Scottie - Cheers mate.
My wife doesn't want the "circus tent" I've already got to become a semi-permanent feature.
Thankfully I will be able to put it up in the back garden when I start the fibre glassing work.
I will have to cut the body shell into two parts to accommodate the Spitfire bulkhead.
At which point I will be able to carry the body shell
through the house (it's too big "whole".)
This will allow me to sort out the boot, 2nd hump, cockpit & 101 other "fixes" in the gazebo.
Just leaving the final re-joining of the body shell to be done on the front drive.
Although I may be able to go through my neighbours' gardens to get to the street.
Which means I would be able to do
all the fibre glass work in the back garden.
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Micro Heater Mock Up...
I finally got a chance to do some work outside today, so I started playing around to see how the heater might work.
First job was to look at the option of putting the switches below the dash, a much better idea.
The cardboard would be replaced by metal, which I would paint black to reduce the visual impact.
There is plenty of room below the switches for the gear box cover.
Especially as this cover can not sit flush due to the cross brace I welded on.
Also, there is plenty of room for the gear stick despite what this photo may suggest.
I will be modifying that brace when I come to repairing the bulkhead edges that the cover sits on.
I will also be painting the cover black after I have repaired the small cracks / slips in it.
Quick Question
I have this bulkhead connector that also adapts the engine hoses to the heater hoses.
I assume this adaptor should sit higher than the heater hoses to avoid air locks.
Something like this...
Is this the best way to run the heater hoses?
Then I started on the passenger side to see where the heater vent might go.
By putting a large section of metal in for the vent, I will also be cross bracing the dash itself.
The vent didn't look too bad from this side, but it was a bit close to the heater on the other side.
So "Take 2" just moved the vent a bit like so.
Which gives much better clearance for the ducting behind.
If you ignore the bends in the cardboard, the panel would be flush with the dash.
Initially I was hoping to fit the vent on the driver's side in a similar position.
But after a bit of fiddling around, it was clear there was not a simple way of doing this.
As I didn't want the ducting to get in the way of the speedo, or steering column.
So I switched my attention to the far right hand side to see if that would work.
Thankfully the ducting would fit behind the steering column support.
There was also still room for the choke & heater cables to go through the bulkhead.
This was my first attempt at fitting a panel for the vent.
The only problem with this location was I
might not have enough ducting.
As I need to fit this "Y" connector to join the two vents to the heater.
Yes, I should have ordered a bit more, but I thought one metre was more than enough.
Anyway, I tried another position just in case (obviously a metal panel wouldn't look as crumpled as the card).
This might be a marginally better position to get heat onto my feet.
The driver's side panel would also "disappear" when the dash was in place.
Note: There is still enough room for the rev. counter to fit in above the ducting in this position.
This small change, means there would be more than enough ducting for the job.
Although it was dry, it was actually quite nippy out, so that was it for the day.
Also I'd be happy to hear any feedback on this mock up work
before I start welding.
Talking of welding, there has been one change to my working clothes this year...
As I final got fed up with welding splatter burning through my trainers and burning my feet / toes.
Until next time, take care, Paul.
)
