MadaboutKitcars

Says here that the doors fit perfectly: http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4062

Well, there are lies, damn lies and press articles :-)

But I think that is just the way these cars are - we are not paying £50k for a Cobra look-a-like, so we are getting more of a project car. Just part of the colourful tapestry of this style of car building. But it is helpful for me when I see others' cars, as it stops me worrying too much :-)

Even if i was paying £20k for a Cobra-in-a-box i would expect to have some minor fettling to do on the panels. But i didn't, i paid a considerable amount less and I knew that there would be some reworking required.
As MarcF says, it's good to share so that we can all work through/around these areas together, as part of my personal reworking is going to be due to:

• My donor car.
• How i mounted the frame
• How i mounted the bodywork

etc...

I know that Mike and Mike (Miglia/Sammio - this isn't going to get confusing now is it!! ) are both trying to improve their products to try and reduce the amount of reworking needed on a build, but TBH for the price that we pay for these frame/bodyshell packages we simply need to go in to these projects with our eyes open and be willing to either

a) put up with some of the quirks
or
b) Put in the time and effort to change them to our personal standards (i.e. Paul!)



I do have some more 'quirks' that i've encountered that i'll share this weekend, but again, nothing world ending!!

Dave - I'm looking forward to seeing some doors that work.

Good luck, Paul.

PS
Does Frankenstein Hillbilly actually count as a standard?

Dave, are going to Shepton next weekend, "The Restoration Show" I'll be there saturday in the Tribute, regards Pat

Sadly not
I'm away at my nieces christening which my brother-in-law has inconveniently booked for the same weekend as the last show of the year!

SWMBO finds this funny!

Well this last week has been all about the interior.

To start with I panelled in around the gearbox as this is the most 'faffy' area and so I wanted it over and done with! And it was all done with only 1 minor power-file 'incident' to the side of my hand!




Then I did the cockpit rear panels now that I've trial fitted the seats and I know where it needs to end.

I've decided to mount them to the frame and to a long length of alloy angle that is run across from edge to edge of the frame and sits on top of the handbrake-frame in the middle. At the top where the panels meet the shell I am cutting slits in a length of alloy angle so that I can bend it and then that is going to be bonded in place with Tiger Seal.




One thing to note when you look at how those panels sit inside the lip of the shell and interestingly for other Miglia builders is that the distance from the panel to the shell lip is slightly different behind each seat!
Now I haven't spent much time investigating this yet so I don't know if that's due to the donor vehicle, or the frame, or how I've mounted the shell or just how the body is! I'll do some more measurements over the week.
TBH I don't care but I know that some of you will and so I thought I'd mention it in case others come across it. Or then again you might not if you've done things differently to me!

Also note the length of blue padding (packaging from the metal sheet I had delivered!) which will be profiled and covered in order to finish things off but a by-product of that is that it also helps hide this slight inconsistency. Result!

I have also been fitting aluminium angle everywhere else on the interior ready to rivet the panels on to and I've also now decided on my final centre tunnel design. The initial choice is based slightly on comfort and slightly on practicality of where panels need to sit!

I've now run two lengths of alloy box section to form the new tunnel top and you can see those in the below picture and in the first picture.



Finally while I was buying yet-more pop rivets (I really under estimated how many I'd get through!) I saw something that under normal circumstances I'd never even look twice at, but somehow seemed ideal for the Miglia. Some alloy dust cap covers! For only £1 I thought it worth a try and they seem to fit in just right



Hopefully i'll get more of the interior done this week, then it's just finish off the door locks and fit the lights before I can start the bodywork prep for painting!

Oh... and the grill! I'm _still_ waiting for my grill <cough><cough> (and the head rest and Perspex wind deflector) and TBH I'm currently thinking about taking the same approach as I did with the delayed floor plans, and fabricating my own grill so that I can get on with things!

I'm finding that 'a little and often' is the way to tackle Alloy Paneling! as the cutting/shaping/drilling/riveting does take longer than you'd think and is also quite a physical task, especially for someone who drives a keyboard for a living!

So the passengers side of the central tunnel is now in place:



and amazingly I've now just about run out of alloy sheet! (I'd originally ordered 2 sheets of 2000x1000x1.2mm!) So a quick order to metals4u for another 2 sheets and a load more alloy-angle has just been placed that (after some careful measuring) looks like it will allow me to finish the interior and make the wheel arch liners


Additionally to that and with the help of the nice chaps at Merlin Motorsport and the Triumph Owners Club forum, I've been doing a bit of research into the Vitesse Suspension as I'm not happy with how mine is sitting at the front and my local MOT men don't like chopped springs!

Here's an interesting read (with embedded charts) for anyone looking at altering their front suspension that shows you what std springs were fitted and advise for after-market spring rates:

http://club.triumph.org.uk/cgi-bin/forum10/Blah.pl?m-1294420747/

That shows us is the front spring rates and that the OEM ones are 2 3/4" internal diameter.

Now interestingly.... if you buy the height adjustable GAZ shocks from mssr's Rimmer, those were custom made for Rimmers with a 2 3/4" spring seat so you could fit the std springs!
I know this as the nice man at Merlin Motorsports rang them and asked for me

But... most after-market lowering springs, including the ones i'd bought previously specifically for the Vitesse (although i can't remember where from) are 2 1/2" Internal Diameter!

So, If you alter the spring seats down to 2 1/2" (not too hard i've found!), or buy some 2 1/2" spring seats for your shocks then suddenly the world is your lobster!!

And if you talk to the nice man at Merlin, you can opt for just about any length and rate of 2 1/2" spring that you'd ever want and for not a lot of money at all!!

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s/suspension-steering/coilover-springs/faulkners-race-springs/2-5-inch-i-d-coilover-springs

After my reading and measuring i have now ordered some 2 1/2" x 8" x 325lbs springs and we shall see what we shall see

Dave - Your cockpit panelling is coming along very nicely.

I'll also come back to your front spring info links when I finally get to that stage.

Good luck, Paul.

Very nice indeed. I see rivets along the trans tunnel to the floor, but isnt the chassis rail inder there? How've u managed that?

Nice ally work Dave it all looks very professional, equally spaced rivets and all that keep up the good work.

The link for the springs is one to keep for later as i have fitted the standard springs for now with the intentions of seeing how they work and possibly upgrading.

Best not to go too hard on the front springs. I've gone from 3 & 3/4" cut down Vitesse 220lb springs, which rattled my fillings out and made the car very skittish, to 1.5" cut down Spitfire 4 (mk1) 150lb springs, which allow much more spirited driving as the front tyres stay in contact with the road instead of hopping about all over the place.

Cheers all




There are only a few rivets along that floor seam as i didn't want to turn the chassis rails into Swiss Cheese!
Those few rivets that are there go through the edges of the dropped floorpans just to hold things in place and that Alloy Angle is bonded in place along it's length with Tiger Seal and then when it's all connected up at either end it is proving very strong and stable!

The front most verticals panels by the gearbox are pretty much all on top of floorpan-overlap, so are riveted all the way along. plus they're visible and that looks prettier

TBH as far as the paneling is concerned I'm making it up as I'm going along and just making it look how _i_ want it to look and TBH I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

While waiting for the Aluminium delivery I decided upon my rear light configuration. I'm applying the "simply quality" approach as i splashed out on good quality glass and chrome items this time and fitted things where they naturally want to sit.



The lights were just balanced in place in this pic so look a little wonky, but i'm happy with how it looks!

I also fitted the front lights and indicators using the same approach, but then the metal delivery turned up from metals4u.co.uk so i don't have any pics of them.

Next day delivery was very impressive for 2 sheets of 2000x1000x1.2mm sheet and a few lengths of angle which allowed me to continue with the interior paneling.

I managed to get the drivers side of the tunnel and the first part of the top fitted and I then went on to the rear corner pieces as i was a bit worried because i wasn't sure what i was going to do with them. But while testing options the solution came naturally and i'm very happy with how they are turning out!

Dave, looks very swish but are you going to brace the front centre of the rear deck with anything?

You're probably way ahead of me as you've previous Sammio experience, but that's where your hand will naturally come to rest when you get in/out and it'll crack if there's nothing supporting it beneath.

^^^^ what he said .

I am not totally familiar with the Miglia framework , so can't fully comment on how their version works

My memory of the Sammio version was that the front edge of the cockpit rear (?! ) was fully supported by the framework to do just what Towed said above.

Even a piece of aluminium box section ran along under that edge and supported by 2 legs of ally box to create a 'goalpost' and bonded in place or fixed with a row of wide headed rivets through the body on the top surface or something similar would help and be in keeping with the whole alewminum interior , maybe ?
Choose a box dimension less or equal to the depth of the lip , 1'' maybe , and you will virtually not notice it.

You can probably use bonding paste and clamp the ally with G clamps and then fit the uprights into place after its cured . no need to weld it together and you could pie cut the top bar to fit the curve if necessary , again , no need to weld it as when bonded in place , it aint going anywhere !

Really liking the way the car is shaping up , by the way , rear light configuration works well , interior is well worth the effort too. This could be a nice little car.

TBH with my old Sammio I found that the corner of the cockpit by the hump coupled with the central tunnel and the top of the side got more of a hammering. Although I did have central seat-belts so that may have been a factor in how I got in-n-out?




That said, what I've decided to do with the Miglia is bond right-angle alloy from the top edge of the rear panels to the underside body to seal off the back of the cockpit. Then rivet an alloy Z section from the rear cockpit lip to the alloy panel. Creating a box section running along the rear edge, that should give more than enough strength

(it should make more sense in pictures when I get around to it!)


This past week has been all about the front suspension.
The new 8" x 325lbs x 2 1/2" springs turned up and I was worried at first as they do look a lot shorter than the "lowered" springs from Rimmers that I'd fitted that I'd had knocking around for a few years that turned out to be 11 1/2"




But before I could fit them I had to properly alter the spring seats on the GAZ adjustables from 2 3/4" down to 2 1/2". So it was finally time to fix and recomission the lathe I inherited from my Gramp!

With the new adjustable drive belt fitted, the spring seats were turned down to 2 1/2"
(must remember to give the lathe a damn good cleaning and oiling session at some point!)



Those seats were then refitted and based on rough calculations the initial height was were set to 1" above bottom and then everything was fitted back on to the car.

And the change to the front end was absolutely spot on!!


They are central in the wheel arches and the clearance is uniform all round!

The back end on the other hand.....

has already been lowered with a 1" lowering block and Swing Spring and atm does seem to be still sitting a bit high, but I'm hoping that by the time all of the interior is fitted and I've got some fuel in the tank it should sit better.
Otherwise I'm going to have to add another lowering block..

Nice work Dave, the front end looks great but the rear does look a little high that's is the gap between the tyre and arch. If you already have fitted a 1 inch block then could it be the shell that's incorrect may be it needs a little cut and shut or was that how mike intended the gap to be.

I do think the lathe needs a little lubrication.

Dave - Nice job on the front end.

At this stage, I also have no idea where the back end of may car is going to end up.

I do know my body shell weighs significantly more than standard given my cutting & shutting, extra hump, boot lid, etc.

So I've put ride height in the "come back to later" pile.

Good luck, Paul.

I managed to find a front end pic now that it's lowered, and it seems that i need to have a bit of a fettle at the weekend with the spring seat heights as atm it's a little bit lower on the left side.

Or i took the pic at an angle.... either way, i'll measure things before i change anything



This also shows how i'm fitting my lights and indicators and the nearly-final hole for the grill that i'll be fabricating as soon as the interior is done.


With the nights now thoroughly drawn-in I've only had a few 1hr evening sessions on the car this week, but I've started sanding down the body seams and the drivers side interior is now paneled!





I will be putting a trim strip over the lip of the door opening, hence the slight wobbly edges in places as they will be hidden.

Then last night a dig around in the attic turned up all of my left-over Sammio materials (black fabric, back ribbed matting, rubber seals etc..) so I'll be going through those this weekend to see if I've got enough to reuse on the Miglia, and to decide exactly what I'm going to use them for

Dave - I always like the transformation cutting out the headlight holes make.

But can I ask about your headlight adjustment holes?

It looks like your holes "face" each other, whereas mine are currently "matching".



I've never fitted headlights from scratch before, so do I need to adjust one side of mine?

Or is it simply a case of more than one way to skin a cat?

( Note no cats were harmed in the making of this post. )

Cheers, Paul.

PS
The panelling is coming on very nicely.

Your head light bowls are fitted the correct way or should I say standard way. Don't know what's going on with Dave's but it will be fun trying to stop the light units falling out every time he hits a bump

You can tell I've had a long weekend, I scan read your post Paul and I was actually looking at your car pic to see if I could see a cat! then I read it properly

As far as the headlights are concerned, as long as you can adjust them their full range of travel up/down and left/right, then I think we're fine? Although I'm open to being told by someone else that the adjustment holes have to be located xyz?

---

This weekend I wanted to finish cutting the bulk of the interior panels before it starts to get really cold and I have to work with the garage door shut. As it turns out SWMBO gave me a bit more 'garage time' than I was expecting and I end the weekend with the interior panelled all apart from a few small odds-n-sods!


Passenger side panelled first as I thought it was going to be the most awkward. It was!



Just got to mount clips for the wires, that I want to leave partially visible as I've seen that look in a few 50's era race cars.


Then it was trying to figure out how to close the gaps between the rear of the dropped floorpans and the rear bulkhead.

Tried one idea on the passengers side and it seemed to look the part and did the job nicely!


The eagle-eye'd amongst you will notice a few seam gaps yet to be filled, but shhh... don't tell anyone else and i'll sort them out before it's on the road


Then I did the drivers side
...
And did the curved strip joining the upright panels on the drivers side
...
And made up the top of the tunnel.



There are a few interior panel gaps that aren't quite 100% (we're not talking anything major!) and I was worrying about them, but a few of my neighbours popped in for a nosey and told me to stop being daft and that it looks totally "period"! and if I'm leaving it bare for a while then don't even bother to rub off the pencil marks as it all 'adds to the look' .

While I now agree about some of the gapping, I'm not sure about leaving all of the pencil marks yet

Happy happy happy

Those 'larger' holes are just the ones that the back of the adjustment screw sit into, there are a number of smaller holes that actually secure the headlight buckets.

I looked at the pics and went onto another thread.... Then I came back to it as I thought it was a bit bad not say that it's looking really good. Everyone likes a pat on the back... So are you jus having mats? Don't wan to hide all of that work,and what are the cables that you are leaving on show?