Bonnet on and in primer but only one side of the grille cut out, still some fettling to do and the latches need fitting.
One of the rear doors ready to go on, the other is ready too, just waiting for the bolts to arrive
It seems like it has taken forever to get to this stage but it is starting to look very hot rod like from some angles.
I couldn't resist bunging the headlights back on to see what it would look like, the bonnet latches have also been fitted in this image.
When it has a bit of colour on it I think it will look rather magnificent.
All four door were rotten at the bottom, I had to make new repair panels, weld them in and fettle them, they have all been treated for rust so should last another 70 years. I still need to modify the front ones to take the electric window motors.
Still more bodywork to do but at last the end is looming ever closer. The vast majority of the tin bashing and welding etc is done now, yesterday I cut out the other half of the radiator grill and filled and tidied all the bashed and broken bits that have been there since day one. I fettled and improved some of the bits that I had already started and made the two blanking panels for the rear doors - the cost of IVA approved glass is horrendous - about 90 quid per piece. By blanking the rear 5 windows I have knocked about 450 quid off the build cost. I am now a full time carer for my Mrs and have therefore lost my income, the only way I can complete this is by selling my personal belongings such as my motorcycles and the contents of my man cave. Not something I wanted to do but needs must and all that. The blanking panels are made out of some old greenhouse staging shelves, the greenhouse got destroyed in a storm, we have had 4 destroyed by storms in the 13 years since we moved here, a penalty of living right next to the North Sea.
The rear doors are nearly ready to go back on now, I have to paint the window trims and fit them, they need modifying slightly I think I got supplied the wrong ones, it's no big deal, they are still usable. I have a gap between the surround and the blanking panel, I have to figure out a way of closing that up so it looks better. They are sealed on the outside so they won't leak it's just an aesthetic thing. I also need to drill out he hinges to accept new 8mm mushroom head bolts, a number of the originals snapped when I tried to remove them. One of the door pillars needs some fixing too, that got butchered when I could not remove a couple of the old bolts. Quick bit of welding and grinding will see that right.
At the moment everything is absolutely covered in filler dust, I hope to get the end doors open today and get rid of a load of that, I can then get on with the job list, which I am still trying to compile in my head, the first will be to improve the inner seat mounts, I am not happy with them as they are, they need extending and strengthening, easy job but a bit time consuming.
The job list I have for the next week or two is:
Seat mounts
Make and fit running boards - I have a cunning plan for this
Fit remaining sound deadening pads
Finish front doors - fit electric window mechanisms, I have them in stock
Fit rear doors
Make improved MDF parcel shelf to stop the sub woofer from wobbling about
Fit sub amp in to speaker box
Buy and fit carpet
Finish welds underneath car - I need to get the car to my mate's workshop for this so I can get it up on the lift.
Finish exhausts, just need 2 bends to bring exhaust out to the side. Need to do running boards first
Buy 3 x Land Rover Defender windscreens to make screen and front windows*
Fit weather seals all round
Fit new tyres to front and refurb wheels
Fit door mirrors
Fit rear view camera
Fit front indicators and repeaters
Apply for IVA test.
The IVA test is the biggest expense there, it's 500 quid and then 90 quid if you have to have a retest, I do not know of anybody other than manufacturers like Caterham that have ever passed first time. When we did the Ferrari it took 4 attempts although to be fair we took a different approach with that and one retest was down to a failure of a speed sensor that wasn't our fault. I learnt a lot from that but things like brake balance can't be tested at home, you don't know if it will pass until you get there and if you have to adjust something it's still a bit hit and miss. We had that with the handbrake on the Dino, we got it checked at an mot station, the guy said it would pass easily, the IVA man said it was marginal for the weight of the car. There is also the small matter of the nearest test station being a 2 1/2 hour drive away, I am not driving my newly created monster there so will have to borrow Malc's transporter, it's a complete pain but pain you must go through if you want to build a car in this country.
While I was compiling the list above I realised I had forgotten the fitting of the stainless mesh to the areas of the bonnet I cut out to allow air to flow through. I had bought it about 5 years ago for another project, it was stashed on the roof of my old office in the corner of the workshop. I dragged it out, cut it to size with tin snips - it needed two separate pieces to make it conform better to the shape. I glued it in with body filler, I am rather pleased with the results, it looks pretty good. I also came up with a cunning plan to hold the bonnet open, a couple of cables going from the top rad mounts to a couple of convenient holes in the fibre glass strengthening gussets I put in last week. I have done it with electrical wire for now to test the theory, I want to see how it sits when the bonnet is shut, in particular I need to make sure nothing gets caught in the fans.
I have ordered the indicators but couldn't find any side repeaters I liked the looks of, autojumble season has started though so I am sure something will turn up. Bolts are on order for the rear doors, which are now ready to go on, I made a new parcel shelf out of 18mm MDF, the stereo sounds much better now, almost to the point of me being happy with it, I won't mess around too much more until I have the car fully built, it will sound different with the doors on, the boot floor in and all the carpet in place.
The rear view camera is a bit of a conundrum, all the affordable ones have bad reviews with a lot of customers reporting that they fail after a very short time. As they are coming from Chinese sellers returns are pretty much impossible, I will do a bit more digging before I commit on that one.
* The IVA requirement is for all screens and windows to be 43r marked, the cost of getting custom windows with such a marking is eye watering - you can not buy them off the shelf. There are only a couple of companies that do it, wait times are long and if you make a mistake on the template or whatever it's incredibly expensive. Windows and screens in cars fall in to 2 types - toughened and laminated, toughened can not be cut but laminated can, this is where the Land Rover screens come in - they are flat, laminated and correctly marked. If you can find second hand ones they can be cut down but as there is only one marking per screen, you need one for each window. I hope to buy 3 and then get our friendly local glazier to cut them down for me. Should make it doable cost wise and keep the IVA man happy.
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