Mr Whippy
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| posted on 30/10/20 at 10:23 AM |
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Thanks John that's helpful. I'm going to sell the engine crane to pay for one as its more useful to me. Keep up the good work 
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 30/10/20 at 12:54 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
Thanks John that's helpful. I'm going to sell the engine crane to pay for one as its more useful to me. Keep up the good work
You're very welcome and I look forward to seeing your progress on your new project. Well done.
Actually I've always had a good opinion of the Robin Hood particularly the quality of the stainless steel forming which is not easy. Okay it is
heavy but there was one that I competed against in the Wadham Kenning Curborough Championship that I couldn't beat. It was a quick car and he
was probably the better driver but it did impress me.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 2/11/20 at 04:46 PM |
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A bit more done on the driver's footwell today with the basic frame mow fabricated and in place. I made the frame in situ to get the best fit
but it was disappointing that the frame wouldn't come out for final welding and fitting the panelling. This slowed things down a tad but
we're moving in the right direction. In any case, I need the floor in place before this assembly can be welded to the rest of the body because
the floor fits underneath the pedal box and the frame to which it will be bonded. The frame isn't in its final resting place yet. In the second
photo the unpainted panel looks a bit convex and it is but not as much as it appears to be. However, what I should have done was to to pre-stretch the
panel before putting in the swages.
There has been a lot of discussion on the forum about thickness and grade of aluminium for the floors but I have always used 1.2mm thick 18 gauge NS4
which is an incredibly tough alloy without any problems.
[Edited on 2/11/20 by John Bonnett]
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 3/11/20 at 05:58 PM |
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Whilst I can live with the slight bowing on the panel what I couldn't accept was the out of squareness of the supporting tubes for the next
panel so I took the radical measure of removing the frame from the chassis so that I could remove the footwell assembly and make a proper job on the
bench rather than working in cramped conditions at floor level. This will make things a whole lot easier in the long run and hopefully a result that
I'll be happy with.
[Edited on 3/11/20 by John Bonnett]
[Edited on 3/11/20 by John Bonnett]
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 6/11/20 at 04:58 PM |
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After a couple of days making scrap things looked up today and moved forward. I'll not bore you with the details but it was largely down to my
stupidity in not spotting the obvious and twice I made a frame to support the footwell side panel and each time it was awful. Today I realised that
the frame is superfluous anyway so that got the day off to a flying start. After cutting the panel to size I put a bit of double curvature into it to
pre-stretch it to eliminate the bowing after putting in the swages. It nearly worked and I think the result is presentable. A bit more shape was
needed. Before fitting, the door hinge posts need to go in and for these I have a plan. Split two lengths of 50 x 25 2mm wall box section into two
channels and fit them around the round tube A post. The plasma cutter came into its own and sliced through the material like a knife through butter.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 8/11/20 at 04:55 PM |
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A bit more done on the door hinge posts. The Octavia hinges have two fixings, one going through form the outside and threading into a captive nut and
the other accessed from inside the car and threading into tapped holes in the hinge and it was this that gave the problem; insufficient clearance for
a 13mm socket against the round tube. So I took a couple of scallops out and filled the hole with sections of 50mm round tube, 2mm wall. That did the
trick and that side of the post is ready to tack in.
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ettore bugatti
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| posted on 9/11/20 at 01:22 PM |
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Looking forward to see how the door hinges and A pillar are going to develop, will be a big step forwards when that is sorted.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 9/11/20 at 02:21 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by ettore bugatti
Looking forward to see how the door hinges and A pillar are going to develop, will be a big step forwards when that is sorted.
Good to hear from you EB. I hope to put some photos up later today and would be keen to hear what you think. The hard part will be interfacing the A
post with the Fiesta but, we're up for challenges! The final sill will be an inch or so higher than the 50 x25 longitudinal tube but with a step
that sits on it. Difficult to explain clearly but I have it in my mind.
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 9/11/20 at 03:39 PM |
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So why do you not make the swages actually cross? I'd have thought that would eliminate bowing but is that not the case? asking before I muck up
my panels thinking that is how I should do it...
All mine are going to be done in 1.5mm aluminium so hoping it will be more forgiving than the steel your using. I was also going to swage 1 inch round
the borders of of each panel before riveting them on.
[Edited on 9/11/20 by Mr Whippy]
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 9/11/20 at 04:44 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
So why do you not make the swages actually cross? I'd have thought that would eliminate bowing but is that not the case? asking before I muck up
my panels thinking that is how I should do it...
All mine are going to be done in 1.5mm aluminium so hoping it will be more forgiving than the steel your using. I was also going to swage 1 inch round
the borders of of each panel before riveting them on.
[Edited on 9/11/20 by Mr Whippy]
You will always get a bow in the panel after putting in the swage lines because of the stretching. So the trick is to put a bow in the panel in the
opposite direction and the two should cancel each other out. If you don't have an English wheel, you can do the same job with a slapper or
flipper similar to the tool used for lead forming. Frosts sell them I think.
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 9/11/20 at 04:48 PM |
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Ok thanks that's good advice. I need to practice a bit on some scrap.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 9/11/20 at 04:56 PM |
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The door hinge post is now in position with the hinges trial fitted. Plenty of access added via the inner upright for the hinge fixing and perhaps
cables although there isn't much room. In any case the A post will be extended inwards with a fabricated section which definitely will have room
for the loom.
I've formed the same profile as the Fiesta piece and that does look as if it will work quite nicely. Access panels will need to be added.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 10/11/20 at 01:28 PM |
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After final work on the A post section, it is now ready to be welded in.
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 10/11/20 at 03:13 PM |
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how about getting the shell dipped once you've finished it so it's all coated and protected inside and out?
linky
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 10/11/20 at 06:59 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
how about getting the shell dipped once you've finished it so it's all coated and protected inside and out?
linky
That's a very good thought which I will bear in mind. Thank you.
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starterman
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| posted on 10/11/20 at 07:05 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by John Bonnett
After final work on the A post section, it is now ready to be welded in.
How are you going to install your curtain pole John?
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 10/11/20 at 07:10 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by starterman
quote:
Originally posted by John Bonnett
After final work on the A post section, it is now ready to be welded in.
How are you going to install your curtain pole John?
Ha Ha! The bit I cut off is now a towel rail in our downstairs loo!
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 11/11/20 at 04:42 PM |
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As with most things I do they take twice as long as expected and today was no exception. But all went well (with no scrap made) and the driver's
side footwell section is done complete with the door hinges. I'm not sure how I'm going to run cables to the door because of space
restricted by the round tube inside the hinge posts. The law of unforeseen consequences is ever present. But we'll address that problem
later.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 12/11/20 at 06:41 PM |
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By way of a change I've started the routing of the clutch cable which because I cannot achieve a straight pull needs a guide. I found a very
nice pulley complete with a proper ball race for under a tenner delivered. The bore of the bearing is 12mm so plenty strong enough for the job. The
pulley needs to be set an angle of 20 degrees to match the cable entry so today has been spent on making the mounting. This needs to be welded in and
the outer cable fixing fabricated.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 13/11/20 at 02:15 PM |
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I've fabbed up the clutch outer cable bracket and tacked it into place. I'm not in any hurry to finally weld it until I'm happy that
the clutch works properly and that the cable is not being strained. This gives me the option of altering it if necessary without too much trouble.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 13/11/20 at 06:25 PM |
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I've had an idea for a transmission tunnel which develops into a console to house the audio unit so I thought I'd give it a go. Rather
than form a domed profile I decided on a flat centre with radiused edges. This allows the possibility of mounting the handbrake on a flat surface and
including a cubby hole for glasses etc.
This is the largest thing I have ever folded and definitely a case of entering uncharted waters. Only the initial channel could be folded in the
folder and the rest was down to me and it all got a bit physical! But I'm getting there but with work still needed to tighten up the curve
around the one inch diameter pipe.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 14/11/20 at 06:23 PM |
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Just a bit of consolidation today fettling the transmission tunnel so that the curved sections follow the curvature of the tubes a little more
closely. I have also started what would be called formers in an aircraft fuselage that will support the tunnel and bridge the propshaft as part of the
floor structure. I'm trying to arrange for the tunnel to be removable for easy access to the propshaft. The handbrake complicates things but
I'm hoping to get round that. The formers will be drilled with the possibility of running fuel and brake lines and battery cable through the
tunnel. This may or may not be feasible but at least provision will have been made.
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steve m
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| posted on 14/11/20 at 07:18 PM |
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Thats some awsome work there, but you may need to fits some dividers in the track or your phone and wallet will disappear !!
Well. untill you brake and end up in the footwell
steve
Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 14/11/20 at 07:47 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Thats some awsome work there, but you may need to fits some dividers in the track or your phone and wallet will disappear !!
Well. untill you brake and end up in the footwell
steve
Ha ha!
No what I'm planning is to make a cubby hole and weld it into the flat section probably behind the handbrake. This would be quite simple to do
by folding up a box, welding the corners and cutting an aperture in the flat surface to suit and then just welding the box in with the top edges
flush.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 15/11/20 at 04:59 PM |
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Sometimes and if I'm honest in my case more often than I would like, the job falls woefully short of the vision in my head of what I've
visualised and today was one of those days. In fact, so was yesterday. The job sounds simple enough. Make eight formers all the same out of 16 gauge
mild steel sheet. A job for the plasma cutter I thought and it probably was but through lack of experience using it I made a complete horlicks of it
and the first batch consigned to the scrap bin. The second lot are not much better but I'm hoping they can be salvaged because I have no more
material to embark on the MK3.
Hopefully a more productive day tomorrow.
[Edited on 15/11/20 by John Bonnett]
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