Monday 16 October 2017

Update, at last!

It's been just over a month since I wrote anything for the blog - fair to say I've been a little tardy. However, although I may not have been writing about the build, I have managed to bring it on a little way. Having almost finished the rear end, I decided it was time to be brave and begin tackling some of the interior panels. Now of course common sense would suggest that a wise person with no, none,
ziltch - or I should probably say zero - experience of fitting body panels, would begin with the smallest, least noticeable panels. That excludes me then. I gamely picked up the large panel that "fits" behind the seats, and offered it into position. No way was it going to go in. I tried left edge first - no chance - then right, then top, then bottom. After about a dozen attempts, I put the panel down, shut the garage door and went indoors for a little cry.

One of the reasons I'm writing this blog I'll share with you all when the build is complete and The Zero has passed it's IVA. The other is because even before I had the kit in my garage, I had a gathered a huge amount of info, knowledge, hits and tips from other builders who had taken the time and made the effort to document their own journeys. So whilst having my little cry, I checked a few blogs and discovered that all I needed to do was bend the panel slightly....

Back in the garage, a little bit of pressure in the centre of the panel and it pretty much dropped right in.   :). Here is is, bonded and riveted into place.

So, feeling buoyed by this momentous acheivement, and armed with an open cartridge of Alpha bond, I cracked on with the driverside foot well panels.

The photo above shows the panels just trial fitted. The front footwell panel with the U shape cut out is correctly positioned on the engine bay side but, initially I placed the front tunnel panel in the footwell side. It is possible to fit this panel in the footwell or the transmission tunnel. By opting to fit in the tunnel you gain about an inch of foot room - apparently inches matter - and with my clumsey old size elevens, I took that option.
                   
The main tunnel panels were next and these were a simple but very time consuming job. The boys at GBS said that they don't tend to rivet these panels, opting to only use bond. I opted to rivet as well, simply because I had no other means of holding the panels in place whilst the bond was drying, as this can take up to 48 hrs. Because the tunnel panel is mounted on the cockpit side of the chassis and the front tunnel panel is mounted on the gearbox side, to make the panels meet, I needed to put a bend in both ( you can just see it in the next photo).


And from the otherside


So, the day was going well so far :)

Next job was to fit the bracket for the speedometer sensor. This fits in the transmission tunnel, positioned over the the heads of the bolts that secure the prop to the diff flange. The sensor itself generates an electrical pulse each time a bolt head passes its tip. To do this, it must be positioned between 1 and 2 millimetres from the bolt heads. 
The bracket comes with pre-drilled holes for the rivnuts which needed opening out to 9mm and two holes for the sensor which I turned into a slot to make it easier to adjust the sensors position once the bracket was in-situ.

The first of 4 rivnuts



Ready to fit

Now to fit the sensor then. I'd previously seen it in the box which contained the gauges for the dash, but when I went to get it, it wasn't there. I emptied the box and one by one went through every box of parts I had. No sign of the *loody thing anywhere, yet I was sure I'd seen it just the other day. Frustrated as a Bishop in a convent, I gave up and went indoors for my dinner.








































No comments:

Post a Comment