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Scotty, further to our chat, here are a couple of the photo's of C Types I took at the Jaguar 75th Anniversary event at Coventry in 1995. Sadly, there were no XKSSs there.
Silver spoons or not, I think these two deserve credit for using their cars
Yes, I saw it. Mine's this style and year with a Gloucester date stamp (my birthday) and my index mark, in a suitably battered holder from the Beaulieu Autojumble. It's the detailing that makes the difference!
Had an interesting trip to Retromobile in Paris on Saturday. A really super show with some tremendous exhibits- you don't see a Spanish Pegaso for years and then 14 come along at once.
Saw 2 XKSS motors- the lighting in the halls is not the best for car shots but details come out well...
I fired up SpeedView on my phone on the Eurostar but it wouldn't read higher than 150mph. Lucky that my car registration number is not linked to it in any way.
I had a really good day today.
I started to panel out the interior in alluminium.
And I managed to complete all of the passengers footwell.
I first cut out cardboard panels to use as templates, and started on the gearbox panel first. For some reason, this panel seemed to take forever to make shape and fit. It was lunchtime before I had it in the car.
All the other panels were much easier by comparison, and by 4:30 I had them all in, complete with 35,000 rivets.
The footwell panels, although they have all these rivets, are only held in place by about 8 self-tappers, so will come out really easily if they have to.
But the impression is given that in order to remove it, you'd have to drill the rivets out. Not so, they are all dummies.
Like most things on the car, the riveted aluminium panels are all an illusion.
Very nice! Having just gone through this myself i would kill for a sheet metal bender like you have!
BTW i am going to steal your 'duck' idea! That will certainly be better than bending sheet on the drive, over the edge of a plank, with a rubber ammer!
Dave, as far as I remember I built the duck to straighten out the vertical part of the sills on Spitfires and GT6's, that ALWAYS seem to be bent over having been jacked up in the wrong place!
But as you say, it has so many bending uses, I would not be without it now.
Mick, that is a good price for a bending machine, looks very much like mine!
Well, I worked most of the day on the car, and the intention was to panel out the drivers footwell.
However, as it turned out, I probably had the worst day I have ever had on the build, and certainly the most labour intensive waste of fu**ing time.
The area I am working on is so complicated in angles and curves, which is why I seemed to get nowhere. I had a cardboard pattern which was a perfect fit, then I cut the same shape from aluminium,and it was so far out, I had to scrap it!!
I eventually got the gearbox panel made and in place, and the right side panel in of sorts. The centre section which will go under the pedals, I worked on for hours, in and out modify, in and out modify, and then it finally hit me that I could not actually do what I had spent hours trying to do!
And the reason was, had I put my panel in place, the clutch pedal would not operate all the way to the metal. My panel would have robbed it of the needed space it required. At this point, having worked all day and achieved virtually nothing, I packed it in for the day.
I will get what I want eventually, but I'll have to re-think the operation, and how I will achieve my aim.
On a positive note, I now know what I can and cannot do, and will not repeat the mistake.
Bad days are blooming miserable. But when you take a step back, preferably with a scotch in hand, I'm sure you'll appreciate the great job you're doing. Tomorrow's another day eh? Wasn't that a Bond film?
Thanks for the link WCA, and thanks for the words of encouragement
Ed, y cymro and Paul.
Of course bad days happen, its gone now, and I'll have that little job done before the weekend is out I'm sure.
If you are reading this Mr Christmas, well done with your A352,
it looks fabulous, and get posting! I'm certain we would all love to see more pictures.
I took 8 valve Ed's advice and took Friday the 13th off, having had such a crappy day on Thursday.
Today however, was a big success. I nailed the drivers footwell really well.
I put a lot of thought into how I was going to tackle the job this time and it paid off.
The problem was all the curves and angles were difficult to replicate in one piece. I studied the footwell again and then it occurred to me that Triumph must have had a similar problem to mine as they never made it in one piece either, but several pressed steel sections spot welded together.
So they made it in small stages, so that is what I did, smaller easier to make panels.
I was telling a friend of mine about trying to panel behind the pedals with alloy, and how hard it was to bend the metal to shape, when he said
"well, how thick does the alloy need to be?"
We both grinned like idiots and simultaneously yelled out " Baking foil"
So that is what I used, I stuck foil on behind the pedals with trim adhesive, it hides the steel, and it doesn't look at all bad. At least I can truthfully say that the cockpit is all paneled out in aluminium!
To be honest, I don't think that the bit where the pedals are will be visible from outside the car once the dash is back in and its all finished, but if it is, all that will be seen is alloy..............
I am looking forward to doing the central tunnel as it is more accessible and easier to do. Looking forward to something is surely a good sign............
Well done Scottie. When things don't fall in place sometimes it's better to walk away and come back refreshed and ready to beat the task. Especially when expensive sheet metal is at risk of being converted to scrap!
How worthwhile do you think of the air riveter? The 1/8" rivets I have been using are so soft they almost set themselves. I just got a new batch from my local hardware/enginners supplier but haven't tried them yet.
I've had that air riveter since the Magna Carta I think, and haven't used it for along time, but with so many rivets to do (and still do) I've found it invaluable. The alternative being those ( and I have several) hand riveter things that make your fingers ache, or the trellis expanding type ones, (I have those also) that will not fit into confined spaces. Air power wins every time!
When things don't fall in place sometimes it's better to walk away and come back refreshed and ready to beat the task. Especially when expensive sheet metal is at risk of being converted to scrap!