Painting

 While I was painting my chassis, my mind did turn to painting the bodywork. When the body arrived I could see that the gelcoat wasn't perfect. After all, I'm not paying for an Ultima body so why should I expect Ultima quality? :)

Over the years the body has also had a few scrapes and dents so it needs a top coat. My previous attempt at painting my bike showed that while it came out ok, the smell was unbearable!!

I think part of it was using a spray gun, and to be honest the thought of  a nose full of paint for the next few weeks is just not nice!! So I'm going to go for a 'roll and tip' approach, like this video;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-SGcSlNmoo&ab_channel=EyeInHand

I like that the result is '90%' perfect and reflects the perceived age of the car. I had thought of going completely matt, but I think that would have turned it from a vintage car into an army reject!

In other news, the tank is now strapped in with rubber and steel straps;

The rubber does look a bit untidy though, so rather than have them sticking out as per my original plan, I'm going to trim them flush with the steel. 

The pedal box has also been securely fitted;

There is a tiny amount of flex at the top of the black section, but whether that translates into a spongy brake pedal I have no idea until I'm in the car and facing that previously mentioned 'oh sh*t' moment on the road. But with five 8.8 M6 screws, of which 2 go through the chassis frame, I'm happy it's as good as it can get without fully welding it. 

Oh, and there is an extra bolt fixing for the brake bias valve, previously it was just a self tapper into the frame to keep it in position but now that's also got an M6 through bolt.

Radiator mounts next, then I want to flip the chassis and make sure I didn't miss anything while painting. I also want to paint the seat frames to ensure they don't go rusty.