5 August 2007
Lowered my body onto the car. I haven't fixed it to the car yet. It is almost straight, only 3mm out across the back, so pretty close. Now I can see how close the engine and various components like the alternator are. Nice to have some room made in my garage and loft at last.
Here are some photos to whet your apetites.
Look at the gorgeous V8 bonnet and ducted nose cone!
Before you wonder with the next photo, the back is fitted correctly. The adjustable dampers need turning down a few inches!
This body has detachable rear wheel arches. The idea behind those is that if you have a mishap and cause damaged to the rear arches then you can just replace the arch and not have to replace the whole tub. A good tip here is to attach with those plastic bolts as used to hold number plates to cars. The idea is that the bolt will shear before causing too much damage to the fixing on the tub.
The big hole in the back is where the boot will go but the boot box needs fettling to make room for the battery box you can see on the right.
The other point is that I can now see that one of the brake lines fowls with the body work. A little disappointing because I was told by the factory where to route this line as the SEiGHT needs extra clearance for the exhaust headers. Here's a picture showing the issue. This line will need to be reformed a real ball arche as the brake fluid is installed and the system bled.
11 August 2007
Bargin Seats
I picked up some bargin racing seats. Knowing that I could not justify spending hundreds of pounds on seats at the moment I located some bargin secondhand ones. I took a lttle bit of a chance as I bought them and drove a 320 mile round trip not knowing if my behind would fit! But it does and the wider shoulders are better. I tried the westfield sports seats a while ago and my shoulders didn't fit. There are a little bit rougher than I expected in terms of surface scratches but I think that should buff out of the gel coat. These look very uncomfortable but those of your that have experience of these GRP type seats know that they are more comforable than they look and the driver feel is second to none. Almost forgot to say how much, £90 for the pair!
18 August 2007
Session 185 - Ride height & trial fit tub
Before fitting the body permanently to the chassis the ride height of the car should be set to ascertain the best possible fitment especially with regard to the rear wheel to wing clearance. The Westfield guide is for final setup, i.e. when the car is fully loaded. The recommended ride height is 175mm rear, 160mm front. I spent three hours adjusting the ride height so the rear wheels look central in their respective arches. I found that at this stage the rear ride height looked right at 145mm and I adjusted the front to 130mm as the recommendation is that the front should be some 15mm lower than the rear for aerodynamics.
This tub/body has detachable wings which have to be bolted to the tub. The wings have locating blocks so for the time being I have clamped the wings on so that tub alignment can be visually checked.
I positioned the tub/body so that it was square at the back and using the datum point front of top of the rear chassis to edge of boot box which should be 400mm. I also adjusted the tub from left to right by a few millimeters so that the rear wings over hang both wheels by the same amount which in my case apears to be flush!. The tub was then g-clamped at the rear to prevent movement.
Tub clamped down.
near side rear wheel central in wheel arch.
offside rear wheel central in wheel arch.
Are my wheels too wide!
21 August 2007
Session 186 - Scuttle panel fettling
Next important panel to fit is the scuttle panel, this sits over two locating blocks at either side of the tub so helps with panel alignment on the front wings and bonnet. On the SEiGHT the pedal box is top mounted and the scuttle panel needs to be cut to fit over the pedal box and steering column. My first bit of GRP cutting, drilling and filing. I spent 2 hours measuring and cutting and filling. Doing this work outside darkness robbed me from finishing but it looking damn close.
I also removed the brake line that fowls the front offside wing. I shall have to get hold of another piece and form to take a very slightly different route, shucks.
Hopefully in the next day or so I shall have the panels positioned with the best possible alignment.
Photo of the nearly complete pedal box scuttle clearancing.
22 August 2007
Session 187 - Tub fitting continues...
Finished off fettling the skuttle see photo below. Believe it or not this took me another hour to finish off but well worth the effort I think. I learnt a lot about cutting and filing fibre glass..... it takes a long time! Ideally before you start losing patience put it down and do it another day!
Now that the skuttle can be pushed down completely onto the locating blocks in the tub I have placed on the bonnet. I think the bonnet has sprayed out a bit if you look at the left and right side of the tub where it rests on top of the chassis you will see the difference, the right is further out. Placing the nose on the car will reveal which panels are out.
Another shot of the bonnet from the side.
Fitting the bonnet made me curious as to whether my home made plenum (yet to be made from the mould) will fit under the bonnet. The next photo shows a piece of cardboard which represents the smallest clearance between the chamber and the bonnet, phew close, about 4mm!
I wedged on the nose cone. the gap is slightly out but it presses together nicely See photo below.
With my keen eye I can see some minor discrepancies on the panel lines which will not be correctable in the panel fitment. These discrepancies are due to the original moulds and the imperfect science of GRP fabrication! If I was going to spray paint the car I would go to work with wet and dry paper. As I am not going to spay paint the car then I shall have to accept these imperfections, they are very slight you probably would not notice on photos.
24 August 2007
Session 188 - Boot box fettling and tub fitment contnues..
Tonight's task was to cut the hole in the boot box to make room for the Battery. Yes the battery is in the boot! Apparently for weight distribution reasons but I am going for a gel battery which weighs less than 7 kilos anyway. I had decided early on obviously, that the battery is better in the rear, more room under the bonnet for the V8!
I am 95% happy with the end result, it was difficult trying to work out where to cut as the boot box could not be installed to see where to cut. Could have been worse! See photo below.
Having spent just a couple of hours cutting the boot box, I'd thought I would start aligning the tub and panels, mistake! This took me 3 hours. Involving lots of measuring
and deliberation. Left me with a feeling of never going to be 100% happy with all the panels but you have to try and get near perfect don't you?
Photo showing front tub alignment.
99% happy with that alignment. See photo of skuttle, bonnet & nose cone below.
Nose cone to bonnet, perfect. Bonnet to skuttle showing drivers' side a fraction higher than the passengers'. I am hoping that it might just be the return edge on the bonnet may need a little fettling. I will have a look at this as it's a shame when all other panel gaps appear fine.
25 August 2007
Session 189 - Fitting of detachable rear wings
My task today was to get both rear wings attached to the tub, which took me 4 hours to complete. Using grade 320 wet and dry paper wet I proceeded to check all locating blocks and recesses on both wings and tub to ensure a good fit. I also noticed that the return edge on the wings had some bits of uneven gel coat which may upset the alignment so I smoothed these areas also.
The rear wings are normally attached to the tub with it off the car. However I decided against this method for one main reason. The tub has to be clamped to the lower rear chassis member and this effects the lines of the tub where the rear wings mount so I thought it would make it difficult to attach the wings and have to stress the body all in one go and adding to the difficulty is the tub is flimsy when off the chassis. Also I would prefer to offer up the wings and check the lines in situ. I had been warned that it might be difficult to drill the tub whilst on the chassis but alas I have a miniture right angle drill which posed no problem.All you have to do is jack the car up at the rear (on the diff housing) so that the wheels are just off the ground and then remove the wheels.
Photo showing wing clamped and marked for drilling.
Drilling complete and bolts in. Note the washer I used are temporary I am going to be replacing with larger ones also I am going to be using nylon bolts.
Following photos showing both wings from the rear.
26 August 2007
Session 190 - Attached rear of tub
I reallly do think with the body stored off the chassis for months that it affected the natural position of the tub. I have been adjusting the tub for a few days now and each time it looks different! When I first tried to get the boot box left and right position as indicated in the manual, to 400mm per side it threw the front out. I found that 399mm on the left and 403mm on the right was better but the boot box was a little stiff on the left. I clamped the rear to the lower chassis rail yesterday and it didn't wont to go into the correct position, it groaned and creaked!. Today I took the clamps off and the tub did not drop that much. I found that I could then attain the 400mm for both left and right and it looked right and the boot box is a much better fit. Regarding port and starboard alignment of the tub I found the best I could achieve was off centre by 2mm to port. 99.9% happy with this I drilled and pop rivetted the rear of the tub to the lower chassis rail fixing brackets alhough I have only put a single rivet each side. I will do the other 2 rivets when I have fixed the front into place, just in case I find the alignment wrong and I need to remove.
Tip here, do not fix the tub straight on the chassis, position as best as can and then clamp into place for a few days and then re-align again, then fix down. This will achieve a more accurate tub alignment.
27 August 2007
Session 191 - Attaching tub continues!
Even my patience is begining to wear then regarding this topic! This morning I got and the first thing on my mind was the alignment of the tub being off by 2mm, sad I know. I decided that I would try again so I drilled out the rivets underneath the tub and tweaked the tub over, double checking measurements and it is spot on, the boot box is a little stiff on the left hand side but I think having the tub perfect overides this anyway.
Happy with the alignment I poped in 4 rivets, 2 per side with oversized washers to spread the load. You have to get the second rivet in the right replace, the cross member that this attaches to is only 12mm wide, off by a few millimetres and you will miss the box section at worst and at best too close to the edge. Do not rely on the fibre glass edge being straight, I used the depth guage on my vernier calipers to check the spot. I live riveting it got a permanent feeling about it but a few seconds with a drill and the permanance is soon undone!
Now I re-aligned all the panels and double checked the measurements again, I shall be glad when this bit is over. Be prepared to have to fettling the front tub sides on the return flange. I found that the welds on the diagonal cross members at the front got in the way. My trusty dremmel, well black and decker actually, makes light work of that.
Right side,nice clearance.
and left side.
Whilst I remember, you will notice that the return edge on the left side looks further away than the right side. If you look closely you will see that the return edge is narrower on the left hand side, this confused me for a couple of minutes. Remember double check, think, reason, use your eyes.
Happy with all the alignment I proceed to pop rivet the left hand side, I cannot do the right side because I have a brake line to finish between the chassis and body.
does my bum look big in this? Its perfect at last!
Some photos showing panel alignment, front.
right hand side
and the left hand side
The rear wheels are pretty central in the wings from fore to aft, if anything slight nearer to front but I am constrained by the boot box dimensions. All in all I think the body is in the best position that could be attained.
If I was to be super critical, the panel gap on the bonnet to the tub on the right hand side is wider than the left side but I believe the bonnet has sprayed out a little and hope that when it is attached properly it will grow into it's position. The left hand side of the bonnet where it meets the skuttle is a fraction lower than the right hand side, I believe this is due to an aysmetrical return lip on the bonnet which I shall fettle with my dremel later on.
I still have the skuttle to rivnut down and the other body riverts to provide extra strengthing to the body but that's it as far as position is concerned, phew.
28 August 2007
Session 192 - RH front brake line
I finally got round to replacing the brake line that runs on the outside of the chassis between the body, the one that was getting in the way of the front return edge. I decided to use that copper-nickel stuff as it is easier to manipulate into the tight space that I have. This took a while, about three hours to get the bends right and to bleed the front brakes again. That is it now, nothing stopping me fix the body work permanently.
Go to September 2007