And now for something completely different... gap filling

 Time to switch to something else. The rear of the car has a gap between the chassis and the bodywork;

This is dealt with by a GRP panel on the MK HSR, that is just visible in this picture;

But while my body kit did come with that infill panel, it's nowhere near long enough! Which is really odd, because I don't remember cutting that back edge so it's not as if I've made it not fit.

Anyhow, there's a few things to consider for this;

1. It will be made out of aluminium. It needs to match the rest of the interior so aluminium makes sense. I also have a sheet available. 
2. It needs to fix to the body and the chassis. It might sound obvious, but for more strength on the body across the back it needs to be fixed.
3. It needs to be removable. Along with 2 above, the fixings need to be removable. So rivnuts or clips. 
4. A curve would be nice. As the body is horizontal and the chassis is (near) vertical a gentle curve would look good. However it does add to the complexity quite a lot. 
5. It needs to be trimmed round the roll bar. Not a major problem, but again another very visible trim that needs to work well, no room to escape. 

Some pics for reference;

These two corners could cause me some issue. The panel needs to line up with the small tab I left from the side panel, and also sit well with the edge of the body for it to look tidy. Then a cutout for the rollbar before the long run. 

You can also see in these pictures where the top plate for the suspension mounting is higher than the cross bar. That's another gap I need to infill somehow.

First off I think I'm going to make a wooden pattern. Cutting and forming the panel is not going to be easy so I want to ensure I get as close as possible with a pattern before committing to anything. It'll also let me figure out how much of the GRP I want to cut out of the corners, I doubt very much that it will stay as it is because it just doesn't work. I cut it like that so the roll bar could just slot in but it's not giving me any benefit.

One more pic for reference, this is how high the gap is (70mm). It also shows where the metalwork has to get to. That pic does make me wonder though, a right angle rather than a curve might work better with the body. Having it come directly up and then across means that I have enough GRP to trim back and make it look flush. I was going to use U trim on the GRP in that corner anyway. 

And one last check before I start, I am 99% sure that horizontal part of the body is a straight line but I ought to double check it. Even if there is a slight curve I think I'd prefer it to be flattened out. 

Let the panel forming commence...

Last update on bonnet fitting for now

 It's time for me to work on something else, I knew the bonnet fit would take a very long time so to keep myself motivated I'm going to switch jobs. And it also doesn't help that I'm getting very tired of fibreglass fragments and getting my fingers caught between the bonnet and body. At least it shows a good panel fit if it can cut off finger circulation.

Anyway, last few photos to wrap up this stage. The last job was to remake the cross member that supports the bonnet. Because of the way the body/bonnet doesn't line up with the body as clean as it would on an MK chassis, I've already had to make a few changes. I had initially made the cross member with a slight curve, however now that things have come together it was clear to see that the curve was no longer required. It was also higher one side than the other (only by 5mm). So a bit of fettling I ended up with this, with the strip of rubber across the top to finish it off;

The next stage here will be a couple of rivnuts either side, to go through to the body. But if I plan it very carefully, I can put the fixings in just the right place to replace them with some leather strap type buckles to have it look at least a little 'old'. This sort of thing from CBS;

They will be positioned so that it looks like the bonnet opening is secured by the straps. Of course it won't be, basically five out of the six fixings will just go into the body and the last screw will go through to the rivnut. 

Anyhow, that's getting a little ahead of myself, here's the bonnet shut line view as it is now;

The first picture shows how close it is, I'm really happy with the alignment. The second picture is at a lower angle though, and you can just make out the fact that it's very slightly proud, the bonnet is maybe 1-2mm higher than the body. I think this is a good thing, because when I add the bonnet fixings it'll tighten things up and the alignment will be spot on. 

I still need to manage the sides, there's a slight curve on the bonnet that isn't in the body so I'll need some brackets and some locking mechanism to sort that out. No biggie, just not a job for now. On to the next task...

Bonnet dilemma/decision

 It's early on a Monday, the coffee hasn't kicked in, and I'm already thinking about the bonnet...

So basically the plan had been to put a U shaped trim on the trailing edge of the bonnet. I think it will look quite tidy, and save my fingers from being glassed every time I open the bonnet.

But the HSR demo car doesn't do that;

It's just a bare seam. Now, it could probably be to do with it being a white car, but then it could also have been the plan all along. And now I'm wondering whether I should do the same.

The bonnet will be supported in the middle by a cross bar, I'll be cutting and welding that today with any luck. That cross bar will hold the two locking bolts on the top, to stop it wiggling side to side. Down the side will be rubber 'somethings' which will keep it's shape, and again another couple of locking bolts near the bottom (similar to the two locks in the picture above). Once all that's in place, I do still need to trim the bonnet. This trim will allow both the 'U trim' and the 'trimless' options. I guess I'll reserve my decision until then. 

Oh, and close inspection of that side view shows the bonnet bottom edge sits very slightly lower than the body, same as mine does. The seam for the side panel also lines up, possible a bit better than mine does but I'll find out soon enough. 

Lighting

 A small but very important task today, rear lights;

Hmm, those lights look awful in the picture!! I guess it's because the picture was taken quite close, because the indicator bulbs don't stick out to the side like they look, and the reverse and fog lights are perfectly in line!

Anyway, no real issues here. I used stick on paper templates to place the indicator and stop lights, then drilled through the paper. The fog and reverse light were placed according to the IVA. Well, the fog light was, the reverse light was just done to mirror the fog light. 

The rules for the fog light were that it needs to be somewhere between the centre and the drivers side edge, it needs to be 100mm away from any stop light, and it needs to be square on. Drivers side was an easy call, a quick measurement to make sure it was far enough away covered that side of things. The main issue was having the light square on, and half an hour with the 3D printer got suitable brackets to deal with the curves;

Both lights are now very secure and square. Next step is to wire them up.

(Small edit). The gap between the lights wasn't enough for my number plate to fit, so I asked the question on LCB as to whether a 2 row plate is permitted. It seems 'yes', and it also occurred to me that there would be something in the IVA manual, and yes there is. There needs to be a space for a plate that is one of two sizes;

Euro Space option 1 is 520 wide and 120 high

Euro Space option 2 is 340 wide and 240 high

The doubling in height suggests that a 2 row plate is allowed. However, the guidance also states 'A plate hanging from the vehicle with no structure or support brackets behind it would be considered unacceptable. So I need to add a couple of brackets to support a suitable sized gap. Checking the gap with a tape measure shows I have 510 between lights, so it's got to be option 2. Interestingly even option 2 is bigger than the plate my donor car had! 

Bonnet trimming

 Well, this is it, one of the first parts where I truly have nowhere to hide. Everything done so far had some sort of tidying or refinement available. But when it comes to the bodywork alignment, it has to be spot on. And getting the bonnet and body to line up it has to be immaculate. So many cars I see at the kit car show where the panel fit isn't 'quite' there, and even a small mismatch is really visible.

So, first step was to find the edge. Problem is because the body is underneath the bonnet, and I can't go from underneath, so I needed to get a pattern from the bottom to the top. Cue some backing paper, previously purchased from Ikea;

With the bonnet up, I taped some paper to the body along the back edge. The front edge was cut to the edge of the body. Then I folded the paper back on the tape, dropped the bonnet and put the paper over the bonnet. That gave me an edge to cut to. 

Of course, there was no way I was going to cut right on the final line, so I pulled the line back 10mm and cut there.

Two terrifying hours with a multitool later, and I had a nice line and a chunk of fibreglass to take off. I did the same with the sides;

This pattern shows how little tolerance I had. I did measure the bonnet position based on the wheels, and found it's about an inch too far back. But if I had tried to claim that inch, the panel gap would have been too wide. To be honest, having the wheel an inch out is a fair swap for a tight panel gap!

The next step was to trim it to final size. But I wanted a frame of reference so I put a strip of tape where the body sat. This was the tape after the first six inches of trimming.

To be honest, this approach wasn't working. I didn't know where to stop cutting. So I made a small metal device that sits against the body edge, and transposes the position on to the bonnet. Then another length of tape to mark the edge. Unfortunately I should have taken more pictures of the process, I only took pictures of the end result;

I'm really happy with the line, apart from a couple of areas that need a little more sanding it's pretty much spot on. It's still held up by the corners as this is only between the two lines. Next step is to repeat the process on the corners, that should allow the bonnet to sit at the right height, then I can do the sides. 

Once it's all trimmed to this level, I'll need to bring it back maybe 2mm or so for the rubber edge trim. So thinking about it, I do have one more chance to fix issues. But getting it right now just makes things easier.

Some more photos, this was the same treatment done on the corners. Taped and filed back;

Filed, sanded and closed;

And the centre section now able to drop to it's correct height;

Well, I say 'correct height', it's actually dropped down a bit. So I need to come up with a way of taking out the unevenness between the bonnet and the body. Rubber would be the most obvious solution, but to get things to the right height for the sides I'm going to go 3D print some spacers. I need 1mm up to 7mm, that's how uneven it is under there! But it doesn't really matter how uneven it is underneath, as long as the top bit fits flush.

So that's it for the garage for today, and I'm hungry as well. 

Weekend work

 It was a half decent weekend weather-wise, so it was nice to wheel the car out on to the drive and work with a bit of space. Although I had to sand the drive bricks first...

Anyhow, the car is now an extra 5 inches higher than it was, and has a nice little ramp to get in and out of the garage. Of course, I still had to jack up each side to get underneath but that's what happens with normal cars anyway!

The 'getting underneath' was for the rivnuts for the body, five across the back and three down each side. They were pretty poor rivnuts unfortunately, no 'feel' for when they had compressed into place and I must have gotten through at least half a dozen nuts and bolts getting them in place. But they're on, and only needed a bit of encouragement to accept the bolts that will hold the body in place.

Ah, the body... I had to hold it up to get the next interior panel sorted, and while it stayed in place it did donate a fair few glass fibres for insertion into my hands!! Still, it's in place and I can now look at cutting the bonnet. The pattern I made wasn't too far off, but I wiped off the mark and made a new one anyway. I guess I'm just putting off cutting the body, but it really has to be done. Maybe tomorrow.

I do need to order some shorter bolts for the body though, I only have excessively long onrs and they're silver. Some domed black ones will look a lot better, along with black penny washers. 

Braces and supports

 My next job isn't on the car, although it is car related. I need to create some wooden 'accessories' for the car. 

First one I've mentioned before, a short aluminium ramp to get the dollies up the garage lip. Shouldn't be too difficult.

Then the dollies themselves. I thought they'd be ok from a height point of view, and while the car looks really great and low, it's completely impractical. In fact, the sump is probably a matter of millimetres off the floor! So to at least get close to standard ride height I need to build up the dollies. It'll be a wooden frame around the edge, so the car doesn't lie directly on the dollies but is a few inches higher. I was thinking of just one frame of CLS to lift it 63mm, but to be honest I think two layers would be more realistic. Even if it means I struggle to get in and out of it!

Lastly will be some frame to hold the bodywork up. I've got a few last jobs to do underneath the body and while I don't want to remove the body completely, I do need to hold it up a few inches. It does need to be in a way that doesn't block the last of the riveting, or the rivnut fitting I need to do on the back and sides. Although thinking about it, there's not much more on the body to fit a frame! So it might need to be done in two parts.

Speedo drive

 Well, this was an interesting one. I noticed where the speedo drive was when the engine was last out of the car, and reminded myself to have a look at fitting the cable. It turns out.... I can't!! There is simply no room between the drive and the body panel. 

So there's a couple of options. First is to swap the mechanical drive for the electronic version. This makes it easier at the engine end, but it also means I've got to swap the speedo for a newer version. If I swap the speedo then I'll need three other gauges for them to match. Then I'd be swapping wiring etc etc. It would not be pleasant.

The other option is to stay with the mechanical drive, but feed it into the drivers side footwell. If I cut a hole in the footwell, I can feed the cable along the inside and it won't be in the way. Considering the cable has to come into the car at some point, it would just be coming in a bit earlier. It's black on black so wouldn't be too noticeable, I'd just have to make sure it was well secured. 

Not tonight though, I'll see what other options there might be first. 

(Update 17/4). Well, it looks like I'll be bringing it into the car then. The option for electronic drive just got far too complex. There was an option to go for a different electronic speedo with something like magnets on the driveshaft or diff, but again it needs replacement gauges. 

So I'll cut a hole in the side, and bring it up tucked tight against the drivers footwell side. There is no diagonal brace to get in the way, so it can come all the way up the inside. It's going to be fiddly to fix in place but it does solve the other issue I had with getting to the speedo. So that's a job for the weekend, or at least 'a' weekend. 

Another month but a lot of work

 Another big gap between posting, but for several reasons. The first is that Covid hit again, so that was at least three weekends with almost nothing happening. Considering that back on the 18th of March (4 weeks ago) my plan had been to get the engine in and body on, I didn't even have enough strength to manhandle the engine or lift the body!!

In the meantime I did get a few things done. First is the coolant bottle, I have an aluminium and steel bracket that provides suitable support, that will be rivetted to the scuttle once the scuttle is in it's final position. Same for the ECU, just needs riveting on to that same scuttle. 

The battery mount was slightly more involved. First off, a rant at Halfords. I'm fine with them saying 'click and collect in an hour', but when the hour is '10am on May 12th' it starts to get a bit ridiculous! However it did force me to get my butt in gear and make a fixing clamp rather than waiting for Halfords to figure out their own stock levels. And here it is;

First was a little tray, just bent to shape. I had planned on riveting this in place but then I figured I'd be forever stuck with that size battery. So for now the battery will just sit in it!

The battery clamp is steel bar that was cut to length then a thread cut into it for the first couple of inches. On the other end was a right angle bend. This goes through the scuttle into the cross beam steel. The idea is that you hook the bar in place, then with the nuts and cross bar it's held firmly in position. The cross bar is just half of a steel tube. I was going to use angle iron, but they're basically doing the same job. It's extremely solid, I'm very happy with it. My only concern with this design is the proximity of the terminals to the cross bar, it's essentially a short circuit waiting to happen. I might put a sleeve on the cross bar, as well as the required insulation on the terminals. 

So that's three out of four scuttle items mounted. The last one is the engine fuse box which needed to wait until the engine went in. Before the engine went in (hopefully for the last time) I fitted the brake and fuel lines. The fuel lines were an absolute headache, it's 8mm copper that didn't want to bend. In fact, I actually wasted a length of copper because I managed to kink a bend. I finally got it replaced and fixed the length of the tunnel, so now both ends are waiting for rubber pipes to be added.

Oh, and somewhere around this point I decided the last panel for the tunnel is to be removable as well. For the sake of some rivnuts it's going to save me so many headaches!

On to the body, and this might be the first time I've got everything on and in place all at once;

I'm extremely happy with the panel fit, with the braces and the aluminium panels everything is really tight. What I'm not so happy with is the outriggers. My design had the outriggers bonded to the body, then the outriggers in slots bolted to the chassis. That isn't going to work in real life, the outriggers just aren't mobile enough. So I'm going back to rivnuts for the sides and back of the body. As mentioned though, because everything is really tight I'm not using them for outright strength, they will just be there to stop things blowing out sideways and backwards. 

This means I can mark the front for cutting. You can see the marking template in the picture above, that was traced to the edge of the body, taped along the back edge then laid on to the closed bonnet. This is what I'm left with;

The black line shows how much is to be removed from the bonnet in order for it to align with the body. I checked this at least half a dozen times, and I'll probably check at least a few more time before I actually cut. It's interesting that it's so deep in the top, because near the corner between the top and side, the match is very nearly there. Then there is a severe angle to cut off the side. It's not as if I could have got anything wrong yet, I've not cut the bonnet and the front half of the body is profiled. I can only assume that they expected there to either be an overlap like there is now, or for the builder to cut it back to the mark. (Edit: I've just checked the picture of the light blue example and that has a similar amount of overlap to be cut back!) 

What I do need to do is check the body is straight first, I wouldn't want to cut it to the perfect edge then find the body has moved on the outriggers. I've got rivnuts arriving today to do that.

Once I've cut to length and the bonnet has dropped into position, I can cut the bonnet brace to suit. That will keep everything in line, I'll add a strip of rubber so it all stays put once it's tight. 

Next job, along the back of the cockpit;

Basically I need a rounded edge to go between the rear chassis bar and the bottom of the body. It needs to extend to the corners while avoiding the roll bar, with more rivnuts to secure it to the chassis and body. I can't tell whether it will sit on the front of the chassis overlapping the existing aluminium, or bend to fix to the body. Fixing to the existing alumium would look better, but also make the middle panel remove a bit awkward. 

Then dashboard. Now that everything is in place, I've not got enough space behind the wheel for the gauges. They're just too tall for the space. The easy solution is to move them to the centre of the dashboard;

I'm quite happy with how they look there, it just means they need to be more IVA compliant than they would be if they had been behind the steering wheel. I also need to ensure the speed cable works, although just looking at that photo I know the speedo drive off the gearbox is basically right below the speedo gauge! As long as the cable is long enough to loop round to the body then I'm ok.

What else is there? Oh, now the body is fitted I can get back to the last bit of aluminium on the sides, which will need riveting and gluing. The other side of the transmission tunnel can also be riveted. 

The seatbelts can go on now, I'll get that all bolted up. Oh, talking of bolts, I did check what I needed and ordered the outstanding bolts from Westfield fasteners. I now have all the lengths I need. Well, apart from two, for some reason the bolts into the gearbox for the gearbox mounting are a really weird thread. I'm going to have to find those somewhere.

Seats will be the next big thing to do, there's a few details I want to sort out (like the visible metal between base and back), but they will be brought indoors for covering. 

I also need to figure out a way of lifting the whole body six inches and supporting it there. That will give me access to the remaining panels without being too much in the way.

Oh, and a ramp... while it's on dollies rather than one wheels it has a tremendous amount of trouble getting in and out of the garage. Aluminium sheet helped but bent, so I want to make a semi-permanent ramp from wood and aluminium. Then I can just hang it out of the garage and wheel the car in and out as required. 

Well, that was a big post... I'll break it down a bit next time. In fact, I might even chop this one up into a few parts.