Fitting body panels (RH side)

Returned the chassis flat after fitting the bottom panels. Positioned and drilled the holes for the RH outer side panel but decided not to rivet in place. I feel that leaving off will make access easier for some later tasks like adjusting the pedals and fitting the steering column.

I've finished the panel fitting for now as panels on the top of the tunnel are fitted later.




Doing all the riveting by hand without a pneumatic riveter wasn't too bad. Having said that I only did a couple of panels at a time and had some friends help for the larger panels. If you were intending doing the whole lot over a weekend say, I'd definitely recommend hiring a pneumatic riveter unless you want very sore hands!

Fitting body panels - LH floor panel

Turned the chassis on it's side to fit the floor panels:

Fitted the RH (drivers side) floor panel.

Brake Pipes - Front pipes A, B and C

Fitted the 3 longer pipes at the front. I debated about the route of the 2 that went from the front t-piece to the flexible brake lines. The manual shown the lines running along the inside of the chassis member but most of the pictures from other build sites show the pipe running along the underside. As the t-piece is underneath the routing is much easier. In the end I went for the easier route. I don't believe anything will foul the lines but only time will say if this was a good decision.

The connection to the primary port on the master cylinder is really tight. It has to have a bent very tight to clear the clutch:


and from below:


Here is a picture of the front t-piece from underneath (it was taken after I had lifted the chassis onto its side). It shows the location of the t-piece underneath the chassis strut and how the 2 lines going to the front brakes fit a lot easier if they run along the underneath rather than the inside of the chassis:


Here is one of the pipes going from the front t-piece to the connector with the flexible lines:

Fitting body panels - LH outer side & scuttle

Fitted the LH outer panel (lots of rivets!) and the scuttle.

Under the end of the scuttle is the only place so far that you can see the underside of the rivets:

Brake Pipes - Pipe D

Started forming the brake lines. The first one I attacked was the smallest (labelled D in the manual). Not sure if this was a good move as although short, it had to be bent into quite a complicated shape to fit.

I tried forming the shape on a couple of scrap pieces before attempting on the real thing. One thing that caught me was the fitting on the end that attached to the master cylinder was longer than on my test piece. It meant the bend had to be a bit tighter.


As the lines are very rigid, it was quite difficult to fit in place with the master cylinder and the T-piece in place. I found it easier to detach the T-piece from the chassis, fix the brake line to the T-piece and master cylinder, then re-attach the T-piece to the chassis.

Spacers (& handbrake correction!)

Here is the selection of spacers I got with the starter kit (the 3 for the pedals are not shown as they are fitted in the pedals!):


My assumption was that the ones top right were for the handbrake. After a few posts on the forum, I have now found out they are for the bottom of the rear shocks. In fact the spacers for the handbrake are not in the starter kit. Luckily I had not tightened them so they are not damaged (someone else did the same thing and they crush when torqued up - glad to know I'm not the only one to get this wrong!).

Joe Mac (link on right) sent me the attached which shows all the spacers and what they are for:



1 : spacer for the diff
2 : headlights spacers (to put horizontaly on the bracket between the headlight and the bracket (to raise the light at the correct height)
3 : spacer to put in the diff cups (left and right)
4 : spacer for the light bracket and the rear upper wishbone mounting
5 : spacer for the handbrake (but they will be a little to long)
6 : unknow screw (today, it's still in a plastic bag !)
7 : spacer for the bottom of the shock absorber (to fit a metric bolt)

It seems I will have to wait till I get the completion kit before fitting the handbrake.

Pedal Fitting

Although the panels are not finished, I thought it was sensible to fit the pedals before the side & bottom panels were attached and access was restricted. It was a good idea as fitting the clutch pedal proved to be more difficult than expected.

The 2 plates the pedal fixes between had been welded a bit too close together. The result was the pedal wouldn't fit between. This was solved by using 2 bolts in the hole above. By screwing them together I was able to slightly prise the plates apart, just enough to get the pedal in place:



The double thread ended bolt that holds it in place has to be passed through the brake pedal mounting. The alignment was slightly out so it had to be "screwed" through the holes using mole grips. This would all have been very tricky with the panels riveted in place.

The other 2 pedals went in without any issues:



I didn't connect the clutch master cylinder to the pedal as it will need to be replcaed to fit one of the brake pipes later: