First Sit in Car
With the seat and harness in place, I took the seat for the very first time. Odd that I fitted the passenger seat first...
Dash 4
Finally got the dash fitted for the first time and its a bit of a squeeze and will need some fettling to get it to be just right but its a good start.
It will also need to come back out in order to finish the wiring for the courtesy lights which I have fitted into the dash undertrays, to fit the heater ducting and to stick on the piping which finishes it off really well.
Its only going in now so that I can get the car running for the track day at Blyton.
With the dash fitted, I then did a temporary first fit of the column shroud. There is a plastic surround that comes with the steering column that fixes in place with two cap head. The stainless shroud facia is then fitted to it. To do this I drilled through the plastic and fitted a pair of Rivnuts to allow the shroud to be held in place with stainless cap heads.
The aluminium frame will need some trimming to fit properly around the column rake adjuster and ignition barrel and the edges will then need rubbing down before I can glue on the leather cover but it will do for now.
It will also need to come back out in order to finish the wiring for the courtesy lights which I have fitted into the dash undertrays, to fit the heater ducting and to stick on the piping which finishes it off really well.
Its only going in now so that I can get the car running for the track day at Blyton.
With the dash fitted, I then did a temporary first fit of the column shroud. There is a plastic surround that comes with the steering column that fixes in place with two cap head. The stainless shroud facia is then fitted to it. To do this I drilled through the plastic and fitted a pair of Rivnuts to allow the shroud to be held in place with stainless cap heads.
The aluminium frame will need some trimming to fit properly around the column rake adjuster and ignition barrel and the edges will then need rubbing down before I can glue on the leather cover but it will do for now.
And this is what it looks like fitted...
Dash 3
The dash wiring is now finally sorted and the wires that come off the dash loom to the steering column electrics and the front section of the body loom have all been identified.
Once I am happy with the fitment of the dash I will cable tie them together to neaten them up as it looks like a whole lot of spaghetti at the moment. Who said old Hi-Fis were messy???
Once I am happy with the fitment of the dash I will cable tie them together to neaten them up as it looks like a whole lot of spaghetti at the moment. Who said old Hi-Fis were messy???
Dash 2
Been having a look at the dash undertrays and seeing how they fit in place and I'm not overly happy with the idea that they rest in place and the back and then simply are held there with the lip of the dash.
Reading some of the other blogs I see that several builders have had a tab welded in place that they can attach them to but having no welding gear and no access to anyone that has locally I needed to come up with a different approach.
In the end, i decided to drill small holes in the underside of the dash and screen support bars and fit rivnuts. I then drilled through the undertrays and fixed them in place with button heads.
This gives a firm enough mount that wont rattle and will support the weight of the MSD box located on the passenger side. Glad I didn't decide to cut a space for a glove box now!!!
Reading some of the other blogs I see that several builders have had a tab welded in place that they can attach them to but having no welding gear and no access to anyone that has locally I needed to come up with a different approach.
In the end, i decided to drill small holes in the underside of the dash and screen support bars and fit rivnuts. I then drilled through the undertrays and fixed them in place with button heads.
This gives a firm enough mount that wont rattle and will support the weight of the MSD box located on the passenger side. Glad I didn't decide to cut a space for a glove box now!!!
Carpets 2
Made a start in fitting the interior carpets today - this needs to be done before the seats, harnesses and handbrake can be fitted.
The main sections are fairly easy to identify and I test fitted them without using adhesive to start with just to make sure they would fit ok.
I had already made the decision to fit sound proofing materials to the transmission tunnel and front and rear bulkheads so i was a little concerned how the adhesive would take but it turned out to be fine. Once again I followed advice in other blogs and glued a section at a time (see below) starting with the rear of the transmission tunnel.
I then did the front of the tunnel.
The main sections are fairly easy to identify and I test fitted them without using adhesive to start with just to make sure they would fit ok.
 |
| Test fitted |
I had already made the decision to fit sound proofing materials to the transmission tunnel and front and rear bulkheads so i was a little concerned how the adhesive would take but it turned out to be fine. Once again I followed advice in other blogs and glued a section at a time (see below) starting with the rear of the transmission tunnel.
 |
| Being glued in separate sections |
Once the transmission tunnel was sorted I moved on to fitting the rear bulkhead carpet. Before this can be fitted you need to cut away a couple of pieces of bodywork to allow the carpet to wrap round into palace. The sections marked on the photos below show this.
Overall I was pretty pleased with the result but there is some work to be done to get the side walls of the transmission tunnel perfectly flat, the section around the extended footwell also needs sorting and the end pieces of the rear bulkhead may have to be held in place with screws inside dished washers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
