Today's efforts:
I fiberglassed the headlight surrounds into place:
Which seems to have gone quite well. Also did my as sender door which had split where the b pillar meets the main part of the door. I'm not posting a picture of that because I've disappointed myself
Also cut and fitted the number plate lights. These are Peugeot led units. Look good and seem to aim in the right sort of direction.
Ah ok, maybe for now i'll just take the covers off then
Grew some berries and glued the sideskirts on yesterday. Today's little job was to work out the mr2 to Sierra door handles. Was pleasantly surprised to get it right first time.
Doors are getting stuck on tomorrow! Making good progress
Hi Dave, I left the mr2 bits as they are and bought some stainless rod. Bent that into this shape:
This is for the drivera door. The right hand side slips snuggly into the sierra handle with two cable ties holding the vertical part, then three ties on the horizontal part to attach to the mr2 bar. Only provisionally held it all in place with cable ties. Will see if I can get some small bulldog clips or jubilee for a permanent fit. Not sure if you've noticed but the rear vertical part of the mr2 bar where it goes into the plastic enclosure has a lip on it. Initially, this was catching and stopping full deflection of the lever.
One door on, run out of clamps now.
Regarding the doors, I know you've said you were going to add a bit at the bottom to get the shut line right. I've managed to fit mine so that it all lines up with maybe a bit more drastic cutting than I had originally planned but it is possible. The rear of the b pillar sticks out a little more than I'd hoped but am planning to add a bit of fiberglass on the joining edge of the clam to meet it and reduce the step.
Regarding the flimsyness of the window frame, the plan here is to add some extra fiberglass to the b pillar from where it meets the mr2 door to about half way up the pillar itself. Am hoping that will give it a bit of extra strength. I may also go with Micks idea of welding an extra bit of bar down to the crash bar inside the door.
Found it in homebase by all the wood and building materials. Looks to be 4mm. It's a perfect fit for the hole in the handle.
Just wondering folks, would there be anything to stop me from using the lower spot lamps as my high beam headlights? As I understand it, there's a bit of an issue with trying to get an h4 bulb to work as both high and low beam on a facelifted MR2.
Haha! Thanks for that Mick. If you can remember anything else about it that'd be great! I had a feeling you'd put some relays in there somewhere from one of your photos you sent.
A small update.
Both doors are now fitted. The drivers side went on well and both function as doors should. Had a little issue with the passenger side as it dropped slightly... no idea how but I ended up having to make a giant cheese wire and slicing the door off again. Thankfully the glue was still a bit rubbery and the door came off in one bit. Lucky i'd removed it really as I must have been sleepy when I attached the door because I'd forgotten to cut the metal on the mr2 door so the rs200 handle indentation had nowhere to go. Anyway, picked all the old glue off and restuck it. Annoyingly, theres still a couple of mm difference between the door and side skirt still but I can hopefully lose that with a bit of filler and a file. The roof has been trimmed lower and more off the drivers side than passenger as there was a bit of a height difference, probably around 5-10mm which was noticeable when trying to line up the rear end. Next on the list is to trim and shape the a pillars so they fit nicely around the windscreen seal and will get the rear of the roof looking good ready to be fiber glassed at the back to close it all in. I have a bit of a plan to put a sort of air scoop into the roof as I've seen it on the Evo version and think it looks pretty smart. Will start cutting that up over the next week or so.
As I understand it, this will be classed as a radically altered vehicle so will require an IVA... unless anyone knows a way around it? Using the spot lamps as main beams was just a passing thought. To be honest, I'd rather use the spot lamps as spot lamps.
Thanks very much guys, glad to get to the bottom of that. Might see if I can get that sorted sooner rather than later!
I've been working on my roof scoop for the past couple of days. Here how it currently looks. Very pleased
Ha! Theres a million other things that need sorting before I go near that. I may not fit it to be honest. As I say, too many other things to worry about... Will be fitting the side windows this evening and seeing about making a mount for the wing mirrors.
Couple of little updates. Have been making the mounts for the wing mirrors. I assume the correct way to go about it is to fibreglass then fill over the top to fill the gaps, then sand until smooth. This is how I'm going about it anyway:
Next bit was to blend the headlight bowls into the bonnet which has come out really well.
Work has been slow as am decorating again and have a little Nostromo on the way so the wife is being a bit needy. Really though, I only need to sort the headlights, fit the mirrors and the rear end and it'll be road worthy. We'll get there...
Cheers Lee, the thought of selling the kit has crossed my mind a couple of times but I think I'd kick myself if I didn't finish it now with how much work I've put in. I'm not intent on selling. I do however need to get shot of my 3 door Civic and get a nice little 5 door estate so got my eye on an Impreza wagon... again.
Big update for me this time around. Not big as in loads but big as in is a big bit of the car that I was worrying about - the clam, and making it hinged. Its actually worked much better than expected. I'll let the pics do the talking.
Couple of things left to finish this bit. Firstly, the box section is held onto the hardtop with a bolt and a couple of massive washers. Ideally, i'll get a length of stainless on the inside of the hardtop then put a couple more bolts through it to reinforce it and spread the load a little.
I'll need a bonnet stay type thing to hold it up as I don't want to have to drive everywhere with a couple of lengths of wood on the roof just in case I need petrol.
I've also found that the clam will actually go higher than this if I adjust the rose joints slightly but its flipping heavy, and that was without the window!
Lastly, I've been looking at twin electric rams to do the lifting but its not something I actually 'need' so will have to wait.
I have a question. I want to paint the underside of all the fiberglass parts black. Is there any particular type of paint I should use? Or can I just slop a bit of hammerite on there?
Thanks for the suggestions chaps, i'll have a look into them.
Todays jobs were to trial fit the wing mirrors and the rear window.
Todays lesson is not to leave masking tape on for too long
Any ideas what to use to get it off?
Is acetone safe to use on lexan?
Ok, I'll go with a bottle of fairy. Hopefully the Mrs won't notice it's missing!
