MadaboutKitcars

I am still working on the "simple engineering exercise" and have, after what seems forever, stuck the rain channel to the endplate.

Then it will all come off yet again, for the paste to be applied to the underside to strengthen and waterproof it.

It may be a simple job, but hellfire, how time consuming, and this is the first one!!!!!!!!!!

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Later Monday

I took all the clamps off the bonded panel, and to my dismay the epoxy adhesive failed, and the two bits fell apart.

I had prepared them correctly, so could not understand why this happened.

Also, this is not the first time this stuff has let me down,as most times it has been very good.
Anyhow, I clamped both bits together, and removed them as one piece, and went ahead and bonded the rear of the join with fibre-paste, and lots of it, which has never failed me.

I think there is a lesson to be learned here.

Then I filled the front channel face for a smooth look, sanded and primed it. I will put it back on the car tomorrow.

While I was waitng for the (now failed) epoxy to go off, I dug out the smallest of two scissor jacks I had been hoarding, and modified it so I could use it to jack up a very low car.

I was pleased with the result, as a 2.5 inch gap is quite small, so the
device ought to come in handy at some stage.

It will lift fairly high, but would be a bit unstable at that height, but the plan would be to jack a bit and timber block it, just enough so a normal jack would then fit under.

P.S. I could not wait for tomorrow, so I went out just now, (10pm)

and put the panel back on the car.


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Tuesday

I have worked on the car since breakfast, and have just finished for the day.
I have completed the drivers front rain channel, which did take all day.

That's two down two to go. I hope to do one each day, we'll see.

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Rene, Thank you for your kind words, happily I do not own any of the clothing you mention!

I do not intend to change that anchor point, as it is the original Triumph one, intended to support the hood, with my modded bit welded on top, why re-invent the wheel?

When the hood hoops are attached to it, and the hood attached to them, it simply cannot be seen, and is hidden.

So you see, there is no problem!

Nope, I'm not the flat cap type!

Here's one for you Rene, a few years back, but with proven a top speed of 206 MPH it would see a lot of modern stuff off!

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I had one once Mick, it had a 1650 cross-flow mated to a bullet box.

Probably the best handling car I've ever had, and was it ever fast!

I beat a lotus sprint with it once, and the driver flagged me to a stop and wanted to see what I had under the bonnet, he was so impressed!

If I ever can find a picture of it I'll post.

Mister T I had not noticed that! It really made me laugh.

Wednesday

Today I did not get as much done as I had planned to, due to lots of reasons, but I did progress a fair amount, so I have moved forward.

When I added a bit to the back edge of the drivers door some time ago, I just left it at that, but today I shaped, profiled, sanded and primed the door, so it has a good shut line, and fits properly now.

Then I went ahead and made the first part of the rain channel for the drivers rear part of the door.

It was also pleasing to find out that the door did not foul the front rain channel, which I kind of knew would fit right, but had not checked with the door in place because at that stage, the door was too big to go in the frame!

Hence the work today.

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Thursday

Real life sort of got in the way of work today, but I did manage to get the drivers door end plate made up, and in place.

I will finish it another time.

Here is a pic of it, and another picture guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye
of many fans, not least Mr Towed I would reckon!

What a shame!

The text came with the pic and is not mine btw.

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Just about Paul, I have to fit the locks and make them work,then make some sort of covers to hide the windscreen supports, but I have definite plans for that.
Two inner front wheel arches to stop the battery box filling with water (original problem discovered by Mr Towed)

Then I will be rubbing down for paint, unless I've missed something!
Which I absolutely must have!

I have spent more time than I should trying to work out where and how, I must fit the locks in the doors in order for them to work right, look good, and more importantly to miss the bottom edge of the rain channel.

I think I now have a plan.

I also cut the top part of the door handles, and drilled two small holes to fit the pulling link. ( I was going to put "pulling wire" but decided against it, so's not to get ragged by WCA!)

I only have one pic as most of the planning was in my head.

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Ha ha! I deliberately put those door handles in that format in the hopes of eliciting a response of this nature, but honestly thought WCA would post.

Really surprised to see your post Mr Towed!

Well done. very clever. Great stuff.

Monday

I put in a fair amount of time today on the build, mostly on small time consuming jobs.
I drilled out and fitted little bolts to the two locks so that the handles will operate them correctly.

Did a lot more work on the drivers rear shut plate, ( still working on it now at 9:15 pm) I WILL finish it tonight!!!

Quite some time ago I spent three complete days re-fibre glassing the bolt holes in the drivers door, re-drilling and shimming it to as good a fit as I could get, and was pleased with the result, so far so good.

Today I re-fitted the drivers door in what I expected to be a near perfect position given all the work I had put in, only to find it was probably the worst fitting door in the history of badly fitting doors, in the whole of the bloody universe.

There were a few choice words I can tell you. When you see the picture, it is plain to see why I was so peed off.

Nothing for it but to re-shim and get it back to some sort of order.

Oddly, this time it did not take so long, see the next pic.

Not as good as it once was, but good enough once all in BRG methinks.

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Thanks for the encouragement Thurcroft, it is appreciated, especially when enthusiasm flags a bit! (And it does at times!)

Ed, I'm glad you are fired up to re-tackle your interior, that surely is what this forum is all about.

I in turn, have been inspired several times on different issues, due to seeing things in the forum, so it is a self perpetuating system which works well.

We all keep saying it, but attention to detail IS the key.

Sure, it certainly does take longer, but as WCA said: "a build is not a race" and the extra effort is really worth it in the end.

Keep that in mind all you newbies out there!

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Glad you noticed that World Class, It took me ages to hack a big enough hole in the bottom of the door to make it work so!!

Wednesday

Today I bit the bullet, and started drilling holes in my car. After much measuring, marking and rechecking, I fitted the door lock to the passengers door.

Then I managed to fit the lock plate to the door bulkhead.

The good news is that the lock works, the door closes with a resounding "click" and is firmly closed, and does not rattle.

I have not fitted the handle yet, nor obviously connected it to the lock, that will come later. I am just relieved to get the lock in place with no mistakes or damage to anything.

It is so fiddly getting both these two bits secured in the right places, that I wanted to get it right in one, and not have to adjust it at all afterwards.

I achieved my aim, as I had checked all the measurement so many times ,
that it came out right first try.

I hope I have the same luck with the drivers side.

When I fitted the doors, I made them stick out just a bit at the rear, so they needed definite pressure to close them, and fit correctly.

When the "Click" is heard, and the door is shut flush, it is very satisfying.

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It will stay like that, and as the doors on cars are closed 99.9999% of the time it will probably never get seen.

Aluminium is a very soft material and certainly not suitable for locks and lock shut plates, which is why its not used for that purpose.

Steel is the normal chosen material, due to its hard wearing qualities, which is why I've used it on my car.

I could not find any pictures of XKSS locks either Paul, but like Landmannn, I came to the conclusion that all old cars had similar locks in those days.
I have the same locks on the bonnet and boot and they work well.
The good thing is that they are not on show, and will rarely be seen.