Build Diary
August 2008



Not much written recently partly due to problems getting nvu to connect to talktalk broadband.  Partly because of my storming progress on the car.

Over August and September I got all the paneling sorted out, which was a significant step (for me).  Here we have spiderman giving me a hand.


Dashboard: Mk2
I discovered that my dashboard was rubbish.  Problems:
    Gauges for temp, oil and fuel all behind the rollcage.
    Not square with chassis
    No rounding on lower edge of dash (SVA requires a certain minimum bend radius on this)
    Extra holes that were not in the right place.

So it became a "practice dash" and I started again.

PHOTO HERE


Glass fibre stars

One problem with lightweight cars with sticky tyres is that stones get thrown up by the sticky tyres and hit the underside of the glass fibre bodywork.  This results in a start shaped cracking in the gelcoat on the surface of the bodywork.  Now, there are disadvantages of purchasing "pre-owned" bodywork, but there is also an advantage.  The advantage (notice my glass half full attitude) is that you can see the areas that suffer from this phenomenon, as the cracking is already present.  

So, it turns out that the areas are those where the tangent of the tyre lie perpendicular to the bodywork, basically when the stone can fly straight into the bodywork rather than at a glancing angle.

The solution (for me) is to paint these regions with some magic paint (Car Builder Solutions, Wunderseal) stuff.  This isn't really paint and the fumes are something else, but it seems to offer some protection (time will tell).  Anyway here is a photo, the grey stuff is the magic paint.
before


After


Oh yes, the umbilical for the rear lights also needed moving (so that it runs along the top of the tank rather than dropping down behind the seats).  Minor error.



While I  am talking  bodywork, here are the two sidepods.  I have rivetted the standard alloy section to the sill, and put  rivnuts (M5) into  this strip.  On the bottom and back side I have put rivnuts into alloy sheet and glued (silkoflexed) these over the relevant holes in the fibreglass.  So, I can bolt through from the other side.  This allows me to had demountable sills.  This is  pretty much essential for the  sill that contains the exhaust (lots of  known problems), and  it wasn't too much trouble.

Loads more in August, but as I say progress was fast and not enough time to take photos!

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