MadaboutKitcars

If that works for you Ian, it is a good idea, but to be really honest, I also find it difficult to work on the car for short periods too!!

I try to find small stuff that is time consuming that I can do inside, like soldering connections to switches, and bits of wiring loom which I can fit to the car later.

As long as I do something, I am moving forwards to completion however slow.

I hate the winter! It must be the car builders biggest enemy,
apart from the DVLA that is!

Thanks for that update Mick!

At least its not just me, but over on the "other side" Paul is working his goolies off putting us all to shame! His work-load is awesome!

Monday

Well here we are on Monday morning again.
I knew I had to bight the bullet, so this morning the bullet was bitten.

I started by removing the "Christmas" table cloth I had put on my conservatory table just before the festivities.

This was not much in the physical sense, but a big psychological step forward!

Christmas had now disappeared, and it was time to get on with 2015!

The dreaded Stoneleigh looms ominously on the horizon like an approaching storm........... Gotta get on, gotta get on.

I started work on the drivers door (which had to be extended to fit with decent shut lines), it was very uneven and lumpy looking and needed lots of work, which was why I put it off in the first place.

I sprayed it with green paint as a guide, then sanded it down, filled it, sanded again, then etch primed it ready for the proper filler- priming.

This work was interrupted by running out of sanding roll, and having to troll round the factors in town to get what I needed to carry on.
( covered in dust and crap, complete with filthy clothes, not fit to be seen out in, but I didn't care, as I could not be bothered to change)

By the time I had eaten some lunch, and finished the job (outside for the sanding) my fingers were numb with cold, and I was pleased to come inside
and clean up a bit.

So several more hours have gone into the car, and we are moving forward once again thank goodness.

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Surely you mean wining? (As in Dining)

Yes you are right about the single coat theory!
Its brilliant isn't it?

Tuesday

Cheeky bugger y cymro!

That's not a dash board clock! Its a Westminster chiming clock.

You've gone and done it now! I can see WCA badgering me to give it to him for his car!
Unfortunately he broke that really nice one he had.

Talking about clocks, I could have fitted a Jaguar rev counter with a built-in electric clock, but ,

a: The XKSS never had that,and
b: every time I operated the battery cut off switch, the clock would stop.

So I don't have one.

Today was more fiddly work, but it all has to be done.

I have a huge pile of small fiddly jobs in my head that came under the title of

" Oh, I'll do that later"
Well, later has now come around to being NOW, so I got stuck in.

The panel light housing needed finishing off, a bulb fitting and wiring up to the panel switch.

I also wanted a stereo control switch, so I did not have to fiddle under the dash if I wanted to use it.

And I needed a wiper switch fitting.

All these things are much easier to do on the table rather than try to do it when the dash is in place.So I did.

And here are some pics:

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WCA I'm speechless!

Never take your eye off the ball..............

Thursday

Mmmmmmn, I don't agree WCA, besides a camp look is not really what I had in mind.
Although it is a camper van, there is a subtle difference between looking like a cool camper, and looking camp. ( Looking camp could perhaps attract the sort of attention some would wish to avoid)

By the way, how is the fruit-ripener coming along?

And how many rocking chairs have you managed to sell so far?

Enough of that, moving on...........


Today I did some smally-jobs, the main one was making and fitting an anchor point for the bonnet stay.

So now the end of the bonnet stay will sit against a steel plate, and not wear its way through the fibre glass one day.

Not a lot I know, but as Tes*es says, "every little helps" and doing a small job like that is still better than receiving a good kick in the crutch with a divers boot.

Some pics:

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WCA, I had not realised that you were mocking me!

I must have mistaken all that stuff for hero-worship! Shame on you!

Seriously though, can you perhaps, remove that engine cover thing, and maybe make a dummy Ferra*i fibre glass engine top?

I had thought of doing something similar to hide my crappy little Triumph 1500, and make it look like a Jaguar twin cam.

But it is very labour intensive at a time I don't need it to be, and I think I may have clearance problems with the height of the bonnet.

I believe on some of the more detailed Ferra*i's, that have such a dummy, it may be a manufactured item, and as such, may be possible to purchase one?

Worth looking into?

Later

WCA has got me thinking.

Opening the bonnet on my car once it is finished is going to be one of the worst experiences I could have I think!

So the short answer is never to open it in public!

"I'm sorry, it wont open, the cable has snapped" sounds about right.

Here's what it should look like:

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That's good stuff redratbike, that's the sort of thing WCA needs to be looking at doing I'm sure.

Perhaps one day I will try something similar under my bonnet!

Realistically I know you are right, I just have to tart up what is there already, and make it look shiny!

With the exhaust I made, it already sounds like a big straight six!

On the first of January, I posted on here that I had painted the boot floor in what was supposed to be silver paint,( but turned out to be grey).

Five days later I posted that the paint had finally dried.

Except where the paint was in contact with the strip of Sikaflex, where the steel floor joins the fibre glass boot panel.

Well, I have just come in from the car, and unbelievably, where I ran my finger over that strip of paint, which has had over four weeks to dry, and it is as wet now as the day I put it on.


Perhaps I have stumbled on to a new scientific discovery!

There must be a use for paint that never dries? I thought that
this sort of thing was impossible in a scientific sense?

Obviously some sort of chemical reaction.

Here are two pics:

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Fine detail

It was difficult enough, making my dash, which was one thing, making all the lamps, switches,etc correctly, and workable was another thing.

There were problems which I knew I would have to overcome at a later stage. And as I have said before, the "later stage" is here now.

These problems were left to later as I knew they would be so time consuming to do, but if I am to complete this build, and I am, they have to be done now.

I started with the indicator tell-tale lamp, which needed a bulb.

Easy job you say?

No way Jose! The tell-tale lamp housing I had made in the first place was made out of three bits which were unrelated. The green lens came out of a modern lamp, and had to be filed, sanded and made to fit, then glued in place, I then had to glue a thin plastic tube in place to hold the bulb.

There is no bulb holder small enough to fit inside the tube, so I had to solder wires to the bulb so it would fit.

Not in itself a big deal, but soooooooooo time consuming.

I finally finished that little job, and moved on.

When I modified the Spitfire speedo with a period Jaguar face, I could see the Jag face was missing an oil warning light, which I would need to make.

I already had two small warning lamps placed in between the two big dials, which I was not sure what to connect to, but they were both red lenses, and I had no green ones.

So I had to make one, much sanding, filing and fiddling later and I had it done.

It is now fitted and should work fine, (it did when I tested it)

Once again the dash looks no different than before, but is more functional,
and I am several hours closer to endex.

(I did not mention flaking some black paint off the dash panel during the work involved, and having to respray it twice, because I put finger prints on the first coat as I was so impatient to put it all back together too soon.

You can imagine the swearing, as this took me up to gone 10pm!!)

Here are some pics:

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I like the dash Mick!, Very D-Type once the body is on with the centre divider.

Tuesday

I had almost forgotten about the sat-nav speedo I was going to fit to the car, so I went out and put it in.

I fixed it to to the left side of the steering column, in such a place, that it will be hidden up inside the dash, but I can easily pull it down just below the dash bottom to read the correct speed if I need to.

I have mounted it on a flexible stalk, so it can be pulled about in almost any position and remain like that until shoved back.

My modified Jaguar/Spitfire speedo does work, and will record the mileage accurately, but will be a little bit out speedwise, due to the Jag face being calibrated slightly differently to the Triumph one.

( From memory, when the speedo says 80 mph, I will really be doing 70)

Which is why I wanted the accurate satellite operated one as a back up.

I have had to turn the sound off on the unit, as when the ignition is switched on, it talks to you and says something like:

"Hello, welcome to the world of Talex, please fasten your seat belts"

Hardly in keeping with the illusion of a 1950's sports car.

A couple of pics:

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That would be nice Mr Towed, but unfortunately it won't happen.

I calculated the size of tyre and aspect ratio etc for my wide wheels to almost exactly replicate the standard Spitfire rolling diameter of wheel specifically to keep the speedo accurate!

But I don't really mind about the difference. Its a bonus that both the speedo and the rev counter actually function, as the whole point of them being present is to "look period and correct"

At least more correct than the Triumph ones would have looked had I left them original if you see what I mean!

I do appreciate suggestions and offered help, but in this case, I am happy with the outcome, and the current set-up.

I effectively have not had a wheel change, as the rolling diameter of my "new" wheels is exactly the same as the original Triumph ones. I calculated the tyre size precisely for that reason.

Therefore the speedo needs no recalibration as works as it always did before I changed the face.

It will record the mileage covered accurately, (as it did before) so I will know how far I have traveled, and when a service is due.

It is only the Jaguar dial face that is slightly different to the original Spitfire one, and that difference is only small, and does not justify any further work or expense.

The sat-nav gadget works fine as I have tested that too, so I do not see the need for any more changes.

Thursday

When I finally put my dash board into the car for the last time, the restricted space available will be such that actually doing all the connections will be very difficult at best, and perhaps impossible at worst, so I have worked out a strategy that I hope will make life easier at that time of the build. The cunning plan is as follows:

I intend to extend most of the cables and wires so that I can have the dash positioned about a foot back from where it will finally fit, and do all the connections before pushing the dash forward into its exact place.

To that end, I have started to solder extra bits of cable onto the spade connectors ready for the big event. Very fiddly, but necessary work.

On a lighter note, when I went into my conservatory (workshop) this morning, I was surprised to see that my favorite tool had given birth to a puppy! And I didn't even know she was pregnant. I am pleased to report
that mother and baby are doing well.

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