. Mark these on the template and then transfer these onto the heater face as marks where to drill the holes. Within reason and obviously taking care to avoid the heater matrix, the bolts should then be in a perfect position to enable easy fitment.
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Spit and polish
This is a picture of the rear left quarter when I initially started rubbing down the flashlines. Since then I had quite a bit of practice ! and I've also treated myself to an electric DA polishing machine so I thought I go back and see what I could achieve with a bit more experience under the belt and the means to finish the panel to a high standard.
Firstly I rubbed down the whole panel with 600 grit wet n dry in a horizontal plane, keeping the panel wet at all times. Next I used 1200 grit in a vertical plane, the idea here being that if any horizontal scratches are still showing after this process, they are from the 600 grit and you've still got more work to do. Next was 2000 grit horizontal again with the same idea in mind i.e. any vertical scratches are from the 1200 and you need to keep going. I used a microfibre cloth to dry the panel down and a very bright light in order to see any scratches left between grades.
After the 2000 grit I used Farecla G6 with the polishing machine again keeping the panel wet at all times. After G6 I used G3 which is a bit finer and after that some polish I had previously used on my other car called Menzerna Final Polish PO85RD. I believe the Farecla equivalent is G10. For a really excellent guide to using a DA polishing machine, head over to the Detailing World website and have a read of this:-http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/images/misc/dapolishing.pdf it's aimed at "correcting" paint finish but the basic principles are the same.
Not bad eh!
Firstly I rubbed down the whole panel with 600 grit wet n dry in a horizontal plane, keeping the panel wet at all times. Next I used 1200 grit in a vertical plane, the idea here being that if any horizontal scratches are still showing after this process, they are from the 600 grit and you've still got more work to do. Next was 2000 grit horizontal again with the same idea in mind i.e. any vertical scratches are from the 1200 and you need to keep going. I used a microfibre cloth to dry the panel down and a very bright light in order to see any scratches left between grades.
After the 2000 grit I used Farecla G6 with the polishing machine again keeping the panel wet at all times. After G6 I used G3 which is a bit finer and after that some polish I had previously used on my other car called Menzerna Final Polish PO85RD. I believe the Farecla equivalent is G10. For a really excellent guide to using a DA polishing machine, head over to the Detailing World website and have a read of this:-http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/images/misc/dapolishing.pdf it's aimed at "correcting" paint finish but the basic principles are the same.
Not bad eh!
Installing the Heater
I've been lucky enough to read a how a few other people have installed thier heaters so I've just basically copied what they did, no point in re-inventing the wheel as they say !
This is the heater, the difficulty in mounting this into the wheel arch cavity is that the mounting flanges on each side are very difficult to reach when it's in position. I understand this is even worse in the MKIV body shape which I have here. Standard fitting involves using self tapping screws to hold this in but I really can't see how you manage to get your hand in to tighten them up. So here follows the alternative tried and tested method of fiting the heater.
Firstly remove the flanges, this job was completed using a cut off wheel in the dremel. In truth it's only one side that causes the problem but the alternative solution is so neat I decided to apply it to both sides. Here you can see the flanges on the end caps which have been removed first to make the job easier
Heater temporarily reassembled to show how it looks with the flanges removed
Next, dril four holes into the face of the heater, after you removed the innards to prevent any damage, and fit four Rivnuts.
Make sure that the position of the rivnuts does not interfere with the heater matix. My holes for the lower rivnuts were drilled in line with the holes for the self tapping screws holding the heater outlet plate on.
Make a template of the heater face, carefully marking the position of the rivnuts.
Transfer this to the body by holding the template inplace with the heater outlet which is conveniently removeable from the heater body and then drill four holes to correspond with the position of the Rivnuts. I found this easier from the wheel arch cavity side.
Refit the outlet plate, bolt through from the other side and voila! Heater installed.
View from the footwell.
You can see in this picture that the top left bolt hole is a little close to the outer wall of the footwell and with the washers I was using it wouldn't fit. Not the end of the world I'll just have to use a smaller washer on this bolt. This basically occurs because the passenger footwell has a double skin injected with foam as a safety measure which isn't obvious (unless you think about it!) when looking back from the wheel arch cavity the other side which only has a single skin. See picture above. For reference, my holes were drilled in the heater face 20mm in from the outer edge. I'd suggest it ought to be about 30mm, at least for the top left fixing looking at the face to give you more room to insert the bolts.
This is the heater, the difficulty in mounting this into the wheel arch cavity is that the mounting flanges on each side are very difficult to reach when it's in position. I understand this is even worse in the MKIV body shape which I have here. Standard fitting involves using self tapping screws to hold this in but I really can't see how you manage to get your hand in to tighten them up. So here follows the alternative tried and tested method of fiting the heater.
Firstly remove the flanges, this job was completed using a cut off wheel in the dremel. In truth it's only one side that causes the problem but the alternative solution is so neat I decided to apply it to both sides. Here you can see the flanges on the end caps which have been removed first to make the job easier
Heater temporarily reassembled to show how it looks with the flanges removed
Next, dril four holes into the face of the heater, after you removed the innards to prevent any damage, and fit four Rivnuts.
Make sure that the position of the rivnuts does not interfere with the heater matix. My holes for the lower rivnuts were drilled in line with the holes for the self tapping screws holding the heater outlet plate on.
Make a template of the heater face, carefully marking the position of the rivnuts.
Transfer this to the body by holding the template inplace with the heater outlet which is conveniently removeable from the heater body and then drill four holes to correspond with the position of the Rivnuts. I found this easier from the wheel arch cavity side.
Refit the outlet plate, bolt through from the other side and voila! Heater installed.
View from the footwell.
You can see in this picture that the top left bolt hole is a little close to the outer wall of the footwell and with the washers I was using it wouldn't fit. Not the end of the world I'll just have to use a smaller washer on this bolt. This basically occurs because the passenger footwell has a double skin injected with foam as a safety measure which isn't obvious (unless you think about it!) when looking back from the wheel arch cavity the other side which only has a single skin. See picture above. For reference, my holes were drilled in the heater face 20mm in from the outer edge. I'd suggest it ought to be about 30mm, at least for the top left fixing looking at the face to give you more room to insert the bolts.
Rivnuts & Jacknuts
In reading up on the tools needed to build this car I kept hearing about rivnuts and jacknuts. Well I've now got to the point where I've started using them myself. Rivnuts, rivet nuts or threaded inserts are the same thing just different terms used by different people. A rivnut works much like a standard pop rivet but instead of holding two panels together it's inserted just into one and leaves a threaded hole through the middle. This allows you to insert a bolt and either bolt another panel to it or maybe just a bracket, handle etc
The rivnut itself contains a thread and screws onto the mandrel, it is then inserted into a predrilled hole.
The rivnut itself contains a thread and screws onto the mandrel, it is then inserted into a predrilled hole.
By squeezing the handles of the tool together, the mandrel is pulled back into the tool forcing the rivnut to deform and so griping the panel it has been inserted into. Then simply unscrew the mandrel from the rivnut using the knurled knob and you're left with secure place into which a bolt can be fastened.
Jacknuts are very similar but designed for weaker or brittle materials and perfect for GRP. When they deform they spread "fingers" to exert there grip over a much wider area. It is possible to use the same tool to insert a jacknut but care is required as a rivnut tool is designed to exert much more force than is needed for a jacknut. There is a similar but specific tool for jacknuts but it isn't up to the job of inserting a rivnut. Rather than buy both, I'll just have to learn to be careful !
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Basic Tools for Bodywork
After another day drilling, cutting and filing I realised how few tools I'd actually used so far and thought I'd list them to give any other prospective builders an idea of what they might need.
Tools used so far are:-
Various holesaws, I'll expand this list at later date to include what size and where used.
Large sanding drum which fits into an electric drill, used to neaten up the edges after cutting out the headlight holes.
Small sanding drums used in a Dremel.
Spiral cutting bit (561) again used in the Dremel. Useful for joining up rows of previously drilled holes.
Reinforced cut off wheel (426), Dremel again useful for cutting straight lines and cutting out oil cooler and brake duct holes.
Small hand file, part of a set of warding files.
Large hand file.
Dremel, electric drill and various size drill bits (not shown).
Most useful tool(s) so far...... ?
Hat, goggles, face mask, gloves and overalls, an absolute must.
Tools used so far are:-
Various holesaws, I'll expand this list at later date to include what size and where used.
Large sanding drum which fits into an electric drill, used to neaten up the edges after cutting out the headlight holes.
Small sanding drums used in a Dremel.
Spiral cutting bit (561) again used in the Dremel. Useful for joining up rows of previously drilled holes.
Reinforced cut off wheel (426), Dremel again useful for cutting straight lines and cutting out oil cooler and brake duct holes.
Small hand file, part of a set of warding files.
Large hand file.
Dremel, electric drill and various size drill bits (not shown).
Most useful tool(s) so far...... ?
Hat, goggles, face mask, gloves and overalls, an absolute must.
... and a few more holes
Managed to grab a few hours this weekend to finish of a few little jobs I've been wanting to do. Firstly there were a few more holes which needed to be drilled, namely:-
One hole either side for the side repeaters (indicators)
Series of 5 holes for the heater inlet which sits behind the side vent on the nearside
Holes for the pipework to and from the brake and clutch master cylinders and resevoirs
These holes from left to right are for the wiring loom into the engine bay, hot water hoses from the engine bay into the heater on the other side of this panel and finally the battery studding. This consists of two 10mm studs bolted through the panel with the battery connected to them on the other side providing a power take off point into the engine bay.
And finally, the cut out for the footwell extension. I was a little nervous of making this cut and deliberately made the hole a bit small. Cutting the hole now will allow me to see from both sides when I fit the extension piece making it easier to make a final cut to the right size. I'll do a full write up under a seperate heading at a later date.
As well as this I have also now finished all the flashlines, both inside around the cockpit and all the way round the outside, aswell as underneath.... hooray !
One hole either side for the side repeaters (indicators)
Series of 5 holes for the heater inlet which sits behind the side vent on the nearside
Holes for the pipework to and from the brake and clutch master cylinders and resevoirs
These holes from left to right are for the wiring loom into the engine bay, hot water hoses from the engine bay into the heater on the other side of this panel and finally the battery studding. This consists of two 10mm studs bolted through the panel with the battery connected to them on the other side providing a power take off point into the engine bay.
And finally, the cut out for the footwell extension. I was a little nervous of making this cut and deliberately made the hole a bit small. Cutting the hole now will allow me to see from both sides when I fit the extension piece making it easier to make a final cut to the right size. I'll do a full write up under a seperate heading at a later date.
As well as this I have also now finished all the flashlines, both inside around the cockpit and all the way round the outside, aswell as underneath.... hooray !
Monday, 25 May 2009
More holes !
Decided to tackle a few more holes this weekend. I'm kind of aiming to have all the drilling, filing, cutting and sanding finished whilst I can work outside. I'm sure we'll have a wonderful summer and there will be plenty of opportunities... but just in case, I'm getting them all done now. The other reason to push on with these is that there are still a few DIY jobs needing doing around the house and at the moment, I seem to be getting a bit of a free reign at weekends but it can't last forever. If I can get the messy outdoor Cobra related jobs finished now, I can do some of the less messy indoor stuff in the garage during the evenings and work on the ever increasing list of household DIY jobs at the weekend.
Making the most of my free pass, first job this weekend was to cut out the openings for the oil cooler and brake ducts. If you imagine these indentations as bowls, rather than cut the bottom out, I cut the bottom off. This leaves the cut edge facing backwards towards the car and out of sight rather than inwards towards the opening. My thanks to Steve (Shadow) for that tip.
First job was to mask the area, this enabled me to draw pencil around the cut line, hopefully making it easlier to see what I was doing.
Then, using the trusty Dremel, I cut all the way around the edge. It got a bit difficult to keep a smooth cutting line in the corners so I resorted to a few plunge cuts and then went back and joined them up.
I used exactly the same procedure on the cut outs for the brake ducts. Once it was all done, I used a file to neaten up the back edges, hopefully my earlier description now makes sense, and then rubbed them down with some wet 'n' dry to make it all smooth. One of the worst parts of doing this work is the dust produced. It's smelly, itchy and with tiny strands of glass fibre in it, you end up with tiny shards stuck in your skin that you just can't seem to wash away. Standard practise for all these jobs now is hat, goggles, face mask, boiler suit and latex gloves. As I go round completing odd jobs here and there, I'm also rubbing down all the edges of the underbody and the inside of panels I know I'm going to be working on later, just to try and keep the rough edges to a minimum.
Ta Daa... !
Next up were the screen demist vents. This is another area where GD kindly mark out the placement of holes to be drilled. Completing this job was a simple matter of drilling the pre-marked holes used to secure the escutcheons, masking the area, temporarily fitting the escutcheon plate and using a pencil to mark out the area to be cut. The escutcheon plates themselves are actually nice and shiny but wrapped in masking tape to protect them until they are finally needed.
I measured the width of the cut out to be 5mm and used a 4mm drill to drill a series of holes along the centreline. Then it was a simple matter of joining the holes with the Dremel (except the end ones.... think about it) and enlarging/finishing the slot with a file.
Once the drilling and filing was done, the original pencil line drawn on the masking tape wasn't very clear so I stripped off the old masking and applied a new piece and marked the slot again. Second time around was enough to mark and file the slot spot on
Repeat for the other side and another job complete. I understand the trick is to paint the inside of the slot matt black so it doesn't show once the escutcheon plates are bolted into position
Whilst the tools were out I also cut out this small panel from each side of the cockpit. I'll be honest and admit I can't actually remember what this cut out is for but it was marked to be cut out by GD so cut out it was! I used a strip of blue masking tape to emphasize the cut line which would be lost under the dust once I got going. The Dremel strikes again !
You can see to the left of the cut line in this next picture a nice scratch introduced by a wayward file, sadly, the result of sloppy workmanship and a "gung ho" atitude, it will probably polish out and from memory this whole area is covered by carpet so it won't really matter but it seemed as good a time as any to down tools and call it a day.
Making the most of my free pass, first job this weekend was to cut out the openings for the oil cooler and brake ducts. If you imagine these indentations as bowls, rather than cut the bottom out, I cut the bottom off. This leaves the cut edge facing backwards towards the car and out of sight rather than inwards towards the opening. My thanks to Steve (Shadow) for that tip.
First job was to mask the area, this enabled me to draw pencil around the cut line, hopefully making it easlier to see what I was doing.
Then, using the trusty Dremel, I cut all the way around the edge. It got a bit difficult to keep a smooth cutting line in the corners so I resorted to a few plunge cuts and then went back and joined them up.
I used exactly the same procedure on the cut outs for the brake ducts. Once it was all done, I used a file to neaten up the back edges, hopefully my earlier description now makes sense, and then rubbed them down with some wet 'n' dry to make it all smooth. One of the worst parts of doing this work is the dust produced. It's smelly, itchy and with tiny strands of glass fibre in it, you end up with tiny shards stuck in your skin that you just can't seem to wash away. Standard practise for all these jobs now is hat, goggles, face mask, boiler suit and latex gloves. As I go round completing odd jobs here and there, I'm also rubbing down all the edges of the underbody and the inside of panels I know I'm going to be working on later, just to try and keep the rough edges to a minimum.
Ta Daa... !
Next up were the screen demist vents. This is another area where GD kindly mark out the placement of holes to be drilled. Completing this job was a simple matter of drilling the pre-marked holes used to secure the escutcheons, masking the area, temporarily fitting the escutcheon plate and using a pencil to mark out the area to be cut. The escutcheon plates themselves are actually nice and shiny but wrapped in masking tape to protect them until they are finally needed.
I measured the width of the cut out to be 5mm and used a 4mm drill to drill a series of holes along the centreline. Then it was a simple matter of joining the holes with the Dremel (except the end ones.... think about it) and enlarging/finishing the slot with a file.
Once the drilling and filing was done, the original pencil line drawn on the masking tape wasn't very clear so I stripped off the old masking and applied a new piece and marked the slot again. Second time around was enough to mark and file the slot spot on
Repeat for the other side and another job complete. I understand the trick is to paint the inside of the slot matt black so it doesn't show once the escutcheon plates are bolted into position
Whilst the tools were out I also cut out this small panel from each side of the cockpit. I'll be honest and admit I can't actually remember what this cut out is for but it was marked to be cut out by GD so cut out it was! I used a strip of blue masking tape to emphasize the cut line which would be lost under the dust once I got going. The Dremel strikes again !
You can see to the left of the cut line in this next picture a nice scratch introduced by a wayward file, sadly, the result of sloppy workmanship and a "gung ho" atitude, it will probably polish out and from memory this whole area is covered by carpet so it won't really matter but it seemed as good a time as any to down tools and call it a day.
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