MadaboutKitcars

Before I get flamed, let me explain:

Don't get me wrong, I fully realise that all these cars with interiors I am not keen on, are Jaguar based, extremely well built, and are worth huge sums of money more than mine will ever be.
That accepted, I just want my car the way I want it, and I will be a happy person.

My interior will not please everyone, but it pleases me, and with this build I'm the one that counts!! Peace.

Ooh! you are a one WCA!!

I think the "sheer nerve" option is the choice here Mick!
I have never been keen on either company, for lots of reasons, and would only buy if I had no other option.

Mac,welcome back! I see you are on site, but being a bit coy about posting? I hope all is well with you,

So did you have a good holiday? Look forward to your new posts on the build.

Thursday

I have spent a lot of time today fabricating the drivers offside panel.
It still is not finished. Very tedious work, seats in, seats out, panel in panel out,
modify, chop bits off, try not to damage what is already there etc etc.

Not a lot to show for so much work but here are two pics
to give some idea of what I'm up to:

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Friday

I put more work in on the internal paneling today, and in so doing noticed that there was a three-quarter-inch gap between the front seats and the alloy panel, through which the Spitfire steel floor and both seat fitting brackets could be seen.

I was naturally mortified, and it had to be done right there and then. It was an easy fix, with alloy strips riveted to the seat fronts which did a good job of concealment.

I got as far as I could with the drivers outer panel, but I will need to plan out the rain channels and the door locking system, and then integrate them both into the triangular bit, before I can finish the panel.

So I will get the passengers side to the same stage next, then I will have to bite the bullet and design something fancy in the "triangle" department.

At the rate I keep finding extra work I have not planned on, and doing the work I have left to finish the car to the standard I have set myself, I have come to the horrible conclusion that Stoneleigh is certainly not in the "definite" category yet.

Almost every single thing I do on the car from now on, is highly visible stuff,

and has to be done properly and cannot be rushed.

But like WCA once said, "its not a race". I will just keep building as fast as I am happy to, and when its done its done. If that happens to be after Stoneleigh, then so be it. But lets hope not!


Pics:


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Sunday

I carried on with the work to fit the drivers side panel today, I took the panel out and fixed all the rivets it needed to look right.

When I put it back in the car for a trial fit, I realised I had not drilled all the holes in the fibre glass door aperture, to take the screws.

So I drilled out the 9 holes, and I always like to fit the screws once so they cut the required thread, and go in easily later.

Well, true to current form, ie: throwing up extra work I don't need, out of the 9 holes I drilled, all of them except one, scabbed off a huge chunk of gelcoat, which required filling to put right.

I bought a box of 1000 stainless self tappers, and must have used well over 900 so far, as the box is almost empty, so I know I have the right size drill bit etc, but there we go, what is done is done.

I filled, sanded, re-drilled, and re-fitted the panel, and it is all repaired now.

P.S. I have ordered more rivets and screws!

(Have just worked out the car has over a thousand rivets that I have put in, and over a thousand rivet-looking screws, counting the larger sizes)


Pics:

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Monday morning

I seem to get the most satisfaction out of creations made from junk, and that was the case this morning.

I had been wondering for a long time, how, and what I would use for door handles, and at one stage was going to go for mini-type pull rope thing in the door aperture. Quite a few XKSS replicas have these.

Then a few days ago I saw a picture of a classic/kit/ D-Type car with exactly the type of handles I wanted on my car.

They were made out of aluminium, and had been drilled out for lightness, and I fell in love with them. For the life of me, I cannot find the picture to show how they looked.

But that does not matter now, as I have made them, and, the pictures will be here in a moment.

I found the lump of ally in my scrapyard, and the owner gave it to me for nothing. I think he has taken pity on me, as if I choose something small,
(which I am careful to do) he usually gives it to me free!

He will get a shock when I take the finished car down to his weighbridge,
and he sees what his junk has been turned into!

I got a tremendous kick out of making these, and enjoyed every minute of the work.

Pics:

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Thanks Mick! I even knew you had a connection somewhere!

Scimjim, Thanks for the heads up, you are right, every time I put a self tapper into fibre glass I cringe!

Thankfully, the 900+ main ones are joining alloy to alloy, or alloy to steel.

I only have very few actually in the fibre glass itself, (and hopefully they will never have to come out) which is: both seat backs and door edge trim.
Oh, and I almost forgot, the dash top trim.

Wednesday

Today I have worked out why this build is taking so long. I know that some people don't think it is, as I have not been at it anywhere near two years so far, but all the same, I hoped to be finished before now.

The reason it is taking me longer than I thought, is not the work involved, but the planning and preparation.

Because I make just about everything myself, ( I enjoy the challenge and love doing it) I have to cover all the options, styles, shapes, materials, then figure out what would look best/period etc. And that in itself is tremendously time consuming, much more so than the actual making.

Once I have decided what I want to actually make, that really is the easiest bit, and much faster to do than the long winded thought process.

So, today I got stuck in to the last major panel for the interior.
The passengers side panel.

I need to put an access hatch in it, so if required, I can remove the exhaust heat shield, without resorting to stripping out the seat and interior panels on that side.

I managed to get that done, and got the panel cut to shape and in position.

Another day, I will take it out, put all the rivets in place, make a hatch cover,

and refit it. That should be the interior mainly done. Yippee!

Pics:

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Now, how did I know that you would respond first??

Because you were set up WCA!

Hey! At least you did not disappoint me! Well done that man!!

I just knew that, which was why I posted it!!
A bit like going fishing......

Mr Towed had trouble with a conventional jack lately, when he got a puncture on his very low car. It has alerted me to the problem which I will also face given the same circumstances.

I already have one of those inflatable car jacks but they do not work with twin exhausts.

I am considering a "quick-lift" F1 style jack, but cannot find out any lifting capacities, anyone know anything about these things?

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Thanks for the feedback and suggestions fellahs.

I will have to do more research into this, its not important right now, but will be when I get on the road with the car.

Today I worked on the last big panel and got most of it sorted.

I now have to design and fabricate rain channels for front and rear of the doors, and fit the locks to the car.

Really easy to type but not so easy to do!


Pics:

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There are two of those in each footwell, and their job is to bolt the seats in, so I won't be losing those WCA!
If I put them anywhere else I will lose them, I know, because I HAVE!

Not wishing to waste the rest of the day, (and panicking about Stoneleigh) I plowed on in the afternoon with several small shitty mundane jobs, which still have to be done.

I got a shaft sliced in two, welded some washers on the ends and fitted them to the locks for the doors.

When I made the cockpit rear divider, I knew that I would one day have to seal it up, so I did that as well, having first cleaned all the dust and crud out of the join.

Then I figured a way to clip the divider trim panel in place and made that work. It does stay in place and looks okay, but I am less than happy with the top clip, but it will do for now.

Some pics:

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Thanks for the encouragement Paul!

The centre divider trim panel looks a bit lost on its own, but when flanked by the seats it will perk up a bit!

Sunday

I spent a lot of today planning, experimenting and trying to work out how I would finish off the door trims, with the rain channels and lock plates in place.

I made rain channels in plastic, and binned them, considered making them in copper tube, and discarded that idea, then I used logic, which I should have done to start with.

So far, I have made a lot of complex shapes using aluminium and fibre-paste, the curved dashboard being a good example.

So I started to make the passengers rain channel and door trim that way, and so far it has been successful.

Although I have not finished even the first one, I am over the moon !

Because I have actually cracked the problem, made one, and now know exactly how I will make the other three, what I will make them from, and so on.

It is now just a simple engineering exercise.

So, I have had a good day, and another time will do the rest of them.


Pics:

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Yeah, that sounds like a reasonable idea!

Its on my watch list now Mick! Thanks.