At Last!. I have started on my car ;-) PART 2

Assembled wheelie bar dry (nothnig glued) and it all seems to fit. However, I won't know how rigid it is until the ends are glued into the CF rods.





 
Wheelie bar wheel. Still some detail work to complete (bolt lengths, centre drilling, nut shortening)

 
What size rear tyre are you thinking OG?

Not to put a damper on anything.. (mind the pun)
But is the wheelie bar not a bit overkill.

Please correct me if i'm wrong, but surely the rear axle would give way before the front end lifted.
Of course that's only if enough traction was managed off the line.
 
285/15 Michelin TB5 soft road legal

Hopefully, the suspension set up will work without the bar. This is just in case and I fancied making one :)
 
Oops, Captain Cockup has just flown in.

Woke up at 1.30am last night. Lying there mulling things over and I realised that I had cocked upon the design of the wheelie bar. Basic structural geometry taught in primary schools. 3 sided structures stiff, 4 sided not. With all joints flexible and the design 4 sided it will flop about!



Checked this morning and, yes, it is floppy. What an idiot!



Just been to Heathrow to pick up sister-in-law and family so had thinking time and have worked out what to do. Basically, the two bottom rails need to be rigidly fixed to the wheel hub and I have designed this modification in my head (maybe not the best place bearing in mind what I have just done!).
 
Maybe, but I learnt this 40 plus years ago and have used the principle many times. I guess I will have to put it down to a CRAFT moment.
 
Rear hub nuts have to be torqued to 270-290Nm. None of my wrenches go anywhere near this so I had to buy an old fashioned bar type wrench. My first wrench was one of these over 40 years ago (no idea where it went, unfortunately).

 
Rear hub nuts have to be torqued to 270-290Nm. None of my wrenches go anywhere near this so I had to buy an old fashioned bar type wrench. My first wrench was one of these over 40 years ago (no idea where it went, unfortunately).

Does it do degrees too?
 
Right, back to the real world :)

Just spent nearly 3 hours over the last two days picking the brain of my CF guru, Nick (who T9 knows very well :) )

I lifted the rear offside corner of my body over 2 inches and the front didn't move, so it is in serious need of some stiffening.

The plan is to make carbon fibre/foam composite panels to replace the existing fibre glass ones. How this will be done is shown in the photo below.

The body will be mounted to the chassis and chassis/body squared up before work can start. We will cut out most of a panel, leaving approx 40mm lip. The CF panel (made on a sheet of glass), which will consist of 3 layers of CF, 5mm foam and another 3 layers of CF, will be stuck to this lip.

This will be repeated on all of the panels visible in this photo.

The join between panels will be strengthened with CF. Removing the redundant fibreglass goes someway towards compensating for the additional weight of the CF/foam panels :)

 
Not a lot happening at the moment as I wait to get TIG welder issues resolved. Next task is to re-install engine and gearbox and then first fit body, but I can't fit engine until mount has been welded up.

So, I have been doing what I always do in these situations, thinking and research.

When I started working on the body modifications a few years ago I decided that I would remove headlamps and run what is eroneously called a daylight MOT, but is actually an ordinary MOT with an advisory saying headlamps not fitted so not tested. I spent hours making moulds in order to make covers to fill in the headlamp holes. I did a pretty good job, even if I do say so myself :)











I then changed my mind so bought lightweight headlamps and perspex covers.




However, I have now reverted to my original idea, saving at least a week of work of undoing the filling, fitting perspex covers and making supports for the headlamps. Plus a saving in the weight of lamps, supports and wiring :)

If I decide later that I wish to drive in the dark then I can do the modifications then.
 
:) I've built this car 3 times now trying to build it once. The major downside of taking so long to build a car is too much time to think and change your mind.
 
coming along nicely steve.
I find that if I leave a job for a while to think about it, I come up with 9 different ways of doing it then when the time comes, I still do it the 1st way I thought of. so your not alone.
@stamford - :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
Ok, finally decided to make a start on writing the history of this build. To this end I will be making a lot of use of this thread for both the chronological order and words of wisdom.

I would, therefore, like to use both my and other contributers words. So, does anyone have any problem with me quoting from this thread?
 
No problem here Stevie baby, good luck with the write up, just let me know if you decide to publish it in paperback or hardback editions and when it will become available so that I can treat myself to a copy :)
 
I don't think that there is any chance of it being published :) I just thought that it would be fun to document the trials and tribulations of a radical build.
 

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