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lol...I reckon I have about 5 hours in that door and about 2-3 hours in the other one so far ... Its the fiddly lining up stuff that takes a while ...The panels on this one fitted the aperture pretty good , which really helped .
Lots of work being going on with the A352 but not a lot thats particularly photogenic ...
More notable things that are happening is the wiring is well underway . A D type dash has been modified to fit and has gained some extra switch gear etc.
An ignition key and start button system has replaced the standard ignition , all controls are off the column , so headlight switch and floor dipper switch now in place ..indicator switch just below dash , extra idiot lights in a row horizontally and pull out switches for heater fan , map light and roundall lights travelling vertically next to the two smaller gauges ...
still work to do but getting there ....
A non tailfinned headrest has been fitted , Chris has developed this panel to adorn both the 352's and the D type bodies ..this is the first one and they are a nice job ..the curve is just right for that D type styling ...they sit higher than a Sammio one and look very tall without the screen in place but they are very cool with the petrol flap and hidden fuel cap system .
I have bonded it on and will be adding some rivet detail when its glued firmly ...I have hinged and latched the flap using standard butt hinges fitted to aluminium angle shelves rivetted through the headrest and bonded in place too ...The latch is a standard quarter turn Herald boot handle type and will be opened with a square drive Church key T handle through the hole on the side ...The original D type simply has a hole here you push a spring clip through with your finger to release the flap ..but we felt a lock was better !!
Yes Paul , I did .... before the hump was bonded on , 2 large holes big enough to get your hand through were cut ...not sure of the size but the biggest hole saws I had , so about 6'' at a guess ...the front hole allows access to the bottom of the stock Spitfire filler cap , the rear hole allows access to the roundall light to change the bulb or get to the wiring and fixings .
A trip to Hypehose got me two large 90 degree bends that when suitable cut and sleeved with a stainless steel insert , gave me a continual rubber filler hose from filler cap to tank . All accessible when interior in as I intend to change the way the rear cockpit panel fits so it can be removed easily when cockpit sides are in place properly .
I made a start on the seat bases ...Landrover swabs are being used ...
Then whilst the welder was out , I made a start on the removable centrebar and tonneau.. Chris supplied a D type centre bar , which with about 10mm trimmed from the rear , fitted very nicely ..
A 20mm box frame was made to span the area and sits on a small shelf at the rear attached to a 20mm box brace secured to the body and the floor and across to the B pillar too ..
At the front 2 little shelfs poke out from the dash about an inch and are beaced back to the Spits original bulkhead ...nice and strong as people will push on it to get in and out ...
Centre bar is bolted using 6mm domed bolts to resemble rivets through into the shelves and will be bonded to the internal frame when finished ...
The compound curved sheet of fibreglass Chris supplied has been roughly trimmed to size but thats as far as I got .... it will be fitted seperately , so we have full tonneau , centre bar only or fully open cockpit options ...
The complex curves of the bodyshell are quite challenging when it comes to making a tonneau look fitted rather than 'screwed on'
Chris supplied me a nice bit of fibreglass that had the double curve thing going on but it still needed work to fit ...
I cut a piece roughly to shape and fixed some 2'' flatstrip around the cockpit perimeter and put the tonneau in place ...by opening the pass. door I could reach in and tag the pieces together with small strips , just enough to hold it all together ....I then removed it and fully glassed it ....lots of gapping up and tweaking later and it is starting to take shape ....
The tonneau is held in place with a pin through a bracket on the bottom of the centre bar and a small ally bracket on the rear , just behind the pass. door , which will be rivetted in place eventually and screwed to the body using a rubber thread sert fixing .. Another fitting will be near the dash but I'm not doing that until I tackle the screen and mirror fixings ...
Lots more filling to do to get it nice ... I might talk to Chris about allowing me to take a mould from it so that I can produce a lighter version for the final fit ..
Spoke to Chris yesterday about moulding the tonneau and hes going to do it for my customer ...so thank you Christoph for that ...You needed something to do anyway ...pretty sure you stopped for a few seconds last time I called in ... !!
My customer has requested small dzus style fixings to hold it on , so a slight rework of the bracket on the rear and an additional one on the dash/ door area will deal with that ...
Today , hopefully , I will be mostly fitting a radiator ...
How about a tonneau cover with a lump for the steering wheel for the other side?
They could both live un the boot but would give both rain protection and a bit more security?
You've done one side, I'm sure someone as skilled as you could knock it up in half an hour
The absolutely gorgeous Chris from Tribute pulled out all the stops this weekend and moulded and produced a tonneau cover for me alongside his epic workload ...so big up the Chrismeister !!
The absolutely gorgeous Chris from Tribute pulled out all the stops this weekend and moulded and produced a tonneau cover for me alongside his epic workload ...so big up the Chrismeister !!
The absolutely gorgeous DAN from Tribute pulled out all the stops this weekend and moulded and produced a tonneau cover for me alongside his epic workload ...so put a big one up the DANMEISTER !!
Been whittling away on this one ...lots of stuff thats not really very photogenic ...wiring mostly ...This car has a very busy dash ...separate idiot lights as well as the gauge ones ..separate switches for map light , heater fan , roundall lights , dash mounted indicator switch , dash mounted headlight switch , separate ignition and starter button etc etc... I still need to fit a fire extinguisher cable and a radiator fan switch ...running out of room !!
As well as wiring , I have managed to make a framework that will support the fire extinguisher system , piping and nozzles ..as well as combining this framework with an upper radiator support frame .....still need to fit twin fans to the front of the rad but the expansion tank is in place and plumbed alongside the fire extinguisher framework ...
2 cables fitted ..one in the centre of dash reachable by passenger and driver with or without tonneau fitted ...and second one on exterior of car next to battery cut out switch ...
Nice work, can that exterior one be locked off when car not in use?
Can imagine idle hands passing by when parked up giving it a tug.... ��
Nice work, can that exterior one be locked off when car not in use?
Can imagine idle hands passing by when parked up giving it a tug.... ��
Their will be a safety pin in the extinguisher, you only usually take them out before a race.
Managed to convert the heater controls to an electric switch and 2 x choke cables to replace the slide controls and fitted it to a bracket in the centre of a very busy dash !!
Also got the screen fitted , I made some short posts to support the ends and give the side screens something to rest against ...they need a bit of fettling , finger of filler etc.. but are on the car ..
explain me, as i´m bit confused: the donor spit was not restored, nor taken body off for cleaning and preparing the chassis for the next 20 years?
will this been done when all the bodywork has been finished? means body and chassis will get sperated, cleaned , refurbished and than put back togehter?
