MadaboutKitcars

Ha Ha! Thanks Paul!

I'm definitely no quitter, and will win in the end.

Bollo to it all ! (No "X" of course)

Today

Today it rained a lot where I live so I did a fiddly inside job, which I rather enjoyed.

I had installed an electric fan, and had bought a controller, but never connected them up.

Also I have some new air-horns, which hopefully, when wired up, will be loud enough to scare off dumb-assed bovine's, the likes of which mounted a motorised assaulted on WCA, and successfully wrecked his car.

I devised a little module which made about 90% of all the connections possible on the bench, including two relays and the fan controller.
All I have to do now is wire in a 3 core cable one to the ignition switch, one to the horn push, and one to the battery.

The module will be mounted close to the fan and horn at the front of the car,
the controller temp sensor will then go into the top hose, and all should be working.

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Saturday

Today I tackled another niggly job I'd been putting off.

When I cut slots in the bodywork for the windscreen struts to pass through,
I made them larger than they needed to be to give me room to work.

I also cracked the drivers side, which needed repair, so I did it all.

It looks neater now, and with the crack repaired, it is also stronger.
Eventually, this gap will be hidden by trim of some sort, so it will not even be seen.

But I will know that its been done properly underneath, which is what counts in the end.

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Coffe break

The other day, while working on the car, I took a coffee break, and decided to use some coffee I picked up from my mother's house when I cleared it out.
I had not had this type of coffee since I was a little boy, and it stirred up memories.

The coffee is called "Camp", and way back when they named it, I expect the tent in the picture influenced their choice of name.
I guess we are going back to the days of the Raj, give or take a bit.

It actually make a reasonable cup of coffee, as I found out.

Then I noticed that the two blokes in the picture are both wearing skirts!

Well! The coffee was more aptly named than the makes intended, it does'nt get any camper than that does it?

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I would just like to point out that my last post was purely an attempt at humour, it was not my intention to offend any
cross-dressing perverts who happen to be building kit cars. :-)

How's your interior coming on WCA?

phnar phnar... snigger

Oi! I am not a cross dresser!

I am a very relaxed dresser

I stand corrected!

Power to your elbow, or wherever the power is needed to do what you do, that (voodo) that you do so well!

Bank holiday Monday

Today I started a job which has terrified me from the beginning.

When I first ordered the body shell from Chris, my biggest worry was trying to fit windscreen wipers. All the body's he had sold previously did not need any, as they had simple perspex fly-screens.
I discussed this problem with him at length, but he assured me it was an easy job.

So here we are, with me confronting my demon at last!

I will have to hack some sort of hole in the fibre glass dash top to allow the drive cable access to the wipers.

The drive cable by default will have to run above the dash top as it is at present, and then be covered over later, when I fit my own final dash top, most likely covered in red leather to match the rest of the interior.

I will have to have the motor in and out a few times, in order to re-bend the drive tube to fit the position I need it in now.

Awfully fiddly and awkward (which is why I was dreading it).
It has to be done , or I will never finish the build!


here is one pic so far:

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Wipers

I carried on working towards getting the wipers fitted, but as it was a Bank Holiday I was stumped because there were no engineering places open.

The original steel tubing holding the wiper drive was not long enough to position
the wipers wheel box where it needs to be, and I will need to source some steel tubing and make up my own unit.

I also decide it would be easier if the wiper motor was raised up a couple of inches or so, as the wipers will now be in a different position than the Spitfire ones.

To that end I made a block to raise the motor, and had to weld extensions onto the "U" holding bracket so the original bolts would fit.

I will sort the steel piping out tomorrow when everything should be open.
Pic:

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Scottie, you need to go on youtube and look at the latest Jay Leno's Garage....... Steve McQueen's XKSS.....

You Tube

Thanks for that Ollie, that was one video I did not have.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ai0uSj_OVE&list=UUQMELFlXQL38KPm8kM-4Adg

I just tried to post a link above for others to see the video, but it looks like it didn't work. oh well.

Ah! it did work.

What a Video!

Hey Scottie

Thanks for that. Brilliant!

Off down the garden now................

I am tempted to ask you if you have one of those old fashioned toilets at the bottom of your garden, but of course I won't!

Great video. So, you're building a streetified Jagwaar D type then...

Not sure how Steve McQueen died, did his luggage shoot forward and decapitate him when he braked?

Oh you are awful Mr T!

The King of Cool

Hi Mr T, been following your superb build , Steve Mcqueen died of cancer !

With apologies to any Steve McQueen fans, the question about the luggage decapitating him was an admittedly obscure reference to the luggage rack on his XKSS being fitted the wrong way round, as, apparently, they all were.

Glad you like my car Slickshod, there are some awesome builds going on at the moment on the Sammio, Miglia and Tribute sites, including Scottie's XKSS of course.

How could I possibly fit my luggage rack any differently than that of Mr Cool himself??

Decapitation? Small price to pay for looking cool I'd say!!

Wipers



Having spent most of the morning cruising around engineering places, scrapyards, spares depots and the like looking for a length of 5/16 steel tubing for my wipers, I finally had to admit defeat, and revert to plan B.

I would cut my short tubing and extend it with 10mm copper tubing which I had.

As the copper tube is a slightly larger internal diameter than the 5/16 steel tube, the drive shaft should have plenty of room to travel back and forth unimpeded.

Also, being copper, it is easier to bend to the awkward shape it needs to be to get to where its going.

I could have sourced the 5/16 stuff from the USA which still uses and produces the imperial measurement tube, but I wanted to get the job done NOW.

The saga continues.......

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Mr T - I did pick up on your "tongue in cheek" reference based on earlier posts in this thread.

As in order for Scottie's replica to be "correct", the rack must be fitted "wrong".

Scottie - Good luck with the wipers, it looked like you have a plan that will work.

That Jay Leno video was great.

Just remember that your car will actually be rarer than a real XKSS!

Cheers, Paul.

It seems like I'm doomed to making everybleedingthingmyself!!

Because the screen is so small compared to a full size one, I have now realised there are no wipers nor wiper blades that are actually small enough to fit straight on.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!.

I trial fitted the rubber into the screen aperture to see what size wiper blades I would need, and the measurement from the top of the rubber to the lower edge is only 11 inches.

Really `10 inch blades would be pushing my luck a bit, as it looks in tests as though they would foul the rubber at the lower edge.

I have found some 9 inch blades on the internet, and ordered some, as without them it will not pass the Mot.

They are Renault mundane rear screen blades, and are plastic, but right now, I'm not in a position to worry about that.

Once its through an Mot, I can then mod up some stainless ones to look correct.

until I get the wiper arms shortened and the blades fitted, I cannot progress any further with the wiper fitting, as I need to know the wiper sweep and where they will park in order to drill holes in the screen to fit the damned things.

Will it never end!

Watch this space.

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Scottie, have a look at marine stuff, I think my boat has pretty small blades, not that I have seen it recently. (Too busy working and sanding)

Thanks for that Landmannn, I hadn't thought of boats!!

Tex automotive will make arms and blades to your spec, either stainless or black.
Good quality too.