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I've looked at the chrome rings but at £20 for them, I'm having a look for an alternative first.
Partly because I'm tight and partly because I like to make bits out of other bits. The alloy is from a shop display stand and the mesh is Mitsubishi vent mesh and the back of an old heater.
Talking of James Bond, I've ordered these to go on the switches.
Nice to meet you today Bob. Your car's looking great and it'll be even better once the paint and interior are done. It was drawing lots of positive attention in Wells this afternoon, and deservedly so. To my eye the Tribute 250 SWB conversions just look right and I'm really looking forward to getting one myself.
It looks terrific, I bet you can't wait to get it in paint! In terms of usability and the overall package, this kit is up there with the best. I love the Coupe, but will bow to GF-pressure and go for the Kalifornia, in very dark green with wide steels.
I've started fiddling about with the dashboard facia as tomorrow it gets changed to the black one so I needed to know if the eyeball vent idea would work.
I'm only making small changes to things, not altering to the standard of Richard from Nubodi and his excellent Beemarrari style alterations.
I've only done one so far as I had one spare net come with the new dash. The louvres were removed as a lock (they just unclip) and the main flap at the back refitted to it's side control.
After some cutting and filing, the Mazda MX5 eyeball went in ok. This left 4 corners to be filled, so I cut 4 little pieces of black plastic from a Saab door kick strip (which I had lying around in case it was ever useful) and boded them in. When firm, the eyeball was pushed back in and bonded.
The rear flap still works fine from the slider on the side.
The eyeballs came with the chrome trims which will probably be cleaned and reused, but first I've ordered some adhesive chrome strip to tidy up the black edges.
I'm off today to see the painter to check a couple of paint samples that he had mixed up in small amounts and is spraying onto some metal so the I can get a good idea of the coulour. I'll then pick one and the paint will be ordered.
The vent idea seemed better than it was as when the drivers side came out the old dash, I realised the light switch was part of it and the vent itself smaller.
I'd like to keep the original light switch to save wiring complications so I may put a blank where the vent was and fit my 'start' switch in there.
Dash and front carpet were swopped over to black this morning so I'm much happier about the colour.
Still got 2 more eyeballs so plan to fit those in the middle space as the car soon gets warm inside.
The paint samples were done so the painter sprayed both colours on the wing so I could decide on preference. Fortunately I chose the correct one as my wife picked the same one when I got home. It's not that easy to see in the pictures put the chosen one (front of car) has a petrol green tinge and the other is more towards a lilac tint. I'm really glad I didn't just choose from the colour charts as the colours look very different when on the car. I didn't want a metallic for ease of touching up paint chips.
Agreed on the clour choice (hope you don't mind a newbie chipping in) great seeing them both on the car itself - shows how different they look compared to a colour chart. Best wishes with the rest of the build.
The n/s is polished up a bit and stuck in the old dash for now.
The o/s was too small to fit an eyeball vent as I wanted to keep the original open/closed slider and switch. I've fitted a piece of mesh the same as I'm using in the centre console which will still work as a vent on the slider. The switch is to add a bit of of interest to it and will operate an air horn when I get around to fitting it.
I'm currently waiting for the sealer to dry on the centre vents then I can make the surrounds.
Just small things but they all move the project forwards.
Just picked the car up from Mark's as he's been sorting 1 or 2 things before paint.
The door handles now both work from the outside.
The bonnet opening issue has been sorted. The catches are all original but with the replacement of the springs with those from a Land Rover Discovery. It now rises enough on the catches to open from the outside. The top inside of the grille surround has been scooped out to make moving the catch easier and a stay from the same scrapped Disco added to keep it open.
As I'd been a bit paranoid about the bonnet staying closed down, Mark has added a screw in tow ring to a plate welded on the front of the chassis. This will be painted and left in unless I want the bonnet open.
He has ordered some thick alloy angle to make brackets so that the bonnet sides fit snuggly. These will be added later.
I'll start pulling a few parts off this weekend as it's off to the paint shop on Monday.
I shall get some Discovery bonnet springs in the hope my bonnet will pop up instead of requiring the custom made stick wedged under the bonnet pull in the drivers footwell.
WCA: why would you need a stick to unpop the bonnet??
The weight of the bonnet with the small centre bonnet on, is too much to for the springs to lift the bonnet off the catch, so WCA has a wedge which he puts in the handle to keep it in the open position while he goes round to the front to lift the bonnet. The Disco springs are stronger and lift the bonnet enough.
The car is stripped and they had just started on the bodywork. I'll pop in again on Monday as Mike who built my truck will be back from holiday and will decide who best to use the new fittings to mount the door skins.
Meanwhile it's clean/polish/paint the bits I took off.
I shall get some Discovery bonnet springs in the hope my bonnet will pop up instead of requiring the custom made stick wedged under the bonnet pull in the drivers footwell.
No need now Nick. It pops without the wood stick now.
The car will get a few unwanted holes glassed in and the rear light areas sorted then it's sand, sand, sand as the guy who does most of that is back next week.
They will also sort the bonnet to door edges gaps and bonnet lower to door alignment then.
