Updating my McCoy

[damouk]

I can't wait to see the finished bonnet on the car.

[Iancider]

I bet your camera is really sticky now 

[pompeyal]

I bet your camera is really sticky now 

?

[Iancider]

Sticky! My fibreglassing is like that - everything I touch gains a little bit of car unintentionally 

[pompeyal]

Bonnet continued

Sorry for the delay, had an holiday... back to the bonnet then, cut a piece of glass for the back final skin and applied the resin





Next using the fibreglass ribbon I made up an air dam to stop any water ingress through the scoop to get to the ignition electrics




Once positioned a coating of resin was applied and allowed to set giving support for when the glass mat when applied



Next the mid mat section cut and resin applied







Next allow this lot to set off before the last piece of mat...

[Moleman]

Looking really good now. 

[sanzomat]

Looking really good now. 

Useful step by step instructions on how to make a new nosecone?

[Gary RH7]

Looking really good now. 

Useful step by step instructions on how to make a new nosecone?

Now you are rubbing it in Dave

[pompeyal]

Now Now stop fighting amongst yourselves and thank you....

[pompeyal]

Bonnet continued

All set, now cut the glass mat for the front of the bonnet









Next applied the resin







Once set the bonnet can be removed from the mould and then cleaned up and sized to the car...

[pompeyal]

Bonnet continued

Now its out of the mould, pva removed and there are some imperfections as expected, next job to clean back the edges for a fit to the car then flat them back ..

[pompeyal]

Bonnet continued

Sanded around the edges removing excess material then sanded the underside removing any whiskers. Trial fitted into the car and with great delight it fits with pretty good panel gaps, that was a great relief, lightly sanded the imperfections on the finish with an orbital sander and went round with a wet and dry flexible sanding block and to my delight only very small areas will need stopping and flatting back so after all the problems I have had making this bonnet it has all come out well....

[Iancider]

That first time fit was better than Ford ever achieved with the Escorts!

[pompeyal]

Lol Ian, I have had a few Fords in my time and soon when this is finished I will be getting another one which will push this from the garage and will take its place, I will build another garage for the McCoy later but I have promised myself this particular car for a while and it is keeping my enthusiasm up on the build....

[pompeyal]

Bonnet continued

Applied some satin matt to the underside of the bonnet and assembled the furniture...





The bonnet catch needed a slight adjustment because it was riding high when closed, so back to work and lowered the pin by 7mm..



When the bonnet was in place it was found that the edges on the car around it had to be sharpened up so while the bonnet was off I built them up which improves the panel gap look..






I made some captive nuts today to replace the too short captive bolts that came with the scoop, I had previously drilled the hole to fit the scoop but as the glass bonnet is thicker than the bonnet of the Suburu from which it came the bolts were not long enough



Refitted the bonnet and aligned the front edge then drilled the car for the bracket fixings and secured it, the bonnet shape had some shape errors so I then pegged around where I needed to reshape and applied heat and weights to persuade it to move until the desired curvatures had been achieved.







A few more tweaks required and some edge sanding and hopefully it will fit nicely....

[pompeyal]

Bonnet continued

Started on refining the bonnet fit tonight, ensuring no rubbing on the front edge as it hinges up, some light sanding to the edges and adjusting the panel gap has done the trick..







Done a trial fit of the scoop to ensure that it also cleared which it done with about an 8mm clearance..





It needs some heat adjustment doing to the rear edge and some grinding back a little and then it will be really close..





Little by little its finally getting there and next the front spoiler..

[CC Cyclone]

Great work, very inspirational.

[Iancider]

If you come to my house you could fit some doors for me - lovely job!

[pompeyal]

If you come to my house you could fit some doors for me - lovely job!

Its a bit of a distance to come over to you, i am sure there is someone closer in the club that could help you out there, talking about doors one of mine needs some attention, I wonder if my hot air gun would sort that out, it is a bit of an ask, soon see later when I give it a try...lol

[pompeyal]

Distraction

Had a bit of a distraction from the car this week, my son purchased a spare set of wheels for his Rx-7 but one had been buckled and had a severe scrape on the outer edge approx. 18" around it so I said I would see if I could get it repaired for him...











With the help of a little heat and a copper mallet I beat out the buckles and cleaned around the damaged area with a flap wheel on a disc grinder.







Next for my welder to build up the edge to replace the missing metal, 1 long run and 2 other shorter runs done the trick..







Next set up on the mill and machined down to the original front edge to give a datum..





Now down to the scraping back to shape...





Not too bad, just needs dipping and re-powder coating, that's for my boy to arrange...

[pompeyal]

Front spoiler

Back to the car, the front spoiler I am going to fit has been taken from a Rx-7 rear tail gate and fitted upside down at the front, well its more fibreglassing for me here, the spoiler was originally fitted on a reasonably flat surface but the front of the McCoy is far from that so some in fills are required







Out with the plasticine to form the required shape









Next wrap it up in cling film..



Then the glass...





Just need that to set off and remove the plasticine, clean it up and mould 1 nearly made...

[Iancider]

Wow this is good stuff - who need pole dancing with content like this!

[pompeyal]

Wow this is good stuff - who need pole dancing with content like this!

Thanks Ian, sorry about the last picture, it looks like something you wouldn't want to pick up...lol, I am not sure how much success I will get from this, I will need to flange the mould and cut it through so the finished item cam be released, I will see if this one works then if OK I will make the other 3, if not I will have to have a re think...

[Facial Hair Optional]

It's damned clever Ian but with no disrespect to the amazing work going on here I am leaning towards the pole dancer tonight! (well it is a Saturday night at nealy half 11!!!)   

[Facial Hair Optional]

Ok, after just reading pompeyal's last post I have had to sensor myself and sit myself on the naughty step, what with cling film and provocative words I think I'll give the pole dancer a miss and keep watching here for the next installment!!

[pompeyal]

Sorry guys you will have to wait a bit for that....

[pompeyal]

Front spoiler continued

Right then, carrying on with the mould for the N/S support of the spoiler I cut out a strong back from MDF to the shape of the glass mould and adjusted the shape for best fit...





Once in position I applied glass mat and resin both side to bond it onto the mould..





Once set I cleaned of any whiskers and applied a layer of gel coat inside the mould



Then I drilled and reamed 2 holes through the strong back for some dowels and a further 3 holes for some fixings the cut through the centre of the strong back to make the mould in 2 halves, this will allow me to remove the finished artilcle from the mould later.



I applied 5 coats of wax to the mould halves..



Then bolted the 2 halves back together and applied another coat of wax..





After leaving for a short while I applied a coating of PVA release agent and allowing it to set....



Once this has had sufficient time to dry I will the start laying up the gel coat and fibre glass into the mould to make my first spoiler support....

[pompeyal]

Looks like Photo Bucket are going to send there self to the wall by stopping all that use it for posting images onto third party sites. This will screw our forums a treat, sorry guys but I don't think I will be trying to get all my photo's back here unless someone knows a quick and easy way, Thanks for looking anyway. Regards Al

[benchmark51]

As far as I know I haven't ever used photo bucket.

[pompeyal]

I've put so many hours into this diary it's wound me up. I may turn the diary into a book and see if it sells...lol