The final gauge wiring is now complete, everything has been connected.





The dash lights on, at the moment the rpm & speedo lights turn on with the ignition, the light bulb holders will need to be modified so the bulbs can be wired into the same circuit as the other dash lights.  This will allow them to be dimmed from the light switch.






The fuel tank was filled with 25liters if fuel to test the gauge. Success, the gauge shows half full, we need to see how accurate the gauge once we have the car on the road.

Step 1: Mark a line with the bonnet off using the rubber as your guide, then place the bonnet on and use tape to run a parallel line to the one you drew with the pen.

Step 2: Run a marker along the tape and pull the tape off - we used an angle grinder with a very fine cutting disk (1mm) to cut the ali along the line.

Here you can see the parallel line on the bonnet - remember that the back of the bonnet is not sitting flush so use a bit of force to push the bonnet into its final place to get the line in the right place.

With the front cut, clean up the back using the same technique - follow the red pen line with tape, run a pen along the tape and cut!

We've left a few mm each side of the bonnet panel that can be trimmed down further once everything it bolted on and clamped down.

Once the front and back is cut its time for the hinge cut - mark front and back then run a straight edge between the points, mark with a pen and cut!


Fitting the bonnet to the hinge - start by fitting the hinge and drilling holes along it for bolting the bonnet to - a piller drill is great for doing this. Fit the L shaped ali to the opposite side to the one your working - this will keep the hinge nice and straight!


With these clamps on here its possible to open and close the bonnet to check fit before drilling holes.


We drilled every 4th hole and bolted them to start with then moved on to the remaining ones.


Close up!


All holes drilled! That was a lot of work :)


Both sides now in place - looking good :D The L shaped ali piece that provide support underneath just fit past the engine without need to modify anything.


A short break in the rain meant another run on the drive way! It's really looking like a proper car now :)

Another shot of the completed bonnet! The sides need a bit of trimming but it's nearly there!

Looks a bit hotrod ish without the headlights!

Bodywork wise all it needs it a bit of tweaking! The front wings need cleaning, the rubber needs adding to the rear wings and everything needs to be made SVA friendly!

If ever there was a job for two people its putting the bonnet on! Took a lot time of measuring, eyeing up and fiddling.



This is not 100% final yet. The whole panel is slightly over size most of the way round by around 1mm to allow for fine tuning once everything else is in place. With the clamps in place this will side nice and flat the whole way along - right now the masking tape is not holding it very well!



Hinge attached at the scuttle - will be putting a pictures of the front up too but the file for that one broke for some reason!



Biggest tip we can give here is getting a permanent marker and draw lines and guides everywhere - the rubber moves around a lot so by drawing your ideal line directly on the scuttle and nose cone you've got a line to follow.

It was another good day out at Stoneleigh today! It was great to meet up with all the builders from the madabout-kitcars again this year - next year we'll all be in our cars I hope! :D

Lots of pictures to take a look at here
























Also picked up from parts from the SVC stand (nice chap I bought the fog/reverse and indicators gave me a discount!) Also got some new head lamps - these use standard H4 type bulbs!

Cold air will be taken directly from the outside world through this ali intake.



The chicken mesh to stop small animals nesting in the engine - and stop it sucking up larger lumps of dirt from the front wheels. Some kind of mud guard may be required on the front wheels.

Tub cutout for rear strut towers - only required because we've made the towers wider than standard to accommodate coil overs.



Driver side view - its been a long tedious process getting everything lined up, but the countless hours have been worthwhile. All the panels are held on with counter sunk bolts and cup washers. Below is a counter sunk rivnut - an excellent device that lets you put a thread for bolting items to anywhere, but more importantly being counter sunk the rivnuts endup flush with the surface they are attached  to.



As you may know the passenger side has always been more of a pain, so I started here first and made one or two mistakes. The bolts on the scuttle panel should be a bit higher, and its not cut off straight. However, I plan on making new ones so those can both be fixed when the time comes!

Getting the rear tub to fit this side was a challenge - its now very close, still slightly off so it may need a bit more tweaking.





Finally had time to get an old tyre swapped on to the spare, small issue though the cover is too small to fit over it!

The striker pin plate re-enforcement is complete on both sides. Each has a rivnut in place to help secure the front of the tub in place. It helps pull the passenger side in which naturally sits slightly wrong.



The counter sunk bolt and cup washer really finish it off nicely!



Also done loads of fine tuning and clean up on various fibreglass bits like the scuttle panel (to make it easier to put the front bolts in and the rear tub.
As a part of this week decided to rivnut the rear wings on. This means they can be taken on or off without the tub needing to be taken off the car - a good feature should the worst happen and the wing needs to come off for repair. The rivnuts are fibreglassed at the back to reduce the chances of one spinning free and stopping the bolts form coming out.



Finally a more wiring! This time we've installed door jam switches for the interior lighting and as part of the security system:

The search button is working again, sorry for the inconvenience!

 

Driver side front wing, and I thought this one would be easy! If you want to stick to 7J wheels then you can bolt these one without modification. However at some point we are planning to but 8J's on the front with 225 tyres. For these to fit (and they do very snugly) the wing needs to come out a bit. For that you need chop holes on the inside - easier said than done!

The holes are a bit of a mess and the bolts need to be replaces with smooth dome ones. However this was several hours of fiddling after which it was time for a break!

The plan is to open out the holes a bit more so they run exactly parallel to the mounting.

It's not quite on centre but it will be easy enough to open up the mounting holes underneath so they can be moved. The powder coat on the brackets cracked when we bent them (to fit a bit better) so that will need repainting. The brackets are not quite in the right place yet but its getting there.



You can take the wheels off just needs a slide out and pull from the bottom and they drop right out!

Spent a long time today fiddling with the tub and doors, the driver side seems fine now but the passenger side it still a little off. Had to stop to order new rivnuts, counter sunk bolts and counter sunk washers. Also ordered lot of rubber trim, door rubbers and a few supplies (an easy way to spend £150!)

Found a away to stretch the scuttle! One big ass clamp in reverse! I have a second one to do the other side too.



This is how it sits now, going to let it rest a bit before moving it out further. Another important question - how did you do up the front scuttle bolts? I can't find a sensible way to get a spanner or wrench in there.



Did a bit of cutting here too, may remake these panels without the louvres.