12/06/05
Now all the necessary drilling, grinding and welding has been done, it's time to strip the car ready for powder coating. There's still plenty of work to do when the chassis comes back - mainly bodywork and lighting, but it doesn't involve drilling through the new paint work. The coating company I'll be using is very busy at the moment, so I'll have to wait a week or so. I might even do some gardening.
Back to a bare chassis again. Eight months to put all the bits on, less than two hours to take them off!
19/06/05
After a session with a file and angle grinder to remove any sharp edges and weld spatter, the chassis was cleaned and strapped to Rod's trailer ready to go to the coating company on Monday morning.
I've done a bit more work on the scuttle. The dash panel has been moved forward slightly to make room for some small Titanfast trim around the scuttle edge and two more brackets have been added to hold the dash in place. As the whole scuttle and dash assembly will be quickly detachable, I'm not going to bother with the access panel on the left. I'll make or buy an aluminium box to go behind the rectangular hole which will then serve as a small glove compartment to hold such essentials as sunglasses, a mobile phone and a Kit-Kat Chunky.
26/06/05
The chassis was collected on Friday 24th. I'm really pleased with the satin black finish. Phil at Keynsham Industrial Coatings has done an excellent job at a very reasonable price.
I was up early on Saturday, and soon had it back on four wheels.
The front floor panel and bulkheads have been riveted and bonded and the gear linkage, steering column and pedal box fitted.
26/06/05
Roll bar, fuel pipes, seat mounting bars, rear bulkheads and handbrake lever in place.
At the rear, the boot floor and side panels have been fitted, along with the battery tray, fuel tank and the snake pit. A very productive weekend.
09/07/05
I was away last weekend, so I've been extra busy today. Firstly, all the metal brake pipes have been blown out with compressed air and P-clipped in place. The electrics panel has also been refitted and the wiring looms run to the front and rear of the car.
The rear wiring has been run along the inside of the top boot frame. Where possible, I've used riveted cable tie bases rather than P-clips to hold the loom. If I ever need to remove the loom, I just have to cut the ties and replace them later. That way, I don't end up with lots of rivet stubs rattling around in the tubes.
The various connectors sticking out are for the fog and number plate lights and the fuel tank/sender unit. I want the rear panel and the fuel tank to be easily removable without disturbing the whole rear loom.
The rear lights fitted and wired.
I've used off cuts of aluminium to mount the lights.
The boot lid in place and the rear panel fitted along with the fog and number plate lights. I need to buy some more rivnuts to replace the Cleko-Locs. The number plate is an old cracked one from the Xtreme.
17/07/05
Another busy session in the garage. It's too hot for me outside in this weather, so I might as well stay in the garage all day.
Rear floor panel riveted and bonded, seats refitted, bonnet remounted and cut to clear the light brackets, headlights and front indicators fitted (but not connected yet).
One of the new headlights and front indicators. Also shown is a bonnet Dzus fastener. I've fitted one on each side of the bonnet, but it could do with one more in the centre.
24/07/05
Only half a day available this weekend, but progress has been made...
I've refitted the exhaust system, keeping it as close to the floor panel as possible. To mount it, I bolted another length of the 25mm L-section aluminium to the boot floor and used a cut-down exhaust strap from a Land Rover. There's another similar mount on the rear of the front silencer, on the other side (O/S) to stop the system twisting.
After fitting the exhaust, the car was lowered to the ground and pushed outside so that I could have a good clean up in the garage. With that done, I wired up the front headlights, indicators and brake light switch.