Yep it works fine it even locks in place, but leaving it up in the wind could be a disaster. :-)
Paul
I'm sure I'll get there evenyually
Today I started on the inner front wings the first part (fibre glass trailer wing) this is bonded in place and will be built up to the correct profile I hope
wheel arches
The inner wheel arches are pretty much done now since this photo was taken I have reinforced the supports with glass matting and there will be removable mud guard type thingy's to protect the inner headlamps unfortunately work will slowdown a bit more over the next few weeks cos I've got get my seven ready for summer! this happens every April as she's only on the road for 6 months a year.
I have managed to get some time in on the A352 I tidied up the wiring in the boot and now have the option of reversing, rear and front fog lights I don't know if I'll fit them yet as not required by law and may not look authentic.
I have also taken off the engine bay panels to get at the suspension to lower the front springs, a bit fiddly as it is trial and error to get it right,
cut out 1 coil flatten it down grind a flat seat re fit lower the car check1 probably wrong so start all over doh again
so if you cut 1 coil off and it lowers the spring say 1" when extended how much is it lowered when compressed?
Also anyone know if the prop shaft flange is the same size on both the early and the later Diffs? I know the drive shaft flanges are different but what about the prop?????
These are the springs with another coil removed bent and ground flat.
It didn't go well fitted it all up lowered the car ant the suspension went all the way down to the bump stops. Doh
I think there is sommit wrong with my calculations.
ho well back to the drawing board??????
Fixed it
The front suspension is sorted now with a couple of 7/8" spacers from those nice people at Moss. It's still a little bit higher than I wanted but it should look ok once the wheel spacers are added (fill the wheel arches better)I hope
Then it's back to the rear end which should be quite interesting? As I intend to fit spitfire long drive shafts which will mean a lot of mods.
Watch this space.
Thanks Paul I think I'll need it!
I started work on the long drive shafts a few days ago.
Getting it all ready for strip down
Hubs off cleaned and checked the shafts are only just usable why would you have the needle roller bearings running directly on the shaft however designed that should have been sacked?
Waiting for the bearings to arrive now. Of course once it's all assembled and installed I have to make some new radius arms as they never fitted the long shafts to the herald
The long driveshaft's are still an on-going issue I've had to send for a 5/8 unf die to repair the threads,
in the mean time I fitted the spacers to the front wheels and they look much better now.
sorry about the rubbish photo not enough room in the garage.
this of course caused it's own problem the tyres were now catching on the lower wheel arch these were cut back and a new lip made with glass paste.
\I find this shooooo much easier than fafing about with matting, resin, and hardener.
I suspect now that I've moved the wheels out a bit I can take a bit of the steering lock out
hmmmm
I tried to turn the car around yesterday to state work on the rear drive shafts but the blinking thing wouldn't start again? after hours of playing with it I concluded it was a fuse box bad connection I had no indicators fuel gauge or ignition unless I pressed on the fuses so I spent all my free time today wiring in a new one very fiddly when you can't gat at the wires properly. With the new one wired in the car eventually started I just have to tidy up the wiring and decide where to locate it when I have five.
I've spent a few hours trying to re-setup the front suspension and steering It's getting closer the camber is now 5% neg (should be 1%) and the wheels are just touching the chassis on full lock so a bit more to do yet!
but whilst I had the opportunity I decided to turn the car around to have a go at the back end and have a photo shoot for the DVLA and you lot of course.
as you can see the back wheels are a bit lost in the arches even with the wheel spacers on I am hoping the longer spitfire shafts will help but it eill be an awful lot of work for an extra 25mm ouch
Thanks too both of you for your kind comments Paul you are right Scotties car looks grate his car is spitfire based and I think he already has the long drive shafts? It should be fun getting them setup for a herald based car Hmmm
I have temporarily abandoned extending the rear drive shafts after discovering that apart from making longer trailing arms I will need a longer hand brake cable and the brakes will have to be re plumed Doh!
So I carried on with a few other jobs the back end has grown a couple more light fittings revers and fog the wiring is already there so I thought why not??
I also started work on the headrests now don't laugh they area bit rough noooo I said don't laugh to be honest I think my upholsterer will cry when he sees them
You can stop laughing now.
Jaguartvr
Thanks for the advice I'll give it a try.
Ambitious
You should read Scotties thread as well it's much more in depth than mine but thanks for the compliment, it'll be good to have another A352 build on here.
Jaguartvr
I just had a go at the head rest foam with my D.A. 80 grit disk and it worked a treat nice one.
I spent a few hours last week flatting the body got board with that and decided to make the rear number plate holder. This was supposed to be a plug for a fibreglass one but worked out quite well so it will now be in alloy and removable.
It still needs tidying up but will be ok when finished.
I have bought a spitfire mk3 hardtop which I hope to use as the front screen after cutting of the roof bit and repairing a few rusty bits I am collecting it tomorrow so watch this space, if it doesn't work no matter as it was very cheap and we gat a nice day out pub meal etc. etc.
Thanks for the encouragement Ambitious.
I collected the spitfire hardtop yesterday
Trial fit looks ok?
removed the screen and most of the roof panel It looks as if it will be a close fit once the execs is removed but there are a lot of repairs to make first as there is a lot of rust in the screen lip area etc. etc.
Hopefully not as there is quite a bit more to cut off yet, I want to do the repairs and put in some strength back into it before cutting it back any more?
I have welded a few plates in to strengthen the frame and then cut it down some more to the approximate size as you can see there are a lot of repairs and mods to do yet unfortunately a friend who has the tooling to repair the lip is currently working on his VW bus so I have to wait for a while to continue with it.
Thanks Scottie progress is slow but sure it would have been a lot easier if I could have got a fibreglass hard top but I am pleased with the result so far.