776 replies to this topic

[danny1]

well fingers crossed i do like your car

[mini93]

Cheers :) as different as its going to be when its done. I hope i like it still, too

[mini93]

Bought my 1st bit of carbony goodness for the car yesterday at MITP
some FG/CF doors, so thats fibreglass doorskins with a carbon skin. They really dont weigh alot at all... which i like!




Nice exposed carbon on the inside which will be hidden anyway because i want some carbon door-cards

Also still no news on the shell as yet. no rushing but im getting restless after being at MITP yesterday. I spoke to my neighbour who runs minitec ( http://www.facebook....ec/177898396960 ) hes going to primer the shell when it comes back from blasting, that is, after iv done some of the more difficult welding while the metals still bare.
After the priming ill comence the massive dry build ill be giving it. Last thing i want is to start drilling the freshly painted body work to attach the wiring harness, fuel lines etc so every hole will be drilled before final paint.
problem with that is everything will need to be bought before that point... so before paint is one huge parts bill! and one massive wait

[mini93]

Big day. Its taken 3 weeks but hey, im happy with it, and ended up costing less in the end.
Not sure where to start as i took about 40 photos as soon as it got here haha




Above showing the carbon door offered up... I kinda just had to


Got the turrets to go in here still.

Small bit of rot on the bottom of the passenger wing, Just a small plate needed... along with all the old bracket/mudflap holes etc to be welded up

Kinda shows how dented the floor is... Going to invest in a hammer and dolly and see how well i can go about neatening it up

small patch required here

More patches required in the boot, not a huge hassle im sure. Theres a few holes elsewhere that also need attention but alot of the work will be from old rivit holes etc

The HOOOOLE! again, shouldnt be too difficult now the metals nicely clean. Got to get the correct thickness metal now... I can see alot of perchasing to take place now.

In the below picture you can see something im not particualy happy about. Some of the cage's welding is shocking... you can see way too much unwelded material. I know its difficult seeing as how the cage sits but modern cages are even tighter tot he shell and welded fully, even if access holes need cutting. Needless to say, this will be happening and the cage will be re-welded in places that require it. Top of the strengthening plate and round the far side of one support (the shotblasting didnt clear some of the seam sealing but this isnt a great hassle... this can be easily removed with the grinder, also around the roof gutter)

Also to be done is the rear cage leg... wasnt going to say because personaly, i think its one of the most shocking things on the cage... but it can all be fixed

Im not sure if its been ill-fitted or crashed and bent previosly or even fitted like that to get around the fuel tank fitment... but in anycase, im not happy with it and will be fixing that pronto. The foot has been welded in the correct place place (i believe) so need to grind where the cage is welded to the foot and then use a porter-power to bend it back to the correct possision where i will weld it to the right place! permenetly!
Theres a few bits on the shell id like to seam weld too. Not a great amount but it will help with overall strength

Edited by mini93, 22 August 2012 - 07:13 PM.

[mini93]

Keep 2nd thinking things. Colours being this time round. Been set on the whole black and green wheels thing for a while, but looking through things I keep thinking of just going for white centres and black outters (black outters are staying black for sure)



Now they have come back from blasting i want to get them powder coated soon and just thinking about colour bits. Black and green does look good but i want it to be a little subtle... the rest of the car sure isnt going to be so dont need wheels on top.
Other things like the subframe and small brackets i was going to powder coat the same green too but now just think ill go for the same gun-metal grey i plan on doing the engine bay (the interior and engine bay are going GMG, different colour from the exterior)

Also thinking of hacking the whole back 1/2 of the cage out and going for a more miglia styled cage. Rather than going up and over to the rear C pannel, thinking just roind straight down to the arch (bit worried about rear end strength here though)


Other news, now had chance to do anything yet really, just looking round it more, checking small bits n bobs that need doing. also removing the seam sealer (which i reaaaaly wish i had removed pre-blasting but its no big deal)


#thinking out-loud over

[leaky]

Looking good! Some bits of that cage really is bad though bloody hell. No doubt you will get it all looking great again though. Keep at it!

[kcchan]

Now that it is blasted, you should really fly along.

[mini93]

Cheers guys. yes im hoping this weekend especialy, i can crack on with it. Im worried about the neighbours a bit, all i want to do is crack on with the car and CBF if the annoying neighbour just keeps complaining. Considering locking the garage behind me but it cuts down on light a fair bit

Friend and I were talking about the cage today at work. Got contacts for a good T45 stockist. I think its almost decided to chop it out in anycase and mig-style the back 1/2 past the main hoop at the B-pillers.
Legs straight down to the top of the rear arch on each side. Off the main hoop an A style araingment meeting the back-stays complete with harness bar
Similar to


Except it wont have the "X" along the B-hoop

but for now... to the garage!

[mini93]

Ok... this takes quite alot of time, this grinding and shaping lark...

Still its looking alot better i think. Iv spent the day hammering down some of the high spots where its been bashed up by rocks before (ex rally car remember)

Grinding down some of the body shell holes which have been plated (looks a bit nasty all raised up

and removing the seam sealer which has remained post blasting.

What it looked like before, complete with blast media




Looks quite a bit better now if i say so myself. Threw a quick layer of primer over the top to get an even colour for comparason.



Of course, now that iv primered it remembered i still have to weld back up the spot weld holes. Luckily i remembered a little trick from when i was working at a rally car specialist, when we were building the R2 fiesta and welding up the spot-weld holes, placing some brass behind the welded surface removed heat from the area allowing you to weld up the holes without worry of blowing through. It also creates a smooth-ish underside, so hopefully a little less grinding back
The brass/copper also allows you to bridge a larger gap, hopefully cut down on making 100's of little plates for some of the now void holes

In the end, the floor doesn have to be perfect. it might get a light skim of filler in certain very small places that might be visable, but its going to have 2 alloy floor plates which will hide alot of the problem area.

Edited by mini93, 25 August 2012 - 05:29 PM.

[Artful Dodger]

filler?

floor?

rally car?

not even worth thinking about! does look like it has resisted the rust bug, should be fairly easy to patch:P

one thing though, id get that whole thing primered ASAP, just waiting a few weeks to paint the metal can start retaining moisture, which then rusts underneath the primer:P

[mini93]

Also heard myself that primer is porus anyway so cant even sit in primer for too long

either way its not good

haha, yeah i dont like filler anyhow.
But if i do, its only going to be the very small areas which would be visable even after the foot trays are in... will see how it fairs later on, when it goes tot he body shop ill see if they can do a little better job on the floor than i have, sure that wont exactly be difficult!

[mini93]

My useful little tool came through the post



As i said, block of brass, place it behind the welding surface/hole what ever and you can bridge small gaps and the rear side of the panel stays relitivly flat, hopefully cut down on the grinding that will be required on the underside, aswell as making it easier to actualy complete.

Having said that, its not fool-proof, my floor isnt particualy flat in areas so when pressing upwards with the brass, it can still blow holes if the brass isnt contacting that particular area. not to mention even with 2 gloves on it gets unbareably hot after a while.

Still, the floors nearly finished in terms of welding now.
Iv got to weld up 2 small holes which i noticed after i cleaned all the spatter and dust out of the car aswell as one long gap which ill hammer close and using the brass behind it, bridge the gap if there is one
Iv gotta flat the welds down on both sides and shine a light under and ensure there isnt any pin-holes which have snuck through.
Then got to plate the tunnel... The tunnel hole was a bit useful when welding the holes up in the floor... saying that it has still been an utter pain in my arse, my arms almost werent long enough and even had to resort to left handed welding, something im not very good at, at all!
Nearly done now and im glad... still other holes elsehwere to weld up though, but hopefully easier


Ordered a bunch of flap disks for taking the welds down too, so hopefully the floor will be completly done this time next week

[Artful Dodger]

does that trick work?! and how does it not get welded to the steel when you weld up the hole??

[mini93]

yep, well as i say... mostly. Apart from when the brass isnt directly snug up against the welded surface. Would be easier if i had some other blocks usable, sometimes just done need a block as long as i bought, such as when doing just a spot weld, getting the long block flat against a battered floor is difficult and often ended up being met with a hammer to push it back flat, if that makes sence.
It works because its the same reason your welding tip doesnt just constantly melt when your welding, its a different material than the parent material. It disapates the heat very fast whilst still being conductable, hence why you can still bridge over it. Sure theres some other reasons but im no matologist haha

[Italianjoblofty]

yep, well as i say... mostly. Apart from when the brass isnt directly snug up against the welded surface. Would be easier if i had some other blocks usable, sometimes just done need a block as long as i bought, such as when doing just a spot weld, getting the long block flat against a battered floor is difficult and often ended up being met with a hammer to push it back flat, if that makes sence.
It works because its the same reason your welding tip doesnt just constantly melt when your welding, its a different material than the parent material. It disapates the heat very fast whilst still being conductable, hence why you can still bridge over it. Sure theres some other reasons but im no matologist haha

Yep thats a pretty good description of it mate. I wasnt sure about brass but in work we use copper and call them "heat sinks" and as you said disperse the heat away from the job preventing too much distortion, just remember to take it easy on the thin metal as even the heat sink wont save a long run so stick to smaller spots when the metal is very thin. Its a very nice project though mate you do have a very good base to start with. Good luck with it :)