Sunday, June 29, 2014

Rear Wheel Arches Trimming

Small session working on the car. First task was to tie-wrap the extension wires I did last week to wire up the fog light on a LHD position. I had forgotten about holding the wires down and this got fixed.

Then spent some time trimming the rear wheel arches. After some looking into it, the trimming does make the arches fit a lot better. The picture below shows one arch trimmed and the other one yet to be trimmed so that the difference is visible.
I've heard that Steve at Aries now has new moulds for the rear arches that do not require trimming. This could be nice although this trimming is not hard and didn't take long.

Next time I'll have to make the holes for the lights and then fit them to the car. I still have the boot cover buttons to fit, but today I didn't feel like doing that.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

More Work on the Rear

Another couple of hours on the car advanced the rear. No pictures because it's not quite visible.

Jacked the car up and riveted the rear panel to the chassis. Used 4 rivets under, two on the sides also under and two nearer the top against the chassis rail where the upper side of the coils fit.

Then used a bit of old wire and crimped an extension to the fog light wire. Connected it to the light pod and closed it. Just forgot to cable-tie the wire to the chassis, will have to do it next time.

Last job was to drill and fit the filler cap. This took a bit more work because the bolts were 4mm in diameter and I only had 3,5 and then a 4,75 drillbits. So I drilled with the 3,5mm and then used a file on the fiberglass to enlarge the holes to fit. Some time later, the fuel cap was in, bolted to the fiberglass and the ties on the hose also tightened.

Also removed the battery from the car and charged it in preparation for a drive soon.

Next session will be the buttons for the cover and then start on the rear wheel arches.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

More Bodywork Done

Got to the car and something was niggling the back of my head. I still had the rear loom in one roll on top of the fuel tank. So, my first task was to lay out the wires and fix them in place with wraps, ensuring there would be no chaffing. Tried several layouts, specially because photos I saw had the loom between the rear panel and the fuel tank. In the end I opted for having the loom between the diff and the fuel tank. Now I just need to buy some more electrical wire to make an extension for the fog light wires to reach the fog light on a LHD position. Used one of the fuel tank bolts to attach the earth wires to the chassis.

After this, opened up the sikaflex and grabbed the front wings. It was a bit messy but not much of a story to it. Wings are wired, sikaflexed and bolted into place. I haven't tried the indicators to confirm all is well, need to recharge the battery, but at least it looks nice.
Then it was time for the rear panel. A lot of sikaflex around the top and bottom, to hold it in place. Left that to dry, will put the rivets underside next time.
Crimped the plate light wires, connected them and closed that light pod. Also put the filler cap in place, although it is not drilled and bolted to the panel yet.
Finally, fitted the boot cover just to see how it looked and where I would need to drill to install the buttons the cover attaches to. Not bad... Not bad at all...
Next session will be mostly drilling the rear panel to rivet underside, fit the filler cap and the boot. My driller's vacations are about to be over!