Suddenly it's coming together again!

Picked up the side panels from Danbo Lak on Friday, they look terrific. The bonnet and rear panel will be ready next week sometime. Saturday Neil came round and we spent a few really constructive hours getting loads of jobs done. It almost got to the stage of taking it for a spin around the block. We got both side panels riveted on (made much easier using the new air riviter!), exhaust manifold, exhaust, seats and carpets in and bled the brakes. Oh and started up the engine and checked the new heater worked and that there were no leaks!

Getting the manifold pipes through the side panel without scratching the paintwork was a challenge.

The contrast of stainless steel and black is very nice.

Next job was to install the wiper motor rotors and tubing. They all had to be cut to length and flared to keep them in place. The hardest was the last section towards the motor as it bends down towards the motor and the motor has to bolt to the aluminium bulkhead. If the bend is too tight the spindle won't go through the tube.

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The last small section is to take up the extra spindle when the wiper goes from stop to full wipe position. It's worth buying a good flaring tool (I love tools!)

Measuring the spindle movement. It was actually only about 3cm but I left about 8.

The dash in place with demister vents, wiper blade spindles and water jet. I'll have to move  the water bottle a centimeter or so as the wiper motor bolts catch the bottle brackets just at the wrong place.

Another job that I have to do is strengthen the front mounting plate for the Diff. James's bracket was  pulled from the frame during a drive. Peter at GKD has fixed this for all new chassis but in earlier ones this seems to be a weak point. To be on the safe side I'll get an extra plate welded to the bracket to allow two more bolts.

Bracket in the centre with two bolts. I'll see what I can sort out tomorrow.

Also managed to attach and adjust the handbrake cables. Next few jobs include getting the tracking done. I set them to vertical while the car was up on blocks but I have to set toe out on the front which I'll do while the car is down on the ground. I beleive this is usually set to 0 degrees but for racing 0.2 degrees is probably better. I'll set it to 0 for the time being. I found quite a good site that explains the different terms for wheel adjustment: http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm. 

Snow again but it didn't stop play!

Just when we thought it was safe to go out the snow came again. Friday night there was almost a blizzard and by Saturday morning there was about 7-10cm of it laying everywhere. It'll be gone in a couple of days though.

 

The big news is I got the nose cone and dash board back tonight and I must say I'm very happy with the results, if the panels look as good the car will look absolutely brilliant. Saturday and today I spent doing a few odds and ends. First one was to cut and temporarily fit the carpets especially on the one that covers the centre console.  

There was a lot of messing about cutting around the heater and hand brake, gear shift not finished yet. The result is not too bad although I still intend to make a console to cover the heater and to house the heater control, clock and 12v power outlet. I want the carpet to be fairly easy to take out if necessary.

I intended to use a chrome gear shift surround but in the end decided against it as it would have been a bugger to bolt in place and didn't look right without the hand brake also having a chrome surround. In the end I'll use the standard BMW surround and Anette will sew a longer leather gaiter for me as the standard is too short.

The chrome surround in position, a bit out of place with the grey edges carpet. To use the handbrake one has to be sitting backwards :-)

I didn't manage to finish all the jobs I set myself for this weekend but most of the jobs left are simply to bolt parts back on again.

1. Fix and install carpets YES
2. Fix gear shift and handbrake gaiters NEARLY FINISHED
3. Put in safety belts and seats READY TO FIT AND BOLT IN PLACE
4. Fix heater and fill radiator, fan wired in YES
5. Install handbrake & bleed brakes YES/NO 
6. Finish sanding rear LED lights NO
7. Started making console YES
8. Buffed the exhaust pipe(s) YES
9. Finish soft top NO This is quite a big fiddly job and the rear panel and windscreen have to be in place. I'm hoping Peter at GKD will have  the  side windows ready in the next two weeks but I'm not holding out too much hope. I'll have to cut plastic covers instead as I have already had one bad experience with rain!

I need to leave the dash and nose cone to completely dry before I start attaching bits so probably leave them until Friday. I'm afraid of making any marks especially when installing the wiper motor shaft, ICL, switches etc.

The finish is fantastic, really pleased with the job that Mats did. His day time job is building and painting special order (S-Order) Scania trucks.

The nose cone will look great once the grill and indicators are bolted in place and then the GKD emblem placed front centre!

James managed to get his sump re-welded after cracking it on the English country roads. He's going to make a sump guard so hopefully will let me have the plans so I can sort one out before my UK trip.  

I lost the bet!

Unfortunately neither the panels nor the fiberglass were ready to pick up. Danbolack who are painting the panels are very customer focused and were not happy with the type of paint they used as it didn't give the expected glossy finish. So they are going to do everything again. The guy painting the fiberglass is doing the job in his spare time so I can't push too much.

In the mean time I cleaned up the alarm wiring and have only the bonnet switch to wire in once I get  the bonnet back. Peter at GKD kindly helped me with the windscreen wiper motor and washer bottle wiring so everything works nicely with the original BMW wiper stalk.

Last year I bought an OBD II adapter with WIFI so I could read in the diagnostic codes from the engine on my I-phone. The trouble was it was on all the time even when the ignition was off and flattened the battery within a few days. I had a quick look inside the adapter plug that goes into the BMW diagnostic socket and discovered it was only a matter of moving the orange wire connected to pin 14 "battery power" to pin 16 which is "ignition 12v". Now it works great but the next problem is working out why I didn't get speed last time I had the engine running!

Very easy to open up the plug and solder the orange wire (power to the WIFI dongle) to pin 16 instead  (see http://pinoutsguide.com/CarElectronics/car_diag_pinout.shtml for details)

Diagnostic plug in place, nice with a little hi-tech

I needed to get the heater sorted out too so I bought some extra bits from CBS to help out. Not sure what to do with the carpet but will probably have to cut the bit off that usually covers the plate the heater is bolted too.

The cable is to adjust the temperature but until I get the console made it'll have to hang lose for the time being. I can't drill it into the plate as the gearbox is too close.

A hole for the 12v outlet and a quick spray of black paint.

Started on the carpets again by smearing GRP filler around the holes on the underside of the carpet I intend to cut out for gear shift, handbrake and other holes. Otherwise they will end up fraying.

I hope the filler works

Latest news: Fiberglass parts could be ready Sunday. Less than three weeks until my intended drive to the Stoneleigh kit car show so things have to start moving! 

List of things I can do before I get the panels & fibreglass parts back. It's quit short as so many parts depend on getting the panels back first:

1. Fix and install carpets
2. Fix gear shift and handbrake gaiters
3. Put in safety belts and seats
4. Fix heater and fill radiator
5. Install handbrake & bleed brakes
6. Finish sanding rear LED lights