Flywheel and clutch back on the engine , starter motor bolted on ...exhaust manifold re-fitted ( I had to cut and shut the tubular manifold to make it fit ... ) , alternator bracket and alternator in place too ...and then I fitted the engine back in the car which was an absolute bastard to do on my own as its a snug fit and has to be located in a particular way to clear everything ... an engine hoist , trolley jack , 2 scissor jacks and a pry bar did the job ... but shes in ...

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I took the opportunity to fit new brake lines whilst the engine was out and access to tucking them away neatly was better ...

The body is back on for storage purposes but will be off again as part of starting to clad the bulkhead and do the floor ...

Lots more achieved since my last post ...fuel tank and line fitted , floors finished etc. lots of little jobs that the alternative engine have brought to the table ..silly things like creating a bracket to support throttle and choke cables etc...the engine was designed for a LHD car , so stock fixings are all on the wrong side...
The body went back on yesterday and I think it can stay on now ....
I have made templates for all the aluminium to clad the bulkhead area ...my ally guy has taken them away to fold for me and , hopefully , tomorrow bring them back so I can work out where I want the swage lines to go ...
I have also fitted the bootlid ..it needs a bit of tweaking , but is pretty much there ... a piece of wood bonded to the rear has two homemade steel tags fitted to it and these will pin the bootlid in place on its front edge , whilst the two latches will secure it at the bottom ...

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I also made a good start on the bulkhead template ...this is in two halves to fit it and I still need to do a couple of hatch holes to access the fuel tank and filler as well as a couple of holes for seat belts ...but it gives you an idea... I'm getting this one done in aluminium with swages to match the bulkhead ...

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I also made a start on the inner arches ...these will be in two sections , like before ...an upper part that braces the bonnet and gives protection to the engine area and I will fit a lower section to the car which will be overlapped by the top one ...
These were a absolute twat to make and fit on my own ....I have made them in 2 sections , a main piece and a smaller section that ties them to the nose section ...They are still a works in progress , but getting there ....tomorrow I can take the brace bar out when the paste and fibreglass are cured .....

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Like those bonnet catches, gives me a 250 SWB idea..

They remind me a bit of the Maserati ones ...

Put a few holes in them and it will be there..

Removed the brace bar this morning cut some end boxing pieces , bonded and glassed them into place ..after a trim , some latch fitting holes drilled etc. and a quick sand , the underneath of the bonnet can be flowcoated to make it a nice uniform finish

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I also re-instated the exhaust that was removed , cleaned up and painted satin black ... and put some fixings in to hold the body on ...

As a footnote ..the bulkhead panels that I have templated are going to be available in aluminium as a full panel with swaige lines pressed in , very similar to the bulkhead on Graham's car , they will be supplied in 2 halves with a joddled edge on one panel allowing the other one to lap onto it nice and flush and a single row of rivets can join the 2 together ... ....prices to be confirmed .....

Coming together very nicely, tons of work!

One of the biggest challenges with engine changes in a Scimitar GT/GTE is the suspension cross-brace - because the original Engine sits so far back. Leaving it out leads to variable camber when cornering as the damper top mount can flex.

I've done a few Hot Rods without it and not had an issue ...

The tubular framework that goes from strut to strut has got to help over nothing at all


but if you genuinely think it could cause a problem , I can fit a modified version ...

Thank you.

Following on from Scimjim's advice yesterday ...I fitted a cross brace back in ...The standard item won't fit back on , so I made a replacement . The combination of this and the engine bay framing will have made this as strong , if not stronger than the original spec ....It picks up on the original mounting points and is still removable to so the engine can be taken out easily if required ...

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SOME MORE PROGRESS ....John , the ally man dropped in my aluminium sections that he made from the hardboard templates I supplied and I started to fit them. I still need to tidy up edges etc. and fit the two inner pieces alongside the gearbox , but the pictures gives a definite feel of how it's going to be ....

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I made a 20 x 20mm battery tray and fitted that on the passenger side as well...made with 45 degree jointed corners , so no open ends visible and tags welded to the sides to fix it down with 8mm socket button bolts and two on the sides to accept the battery clamp...

Pete the engineer man also turned up with the modified steering boss ...A stock Scimitar boss is huge and the Steering wheel Eric supplied had a small centre ..so Pete turned it down and cut it down , fitting a 30mm deep ally block to it and tapped to accept the new wheel ...it's a much prettier boss than Scimitar offered ...

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I should be getting the two rear bulkhead sections tomorrow morning , so , hopefully , will fit those and the two left to fit at the front ...When the front bulkhead is fully boxed off , I can look at tying in the extended wing sections to the bulkhead too ...

Wow! Fantastic.

Rear bulkhead mostly fitted today ......

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I rivetted some 20mm box sections to the rear of each panel to stiffen them up a bit and then glued and rivetted them in place. using some flattened aluminium angle at the base to tie it into the steel framework.

I fitted the hatch to give access to the fuel tank on the passenger side but haven't fitted the seat belt surrounds yet or the panels that will tie the rear doorshut area into the rear bulkhead ..

I am going to suggest that all the aluminium on this car is painted body colour as there is quite a bit of it and it could be overpowering if left bare ...

Agree, it would be more pleasing to the eye if it was painted.

Few more bits being whittled away at ....

Bulkhead ally now extends to tie wing extensions in ...I need to fibreglass the piece next to it , which is going to be a job for last thing Saturday to let it cure nicely through Sunday ...

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Rear light apertures have been cut ..going for surface mounted not tunnelled like last time ...

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Eric bought the higher quality , glass lensed examples and they are really nice , supple rubber bases unlike the cheaper plasticy ones ...

I also , cut and modified the fuel cap supplied ..nice one with bolt on flange ..adding an extra piece of 2'' pipe so the cap can sit flush on the car but still have a straightish line to the fuel tank.

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I have used a commercial Morris fuel tank this time around rather than the standard Spitfire tank and the neck is over to one side ...I looked at creating a fill pipe to centre it , but Eric is happy to not get too obsessed with symmetry and we decided to fit it in its natural seat as regards the fill neck of the tank , so the stock rubber joiner was re-instated to keep this nice and simple ...

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I also cut and modified a rubber boot that was originally intended to go on the rear of a headlight unit with an H4 style bulb to protect it from the elements ..rivetted in place it now forms a steering column 'gaiter' ...

http://preview.ibb.co/eyNRnR/IMG_20180111_163801.jpg

I shall find something suitable to do a similar job with the tubing that exits the bulkhead too ...

final job was re-instating the door frames which are a bit fiddly but not too bad ... Tomorrow I will play around with the doors , latches etc. and probably take a look at the gear linkages I have been avoiding !

Gary - The internal framework in Post #81 looks great. :cool:

Although as I look at the lovely alloy panel work and front inner wheel arches I keep remembering I still have some work to do on mine. :rolleyes:

Good luck, Paul. :)

It's all relative Paul ....these are being built to a higher level , read that price than previously ...doesnt make the S*mmio range any less worthy ..just different way of tackling similar cars ....

After a trip out to see Chris at Tribute , I felt a bit happier about tackling the shifter on Eric's car ...I owned a car with a column shift / floor shifter conversion a few years back but thats my only involvement with them ...I was struggling to get my head around how it worked ...a quick lesson from Chris who has played with them before put me straight and gave me the confidence to tackle the job ... A lot of parts were missing from the shifter after a quick bit of internet research , the missing parts were identified and using a combination of a couple of bits made by my engineering mate , including a couple of turn buckles with 3/8 unf thread one end and 5/16 unf the other , some unf studding and a couple of clevis's from trailer brake compensators ... I managed to fashion 2 operational rods to connect the shifter to the gearbox.

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I had to reverse the 2 levers on the gearbox and bend them to clear the box and twist the pivot angles too ....

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Very time consuming and still needs locking off with unf nuts to stop it twisting when it shifts ...but 95% done ....I think !

I managed to get the expansion tank fitted too ...nice and high in a convenient space at the back ...

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I've fitted the door latches , standard Land Rover style slam latches , the same as before and I tweaked the doorframe a bit on the passenger side as removing it and replacing it changed its gapping slightly..I also sanded and trimmed the doorskin taking some time to thin it out a bit in places to get a nice fit in the shut ...these will be bonded onto the frames , but not until I am happy that nothing else needs doing before the final glue on ...

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I like Grahams door on the first car , but I think the slimmed down version is simpler to fit and looks more like the Italian cars ...the German cars tended to have busier doors ...

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Drivers door next , some dash detailing and the fibreglassing I didn't get done on the front wings ...

I'm waiting on a few parts , so did a few jobs that needed doing whilst I'm waiting ....

I trimmed , sanded and tweaked the drivers door to get it to fit the frames and doorshut ...it's ready to be bonded on now ...

I plumbed up the radiator and expansion tank etc. The radiator to the best of my knowledge is a new replacement for a Lotus Eclat or similar ...so using that with the U.S. spec. Ford engine meant the outlets on the engine were both different sizes to the radiator .......I made some steel tube reducers to step down from the larger engine hoses to the smaller rad. ones ...the top hose reducer also has a hose fitting welded into it to allow it to be used as a fill point from the expansion bottle.
An aluminium loop bracket helps hold the top hose away from the steering rack at the base ...

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I also took the chance to fit a choke cable mounting it down to the drivers right side tucked in near the door hinges and exiting the bulkhead through a brake pipe union acting as a grommet to keep it straight and mounted to a homemade throttle and choke cable housing sat on the carb.

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that picture also shows the slimlined doors ..

The following pic is not very clear , it was getting dark when I took the pictures , but it does show the choke cable exiting the bulkhead , lower left , and the rubber boots I fitted around the frame tubes where they enter the bulkhead ..I found 2 rubber boots that when cut down were perfect for dressing the tubes either side ..

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I fitted and removed the seats and put them back in the parts room to stay clean ...hopefully seatbelts will be here soon and the other bits , wiring loom etc..... starting to see some light at the end of this build now ...things are coming together really well ...

Drew a line under the cooling system today by fitting an electric fan from a Discovery . Its bolted to an extra tube fitted between the frame at the front and 4 tags to pick up on the bolt holes ...easily removed if the rad needs to come out anytime ...

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Gear knob arrived ...The Hurst shifter and round ally gear knob really look the part ...

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I'm waiting on a new 121mm hole saw and the rest of the gauges ...I can then cut out the dash panel , fit gauges etc...

I also fitted number plate lights , refitted the rear lights ( properly ) , fitted striker plates and fitted seat belts so that I can make the templates for the cover panels and also the ones to box off the door shut to bulkhead area ..

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Here's a better picture showing how the new door styling will look ..not bonded yet , but easy to see how they differ to the number 1 version on Graham's car ...

http://preview.ibb.co/e7D5NR/IMG_20180116_180032.jpg

Dash starting to take shape .......offset steering column is a necessary requirement to make the setup work with seating and pedal positions dictated by the Scimitar chassis ...when sat in the car it is no worse than the offset steering on the Vitesse and Herald built cars , but in a picture without the steering wheel in place looks a bit odd ...

http://preview.ibb.co/ixvtww/IMG_20180119_132752.jpg

set of after market gauges , chrome toggles , dash mounted battery cut out switch and a floor mounted dipper switch all help keep it looking period .

''Lucas'' Battery fitted and I have started to run battery leads etc...

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Getting close to tackling the dreaded wiring .......

Boot space created ....

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not huge but you can get a tyre inflating aerosol , brolly , pac a mac and your sandwiches in there ..!!

Made a start on the aluminium work in the cockpit too ... got the tunnel fully clad with the top main section and the piece around the gearshifter removable and an inspection hatch in the side of the tunnel to gain access to the shift linkages ...

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The panel for the ignition , starter button and indicator switch is removable too for ease of wiring up and future access....

I also started to fit side pieces , door pillar to rear bulkhead closing panel etc.
I want to run the wiring through the cill area under this aluminium strip , so will bond it to the body once the wires are in place ..

http://preview.ibb.co/eQVuTb/IMG_20180124_171835.jpg

Seat belt panels will be fitted when the seat belt grommets I have ordered arrive ...Land Rover Discovery ones ..seat belts can go in at the same time ...

Still got lots of aluminium to fit , but it is starting to take shape ....

Got about half a day in on the car today ... I'm waiting for the bonnet to come back , not a problem , as there is plenty to do , but its all the boring , non photogenic stuff really ...
I am rubbish at wiring ...I am not confident with it , I can fault find , wire up ignition system , indicators , horn , lights etc...all as individual jobs , but when faced with a total re-wire I go cold ...I will be getting assistance with it , but in the meantime , I have fitted the fuse board , ran the front loom to the front , left the dash bit hanging in the footwell and ran the rear one through the passenger cill area to the rear and have connected up the rear lights , incorporating a series of linked earth wires all bolted through the chassis at a common point ...

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I got the passenger door skin bonded on ...

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and have made a start on the drivers door ...I bonded the bottom edge on as it lines up nice ..when this has cured I can bond the front edge then the rear as a separate task as the skin has a slight twist in it and bonding front and rear separately can correct this ..its minimal , but the skins line up so nicely generally , its a shame not to do it properly rather than just glue it in one go ....

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finished the day faffing around with the air filter that needs modifying to clear my homemade throttle and choke bracketry and had a bit of a play with the seat belt grommets ...

My first kit car wiring job was pretty poor attempt but it did work and was reasonably reliable. For my second build I planned ahead a little and had an idea after looking through some old Haynes manuals. My dad had a HC Viva once, the wiring drawing was really simple and easy to understand. That loom was the basis for all my subsequent builds, even to this day. Combined with a second idea, to use quality trailer cable the whole thing came together. I run a single length of trailer cable to the rear, rear lights sorted. A second run to the front, that's the front lights sorted. A third run into the engine bay and that's most of the engine bits sorted. There are a few variables but most kit cars only need a very simple loom and this idea has worked for me.

Car is booked into paint for 21st May or thereabouts ...A prolific Sammio builder locally has been given the job ...Eric sorted it out and told me today ...so I have to find a day to do some final snagging before she goes !!
She will have her wiring dealt with at the same time as I don't really do full wiring jobs ... looking forward to seeing her afterwards ...

Car went off to Bisto34's workshop yesterday ...
All strapped down and ready to leave ...

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The extra length of the long nose is very evident when the car is viewed at this angle and height ...

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The car is expected to be away for a month to 6 weeks , paint , wiring and MOT work etc... a bit of fitting up afterwards and she should be good to go ...

I will update with bodyshop pictures as she progresses ...

The car is pencilled in for a magazine feature as soon as she is ready ...

looking good!

Matt grey anyone ?

https://image.ibb.co/joWwXy/IMG_1685.jpg

Or how about Primrose Yellow?

The Jaguar E type shade I'm assuming ? lovely colour ..

Not 100% sure it would work. Understand the red (obviously) and the grey but fancy something individual and it has always been my favourite E-type colour by far.

There is someone on here that is good at changing the colours, and that matt grey looks an ideal start point.

Edit: Very Andy if he is still looking in.

The two pack primer picture confirms , for me , that silver will work out well on these cars ...

This one is going to be a maroon shade when finished ...

Dark red will always look good on this style of car. I think the very dark Jaguar racing green would give it a new look.

Mercedes silver with the large red numerals would look good too.

Totally agree ....

colour is on ....really like this shade ...

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Looking great, that colour really suits the car and brings out the curves.

Looking good, colour looks a deeper red than mine and certainly suits the car :smile: