Countdown to Goodwood – Part 1
Building inner front wheel arches has been on my ‘To Do’ list for years now.
However, recently, I was at the Ace to meet a friend attending a bike gathering.
I was allowed inside the car park and the Swordfish generated a bit of interest.
Including Mark Wilsmore, the Ace owner, who came over for a chat when I arrived.
Anyway, with the bonnet up, a Spitfire 1500 owner was singing the praises of having a radiator shroud.
I did fit the wider radiator and even in London traffic I haven’t had any over heating issues. < Touch Wood >
However, I figured this would be a way of getting back into fabrication work, so…
Radiator Shroud
Back to the CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) and Plan A went above the front chassis.
Then Plan B went under the chassis, but needed to be in two parts to fit into place.
This design failed when I opened the bonnet.
Note – Where high speed bumps meet low point of bonnet and scrape away the paint.
So, Plan C became a shape like this that would be attached to the front, rather than the back.
The sides will be held in place by the bolts holding the radiator in place.
Plan D will cut the top edge of the side panels down a fraction to avoid the closed bonnet.
The sides will be joined together by straps across the top.
I’m sure there will be some more fine tuning, but this is the basic idea I ended up with.
I dug out some of my ‘off cuts’ and it looks like I will be joining smaller pieces together.
I will also be making a joint panel for the cockpit, at the back of the gearbox cover.
Which will be cut/hammered in place to see what works best.
With a bit of luck, I’ll be making a start on the metal work this week.
End of Part 1…