MadaboutKitcars

I took the plunge last night and cut off the "kick out" leg off the back of the bonnet. A 1mm metal cutting disk on an angle grinder goes through fibreglass like a knife through butter and leaves a nice straight edge!

I sanded down the edges, positioned it all with the bonnet closed and tacked it in place with some making tape leaving a few mm gap.
Once i was happy that it all looked right I filled the gap with bonding paste (there was tape along the back of the gap so that it didn't just fall straight out again!) and I let it dry overnight.
I removed the masking tape this morning and it looks a whole lot better!

Now that's all set in position tonight i'll sand down the back on either side of the new join and then add a couple of layers of fibreglass matting to re-add the strength. Seeing as it won't need to flex anywhere near as much in the future, this should resolve my cracking issues..... 'should'

Depending on how quick/easily that goes i will also be sanding down all along underneath the rear edge of the bonnet (where i had to extend it with filler) but leaving a thin layer of filler in place and then backing that also with a couple of layers of fibreglass matting that will join my extended bit to the original fibreglass bonnet giving that extra strength as well.

And as i am fed up of cleaning up filler dust from the garage that is the last mod i am making to the body work now unless something major drops off. It's going to be a case of

Once this is done all i've got left to do is repaint the fix, finish polishing the body and then it's on to the home straight of small, quick reassembly tasks:

• Tidy up around the front grill
• Refit the lights, bonnet straps, windscreen and number plates
• Mount the horns
• Add a bonnet 'stay'
• Wire in the instrument illumination lights as i forgot to add these and Pat says they're needed for the MOT.
• Fit the rubber floor ( i have bought WAY too much so i may end up selling some off)
• Screw in the wall and tunnel coverings
• Fit the seats, new steering wheel and new gear knob
• Get an MOT
• Wait for sunshine
• Drive!

And i plan to have this all completed in (all sing along now), a couple of weeks!

Hi Dave,


I think we will be up for an MOT at almost the same time. I'm hoping within the next three weeks to have mine on the road.


Trevor
http://www.sammiospyder.blogspot.com/

My nice angled main instruments are no more....

I was wiring up the last of the lights, the dash lights, and i noticed that i couldn't get access to fit the two bulbs and holders to the main instruments seeing as they were too high and being fouled by the internal frame (the reason the dials were angled in the first place!)

So seeing as i was planning on doing some sort of alloy centre dash piece anyway, i bit the bullet and chopped out the nice fibreglass and filler pods i made, lowered the dials and fabricated flat a centre piece out of alloy to house all of the main dials that fits over the supplied dash panel. Photo to come when it's done.

I've also finally figured what caused all of this faff. Basically the front lower edges of my shell do not lip over the front of the chassis rails. That is because the front of the shell that sits on the bulkhead sits too high on mine. From talking to numerous people we believe this is due to differences between Herald models.

As i was all new and shiny to this kit car malarkey when i was fitting the shell, I just went with it and worked around it. But i now realise that not correcting that right at the outset (i didn't actually know it was wrong at the time!) has caused me the issues with:

Mounting the instruments,
The shell not lipping over the rails,
The alignment issues i've been having with the bonnet.

If i hadn't already bonded the shell and inner panels in place this could have been quickly and easily sorted by shopping a few cm height from the front of the shell where it rests on the front bulkhead. But with everything bonded in place doing that is impossible (well.... harder than the workarounds) and these numerous small workarounds are needed.


ho humm..... we live and learn! Which is what this project was meant to be about, so i'm not complaining.

As the song goes... Mistakes, i've made a few...

too few to mention! or was it... Always look on the bright side of life!
Dave, you're still doing grand. I have learnt a lot and i have barely started.

Any pics yet Dave?
I know you had something special in mind for the dash - is it like Phils?

It was going to be brushed aluminum main binnacle with an aftermarket centre console i bought from a neighbor to house the clock, heater controls (eventually) and the wireless..

But i made a bit of a boo boo fabricating the aluminum panel, so it's still being refined atm. i'll get pics up when it's done, but i think I'm already going to change it in the not too distant future for some machined alloy

I just need/want to get it all back together and MOT'd first so that i can tinker while i drive, rather than just endlessly tinker!

its true - im sure they will never be finished
When we meet and exchange ideas the next batch of mods will start

But i cant wait to see a group of these on the road or at a show

Aluminium panel rescued!

Still flatting / polishing the red and reapplying touch-up as i rub through some of my thinner initial spraying (i was nervous to start off with!)

Despite having a regulator on the compressor I bought an after market air regulator / water trap and it makes a MASSIVE difference to the quality of the paint application! Just as i run out of paint

I'm almost tempted to get another 2.5L and over spray the lot

More paint!

Is their a limit? Will you get a deeper colour?

It'll just polish up easier i hope as with the new air regulator I'm getting a much nicer 1st time finish. TBH i wish I'd bought it at the start, but i thought that the built in regulator would be just as good

Although I'm waiting until i've had chance to get a good night in the garage with some rubbing compound and t-cut before i spend any more money.

That said.......

Seeing as this final phase is taking MUCH longer than expected and seeing as i want to drive the car when it's done and at the moment it's not got a heater, i've had to make one final purchase from flea-bay



lane:

What about goggles...

Or don't you want to copy Pat. still time to get a scarf...

Which air regulator did you go for?

Was it an ebay special?

Air regulator was a Silverline one from fleabay (about £20) and it does the job nicely!

Have got LOTS done this weekend, the old dash was ripped out, the instruments cleaned up and nice chrome instrument rings fitted (thanks to Spitfire graveyard!)

I then took some paper and made a template of roughly what i was after and transferred that onto some sheet alloy i had lying around.

Once chopped and drilled I tried "proper" brushing it to give it a nice texture but i couldn't keep everything straight so i applied a different approach and put the roughest wet-n-dry i could find on the sander (60 grit) and went all over it.

The result was better than i expected although it did mange to kill my trusty Black & Decker Mouse in the process
After a few coats of alloy wheel lacquer were applied and dried, i fitted it in with some Allen fixing button head bolts and it seems to fit in nicely!



It's not 100% perfect, but at least now i can easily improve/replace it in the future when i feel like it and when i can afford it


Once that was on, the windscreen and wing mirrors were re-fitted and i tried fitting the rubber floor mat. But that is going to be trickier than expected so for now i've just painted the drivers and passengers side foot wells to tidy them up.

I was also going through the old Triumph parts in the attic to see what i had left and i spotted the old kick plates, and fitted to them was a nice chrome plaque from the original Triumph garage. So it seemed "appropriate" to find somewhere for it and it's now mounted to the tunnel wall in the passengers side. Mainly to confuse the anoraks at classic car shows



I'll get some nicer screws for it eventually but it will do for now and I can move on to hopefully getting the wall cards in tonight/tomorrow along with a bit more polishing before i refit the lights

Thats coming on nicely now Dave.....

I like the dash panel ....adds a bit of detail to a plain dash and makes life easy to deal with electrickery issues , if and when they arise .....no doors makes under dash work a bit tricky for anyone other than an Indian Rubber Man !!


Keep at it ...you are soo close now....I'm keen to see how the paint comes out ...the darker red is going to look fantastic....

I like it.

looking good Dave nice one

Wall cards are in, tunnel top is on, seat belts are fitted (need cleaning!) and best of all the seats are in





Just got to plug in the indicator warning light when it turns up from Rimmers tomorrow, fit some rubber matting (although i may skip this, i'm not sure yet) and then fit the new steering wheel and gear knob and then the interior is done until after the MOT, as i want to leave the brake adjuster open until it passes!

Although.... i do already have ideas for some more additions and modifications in the not too distant future

Now that you can see my seats all fitted It's worth pointing out that in order to fit these i did have to alter the body as these seats are monsters!

If you look behind the seats in the corners, those are normally curved when you pick up the shell from Gary. I needed the space, so sadly i chopped out the curve and just squared mine off.

Another piece of my build that was function leading form.

Note: The paint is "still" being polished, so some bits are shinier than others.

Excellent work, Dave.

A lot of detail, i bet its fun to drive...

That's looking really good DC, top trimming job.

New indicator warning light is in, proper gear knob and steering wheel are now fitted and i've also fitted my latest impulse buy from e-bay, a map light (posh switch to come.... in the future)

So that's the interior done for now and i've just got to fit the rubber floor mats at some point when i can be bothered.



Now all that's left is correcting any major painting flaws and lots of polishing as it's still a bit dull atm.



Then i can refit the lights, indicators, number plates and horns and then do all the final checks before the MOT. That will be done, soon(ish)

I will say that i could probably have finished weeks ago if i'd had a few straight day at this, but i only have the occasional night during the week and then it's only for about an hour at a time. So if anyone reading this doesn't have much time and is considering a kit car, i would highly recommend a Sammio as i will justify that you can break down the build into 1hr slots if you need to keep your "significant other" happy!

Thanks for the pictures. I like what you've done.

shes looking great Dave
When are you planning on taking her out for her maiden voyage / shake down

i'm currently held up by trying to sort out my initial painting flaws on the rear end, so lots of 2000 grit flatting, t-cut and polish to get the areas around the lights before i can re-fit them.

The mistake i made was to use the regulator on the compressor. I couldn't get a good steady pressure so i increased the paint/air mix on the gun so i could get a flat coat on, but i was also getting a lot of dusting that affected the final coat and needs a lot of flatting.

ho humm, we live and learn!

Don't worry Dave, all the hard work will be worth it in the long run and your car's looking really stunning now the interior's in.

And thank you for sharing your experience, I for one will be ordering a silverline regulator from ebay before trying my first spray job.