Back again

Finally back in the country following a couple of months in the desert! Re-introduced to wife and kids and managed a short while in the garage today. Just before I went, John and I drilled through the rear upper chassis rail for the harness mounts. Inevitably one of the chassis tubes was in the way - a result of not knowing which seats were being used when the chassis was made. There was no other choice, within the constraints of the SVA mount heights, other than to cut open the tube and re-weld it. The mounts themselves are thich wall threaded bushes. At the rear end, I welded thick washer to the tubes. These were fed through the chassis rails from behind then welded in. Another washer was slipped over on the front side, then welded up. This is what I got on with today. The welding went OK, although I was probably over-zealous trying to make sure of good penetration. As a result, some of the welds don't look as neat as they might but I am sure that they are secure!

Now with lights

Today I spent a little more time adjusting the clutch pedal. The ratio is still less than I would like but it is not easy to improve it - it will involve a new pedal. I've decided to stick with it for now and accept that when the car first rune, I might need a different pedal. I also made the light mounts as I felt that I couldn't make a proper decision about the bodywork without them. what do you think?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all! Today was hangover free, due entirely to my wife being ill which has restricted social activities. However, it meant a couple of useful hours in the garage today. I worked on the clutch pedal - I am worried that it will not have enough travel and think that it might need a redesign. Meanwhile, my 'little helper' cleaned all of the paint from the edges of the Beetle engine cover ready to join them. I joggled the edge (thank you John!) and welded the 2 together. I forgot how thin production car metal is and blew some decent holes in it, before getting the welder set up correctly on the minimum setting. I now have a dilemma, do I continue the bodywork all the way to the back of the car, as per the original concept, or do I just fit a nose cone? If it is the latter, I will probably modify the shape a little - you may be able to see the felt tip lines on the left of the nose. The area back to the 'cockpit' will be panelled with flat aluminium - any thoughts?

Brake Pedal

Finally got round to making the brake pedal bracket. After much cardboard prototyping, the parts were cut from 3mm steel. These will be welded onto a base plate which will bolt onto the floor plan - the aim being to provide some adjustment for differing driver sizes. However, the current setup causes the master cylinder to hit the front chassis rail, meaning drivers taller than me won't fit! The cause appears to be a mis-interpretation of the plans causing an inside measurement to be built as an outside one! Doh! There are several ways to improve this however for now I am going with what I've got in the name of progress!
Next is the mount for the clutch pedal, which shouldn't take long, before moving on to the accelerator.

It's home!

I've spent the last few weeks moving the car into the garage at home. A neighbour was kind enough to help with the loan of his trailer although it was only just wide enough - he uses it for an old 1900and something Vauxhall which is very narrow. I've been gradually shipping the smaller parts as I find room to store them - it's amazing the amount of stuff you accumulate, I'll have to have a clearance sale/giveaway soon (anyone for some Metro uprights and driveshafts?).

Last week I took 2 days off, one for christmas shopping and one to work on the car. However, as expected really, the shoppng spilled into the second day! Today though I got home early and finally made a little progress. I made the bottom 2 radiator mounts. One is attached to the removable lower frame and the other bolts to a bracket on the side tube. For this one I was able to re-use a suspension bracket made years ago but never used. It was quite satisfying cutting through one of the welds on it and seeing positive evidence of their solidity!

Hopefully the next item to progress will be the handbrake mount - I am trying to work from back to front finishing the areas already started (centre tunnel, pedals) before turning to the battery box, fuel tank and expansion tank.

Fingers crossed......!

Standing on 4 wheels!!

Spent this afternoon preparing the car for its 'big' day - I spoke to my neighbour earlier today and have arranged use of his trailer to bring the car home on wednesday! That meant a small panic to ensure that all was ready. I assembled the front hubs fully and torqued them up, then fitted the shock absorbers. That meant drilling out the mounts on the lower wishbones as they were too small (I got the pre-made from e-bay) - I think that they are made from titanium as they were a *** to drill. Job done now though! Ended up lowering the car onto its own 2 wheels for the first time. My 'little helper' immediately leapt in and had the privilege of the first journey - albeit 3 yards pushed backwards! It feels like real progress, just to get it onto 4 wheels at last, and it felt great to sit in it at the 'proper' height! Well, now it is coming home, there should be a few more regular updates so keep looking!!!

Back again!

I see that it is very nearly 2 months since my last update. Yes, there really has been that little progress - a combination of a busy July/early august at work followed by kids sumer holidays! Anyway, took a day off today in an attempt to make some progress. Firstly I managed to get the springs onto the rear shocks. The compressors that I bought were really only suitable for normal macpherson struts - the hooks on the inside fouled on the shock body if I used them as intended. However, I managed to hook the bottom end around the mini strut body and compress the springs enough to get the top mounts on. I'm not convinced how safe this was and made sure that I kept away from the 'line of fire' in case it went wrong!! I then turned my attention to the bolt in frame that sits under the engine. Some time ago I got 2 of the brackets for this made and today I made the other 2. They now need welding up. This meant that I could tack the radiator mounts in place - the bottom one will go onto the bolt in frame. Finally, for a bit of morale, I cut a slice from the middle of the beetle engine cover that I plan to use as a nose template. As I was running out of time, I clamped this quickly to give a (very) rough impression of what the front will look like. I hope that it is not so long until I post again!