Bonnet Scoop 3

I received the bonnet back yesterday from Carsmetic and Stuart had done a great job of repairing the damage caused where the gel coat had broken through when I drilled the scoop fixing holes. He had also skimmed the scoop and painted it the same colour as the bonnet.

As the scoop fixing holes had been partially filled I decided to apply masking tape to the underside of the bonnet and then to re-drill using the drill in reverse to reduce the amount of breakout. This worked pretty well with just one or two bits of breakout this time. Although not necessary to hold the screws in place as I'm using M4 nyloc nuts, I put some slightly oversize washers on to cover the bits of breakout.

Taped in preparation for re-drilling

Although not necessary to hold the screws in place as I'm using M4 nyloc nuts, I put some slightly oversize washers on to cover the bits of breakout.

Scoop bolted in place using M4 x 20 button heads and M4 Nylocs. Oversize washers hide any breakthrough caused by drilling the holes.

All fitted

Undertray 2

A few weeks ago I fitted the undertray in place but didn't decide what to do about fixing the sides to the inner wing.

After a bit of reading up and some trial and error, I decided the best thing to do would be to use rivnuts at the back of the undertray where the gap is the greatest and then use a self tapper at the front purely for cosmetic purposes.

The undertray is much lower than bottom of inner wing and although it can't be seen in this photo there is about a 10mm gap between the edge of the undertray and the inner

A hole was drilled through the inner wing and into the under tray and then an M6 rivnut was fitted into the under tray. An M6 bolt was then passed through the inner wing to secure in place. A self tapper was fitted at the front of the under tray and then the small gaps that were left were filled with some silicone to keep it all looking neat and tidy.

Undertray held in place with Rivnut and M6 Bolt

Screen 2

Determined to press on with fitting the windscreen, I decided to copy the approach used by several other builders for marking the fixing positions into the legs of the screen and that is to make up some batons that can be glued on the inner wing.

Four strips of plywood were cut.

Plywood batons

The batons then had holes drilled in them to allow the screen mounting bolts to pass through and spacers were added to the back of the baton. The idea being that the backs of the spacers are glued to the inner wing and the hole in the centre of the baton is fixed in place to the mounting point. The batons are set far enough off the mounting supports to allow the screen legs to pass between them and the baton.

Spacers fixed to batons and holes drilled to fix to screen support mountings

Batons screwed in place and waiting for glue to harden

Once the glue dries the fixing bolts can be removed, the screen lowered into place and then fixing holes marked through the hole in the baton in the correct place on the screen legs

Filler Cap 2

Just thought I would post a picture of the filler cap fitted and looked rather sexy

Brake and Clutch Reservoirs

Fitting the brake and clutch reservoirs had been planned for completion before fitting the body but it ended up not being done in time. In theory this wasn't a problem and just made it a little tricky drilling the fixing holes.

Reservoirs fitted - made a point of getting the top of both caps t be level (not essential but felt it looked good)

Having fitted both reservoirs in place, I wanted to connect the various hoses and pipes. This is when the next cock-up was spotted. The clutch reservoir outlet pipe is directly above the fitting mounted to the chassis (see photo) making it impossible to fit both hoses. 

The reservoir would now need moving to one side which meant I would be left with at least one unwanted hole in the bulkhead :(

The holes were re-drilling in the correct positions and the one is covered by the reservoir but there is one still showing. Rather than fill this and attempt a localised paint repair, I have two other options (a) fit a grommet or (b) have a small plate made to fit behind the reservoir. I have made up a template and will see if I can get one made locally and fit later.