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Post by perthwa on Dec 23, 2018 11:48:19 GMT
Back into the shed...Almost a year after the original purchase.
Been a busy year with the day job. Managed a few odd jobs that all took many more hours than expected. I know how Project Binky justify the hours spent making brackets etc.
Decided to recycle the Focus wing mirrors and as such had to make up some brackets. Started with a round tube. Welded on some endplates. added a few bolts .. 10 - 15 hours later... voila....
Just have to now find another place to store my photos for the blog as my previous access is now not available.
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Post by perthwa on Jan 10, 2019 15:05:44 GMT
  Actual progress today... Been dealing with the loss of my father-in-law... the owner of 'my shed'... spent many 4 days cleaning and sorting his home office and then 5 days plus clearing out the shed. If you look at some of the early shed pictures in this build you should see a big difference.. Made some room by disposing of 2.2 km of 1.5 m rolls of material that was being stored for the last 22 years. That took 3 days... but claimed some valuable space. So today was lowering the engine down. In my case that meant cutting 2.5 cm out of part of my subframe... Not sure why I took that much but I spent a fair amount of time looking at the angles of the drive shafts. I have allowed about 3/4cm clearance on the sump and other gearbox parts. You will see from the photographs later where I cut the main offending crossmember that is missing in any of the UK kits. You can see it here. I also notched the left hand side diagonal leading to the rear fire wall... but only by 1 cm... Pictures tomorrow.  Now my ideas about notching a cross member is that provided that i can re-box the channel sections and probably then strengthen the side wall, I should not have compromised the structural integrity.  |
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Post by geoffozz on Jan 13, 2019 11:40:25 GMT
Hi Bruce
I was following links to EV cars and came across your build diary (via the 2014 electric Sonic build in Canberra). You might like to know that one of our Club members has just completed and registered a Sonic here in Perth. Might be a good time to get together? He passed on a lot of hints just recently about what he needed to do to get through rego. If you don't mind the $40 membership fee we would love to have another Sonic in the Club! We might be able to help you get it running ASAP. It's certainly one of the best looking kits around.
Cheers, Geoff. Web address is wascb.org.
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Post by perthwa on Jan 14, 2019 3:33:36 GMT
Hi Geoff, I have been in contact with the the man mentioned in fact his car is my phone's background... It is my motivation. He mentioned the The Sports Car Builders Club of Western Australia and I have been trying to get in contact but for some reason the site wouldn't load when I tried. I went for a visit and a chat a couple of months ago. I appreciate the contact. I will be at a meeting soon.  |
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Post by perthwa on Jan 14, 2019 3:36:53 GMT
Update on Engine bay... I have removed the entire section of the cross member that was in the way. This now means that the engine cover almost fits, keeping in mind that I have also notched a second member that was also causing a bit of a clash. This gives a close approximation to the solution. At least it is low a bit lower. NOW back to where this started... The fitting of the body panels. The bonnet, the the grill and the side panels are a challenge. The rear panel fits but it is not the same size gap between the rear bulkhead and the panel... I am not sure that anyone can just attach these panels without some reasonable cutting, clamping and forcing as mine look ok BUT do not easily line up.. I have dealt with fibre glass before and I know it is far from a fine art... So I am back to scrolling through the Sonic BUILD Posts to look and see what tricks are on offer. The fun of a build...   |
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Post by buildityourself on Jan 14, 2019 19:53:44 GMT
I like that hinging engine cover, I wonder how they did that. equilibrium have a neat solution for the front cover like that. I've seen other owners remove theirs at shows and in iva pics and be worried about people standing on them. |
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Post by buildityourself on Jan 14, 2019 20:14:39 GMT
NOW back to where this started... The fitting of the body panels. The bonnet, the the grill and the side panels are a challenge. The rear panel fits but it is not the same size gap between the rear bulkhead and the panel... I am not sure that anyone can just attach these panels without some reasonable cutting, clamping and forcing as mine look ok BUT do not easily line up.. I have dealt with fibre glass before and I know it is far from a fine art... So I am back to scrolling through the Sonic BUILD Posts to look and see what tricks are on offer. did this most recently. I liked his idea of checking the body fit off the chassis first. I'm guessing its clamped to hold it together. Steves build
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Post by perthwa on Jan 15, 2019 0:49:49 GMT
Thanks for the shortcut to Steve's page... that was exactly what I needed to read.. I am on the right path and will follow is ideas... regards.
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Post by perthwa on Jan 15, 2019 1:06:40 GMT
I like that hinging engine cover, I wonder how they did that. equilibrium have a neat solution for the front cover like that. I've seen other owners remove theirs at shows and in iva pics and be worried about people standing on them. I actually took a photo of the front bonnet mechanism whilst I was visiting..  He used a double ended spring loaded tube mechanism. I think he also made about a '2 cm slot' in the side panels so that the bonnet is pulled backwards towards the passenger compartment so that the lid could rotate within the V shaped gap between the side panels without interference. ie. pop the latch, pull the lid back 2cm then rotate it up. I will document the rear engine cover opening mechanism next time I see his car... Hopefully this Thursday... regards, Bruce |
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Post by perthwa on Jan 15, 2019 11:20:50 GMT
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Post by geoffozz on Jan 15, 2019 15:26:36 GMT
G'day Bruce
Great to hear you have spoken to Steve previously. Every one of these cars is a little bit different, whether it is from the manufacturer or because the builder has different ideas. Part of the fun is working out the best way to do something and then put it into practice. It does help though if you can find others who have had some of the same issues, just so you can have the occasional sanity check.
Hope to see you soon.
Cheers, Geoff
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Post by stevew on Jan 15, 2019 20:12:45 GMT
NOW back to where this started... The fitting of the body panels. The bonnet, the the grill and the side panels are a challenge. The rear panel fits but it is not the same size gap between the rear bulkhead and the panel... I am not sure that anyone can just attach these panels without some reasonable cutting, clamping and forcing as mine look ok BUT do not easily line up.. I have dealt with fibre glass before and I know it is far from a fine art... So I am back to scrolling through the Sonic BUILD Posts to look and see what tricks are on offer. did this most recently. I liked his idea of checking the body fit off the chassis first. I'm guessing its clamped to hold it together. Steves build
I bolted the panels together off the car so that I could see how well the bonnet and engine cover fitted and it seemed as there was nothing on the chassis that defined the correct location for the panels. I also drilled some additional bolt holes while the panels were bolted together off the car as access for the drill was much easier. I found it necessary to initially fit the dash at this stage as I could not get it right with the panels loosely fitted to the car. Don't make the mistake I made though and put the bolt holes too far back as you can't get the bolts in once the panels are on the car. I found that at the rear the panels kept trying to move off centre as I was manoeuvring the side panels into place. A mark in the centre of the rear cross rail and the back panel provided a visual check that nothing had moved as the side panels were jacked up to the floor for riveting (I had to jack them up as I was working on my own). I had to trim the 'channel' in the side panel near the bulkhead on one side as well. Cheers Steve |
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Post by kiwicanfly on Jan 15, 2019 20:28:53 GMT
some parts are almost in contact and other sections closer to the cabin area are almost 1cm wide.. So I intend on having a play with the what other panels I can push or pull to get the gaps consistent. Just tell folks that Elon Musk gave you a hand to build it, it seems to be a feature of the Tesla too  |
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Post by daydreamer on Jan 16, 2019 14:51:23 GMT
In my experience, all the panels are "keyed" from one location on the chassis. Get this right and it is a lot easier to line them up.
The key point to align the panels and chassis is the top of the rear bulkhead. Once the rear bulkhead is fitted to the chassis, the "side pods engine cover support lips" must line up with the rear bulkhead folded top. The side pod once stretched over the chassis will need pulling up to reach this height and then fixing along the internal passenger cell to hold it in place.
To get to this point you have to "stretch" the side pod over the chassis, this is the step that causes most anguish. The side pods will likely need some trimming of the passenger cell vertical surface to fit into the passenger cell. The height of the sidepod at the front of the passenger cell is set by making it level with the chassis and then the dash panel height can be aligned to the side pods. but before you set the height of the dash panel you have to alight the dash panel to the bonnet and the bonnet has to align to the front of the side pods.
step 1
align side pods to chassis rear bulk head and fix with one fixing in each side pod at rear.
step 2
fit front grill to side pods at front and rear panel at rear 4 temp fixings in each panel ( 2 each side )
step 3
support side pods from underneath so they are in place and pressed against chassis underside.
step 4
place bonnet in place, pulling side pods together to support bonnet.
step 5
align dash panel to bonnet and set height so that side pods are level with chassis. In the final fit the side pods are bolted to the dash panel. You will probably need to trim the dash panel to go around the chassis member supporting the steering wheel. don't worry if , when your done the dash panel rain drain surface is short of the front bulkhead, extend with an alu panel, they are all like that.
The only real trick in this is mastering the technique of getting the side pods on and off the chassis. They go on from the top and get stretched out till they "ping" around the bottom of the chassis. When you first offer them up the part that goes into the passenger cell will probably extend too far forward and need to be trimmed. When that part can be put into the passenger cell then the pod is ready to be pulled "out and down" to get it fitted under the chassis. The front bonnet support lips and rain gullies may also need trimming to fit around the chassis where they interfere.
If you can understand this explanation then you can also probably explain the rules of cricket. I'm happy to talk you through it in a skype call or similar.
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Post by perthwa on Jan 17, 2019 15:28:54 GMT
I like that hinging engine cover, I wonder how they did that. equilibrium have a neat solution for the front cover like that. I've seen other owners remove theirs at shows and in iva pics and be worried about people standing on them. I went to the builders club meeting tonight: In answer to the rear engine cover and how it pivots. The owner has cut around the curved section where it meets the upright section above the bulkhead. I was not sure if he has made an alternative to the vertical fibreglass section or whether he has reused the trimmed section... Either way he has used a long piano hinge across the vertical section and it pivots there. He has installed a bonnet release latch within the tailgate section that is activated from the rear of the drivers seat. By the way he has also installed a rear wing, the front winglets and has a set of registration plates. I had a drive tonight and the Turbo Duratech goes like hell!!!. p.s. he has changed the wheels... |
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