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Post by buildityourself on Apr 2, 2020 20:04:19 GMT
Don't powder coat the insides of the suspension where the bushes are fitted, otherwise you won't fit the bushes in without them binding. Also don't coat the inside of the rear uprights where the wheel bearing fits into.
Also leave the threads on the wishbones.
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Post by alison on Apr 5, 2020 20:47:13 GMT
We've made some progress this weekend. First we used techscrews to temporarily fix the floor on in a couple of places, then turned the car the right way up.
Then we did the cutouts on the front bulkhead using the jigsaw, drilling the corners to try and make then neat.
We did the sides next. We sandwiched the panel between two bits of wood and bent it over the edge. We bent an equal amount round at each end (front and back). Had to resort to the edge of the kitchen table to do the centre bend.
This is the bent side panel (not cutout yet).
and with both sides bent...
Finally with the side cutouts. The side panels are slightly short but we are confident they'll attach OK.
All the aluminium panels are now temporarily fixed to the chassis and marked with a centrepunch for the holes every 10cm, with them staggered to avoid clashes between floor rivets and side rivets.
The next step is to practice my riveting. The rivets need a 6mm hole in the chassis. It would be much easier to drill through the aluminium and chassis together with a 6mm drill so as to make sure all the holes are in exactly the right place. I'll be using M4 bolts so they will need a large head/washer. I'll try to check with my practice piece if it seems secure with 6mm holes in the aluminium.
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Post by kiwicanfly on Apr 5, 2020 22:38:56 GMT
The next step is to practice my riveting. The rivets need a 6mm hole in the chassis. It would be much easier to drill through the aluminium and chassis together with a 6mm drill so as to make sure all the holes are in exactly the right place. I'll be using M4 bolts so they will need a large head/washer. I'll try to check with my practice piece if it seems secure with 6mm holes in the aluminium.
The 'problem' with that approach is that you are going to put a hole through both the panel and chassis but you cant put in the rivnut without taking the panel off so you are loosing the registration offered by drilling a hole, putting in a fixing, drilling the next etc etc. I mentioned before about the use of a Cleco set, in this case you would drill a 1/8" hole through both, put in a cleco which will hold it in place and offer perfect registration, and repeat through out the panel. Then when everything is drilled you remove the panel and open to 5mm and drill the chassis 6mm and install rivnuts. Easy, fast and accurate. The other great thing about them is that as you shape panels invariably they need to go off and on repeatably, seconds with a Cleco, slow with screws, impossible with pop-rivets. |
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Post by alison on Apr 11, 2020 16:48:35 GMT
I've now drilled a rivnuted the aluminium panels on. All including the floor were screwed on. After a bit of trial and error with a practice piece we decided it would be ok to drill all holes 5mm (big ehough for the M4 bolts) and then take the aluminium sheets off and open out the holes to 6mm for the rivnuts. The drill didn't seem to wander, which we were worried it might. The 6mm drill is just under 6mm diameter so as to make a 6mm hole when you drill, which meant the rivnuts were a tight fit.    All the rivnuts went in smoothly and the aluminium sheets lined up ok aftewards, so a success I think. Next we started to look at where brake lines might run, as we'd like to use p-clips and I'd like to place the rivnuts before powder coating the frame. This led to getting the nice shiny pedals out of the box and wondering how far forward they should be (some mentions on the internet of them going up against a bulkhead for stability). Once we placed the pedals in the car it didn't look as if there was much room for the steering column. The pedals are quite tall.  Presumably it goes between the pedals? |
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Post by stevew on Apr 12, 2020 9:13:38 GMT
I suggest mounting the steering column and wheel first so you can gauge how far forward you can sit, the seat can be positioned anywhere but there is a limit on the steering wheel. then you will be able to tell how far your legs will reach and if you can reach the pedals ok with the box against the bulkhead it will be much better. If you can't put the box against the bulkhead the master cylinders will still need to poke through the bulkhead and this gives a problem sealing the bulkhead for IVA.
Cheers
Steve
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Post by stevew on Apr 13, 2020 8:55:22 GMT
best thing to do is position the bolt flange of the master cylinders in line with the bulkhead and bolt them on from the tank side. Exactly, but only if the pedals can still be reached. |
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Post by alison on May 3, 2020 16:27:54 GMT
The chassis is finally going for powder coating on Tuesday. They’re also going to powder coat the rear uprights (apart from the inside where the bearings fit), the suspension pieces (except the inside where the bushes fit and the threads), the wheel arch stays, and the rear wing brackets. Due to lack of staff it will take up to three weeks, so I have plenty of time to source grease nipples and an appropriate tap, some p-clips, and some brake pipe making kit. It's possible I might be getting the body panels soon, which would be fantastic, as it will make it easier to see what can fit where.
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Post by alison on Jun 16, 2020 16:07:43 GMT
A slight issue the night before the chassis went for powder coating - the diagonal struts had been moved a bit too near the edges - see photo.
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Post by alison on Jun 16, 2020 16:22:36 GMT
Some frantic filing ensued to make the gap big enough for the suspension.
We think we are OK now. Hopefully so as we have now had the chassis painted and it's a lovely shiny black.
Quite a few other parts have also been painted at the same time.
Also the windscreen has arrived. I had no idea it was coming so a lovely surpise.
My panels are possibly arriving on Thursday - looking quite pink - RAL 4004 - Claret Violet. Can't wait to see them. I have some photos of progress.
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Post by skyquake on Jun 16, 2020 17:57:26 GMT
I am likin' the pink! It is going to be bright!
Could I suggest you get a couple of rolls of 'Hard Floor Protector' from Screwfix, and make sure the first thing you do with the panels when they arrive it coat all the shiny surfaces in it? They are quite easy to scratch, and the floor protector gives it a layer of protection.
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Post by p5curly on Jun 17, 2020 21:02:21 GMT
What’s the screen out of out of curiosity 😀
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Post by alison on Jun 17, 2020 21:17:56 GMT
What’s the screen out of out of curiosity 😀 The screen is purpose made by Pilkington. Angus ordered it direct. The company making the panels are making a surround/frame for it. |
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Post by p5curly on Jun 17, 2020 21:24:37 GMT
It’s good to know you can get a replacement
We accidentally cracked our Mevster one during install
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Post by alison on Jun 17, 2020 21:38:52 GMT
Some minor progress on the build - step one was to put the floor on. I'd bought some torx screws to ensure we could tighten the screws up without them rounding off, as suggested on this site. We turned the chassis upside down, put the floor in place, and three of us enthusiastically put loads of screws in finger tight. Then we found one that wouldn't go in at all, so all out again and off with the floor to check. One rivet was damaged, so had a go with the bradawl to bend it back into shape. Unfortunately, at that point the rivet disappeared into the chassis. Bearing in mind the chassis isn't light, we then picked the whole thing up and tipped it this way and that to try to work out if the rivet was going to rattle annoyingly once the car was in use. The answer was yep probably. Our solution in the end was to squirt some bathroom sealant into the hole and tip the chassis until the rogue rivet seemed to have stuck in it. Problemn solved - hopefully.
After that we thought it would be a good idea to test how hard you could do up the screws without the rivets starting to spin. We had a few riverts in a spare bit of bar that i'd bought right at the start of the build. The rivets did a great job of holding up, which meant the torx bit broke instead. Luckily we had a spare one, so managed to finish getting the floor on.
This means we have now completed step 1 of the build! |
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Post by alison on Jul 2, 2020 14:24:49 GMT
We now have most of the panels. The pink is not as dark as I was expecting, but I wasn't intending on blending into the background anyway!
These are the sides:
They look a bit darker in this photo...
We put the roof bits propped up together on the decking to get an idea of what it looked like. There is a roughly rectangular piece that goes down the middle of the roof with a roof flap on either side. In this photo the middle piece isn't in place.
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