MadaboutKitcars

Approx 6 1/2" to the underside of the chassis rails sets the rear trailing arms horizontal. This avoids rear axle steering effects when the body rolls during cornering. Arms sloping upwards to the rear makes the car run wider, and the opposite will tend to turn tighter on its own. Scary or exciting depending on you own point of view!
I am intending to mount the body as high as possible on the chassis with the bottom of the cills level with the underside of the chassis side rails to maximise the depth within the cockpit. I don't know yet if the midget hood assembly added to the available body height is going to be enough to get in and out over the high door cill.
Your earlier comment about AVO shocks and springs for £90 a corner sounds good value. Do you have contact details for someone there you spoke to?

Andrewhush all that is good to know about the suspension geometry noted for later. Interesting mounting the body high, not to high I hope you have been watching monster trucks on the tele.

Well after Tuesday impressive posting we spent last night dismantling the glory shots to start work on moving back the bulkhead.

This is what we cut out

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Main reason is the v8 is such a long way back, we know the Scimitar boys do it by just chopping the bulkhead about, but seeing as the pedal box is coming back in our case and we want to make a special job of the car we decided to cut out the existing bulkhead and bond in a 20mm ply purpose cut jobbie, we are even toying with the idea of covering this in alli sheet on the engine side as we will have flat angular surfaces to work from.

Well first the bracing up to keep the shape
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and then cut it all out, believe it or not it has all remained rigid.

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Right then off to local timber yard to get Plywood, like this part time to be creative, plenty of thinking hours in the garage and avoid the men in white coats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wife / Mother said last night why are you cutting it up! she obviously doesn't get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

further picture

One thing I am able to do as a result of this build is now take photos, load onto PC, transfer to photobucket, and insert in this form, all bymyself, which as to be more impressive than the build, ask my son.[IMG]
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That will stop the engine overheating!

And the beauty of it all is that if (when) I go to do all these mods on my build, you'll have done most of what I want to do, meaning I can learn by your mistakes

But I am not listing the mistakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it would take to long

All looking good, well done for downloading photos, makes for a more interesting read... can you now learn to focus/hold camera steady! You're obviously very excited.

lol, no, but at least I can ask for guidance!

Excellent work. Looking very impressive so far! Will it be ready for Stoneleigh on the 5th May?

I can only use a camera you hold to your eye these new fangled ones are beyond me and the eye sights not as good as it was.

No problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fantastic work guys .....

Peter , its your car , you cut it where you want !!

I have just secured a rolling Vitesse chassis with no engine , gearbox or bulkhead ......so , when time allows , prob 2016 !! , I intend to fit a Cordite body , stretched behind wheels Lancia bonnet and the spare Rover V8 / 5 spd. sat in the corner !!

What I love is that my humble little Spyder has been the acorn for all these variations to grow from , not just the Cordite , Andy's GT6 version , my future plans , but no original Spyder would have possibly meant no G46 either ....

Its exciting times !!

Gary



That's good to hear we will do the heritage proud, good "gene pool" that little Spyder.

Hope to crack on over the weekend, more photos next week!

Hmm now let me see I have a spare RV8 engine & box or two laying around and I just love that lancia front end and should be finished chopping the G46
by 2016!!!!!!!!!!!!

You carry on doing the G46 at your own pace and see if we can rope that MAD mate of yours in to do the V8 Spyder ? !!!

Templates

Good thing about the forum is that now my son Charlie and fellow builder has gone away to work for three months I can keep him informed of the progress whilst he is away, so Charlie and all others this is what I have achieved over the weekend.

Making templates, cutting, fettling, screwing, sawing, adjusting, drilling, bolting etc etc. I do like templates and have kept them for any other G46 builder who may need them into the future.

First I made a new bulkhead on 20mm ply to replace the one cut out in the last post.

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Still has temp support at the back.

Once I had this in place it seemed obvious to make up a top plate also in 20mm ply, this is fixed to the bulkhead and then bolted to the metal H frame which in turn is bolted to the scimitar floor plan, makes the whole front section very very strong.

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The ply top plate will also accommodate the repositioned pedal box with the reservoirs bolted to the engine side of the bulkhead, The steering column will also be bolted through this as well.

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I was also able to cut the ply top plate so it came past the H frame and then shape around the cockpit/dash curbs.

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The repositioned bulkhead also uses the ply top plate to relocate it. All door apertures being checked as work proceeded.

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I could not resist making a template for the dash board this was only knocked up at the end of the day and is not the final form, but I will keep it simple like a 289 cobra dash lay out.

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Shot of dash from a different position.

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Showing the front quarter line we are trying to achieve.

In an early post I had said I would take some height out of the bonnet, now having had a good look at the car I think the bonnet hump is part of the DNA and identity of the sammio range and it will stay, however I would like to incorporate the "pursed lips" air scopes that some spyder's have, Gary how do you form that.

I now need to finish off the engine back part of the new bulkhead the side walls of the foot well and must first fix the pedal box now that the side is open and access is easy.

I also have to devise a support system for the bonnet at the front of the car.

Happy days plenty of challenges just how I like it!

bulkheads

If you see my last post I am now happy the the cut up front panels will all work well so I have taken them off again to finish what I call the front structural bulkhead.

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From inside the car sides of tunnel being formed all square, plumb and level. All pinned and glued.

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From inside the bonnet plenty of room behind the engine, may use as secure glove box accessed from the cockpit with a little more ply under the bonnet.

I will now concentrate on the outer side footwells and then go to the back bulkhead behind the seats and get all the ply work done before I start to fibreglass.

I also have to reduce the floor pan where there was a hump under the original drivers seat.

Dad, Wicked movement on the motor! looks fantastic find me a pic of the "pursed lips" idea don't want you making any crazy cuts without me !

I'm liking your work .....keep it coming , this could be a rather special , erm ...special.....you know what I mean !!

Progress over the last couple of weeks

Progress is a little slow but very enjoyable I am alone until Charlie returns in a couple of months and this update is for him as well.

There is a lot of work with template's shaping adjusting stripping down taking off re fixing etc etc etc.

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This shows the front and rear bulkheads cut and temp fixed into position with screws and glue and the body temp fixed back on around the ply sections.

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I have now positioned and fixed the pedal box in place, but the floor will need to be reduced under the peddles. I have judged the wheel position by sitting in the car and seeing if it fitted my arms? even thou we moved the bulk head back 200mm I am only going to need to extend the steering column by about 150mm

I have also worked out the route for the manifold and exhaust so it misses the brake & clutch master cylinder and steering column, meant changing back to an alternative manifold and a lot more cutting. You can see in the pictures why a blister is needed to gain access to the reservoirs.

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Sowing the inside of the door, the door fit is remarkable good wont take much for a prefect fit, I would like to have concealed door hinges if that's possible used some on the 289 I built which are available from Europa sales, but I am sure they will be challenging to fix.

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My photos do not do the car justice with the door taped in the sweep back over the front wing, bulkhead top of door line to rear wing is a delight and accentuates the "coke bottle" shape

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I have shaped two swooping brackets template in 4mm ply to be laser cut in steel which bolt to the suspension turrets and will bond to the underside of the bonnet with a cross brace between the two.

My current thinking is to carry on with the body shell and once I have everything shaped then to let loose bonding all the play to the existing fibreglass tub. The engine and gear box are only dummies and I think once the body is complete to hoist off the car, it is all integral on the tub and then fit the engine box etc etc.

With the body off I will then be able to glass up behind the panels joins I will not be able to reach while it is on the chassis.

How does mike make that lovely bevelled detail around the air scope on the special posted today???????????? having rounded off the wheel arches I need to make a beaded edge I have a few ideas any one have and idea how its done.

Happy days hope to have a whole day on the car tomorrow.

Nice work Peter .....

Of course the doors fit well ! We spent long enough on them !

Reading the critique about my G46 and looking at the mods you are doing and others talking about , I am thinking about stopping production of the car when everyone on the list is sorted out and maybe reworking it ....might be a more complicated option for people compared to the Spyder / Cordite range to build , but would be a fantastic low volume car.......

Not to hijack Charmans build thread, I have posted a reply to this in the G46 thread...

Hows it going Mr. Charman? any update?

Been keeping my head down, with all the comments running around the forum I feel like a bad man making alterations to the car.

I have been working hard to justify the changes a huge, huge amount of work and will update my thread at the weekend with my progress.

I hope the weather is good enough to roll the car out of the garage to take some photos as the shots taken in the garage are a bit limited

Love the cordite pictures from the show

Don't worry about it matey, each to their own, especially on this forum!

TBH i've never met such an accomodating internet forum as this one when it comes to differing opinions. I put it down to the fact that we're all of the same "type" of mind, insofar as the reason we opted for a Sammio (of whatever model) in the first place is that we all relish this type of build

I agree, we are all making our own alterations to the cars as that is what the 'kit' allows us to do. We are not constrained by prescriptive options like cobra's or westfields which were as dull as dishwater when you see 100+ of the same car, and then the only deferentiator is the number of gauges you can cram onto the dashboard!

What Gary has done is given us a great basis for building our own version of the car. Each is uniquely different and all bear a family resemblence. It is great to see the time, effort and creativity into each build, and that is what really appeals to me on this forum. Everyone has their own ideas, and we should respect that.

Of course the Sammio build ethic does not appeal to everyone, and for those, there are the fully documented kits with options-a-plenty to choose from a glossy catalogue. For the rest of us who like to call this home, we will be pushing the boundaries or design and concept and building our dreams.........


Steps off soap-box...

Yep could not have summed it up better, by the way I am loving your "tented city" it's a great solution, but what's in the garage? tell me it's not a tumble dryer and washing machine!

Your neighbours must be thinking what's next!

We have got a bloke down the road who has had a narrow boat in his garden for the last two years and we are a 100 miles from the nearest canal, nothing wrong with him! and this week he has erected a crane gantry over the top!!!!!!!! I think he is a great candidate for a Sammio.

Also love your bonnet scope I am going to fashion my own scope based on the Norfolk style with a twist this weekend.