I cut the first holes in the body tub tonight - the holes for the door hinges. I was very surprised to see how easy the body shell is to cut. Perhaps that is just the beauty of power tools.
Tonight I started trimming the bonnet so that I could spend Sunday trying to fit it. I spoke to Bob Findlow again to get some adive on trimming the bonnet. There is a lip that exists all round the bonnet and is produced out of the mould. This needs to be trimmed right back so that the bonnet sits tidy on the main body tub.
I masked up the edges of the bonnet to give a guide as to where to cut back to and then set off to the garage and took out the angle grinder. Taking as much care as I could I tore back the lip with the grinder on all edges. This was very awkward and I was worried that if the grinder bit too much then it would leave me with a great big recess that would probably mean a new bonnet. Sods law then says if something can go wrong it will go wrong. I managed to trake the grinder all the way round and was then working on the final, front facing, edge. Then the grinder bit and took just a little too much for my liking.
Having thought that the bonnet was now ruined I took a break - and a pint of Guinness. This calmed my nerves and I then went back to the bonnet and smoothed the edges with a file. After I had finished the front looked much better than I had imagined. In fact, the whole bonnet turned out better than I had thought it would.
Now for some more Guinness....
I laid the bonnet on the tub (that is still in the back garden) and set about lining it up so I had as even a gap all round as I could make, then fixed it down with some masking tape. I took the hinges out of the bag and then bolted them to the tub and fixed the mounting plates for the bonnet to them. I now had to mark up the holes so that I could fix the plates to the underside of the bonnet.
I put some more masking tape on the under side of the body (this tape is great as it's dead easy to write on), lifted the hinge plates up to the bonnet and marked the holes. I then moved the hinges out of the way and started to dril...very, very slowly. The fear that I had here was that I'd end up coming through the top side of the bonnet. The drill went through the bottom of the bonnet, travelled around a quarter of an inch and then hit something. My first thought was that this was the top side of the bonnet. When I measured up the distance that the drill bit had travelled I realised that the self tapping screws I was supplied with would never fit. So I called Bob Findlow again (as he'd already done this) and asked him what was going on.
Seems that there is a steel plate inside the front of the bonnet that the hinge plates attach to. I was unaware of this. So I continued with the drill and got safely through the metal plate inside. I drilled the other side the same and then fixed the bonnet in place. I then climbed from underneath the car and tried the bonnet. The front of the lid was catching on the tub but there is plenty of adjustment in the hinges that will allow the bonnet to move up. The bonnet needed to come off anyway as I was yet to cut the hole in the bonnet scoop. What fun that was.
I laid the bonnet on my garden bench and proceeded to attack it with the grinder again. Starting off in the middle of the scoop, and double checking where the hole was created, I made most of the hole with the grinder. Where the grinder would not reach I used the drill to make numerous small holes and then used larger drill bits to join the holes together. This got rid of most of the remainder. I then had to use the file to smooth the inside edges. While maybe not the best aperture, it looks OK for me.
With the hinges off I took them into the garage and painted them. When they were dry I refixed the bonnet in place, this time making sure that the front was lifted enough that it wouldn't catch. It now only catches very slightly. I'm leaving it like that for now in the hope that when the body is fitted to the car the front will drop slightly and allow the bonnet to move freely. We'll see.
The last thing that I did tonight was to fix the aluminium edging strip to the bulkhead. Now the body is ready to be fitted. I have some help from a neighbour tomorrow so we will see how things go.
I'll add the pictures in later this week.
Well my nieghbour was not available tonight so I've decided to take another day off. I did manage a couple of things though. After moving the radiator I hadn't filled up the coolant, so I did that yesterday but noticed that some water was leaking from somewhere round the manifold. I tightened the bolts around the thermostat housing and the outlet at the rear too. I then mopped up all the water that had leaked (used tissue paper as it soaks up well). I also removed the oil filler cap and took off the plastic covering. This has revealed a tacky aluminium finish that will need polishing. When my fingers heal up I'll polish it.
As promised here are some more photos. I've included a shot of the bonnet on the tub, the chassis as it sits now, complete with new carb and finally the hole in the bonnet scoop (complete with dust).
I still have some concerns over how the gearbox is (os isn't) working. It seems very awkward trying to find some gears and I don't know if this is down to the clutch cable conversion or whether it is the gearbox itself. Perhaps this is the trouble with second hand parts.
In trying to adjust adjust the clutch cable I had snapped off some of the plastic clips that hold the cable into the adjuster. So I replaced it. Of course this wasn't just straightforward. The pedal box had to come out which also meant that the steering column had to be removed. In taking this apart I also lengthened the steering column (one of the small jos I had never got round to). I happened to pick up the instruction manual when checking the clutch and pedal box and noticed that there was a small paragraph that recommended a method of reinforcing the pedal box. Currently with the pedals fixed to the front of the bulkhead, when you press on the pedals they move to the left. The suggestion to reinforce this is to fix the pedal box with a bolt through the top of the bulkhead. A small piece of pipe is required to fix between the top of the bulkhead and the pedal box itself, and the whole lot is fixed together with a bolt through the top of the pedal box.
Having reinforced the pedal box the pedals no longer move to the side when you press them. With the clutch cable now fitted I tested to see if the clutch was sticking to the flywheel. Engine on, in gear, clutch pedal pressed down. Lots of revs on the accelerator and the wheels remained still. Clutch out and they rolled. This shows that the clutch isn't stuck, but there is still a bit of grinding when trying to change gear, although they do engage OK. Perhaps driving the car may help to sort out the problems.
The edges on the doors needed tidying up as there was a lip on the edge of the door from the gel coating. This I took back with the grinder and a flap wheel. What wonders this seemsto work. Any other edges will be taken back with the same wheel.
With the body off the car at this point it was time to refit the bonnet. Before I did that however, the mounting places for the seatbelts needed to be drilled out. This was easier to do while the body was off as I could get the drill under the rear of the body and drill out a pilot hole. This done I made the hole the full size from the top of the shell. Now to refit the bonnet. Gary from over the road gave me some help and with a little adjustment I finally had the bonnet positioned OK and when I tried to open it, the bonnet wasn't catching at any point. Job done.
While working on the bonnet I thought it was time that I made the first danger holes to see just how difficult it would be to drill a hole in the wrong place. It's actually very easy to do this. I measured up where I though the first bonnet catch should be fitted and drilled a hole that would allow the crank of the handle to fit through. When I fitted the flange onto the end I found it was a little to far out. Fortunately the hole needed to be enlarged so that the handle could fit flush. So I measured back and cut the hole out (fibreglass is very easy to cut). The first handle was done.
I measured up where the other bonnet catch should fit, measuring across and down, taking a point from the centre of the bonnet scoop. Measured it again and drilled another hole for the second bonnet catch. This proved to be about 10mm forward of where it should have been. Not sure how I got this wrong, but one thing I should have done to help get this right was to measure where the centre of the hole of the first catch was fitted from the back of the bonnet. Luckily it wasn't too far forward and I managed to recover from the mistake. The bonnet now has two nice holes in it for the catches but I'll need to take care when making the next set of holes. I may not get away with it so easy next time.
Just before fitting the body shell on permanently I tried the roll bar over the pegs on the chassis and.....it didn't fit. Another problem. Having measured the distance I found the roll bar to be 15mm too long. I phoned Pilgrim who found one that is a better fit and will be sending out later this week. That done, it was time to fit the body permanently. I put the car up on axle stands and then took a line from the edge of the wheel arch to the ground, ensured that it was straight, and then measured from the line to the centre of the wheel hub. Made this gap even at the rear on both sides (to 1mm) and then fixed the back with pop rivets. Bad time to find that the rivets are too short. Managed to get one in to hold the thing in place then went out and got some longer pop rivets. On my return I fixed the rear and then did the same with the front. At the front though I used some bolts with lock nuts as it may be prone to more shake or impact, placing some large penny washers under the nuts.
The body is now securely fixed front and rear and it looks ok. The final thing I did today was to try fixing one of the hinges in place, having worked out how they fit. This done, and seeing how bl**dy awkward it is, I will leave the first door fitting until tomorrow. What I have noticed is that the sills do have a lot of play in them. They almost seem to need pushing in so that the hinge has plenty of room to move. This will make fitting the door interesting. Not sure if the sill should be temporarily fixed prior to fitting the door.
Today I fitted a door.
It is not a difficult jobs as it seems to have been made out to be, but is still a time consuming process. Some of this is down to what you first find out as you attempt this job. With that in mind, hopefully the second door will be easier.
I started off the day with a courier driver arriving to collect the oversized roll bar. I was hoping that he also had a delivery for me, but a quick call to Pilgrim showed that collection and delivery were arranged separatley. Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. With the car out of the garage I fitted the first hinge, only fitting two bolts to hold it in place, thinking that with a lot of adjustment being made it would be easier to adjust two rather than four bolts.
With the help of Jim, my neighbour, we held the door in place and adjusted its location and then I marked where the hinges should hit the door. Out with the drill and the holes were done. Some bolts placed through the holes and then the door was fastened straight to the hinge. This pulled the door in a little so some washers were placed between the door and the hinge so that the door could sit flush with the body. Some more adjustment and the door was fixed OK and looked good. Overall, around 2 hours spent moving, adjusting, adding more washers and flexing the sills in and out. The jobs was done and I was happy. If only things in life were so simple.....
When I tried to fit the other bolts into the hinge I found that the hinge was too far forward that the bolts wouldn't fit through. This meant that the hinge needed to be loosened, down dropped the door, and two hours had just gone to waste!. Bugga!!
I took the door off and fitted the other bolts. This restricted the location of the hinge slightly as it couldn't move as much as it before, but the holes in the door were in a good place so there was plenty of movement left. Then it was a case of go all over the same process again. Finally, after another 2 hours or so, the door was in place and again looks OK. The sills haven't yet been fixed, but the bulkhead of the body has, using some self tappers, to ensure that with all the playing around with the sills, the body didn;t mvoe sideways too mych.
Anyway, here's some pictures of progress. Fitting the door first off, then with only two bolts in place and finally with all bolts in place.
