Post sticky weekend

 Once again a bit of a mixed bag. The rain briefly held off long enough to do some back end jobs, but not long enough to do anything proper. Not surprising really.

So from the 'sticky weekend' list:

All the arches are now temporarily fixed in place;

As expected they look a bit 'stuck on' at the moment, basically because they are! Hopefully when they're finished and painted they'll look a bit more like they should be there. I also cut the underlying arches on the front to give my wheels a bit more clearance. And this is where it 'deviated from the plan'.

So fibreglassing 101 includes the line 'don't try to fibreglass round a sharp corner'. And with me leaving a 10mm lip of old body, I'm trying to do exactly that! Of course it failed miserably, it didn't bend round the corner so I couldn't get it to attach to both the body and the arch. It basically lifted and created a bubble between the resin and the mat. To be fair, it's decently strong and it did adhere to both surfaces, so I'm on the right track. I just need to improve that one edge. I've ordered some reinforced filler to go in the gap and create a decent surface for the fibreglass to go on to. I'll probably have to sand the existing stuff back as it looks awful. Then a few layers of new stuff for strength. 

Overall though I'm happy that they'll fix in place well, and I won't have to do anything too clever post-bonding. I did try an experiment with resin on a spare piece of aluminium;

And it turns out this is a really strong fixing. Don't get me wrong, I think I can still separate the metal from the resin if I use some tools, but I was able to bend the aluminium and it stayed stuck so I'm happy with the approach.

The brackets and sliders for the bonnet are now glued on and work well. There is an occasional 'hook' on the passenger side that I can't quite tell what's happening, but that seems to be wearing down so eventually it'll sort itself out. I'm very happy with the bonnet though, it sits really well and just needs the tie downs to make it permanent.

The gearshift gaiter is also done, again very happy with how that turned out. It's now properly fixed to the surround and when it bolts back together I'm expecting it to work fine.

The roll bar trims are in place, another success. It reminds me very much of the trim pieces you see on Cobras, and for me to end up with something that normally lives on a 60K+ car means I must have done something right! 

And now the seat belts. I remember saying that I'd be really annoyed if they don't work? Well, I'm not 100% happy with them. The reel fitted well, I'm very happy with that and it extends and retracts as expected. A sharp pull locks it, all that funky stuff. I had to make some sleeves for the other fixing as the holes are 15mm and the bolts are only 10mm. Fortunately I had some matching tube and after some time with an angle grinder I had some appropriate spacers. I hadn't really planned on doing flexible fixings but it just worked out that way. 

The first struggle I had was getting the seats back in. With the seat belt buckle in place I couldn't just drop the seats in, there's just not enough room between the seat sides and the body. A bit of careful angling of the seat managed to get the seat in place. The other side wasn't as bad, that just needed the seatbelt pulled in front of the seat. At rest I like the way the belt sits, it's easy to access even when retracted.

When I'm in the seat it's slightly different. The height and position of the upper mount means the belt sits very close to my neck. A lot closer than I had expected. It's definitely a comfort thing, I might need to add a pad or something post IVA. While I'm on the subject of IVA though, I did check and the regs say that it must not slip off the shoulder. It's definitely not going to do that! I think overall it does it's job as a seat belt, it doesn't pull tight against the seat so I won't fall foul of the 'structural seat' rule. It's easy to apply and can be removed with one hand as per the book. 

Getting the seats bolts down is certainly going to be a challenge, and the movement fore and aft is going to be even more restricted. Not that that is a problem, the runners are mainly there to allow ease of fixing rather than proper adjustment. After all I doubt my wife is going to be driving it anytime soon! On the subject of fixing, the seatbelt wasn't actually that difficult to fix. With the centre panels removed getting to the back was pretty easy, and holding a spanner in place with a ratchet in the car made things simple to tighten. The seats have a bit more distance between front and back, but fixing a spanner in place inside the car and a ratchet outside should sort it. 

New jobs added (after all, it wouldn't be a productive weekend if I didn't identify more work to be done!):

• Redo the upper seat belt trim piece. With the moving belt guide the old trim piece is no good, it's too tall and doesn't functionally work (even if it is an IVA pass). I want to make a new trim piece that covers the top surface but leaves a gap for the upper washer. That will go on first, then the belt guid will bolt in place, then there will be a nut cover for on top. It's a bit more of a complex design but shouldn't take too long to create. It might take a bit more effort to print, I'll have to see what to do there. The current trim pieces were printed end on, I might try and do the same.
• Sand back the fibreglass bubbles and apply filler as required before trying again.
• Fill the gap in the handbrake with JB Weld. I need to do this before I permanently fix the handbrake as it needs to come out of the car. 
• Tidy up the bottom lip on the front. I think it's just the standard 1.5mm radius requirement, so five minutes with some sandpaper will sort this one. It will need trimming first though, particularly one corner where it's not particularly attractive. I'll jack the car up and possible get the laser level on it for reference.