Rear lights again
Listen in all you “attention to detail” freaks! You are gonna LOVE this one! It’ll have you grabbing a box of tissues and heading towards the little room!
With my Morris Minor rear lights modded to fit the car, I still needed rear Indicators. The XKSS used XK140 lights which had indicators built in. Apart from the fact that XK 140 lights cost £400 a set, I wasn’t even sure they would fit, so that option was out.
I bought the usual “tit” orange type indicators, but really did not want to Disfigure the car with them, so I decided to make my own.
Hmmmmmmmmm!
I came up with the following,
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I forgot to add that the whole operation to do one light ,was less than an hour, so it wasn't hours and hours like I thought it be!
Mister Towed and Oxford 1360, thanks for the comments, they do actually look as though Lucas intended them that way, even on close inspection!
Problems...
My initial euphoria on finally getting the body actually on the car was short-lived.
I realised that the body was resting not on the scuttle as it should, but at the 10 and 2 o’clock position each side on the door hinge bracket. A totally impossible situation.
Doom gloom death and destruction. The plan is to remove the body again, and cut at least half an inch off the offending brackets, and weld back for strength if necessary.
On the positive side, the body should then be around 1 inch LOWER than it was. Ride on, way to go!!!! Watch this space………..
Sunday, I have to do SOMETHING!
My friend who would usually help me remove the car body was not available,
So I decided to tackle the job with the body in place,
More difficult and awkward, but I didn’t have much choice.
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Pre bonding work
Today I started the preparation I need to do before bonding the body permanently to the chassis / tub.
The nose and tail were too low, with a 3 inch gap between the chassis at the nose and the boot floor at the rear.
When jacked up enough to make contact, it raised the whole body off the
Spit tub, and was far too high.
I found that about half way was a good compromise, the body rested on the tub top, fore and aft, but that position left a 1.5 inch gap between the chassis at the nose underneath, and the boot floor underneath at the rear.
Therefore I needed a 1.5 inch spacer. A trip to my local scrappy yielded Several feet of stainless steel box section the correct size for the princely sum of 2 quid.
I then realised I had not ordered the bonding / sealing goo. Poosticks!!
Should be with me in a day or two.
Here are some not so good pics:
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Thanks for the encouragement fellas! I think I need it, as I feel I'm dragging my heels at times!
You are too kind Paul! I KNOW when I've been shirking!
The guilt gets to me!!
Spinner problems
Earlier, when I engineered the spinners to fit, I realised I had a problem with being unable to get a wheel brace past the spinner arms.
I needed to make a specially shaped one.
My first attempt was a failure, and it bent in half.
I did some research, and found that Spit wheel nuts should be torqued to 48 foot pounds.
I made a beefier spanner and gave it a good test, and it worked.
I then hit other problems which I have tried to show in the following pics.
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Exhaust dome
The bonding goo STILL has not arrived, but I have lots to do before I finally use that anyway.
I need to make a dome type thing to go over the front part of the side exhaust. Also to fabricate brackets to hold it all in place
This really has to be done before the bonding bit.
I always knew that making this dome thing was going to be difficult
But F.H. it taxed my patience I can tell you, and it’s not finished yet!
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I think you are right Paul, some of the D type replicas have fibre glass
domes. I think it was the challenge that made me pick the hat!
I wanted steel, but the amount of welding I will need to do, it will most likely look crap, and I'll end up filling it anyway!!
I intend to heavily wrap all the exhaust in the right stuff to prevent the
heat from affecting the fibre glass body, so I most likely could have made it from something else.
The work I still have left to do is daunting enough to make me consider
something else anyway! I will have a think about it.
Exhaust
Thanks for the input Paul and WCA, it is interesting.
At least I have no worries about using filler or fibre glass to finish off what I started.
I still find it hard to believe that the red hot exhaust does not damage the fibre glass which is so close to it.
Seanick, when the car is finished and has the wheels attached, and when it is driven, I fully expect the spinners to spin!
In fact, I'd be mortified if they didn't.
Screen
In working on the exhaust, I somehow managed to sprain my wrist,
and am out of action for a few days. So I should post some earlier
pictures to alleviate boredom!
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When I got my body shell from Chris, there was no windscreen or real plans for one. Most people that have built a 352 have gone for the D type Perspex wrap screen look.
I wanted the XKSS proper screen look. For 2 or three grand I could buy a replica Screen and frame, but even if I had the cash, it would be far too wide. The D type shell was cut down to fit the Spit body, but this meant that almost all Car windscreens were too wide.
Chris suggested the Morris Minor screen, but even that was too wide.
In the end I cut a Morris Minor REAR screen out of a car complete with the original steel screen frame. I hacked it about a bit, and did some welding, until I reached the stage when I realised that I could not go any further until the body was on the chassis tub, and I could actually sit inside the car and work out screen rake, head room, bum position etc.
I have had a few soft top cars, and being a six footer, my head always was up above the windscreen, this as some of you will know, is not ideal, and I was determined that this time it was within my power to prevent this problem arising.
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Although I most likely will make the Morris screen fit, if any of you fellas out there have any better suggestions as to an alternative, I would be interested.
I have been all over the internet, and most 50's cars have flat screens, and it seems all the curved ones are too wide.
A chesil speedster one would have been nice, but again far too wide.
Your ideas are very welcome, if you think it will look better than what I have already!
screen size
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Thanks for the input Gaz, I appreciate it, but I’ve been there already, the lines are just not curvy enough for me, and the shape would be more difficult to blend in than The Morris one. The following pictures illustrate it better than words:
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