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Davecymru's Miglia build :)

9 Mar 2015, 8:08am
Dave - Your car is looking great in the sunshine. :cool:

I keep forgetting to ask how you fix your lights & head lamp buckets to the body shell.

Do you use self tapping screws, or nuts & bolts?

Without wishing to tempt fate, you seem well on the way for a sub 12 month build. :eek:

Which has got to be one of the quickest builds on here, especially if you ignore the professional (i.e. full time) builders.

Good luck with the doors, Paul. :)
9 Mar 2015, 1:22pm
Cheers guys, nearly there :)

Towed - I see you spotted my deliberate mistake.... :eusa_whistle: ..... that'll be sorted in a mo (cheers matey!) :thumb:


Paul, I'm not a fan of self tappers, even into those clip thingies, so I have used bolts with big washers, spring washers and normal nuts on the back to hold the buckets in. I'd used that setup on the Spyder as well so I know it works and stays in place.
BTW you were right about the bucket orientation! :doh: Even those there is no 'up' marked on the buckets, when I came to fit the bulbs there was! luckily it was a simple 2 min exercise with the drill to fix.
17 Mar 2015, 8:57pm
Time for the doors...

Refitted the drilled bolt that will hold the non-lock end of the door release cable




Fed cable through the hole in the bolt and fastened with a U-clamp and also a trick my father showed me years ago to cover stray cable ends that also adds extra strength, by using the innards of an electrical choka-blok! Works and looks lovely :)






I forgot to get a pic of the catch end, but the cable was trimmed to sit just below mid-way




Then to tidy up the 'look' I had intended to fit recessed alloy boxes in the same style as the Countach door recesses, but after a day of faffing I couldn't get it looking quite right, so it's KISS for now and a quick lick of black paint was applied inside the door with the new cable tied up out of the way




And with the Alloy panel fitted it looks just the job! :) It also gives me another thing to add to my "improve over time" list :)

You can see on this pic two rows of rivets above and below the recess opening. They are securing 2 lengths of L-Section alloy to strengthen the panel and to also act as mounting point for the internal door boxes if/when I get around to them.




And with the doors shut I'm very happy with the look, and the cable releases work remarkably well! :)




So from the outside with the mesh fitted behind the side vents everything is just about finished, apart from fitting the headlight trims (after I've adjusted them), _LOTS_ of polishing and adjusting the height of the shocks.

This pic shows up the current front/rear wheel arch height difference really well, but I don't want to lower the rear any more as I have memories of tyre scrub on the rear wheelarches in my Spyder in the back of my mind... So for now i'll see what I can achieve by raising the front :)

17 Mar 2015, 9:22pm
Nice door panels Dave, they remind me of the Porsche 718 RSK.

I think you're going to need to lower the back an inch or so though - it does look like you've got a bit of positive camber on the back wheels and they really want to be vertical for best results.

On the road soon though, eh?
17 Mar 2015, 10:06pm
Dave you must be really happy, those doors look great well actually the whole interior does.
17 Mar 2015, 10:24pm
she,s looking well Dave, you have really impressed me with the speed of your build. you have done some great work on that car you should be proud of yourself. now you can enjoy driving in the summer sunshine.......if we get any???.
18 Mar 2015, 8:20am
Dave - Your doors look great, inside & out. :cool:

Looking forward to seeing it polished in the sunshine.

Good luck, Paul. :)
18 Mar 2015, 9:41am
Really like it...........
Only thing i don't like are te wheels sticking out on the rear end,i think if thr rear wings where i little bit wider at the rear down side it will look better.
I know you stick with this shape now,maybe a future build to adjust this?
Still a beatiful car though,i start to feel a dutch miglia is coming up in the future..........
18 Mar 2015, 7:23pm
Cheers guys.

It's probably worth pointing out that the rear end has already had a 1" lowering block added and a brand new swing spring conversion, but it's mainly been up on axle stands from the time it was fitted until the last few days so there's been no time for the spring to settle, so before i make any more changes to the rear i'll see how it looks after a week or so!

Few more piccys to add from the last week or so:

During the build I'd been using a length of 2x4 as my bonnet prop and it was about time that I addressed it as my neighbours were taking the mick :)



So I found a length of 10mm alloy bar, calculated how long I wanted it, cut it to length and then bent it to an S shape with some soft-jaws in the vice and then threaded one end



Luckily a piece of box that I'd used to mount the front of the shell was in exactly the right location to act as hinge end, so a hole was drilled right the way through



And a length of alloy angle cut, shaped and drilled to act as the bracket. I also found that fitting a rubber grommet makes it look and work much more professionally.



With the 2x4 still in place to keep things steady, the bracket was bonded to the bonnet in the right location



then multiple layers of fibreglass matting were glassed over it for added strength



And with a lick of black paint, bobs ur uncle :)



Some of you may have spotted the foam rubber at the top of the prop. I was trying to figure out how to keep it in place when not needed, and with that bit of foam over it, when the bonnet is closed it is exactly the right size to go between my bonnet pin mount and the bonnet to stop it moving about. result! :)

18 Mar 2015, 8:08pm
reneanglia wrote:

Still a beatiful car though,i start to feel a dutch miglia is coming up in the future..........


Wishing you the best of luck with that , my friend.
23 Mar 2015, 7:10pm
toe911 wrote:
Wishing you the best of luck with that , my friend.

I'll guess this remark is about all the fuzz that's going on with the miglia HQ not responding?
I did not try to reach them yet as i am not sure what i will build in the near future,could also be something else like an A352 tribute or even a sammio or to keep it simple a dutch kit like a Burton.

@Dave.......is it possible to make a alloy bonnet cover on the inside?......it will look so much better as the hairy unfinished inside it has now..........:violin:
23 Mar 2015, 9:26pm
Perhaps a heat reflective mat might be an alternative - my Gilbern GT (60's GRP) has one, in an attempt to preserve the paint on the bonnet, I guess?
25 Mar 2015, 4:38am
Cheers guys.

I was thinking about that heat reflective mat eventually as well, but black paint will do to start with :)

What I had encountered on my Contach was that the silver mat on the engine cover needs to be fitted... right... otherwise it can get very tatty very quickly.
25 Mar 2015, 4:39am
Btw, can whoever is trying to hack into my profile, please stop.

Many thanks :)
15 Apr 2015, 7:12pm
Well....

I don't know how to say this....

but..

I HAVE AN MOT!!!!!! :D
15 Apr 2015, 7:20pm
Here's a few piccys as a lot of small jobs have been done over the past few weeks in the run up to yesterdays MOT.


I made up trim rings for the handbrake and gear-lever and fitted leather gaiters. I've also fitted foot rests for the passenger and for the drivers clutch foot for those longer journeys :) I also added an access panel behind the drivers foot rest as I needed to replace the speedo cable.
And I've also moved the steering wheel slightly down and slightly to the left so that I can use the oem Vitesse wheel and keep the skin on my knuckles :)

Here's a pic of the finished (for now) interior :)




Exterior wise, I've raised the front suspension by about an inch and fitted new headlamps with built in sidelights as even though I liked the posh Lucas ones, I didn't want to drill them or the bodyshell atm.
btw the angle of the rear wheels isn't anywhere as bad as it looks in this photo!!



I've only done 14 miles on a few small trips today (only passed yesterday and I'm just eliminating the final gremlins as I build up confidence!) but I have already found that my door pockets are exactly the right size to transport celebratory beer back from the local shop :D



I've got more bits-n-bobs to post, but they can wait as the last few days have been hectic and those beers won't drink themselves :D
15 Apr 2015, 7:42pm
Dave - Congratulations on the MOT. :cool:

Enjoy the beer, as you've certainly earned it.

Cheers, Paul. :)
15 Apr 2015, 8:14pm
And that's another one done, looks lovely. What time is the new owner picking it up?
15 Apr 2015, 9:52pm
Congrats Dave ! Just in time for summer

T
16 Apr 2015, 6:12am
Great job DC, now enjoy the car without getting itchy fingers to try and finish someone else's part built nightmare...
16 Apr 2015, 4:45pm
Cheers all,

This one is staying with me for as long as I can afford to keep it!

And as far as "part built nightmares" are concerned, it's onto her VW camper next....

I've already got through one tub of Krust and I'm nowhere near finished :(
17 Apr 2015, 6:33am
Great work Dave your car looks the part and certainly one to be proud of, i bet there's a man driving around Somerset in a fifties style red sports car with the biggest grin on his face.

Happy motoring and the summer is about to start.
17 Apr 2015, 10:34am
Well done dave!!! I bet you are proud as punch, the car looks excellent, and it's a credit to your skills. You have knocked me back with the speed you have built this, yet at every stage the car looks great. I especially like the ally interior looks really professional once again well done, now you can enjoy the summer showing her off. Is there any chance you can give us a brief description of what she feels like to drive, and what reactions you are receiving from the public.thanks.
25 Apr 2015, 2:07pm
Cheers guys.

I've now done about 60 miles, I'm only just getting used to how it drives and at the moment I'd describe it as small and bouncy :)
The suspension is softer than my Sammio and I sit much lower down and much further back so it's a whole different driving experience in the Miglia!

The aero-screens are..... pretty to look at, but I've now broken out the motorbike helmet until it warms up a bit! :rain:

I took it on a 30 mile round trip to a local classic car meet-up last Sunday and it was very warmly received and I had a lot of questions. Obviously there was one pillock who make a "it's just a kit car" comment when he didn't realise I was the owner :) And one guy who walked along it knocking it the entire length to see if it was all fibreglass! I know some would have shouted, but it just made me smile :)

Then when I came back from a cup of tea I found a group of old chaps around it with one on his back on the wet grass with his head under the car making very nice comments about the cleanliness and newness, while he tried to figure out what it was :)

So a good first run-out, alothugh I did feel a bit guilty about who I parked next to, although it does make a very interesting side-by-side "before and after" comparison :)

25 Apr 2015, 8:24pm
davecymru wrote:
..Obviously there was one pillock who make a "it's just a kit car" comment...


JUST a kit car!?

JUST!?