Following a dose of the first lurgy of winter, heavy deadlines at work and much contemplation a call was made to Mark at Fishers to see if the general cutout's needed to fit the main tub to the chassis were of the right magnitude. The general idea was to cut around the suspension turrets and the roll bar which meant removing about 4" of material from the front edge of the tub (expensive if you get it wrong). Mark confirmed there was no correct way so long as it looked right. Therefore the decision has been made to wind down the suspension, fit the body about an inch under the suspension tops and line up the wheels in the arches as best I can whilst keeping an eye out for the front of the tub lining up with the front chassis cross member. I also reminded Mark that I had not received the hood stays, the dash top and it was about time my loom was ready.
Hired a transit and picked up the main fibreglass pieces up from my parents where they have been stored. Having cleared the drive and unwrapped the main tub It was lowered into position. The sides of the tub had to be "persuaded" to fit over the sides of the boot floor. In general the fit was awful. About 6-12" out in all directions. First move was to cut down the sides of the boot floor to help the help the height. The roll bar was removed as it seemed that about 4" needed to come off the tub to fit it in place. The rear suspension turrets then got in the way. Also to note was that fact that the 9 gal. tank is quite large and the rear valance on the main tub only just fits under it. Time for a bit of thought, a cup of tea and a call to Mark (No joy) so the chassis with the top partially in place was wheeled into the garage.
Fitted the roll bar tonight. The holes at the rear on the base plates were close to one of the cross members but I managed to bolt it in OK. The car is now ready to fit the body (Saturday if it is fine).
Had a productive day today, finished off fettling the cutouts in the boot floor and fitted a trailing wire to the fuel tank sender. I put the boot floor in placed and drilled holes for the rivets. When these were all drilled the boot was removed, silicone sealant applied to all of the struts on the chassis and the boot floor riveted in place. First bit of bodywork (ish) fitted. The fuel return fittings and pipe were then connected up and secured with jubilee clips. I then trial fitted the roll bar, the four holed that I drilled were not for this by the way. I had to cut off the outer rear corner of the base plates on each side so that it fitted, the bare edges were then finished in Hammerite.
Drilled the holes for the roll bar (?) (M10 x 4) in the boot floor. I then adjusted the rear suspension to get it looking a bit more straight and with less camber. I have also jubilee clipped all of the fuel pipes ready for startup. Last job this evening was to shorten all of the joints in the exhaust system so that the CAT will fit in. This entailed taking out between 1 and 2 inches out of all joints (manifold-cat, cat-box, box-end pipe). It still seems a bit long and there is scope for about another inch to be removed but I will see when I get the side pods in place. I have had an email from Ian at Lightning Looms and he has had the go ahead for my loom so it should be here in a couple of weeks.
Made a cardboard template for the cutouts in the boot floor for the suspension turrets. This was then placed on the boot floor and the fibreglass cut. The hole for the fuel filler and the fuel return pipe were then marked up and cut out. With a bit of filing etc. the boot floor fits well. This will be riveted on later.
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October 2010
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