I went to the garage last night but only managed about 20 mins before I decided to call it a night. In that 20 minutes I nearly tripped twice over tinware, I knocked a box of bolts over with about 100 nuts bolts and washers in it and I near took the angle grinder to the back of my hand again.
I think someone was trying to tell me to go home!! I’m a bit more away and alert today, not much mind you but a bit so I’ll have another go this evening and see if I can make some progress.
George
I did a little work in the garage today. I did a little trimming on the side pods to try get the fit just right. I must admit I’m a little bit hesitant about glassing the side pods on, once they are on there is no going back and I want to make sure they are 100% right.
I grinded the edges on the pods in preparation of the fibreglassing. And go them the sitting fairly right.
Alma also joined me for a little while and got the bonnet sanded ready for priming.
I did my first real fiberglassing also. I need pockets to go inside the side pods. I came across this perfect mold in the garage.
I used cling film as a release agent. I didn’t have any wax and a few websites suggested it.
I think it turned out ok. This will be both pockets, when its finished it will be cut in half and then trimmed even further to fit. I just hope its strong enough. It used a lot more resin and matting than i expected.
I got a little bit more done today. For me its a balancing act between time in the garage and spending time with the family. My little boy is only two so he is too small to help yet even through he does try his best. In a few more years hopefully he will be beside me in the garage in another few years.
I finally made the big decision and cut the holes in the side of the tub for the pockets. Sorry back to phone pics for now.
I trimmed the pockets so that they will fit inside the side pods.
I didn’t get the pockets glasses on but they are ready to be done. Another hour and they would be done but family time was calling.
I didn’t get much done last night because i couldn’t, i did get the pockets glassed in but i had to wait until they dry before i could do much more with them. I’ll try get the side pods on tonight.
I have realised i need to mock up the buggy before i go much further, as in I need to cut all the holes in the body that I’m going to cut. Originally I was going to paint it and cut all the holes like someone who as gel coat finish but i have the advantage of painting the body so i might as well do all the cutting first, that way if i make a mistake I can fix it before I paint it. The problem is, I don’t have a gas tank that’s usable, I do have one that is rusted so I’ll use that for mock-up but I’ll have to get a new one. The other think I’m missing is the steering column. I need a column to cut the hole in the dash.
Lastly i need my fancy lights from hong kong. These will need a little custom pocket in the rear also.
I bought 2 sets so I’m not sure if I’ll have two arrow heads on either side or just one per side. I’ll decide once I have them in my hand. My front indicator LED’s came in yesterday. Its going to be LED’s all round, except for the headlights but a buddy is trying to convince me HID’s are the way to go there!!!
I got more done last night, I got the pods sikaflex’d in position and started doing some of the fibreglass work around them but I ran out of fibreglass again. I can’t get a decent supplier of the stuff locally. Its all small kits and P40. Oh well, i don’t have much more to do, I hope!
I got more time in the garage last night. I managed to finish most of the difficult areas, including the channels underneath where the body will sit over the chassis. I got a little carried away in one or two spots and I will have to grind down the fibreglass again to allow the chassis to sit properly but its only about 1/8 of an inch so its not that bad. I’ll be putting a light coat of fillers here also just to dress it up, now its going to be a very very light coat of fillers.
I still have the top edge of the body to fibreglass, where the pod meets the body but this will be simple enough. I don’t have any pictures because at the moment there is not much to see. I spend 4-5 hours last night fibreglassing and then sanding and it looks no different to the average joe. When i get the fillers on and it looks finished I’ll take a few pics again.
Right, I have decided that while i want this buggy done ASAP i’m not going to cut corners on it. New deadline is Martin Murray’s meet in Tipp on the 19th July.
Realistically it will need to be driving at least a week before so i can shake it down to make sure it will survive the trip down and back.
I think the rollcage will be waiting until next winter, I’m not sure I will have the time and the money in the budget to get it done.
I continued with the body work tonight. I got the join between the side pod and the body fibreglassed, sanded and then filled, well at leave the first layer. I didn’t have much filler so i was sparing with it, a bit too sparing as it turned out but thats no harm. From my limited experience with filler its better to do a little at a time rather than just lobbing it on. I’ll have to buy more filler before i can finish it but so far I’m very happy with it and once it finished it will look very good.
The hardest part was the join between the pod the the front and rear wings.
I also got the petrol tank area cut out. its not 100% at the moment as the tank i was using is only for measuring, i have to buy a new tank and i might as well make the fit 100% on that tank.
Last photos for tonight are the channels underneath. These are not finished yet, i have to grind some of the fibreglass back and they will need a light coat of filler to finish them nicely.
I did a few little jobs on the buggy tonight. I spent about 6 hours in the garage today but only got about 2 hours on the beach buggy. Alma’s car is being tested tomorrow morning so I had a few jobs to do on that. Next I serviced my two companys vans also. They were both due and while i was oily i said i might as well do the lot.
I eventually got to the buggy. Dad is going to Canada for a few weeks in 10 days time and he wants to have the engine complete and running before he goes. He needed the tinware for the engine ready so it won’t hold him up. So the engine tinware was sanded, primered and then painted. Its the first time i have used the final colour so its interesting to see it finally on metal. I can’t wait until the morning to see what it looks like in daylight. It was still wet when i took pictures tonight.
I’m trying to decide if i should stop posting pictures. I like showing people what happening BUT will it ruin the final surprise of seeing the buggy finished. Let me know what you think. I’m not really a bit unveil sort of person, I would prefer to show people each step along the way but a lot of people think i should keep the surprise to the end.
