Bit of a clean up

After all the work drilling, filling and using the Dremel on the fibreglass the whole car was covered with dust. I decided it was time to do a bit of a clean-up:

Below boot box

Everything in area under the boot box has been done with the exception of final fuel filler fixing so thought it was time to take some photos before I seal it up:


and from the other side:


Mike is sorting out the plate that fixes the fuel filler after I cross threaded one of the screws so the jubilee clips haven't been done up yet:

Modifying panel to rear of handbrake

When the handbrake was pulled fully up it was possible for it to just touch the edge of the panel behind.


So I decided to cut out a slot:


but in the end I cut a section off to make sure there was plenty of clearance:

Fixing tunnel top panels

I decided to fit the tunnel top panels using rivnuts and countersunk M4 screws. It will make accessing the handbrake & prop shaft much easier if needed:

Rear lights (indicator/brake/side)

Fitting the rear lights was very simple. They almost self locate in the space on the rear but I used a spirit level to make sure they were dead level. I had a slight panic as I couldn't remember after i take the light facing off which side was the indicator (which has to go on the outside) but luckily I'd not taken the other one apart so I could check. The green wire goes to the indicator!


and here is the light cluster fitted:


and the pair:

Harness mounting eye bolts

I wasn't happy with the neatness of the holes that I'd made for the harness bolt spacers so I decided to fit rubber grommets:


The fibreglass is quite think so I had to chamfer underneath to make the grommets fit:


Once in they fit really tightly around the harness bolt spacers:


and in the end I was really pleased with the finish. It has the advantage of holding the boot box in place and should not rub or squeak (yes I know the eye bolts aren't facing the right way... I haven't tightened them up as the boot box will be coming off again):

Windscreen wiper motor & wheel boxes

To fit the wiper wheel boxes you have to open up the two indented areas on the scuttle. The hole need to be quite large so I drilled a small pilot hole (as per the left on the picture below) then widened to the largest drill bit I have which is 13mm (as per the right):


Then using the Dremel I enlarged the hole to the required size:


and then the wheel boxes fit nicely through the holes:


The two wheel boxes are connected by tubes which the threaded linkage from the wiper motor runs through. The one that connects to the wiper motor has to be bent and the wiper motor bolted in place:


I first started bending the tube using the pipe bending tool I'd got for the fuel pipes but I found these tubes were so soft it was just as easy to do by hand:


And with everything bolted in place:


There is a small fillet that goes across the scuttle that makes it all nice and neat:


and here you can see the wedge shaped pieces that are used to hold the fillet at the right angle:

Dashboard fitting - part 1

The dashboard had a return on it to start with. This confused me somewhat as all the pictures I'd seen of other builds showed it completely flat. After a quick call to Westfield they suggested I cut the return off so that is duly what I did. I did originally consider leaving a small return but the shape did fit the scuttle very well at all so that wasn't an option. You can see the pencil line which marks the profile of the scuttle:


After offering up the the scuttle you have to mark the area where the dial pod goes:


Then the really scary bit where you have to cut a large chunk out:

Fitting the boot box

After getting the boot box in place I marked the centre points:


on both sides:


then drilled a pilot hole right through the boot box and the main body below:


The manual says to fix using rivnuts so I did. Unfortunately as the rivnut tightened it expanded and cracked the fibreglass:


on the other side I tried drilling a larger hole. This time it didn't crack in the same way but there is still a hairline crack. What I think I will do is leave it as it is and if in the future the crack gets worse I'll patch up with some fibreglass. If it gets really bad I'll replace with a piece of alu plate rivetted in place with the rivnut in the plate.


And from the outside you will never see it so it all looks very neat: