Mr T!
What a dreadful thing to do!
Put doubt in my mind about BRG.
Having thought about it in detail, my chances of being hit by a bus in India on a busy junction in my build are fairly remote, so I may stick with the unlucky green after all. :-)
Also, the rumour has its roots in the USA, well, enough said.
Number plate light
Today the weather allowed me to drive the car out of the tent to sand the number plate light plinthe.
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Hi Mick,
You most likely would have got away with that a few months ago, but I understand they have changed the rules since then.
Chris actually got a D type shell mounted to a Lotus rolling chassis registered as " J4G D Type" . Imagine having just that on the V5c!
As I understand it now, the main manufactures name must remain, and only the model name can be changed.
The best you could hope for if that is the case, would be "Triumph D Type" Damn sight better than Spitfire though!
I think you are spot on Mr Towed.
Over the years I must have been to dozens of shows and seen hundreds of cars. And the one important thing I learnt was the difference between a reasonable looking kit car and an absolutely convincing replica, or stunner.
And that difference was not much, it was attention to detail.
Just the little things, but sadly for us all, those little things are very very labour intensive to get done properly, which is why a lot of people don't bother.
I did not start out with ideas of perfection, I just wanted a decent replica, but the idea has grown with me as I've gone along, and now I want it as good as my skills will allow.
I think also that it will suddenly turn into a finished car soon, but I don't think soon enough for the show.
But like several fella's have said, that's not too important either, as long as I finish the car and to a decent standard, is what counts.
Will post pics later, working on the loom today,
Watch this space!
Loom
When I decided to re-route the exhaust to the side, Al La XKSS,
I kind of knew it was not the best idea in the world to leave the loom running on the steel floor about half an inch from the red hot pipe underneath.
I will of course heat wrap the pipe and heat-shield it too , but I don't want any problems with melting wires.
So today I did the necessary rectificatipn work.
It did not take as long as I thought, and I enjoyed it, so it was a double whammy good day!
And one more step closer to completion.
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Morph failure
From the pictures, it's also starting to look very much like it's at the stage where mine suddenly and unexpectedly morphed into a finished car...[/QUOTE]
Mr Towed, When you wrote the above quote, I became quite excited, and hoped my car would do the same as your's did.
I hung around the tent for ages, occasionally peeking inside to see if it had in fact "suddenly and unexpectedly morphed into a finished car"
Well unlike your's, it did not, and sadly I believe, the only option open to me at this stage, is to carry on with the build................. :-)
It was your wiring that inspired me Paul! I knew I would have to face it some day!
Today
As I have a lot of admin to do today, I went out and made an early start on the ugly duckling.
When I stripped the Spit down ages ago The 42 year old speedo cable end broke up. I bought a new one, but put off doing it as its a shitty awkward job I don't like
So I did that this morning. At least its done now.
I may do more after my admin tasks have been completed!
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Admin
Right!
I finished the admin quickly as I rushed it, then got stuck in to the dreaded windscreen again.
It always was too floppy at the front and now it's not. the steel I welded in has fixed the problem.
I welded two quarter inch steel straps either side of the screen to be bolted to the side crash bars. These will take the bulk of the load on the screen I am hoping.
I worked for seven hours straight doing this, and have not finished drilling all the holes yet, but I have fabricated all the parts, which is what took the time, so I will complete the job tomorrow.
I did not take as many pics as normal as it would have slowed me down,
but here are two, which shows where I'm at now.
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Today- more windscreen
I have just put in another 4 hours on the windscreen.
The new rubber has arrived and a replacement screen is on the way.
I have done so much welding on the screen frame to make it fit and look right that I have completely buggered up the glass. I started out with good intentions and covered it each time I welded , but the welding bits sizzled through the cloth and paper, and ruined the screen anyway, so I gave up in the end and just welded. It feels like sandpaper now!
The screen surround I started with was so flimsy that I had to leave the glass in place until I had welded enough strength into it.
I dare not take the glass out prematurely in case the frame flopped and distorted, then I would have had to start again.
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News
A friend of mine gave me a jag mag to read, and in it was news that a D Type Jaguar had just made a world record, by being sold for 3 million and 70,000 pounds.
It occurred to me that when I finish my build, it won't look much different than the three million pound car, and probably will have nicer looking seats!
Also, it will be wickedly naughty, as it won't even have a Jag engine in it!
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Judging by the recent news, most young kids are reading porn mags!
So perhaps Jag mags are not too bad in comparison!
Windscreen
Did a lot more today, went out with the ignition switch I intend to use and managed to get two keys cut to fit, so I'm in business on that one.
Drilled a lot of holes in things which will soon get bolted onto the car.
Also chose and bought all the stainless steel bolts, nuts and washers I will do all the bolting with.
I have had a lifetime of fannying around with rusty nuts and bolts on cars, and for a few extra pence, stainless steel ones are the answer.
No rust, no pain easy peasy.
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I'm glad you still have your Lambo, I was gutted when you said you were flogging it that time!
Sometimes its the straw that breaks the camels back.
How is the car now the clutch is all sorted?
Its by Birthday today, and I'm taking the day off!
Thanks for all the good wishes guys!
Geoff, you were right!
Although I did last til 2 o'clock!
I had ordered a Monza/ Aston type filler cap, which I could see the potential in, (it would need mods, and a re-build), well, it arrived in the post, and at 2 o'clock I snapped and got stuck in and did it.
I had to completely destroy the Spitfire cap, in order to release the parts I wanted for converting the Monza one, so once destroyed, my idea had to work!
Thankfully it did, and here are the pictures, it now looks a lot better than the Spit one, and does the same job.
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Windscreen.
Yet again, I spent all day working on the windscreen.
I re-arranged the side brackets to make it easier to get the screen on and off the car.
The brackets can now be removed with only two bolts each side.
Also there were two holes for the bolts in the front of the screen I was not happy with, so I filled them in and re-drilled to make them perfect.
I filled one side of the screen, but still have welding to do on the other side, so that will be filled after that job is done.
The screen work just seems to drag on forever, but it will get done, and I am much closer to the end than I was.
The irritating thing is, that I've done all this work, and it does not look much different.
The plus factor is, that with those side support brackets in place, the windscreen is so firm and rigid you can actually sit on it!.
All of the load is transferred down through the steel brackets to the side crash bars that are bolted across the original door space.
The other bonus is, that I most likely will be able to pull on the screen to drag my arse out of the seat and get out of the car.
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Yes, I see what you mean Paul!
To quote what I put on that pic you found :
"Just a little bit of welding here and its done"
How bloody naive was a remark like that?
A bit like you starting your bulkhead, and saying
"I'll finish it by lunchtime"
