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I managed to get some help on the weekend with sanding (honestly she wanted to):



She got most of the purple paint off both the front lid and the engine cover which has sped up the bodywork process. I had planned on doing them over the fall and winter but I might have them both in primer with the body tub.



In regards to the body tub, it never looks like there has been progress, but I'm down to a few small repairs to the LH sill flange and finishing the vents and fuel filler recesses.



I did get the rear upper trailing arm covers laid up, and they turned out quite well, now its a matter of sanding the underside smooth to match the factory finish, and get onto the little cutouts I made inside the cockpit to clear the trailing arm brackets. And yes, the firewall is getting replaced once I plant the body back on the chassis (sometime soon I think). The stock firewall is made of a thing called "beaver board" which is basically ceiling tiles, it absorbs sound, water, and oil but doesn't last very long. The new firewall is going to be made of marine grade plywood which will be glassed both sides then bonded into the body tub.



I also got started on the dash assembly, it doesn't look like much at the moment, but its helped with laying everything out so far. I'm hoping to make it look somewhat like a Lotus 46 dashboard.





That's all for now, next weekend should see the RH side vent nearly finished and the fuel filler recess cut into the side panel.

Rod

Hello

Cs3tcr, beautiful work . And what luck, in France, it is very rare to see a woman sand .
You'll use cables to change the speed of your gearbox?

This build makes me wish I hadn't given up on my Europa shell Keep up the good fight!

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My Mazda BP-powered Triumph Spitfire project: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1976-triumph-spitfire-50-v8-miata-18/54640/page1/

Hachille,
Yes, I'll be using cables, though I wont get around to fabricating the bits and pieces for that until early next year.

Winston,
Thanks for encouragement! I had a quick look at your album on Classic Team Lotus, I'm envious. I think I'll have to make a trip there the next time I'm in the UK.

Rod

I managed to get two days in the garage this past weekend, though it seems I'm at the stage where I do a ton of work but it doesn't really look like it. I refitted the body to the chassis, trimmed the front wheel arch lips to clear the front tires, repaired the spider cracks in the roof and in a few spots I had missed, along with filling the two ducts and fuel filler recesses. Next weekend should see me replacing the firewall and more filling & sanding. I might still meet my goal of having the body in primer by the middle of September.



Rod

so is she busy next week as i have to change the motor in a ford ranger, or does she only do sanding?

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

Sorry John, I had her helping me in the shop for the whole weekend. For some reason she seemed happy with the work presented to her, there was no complaining when I asked her to sand the nooks and crannies on the body tub.





I managed to get the old firewall removed and a new one cut, glassed on either side, and finally half installed. I glassed it in on the cockpit side, the engine side will wait till later. The old seatbelt mounts in the rocker panels were finally removed, the mounting bolts had to be cut off, something I was leery of doing while the car was in the garage. As it turns out, there was almost nothing left of them. I had previously made up a pair of them, and they actually fit. Once they were installed, I started on riveting the rocker panels back to the central body tub. It's still looking like I'll be able to have the body in primer by the end of next weekend.










Rod

OMG, please tell me she has some terrible personal qualities or abuses you in some horrific way. I suspect though you guys just have a lot of fun together. That still leaves the door open for her having a hobby that's so painfully boring it would kill the average person - and you have to spend one day a week doing that. Oh well, I suspect you guys deserve each other and are lucky to have found each other.

I think it's great when couples or people in families share these projects!

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
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Marcus,
She cycles, which I'm not against as I ride my bike from pub to pub, but I'm not keen on doing 80 km on a bike. And unlike the last one, she doesn't physically abuse me which is a nice change.

In other news, I managed to get the body tub in primer over the last weekend. Sunday morning it looked like this:



And by mid afternoon it looked like this:



Now I have to get the doors and both front and rear lids ready for primer before the weather turns. Ideally I'd like to have the whole car in high build urethane primer by the end of October so that I can spend the winter months finishing up the mechanical side of the car. Painting will hopefully happen sometime early next spring. Now I just have to figure out what colour to paint it, definitely not red, but either white with a green stripe or the same blue as the last car with a "Rob Walker" white stripe across the nose of the car.

Rod

OK I'll bite. What is a Rob Walker stripe?

I'm referring to Rob Walker Racing Team, he always had his cars painted dark blue (Scottish racing blue to quote him) with a white stripe across the nose of the car:




I'm thinking I could have the strip done in vinyl so if I'm not too keen on it, I can easily remove it. Same if I go with white with the green stripe, the stripe could be removed if needed.

Rod

Ah yes! That looks cool. Will you use the circle with or without a number or just the line?

I haven't done too much to the car in the past few weeks (almost a month), I have completed all the fiberglass repairs to the doors, engine cover, and front cover, but haven't had a chance to sand them down and start filling. If the next weekend is warm and dry I may get around to it. Other than that, I picked up a box of mandrel bends this past weekend and set about fabricating a header for the car.





I did a rough measure of the primary lengths, and they're all within 3/4" once I trim them to where the collector will be. I'll get them finished once I pick up another tank of argon. I can't believe how quickly I go through it.

Rod

Looking very good, Rod.
We had touched on the Argon consumption before. I did get the floating ball flow meter from KMS and with a gas lens off Ebay, I did manage to reduce the consumption. I have no quantitative measure, but it sure feels like it is less. The flow meter is a little bit easier to adjust, but like the stock one, it reads at the very bottom of the scale.

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Martin


My build log:
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14520&start=0
My build video:
https://vimeo.com/143524140 password "matovid"

One of my favorite writers for Road & Track in his later years. It is alleged that when he was driving his own car one year at LeMans, the crew called him in for an unscheduled pit stop because they had just opened the last bottle of champagne and didn't want him to be left out. Ahhhh... the Good Old Days...

Nice looking paint scheme too!

JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom