5 Steps Forward, 4 Steps Back

Tuesday 22nd November
Today started with me drilling the bulkhead base holes and fixing in place with some self tapers, once this was complete I moved back to the side panels, I needed to finish folding the panel top over the chassis rail, make a couple of brackets for the nose cone and drill the holes for the front flexi brake pipes.

So I have now fitted the floor, side panels, tunnel, seat back panel and the bulkhead base, sounds quite good progress, anyway this is where the build takes 4 steps back, as out came the side panels, seat back tunnel and bulkhead base.


Front brake lines routed

I spent the remainder of the day drilling various holes and clipping in various pieces of fuel or brake pipe and trying to fathom out the loom.

For the front brake pipes I decided to work from the flexi pipes back towards the master cylinder, securing the pipes every 100mm, this proved to be pretty successful, with only a small adjustment required to allow the pipes to reach the master cylinder.

fuel and brake lines routed down the tunnel, loom sprawled across drivers floor

For the rear brake pipes I decided to work from the master cylinder towards the back of the vehicle approaching the tricky bend into the tunnel before running down the inside of the passenger side of the tunnel, again securing the brake pipes every 100mm.

As I am fitting a zetec engine I am running the fuel feed and return lines down the drivers side of the tunnel, again securing every 100mm.

I have decided to run the loom down the passenger side of the tunnel along with the brake line, but before I can clip the loom in place I need to drill and 50mm hole in the tunnel top so feed the loom through, the fuse box will be fitted on the rear of the bulkhead (under the dash) where it is safest from the elements.

Panels Panels Everywhere.....Cont......

Saturday 12th November

Since the last update the car has progressed along, the floor has been fully marked up and drilled with a layer of vinyl applied to the interior facing side. The floor has been riveted to the chassis around 3 sides of the floor (the 4th side will include the side panels) and the chassis turned the right way up.

Vinyled Floor

Riveting Stuff

Monday 21st November
Today my plan was to attack the seat back panel and continue with the fitting of the side panels.

The seat back panel required some fettling before I was happy with its fitment, unfortunately due to the tight fit I have managed to chip the powder coating on the chassis, nothing that can't be fixed though. The seat back panel is currently held in place by a few temporary fixings, the final fit will be much later in the build.

For the side panels I had to remove a section of material as the side panels fit both the aero-screen and classic striker, once the access material was removed attached the side panels (using the previously drilled underside fixings and a couple of clamps and set to work bending over the top of the panel over the chassis, temporarily securing with a couple of self tapping screws.

Seat pack panel, side panels and bulkhead base in place

The final job of the day was trimming and the bulkhead base panel and clamping in place along with a section of angle for the scuttle upright, I will mark up and drill these at a later date.