New project

[Moleman]

They look good to me mate. 

[Gary RH7]

They look as though they were made for the car. Nice.

[Bulldog Bri]

Very nice. Think they are prefect for the car

[CC Cyclone]

6am saw me creeping out of the house again for a couple of hours in the garage.
After a bit of helpful advice from other members I got the rear light pod in the right place and then packed the joint with fibreglass paste. Pretty horrible stuff but quite easy to work with once you get the hang of it. Which I did just as I finished of course! Not quite the neat job I had planned but the main thing is it has gone off and is rock hard. I will tidy it up a bit now and add a bit more for strength but dare I say quite an easy job really.





When it was going off I took lots of measurements to mirror the rear light hole for the other side. The only thing I concluded, after much head scratching is that the car is not symmetrical to the tune of 15mm across the back! I therefore ditched the ruler and made a template to make the light sit in the same relationship with the boot lid and wing edge on both sides. I marked it up for cutting and looked at it for a long time and I am pretty confident it is in the right place. Will try and find time to look at it again tomorrow just to be sure.



I then quickly found time to cut out the mesh from the back of the bootlid and prep and prime the panel. I will need to get it hung in the right place to finish the work to the rear once the lights are in. Someone has modified this panel
Previously and screwed up the lines of the bulge a bit and fixing it might be beyond my skill. I'm sure a bodyshop can probably right it quite easily though when I get to that stage.

[Facial Hair Optional]

Much kudos to you James, I admire anyone who takes on stuff like this. I wish I was that talented.

I have a good background in engineering myself and hence all I would say to your statement "When it was going off I took lots of measurements to mirror the rear light hole for the other side. The only thing I concluded, after much head scratching is that the car is not symmetrical to the tune of 15mm across the back! I therefore ditched the ruler and made a template to make the light sit in the same relationship with the boot lid and wing edge on both sides. I marked it up for cutting and looked at it for a long time and I am pretty confident it is in the right place" -  is.... if you can, find someone whose opinion you truly value based on their skill with this sort of thing (cars, engineering, bodywork, art and craft, eye for detail etc) and get their 2nd opinion before you decide. Doing that has saved my bacon many a time!! And it has also confirmed many, many, many times (of course!) that I was right!!   

Nice to have your mind put at ease either way.

I don't know where you are but I am sure there are many in this club that would love to give their opinion!!! ha ha!!

[Moleman]

loving your updates James. 

[Brandy Barrel]

I look forward to every entry and update with keen interest.
It's like waiting for your comic to drop through the letter box when you were younger.
Hope you can keep it up.

[Facial Hair Optional]

I look forward to every entry and update with keen interest.
It's like waiting for your comic to drop through the letter box when you were younger

OMG (as they say these days) I had forgotten about that thrill!!!! Now you mention it I can recall getting totally over excited awaiting my Beano or Dandy, though Whizzer and Chips was my fave by miles. Ah, happy days!

It is so easy to forget the thrill of simple things as we get older and times 'move on' (if you can call it that), I'd be happy to be 9 or 10 again and doing all the naughty things I used to get into trouble for tbh 

[CC Cyclone]

Very kind words chaps, I suffer with a real lack of time to work on the car due to having a lot on my plate, but it will be seen through to the end, it might just take some time.
Will update as often as I can but I am learning new skills as I go as I'm no pro and so do feel free to pitch in if anyone thinks I'm going about things the wrong way or has any advice.

Cheers.

[Iancider]

I'm no pro

Really?  Goodness you are modest!

Ian

[CC Cyclone]

So not a lot to report over the last few weeks but I have moved house and now have a nice double garage to move the car to so I can hopefully get more regular work done at home. The downside is, although well built generally, the garage needs some work doing to make it water tight and comfortable to work in, which is what I am up to at the moment.

The b@stards I bought the house from left the place in a real state I spent a weekend running backwards and forwards to the tip clearing all the useful crap they left me in the garage. I thought I was finally done and so climbed up in the rafters to have a look at the state of the roof only to find a little gem safely tucked up behind the purlin. A bit Not work safe this one:


























It is in pristine condition and I am guessing late 80s vintage


/ apologies if this is inappropriate for the forum but made me chuckle

[Facial Hair Optional]

Some vintage copies of Mayfair, Penthouse etc fetch very good money on ebay (So I am told!!). Worth checking that one out I'd say?

['The Gaffer']

Ummmm, I think that one may have had a little too much use to be of much value

I wonder what happened to the free poster???

[CC Cyclone]

It is still in there!
I might wait until antiques roadshow is in town and ask Fiona Bruce what she thinks.

It was in mint condition, I bent it getting it out of the rafters.

[Facial Hair Optional]

How much do you want for it? I think that may be my ex on the front! 

[Crunchie Gears]

I rather like the feature story.  40 year old 40 inch!

It reminds me that they come in three phases.

Melons, pears and then Onions 

Phase 1 and 2 are self explanatory.

The onion phase is very time you see them raw they make you want to cry! Hahaha

[benchmark51]

Can't beat a good ol' square rigger.

[Facial Hair Optional]

Can't beat a good ol' square rigger.

I have no idea what that even means Dave!

[CC Cyclone]

So I have been just beavering away in my new garage getting it ready to move the car. I now have a watertight double garage, painted white internally, nice grey smooth floor, workbench, radio, lighting and plug sockets everywhere - I feel positively spoiled considering where I have built kit cars in the past.

In preparation for the move I realised that I needed something to make the front end of the car mobile as it is missing it's front suspension uprights. Having looked around at numerous trollies with a wheelbase wide enough to roll up the trailer ramps I was a bit shocked at the price. Having done a bit more research I therefore decided to make my own.

The plan was to make a trolley to sit the front chassis tails on that I could ratchet the car down onto and then drag the front end up the ramps onto the trailer. And do it on a budget.

So, I bought some 100x50mm tube, but two lengths at 400mm and one at 1200mm and fired up the welder. Except it didn't work having been sat for a couple of years. It is a Sealey gasless mig for small jobs - not ideal I know but reliable if you know it's limitations.

So having serviced the welder I set about knocking something up:







The castors are weighted to 600kg per four and so hopefully should do the job.
I welded some small angle iron to locate the chassis rails and will glue some thin foam in this area to protect the powder coating.

Total cost £38 and I am sure you could do it cheaper with a bit more shopping around.


I have been working on another project as a sideline while garage work has been going on. I found out that zetec engine that is in the car has had a few internal mods and is pretty much now as new and so I am going to run it in the car for the time being and see what it produces. I have therefore been looking at induction and come up with this:



GSXR tb's on a zetec pattern manifold. It is now pretty much finished and ready to bolt on. Am planning a throttle linkage mod to make the linkage opening a bit more progressive to smooth out the fuelling a bit.

The filters are temporary to keep things clean, will be fitted an itg or similar. Now will keep my eye out for an ecu coming up, have used dta and emerald in the past but the prices have rocketed. Had a bad experience with mega squirt and so will keep my eyes peeled for a bargain....

Not much of an update but hopefully progress will pick up in a couple of weeks once the garage doors get fitted and I can move the car nearer home.

[Moleman]

It looks the business mate. I hope it all works well. 

['The Gaffer']

Great garage mate and good work on the trolley

[CC Cyclone]

So i managed a little bit of work today:

Did a bit of forming of part of the revised rear in insulation foam to have a look at the shape. A quick rough mock up to see what it looks
Like in 3D. When I am happy i have got the right shape the plan is to use a lost foam GRP lay up to make the bits and then stick them to the car, cut through the old panels at the back and then lay up more GRP to bind the two. I will then need to fill and prep the outside for paint. A lot of work...




Also in a departure from the norm this car is having door handles rather than a button. Some nice door handles though and so a quick mock up on one of my doors to test shape and fit





I want to fit them flush into the door surface and so more GRP work to mount them will be needed.

[sanzomat]

Good to see some more progress with this one, partly because I'm itching to see it finished and partly because we need to get it onto a new page so we don't have to look at your barn find mag each time we scroll down for the new post!

[CC Cyclone]

 

['The Gaffer']

Somehow I can see this thread covering a few pages, should be well worth it though

[Facial Hair Optional]

Good to see some more progress with this one, partly because I'm itching to see it finished and partly because we need to get it onto a new page so we don't have to look at your barn find mag each time we scroll down for the new post!

Everytime I see that mag I swear I've seen it before! I'm old enough to probably remember it when it was actually on the shelves at the local newsagents, the woman on it looks REALLY familiar too! (has it gone off the page yet?)

[Facial Hair Optional]

There we go, that's the most useful thing I've done all day! 

[Daley Down Under]

Works of art (trolley, bike carbs/TBs and rear light).

Keep up the great work and labour of love.

Cheers Adrian

[CC Cyclone]

Well we are off the page so well done chaps
The gaffer is right though, the speed this is going the Internet will run out of pages before it is completed

[CC Cyclone]

Well my hinges for the bootlid arrived this morning except the are huge and won't fit.  So back to the drawing board there then.

I really need to find an old fashioned car breakers where i can walk around and have a look at hinges and various small items on many cars at once so i can find bits that work, browsing ebay and the inevitable time and money wasted with parts that are not quite right is a becoming a bit of a pain.

The only one I know of still operating like this is huge and near gatwick airport, a bit of trek for few odd bits and a mooch around though

[benchmark51]

Where are you based and do you have a piccy of the hinges you bought. Dave

[CC Cyclone]

Where are you based and do you have a piccy of the hinges you bought. Dave

Will get you a photo Dave - have you potentially got a use for them? Am in Castle Combe.

[benchmark51]

Possibly, I have an idea rattling around in my head

There is a scrapyard near me that might be useful to you (Warmley)

[CC Cyclone]

Not a massive amount to report, car is now on the deck ready for an imminent move home. It was good to get it down to road height and check the body mods still look ok, I had been a bit worried about doing them with car up in the air:




Have found some hinges for the boot that seem to work ok and so that problem is solved too hopefully. A few bump stops on order to get it all set up properly before I tackle the rear lip on the boot.

In other news I realised that 'Kermit' as he is affectionately known in our house has not seen the light of day since stoneleigh last year. I did try to take it for an MOT but it refused to start and has been under cover since. Anyway a service and first turn of the key had it purring again. Roll on sunny days...

[Iancider]

The Raffo Belva is looking good already.  Good to hear Kermit again - perhaps rivetting.

Did you get kermit's brake problem fixed?

Regards
Ian

[Moleman]

I was wondering the same thing Ian.

[CC Cyclone]

Yes and no. I rebuilt the caliper and got some balance back in the front brakes but they are still not where they should be. New calipers discs and pads is on the spring to do list. Need something a bit more up to the job on track as Llandow revealed.

[damouk]

Do you know if it is a common problem with the car or just your setup? I have recently gone through the brake setup on the v-storm as mine was completely wrong for the car

[sanzomat]

The Belva is looking great but there is something about the rear that is troubling me, I can't quite put my finger on it but there is a certain lack of symetry?

[CC Cyclone]

Thank god for you sanzomat, I had been struggling to put my finger on it.....