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[omega3000]

 

Yeah i use to sit in my escort van in the garage wondering what it would be like to drive , then when i passed my test i bought a bike  Wish id kept the van it would be worth thousands now 

Nice work by the way 

[lozzzzzz]

Thanks EMD




I just put the bonnet on and clean up the hinges when one of the bolts snapped   I was thinking about how heavy the bonnet is and the thought of doing something about it had crossed my mind more than a few times, well now it looks like I have too do something. 


Heres the broken one


There is also damage around the one remaining bolt


And the other side doesn't look too healthy either


Well I've put angle grinder to GRP and cut the C**p out of it. 

The underside was indeed not attached to the top side in the middle and offered very little in turns of strength, only really giving the bonnet more torsional rigidity.  So thats gone.  It weighs considerably less now too, which is nice. 



To start with, and to get back into glassin' I reinforced the bonnet catch area. 



Now I've run out of GRP kit, so its break time till I can get some more. 

More to come

[05omegav6]

That offcut will make someone a lovely sump guard

Still making good progress though

[omega3000]

That offcut will make someone a lovely sump guard

Still making good progress though

 

I like working with fiberglass , its got many uses and can make a very strong repair . I was planning on cutting out the rust on my wheel arches and repairing with fiberglass but other issues on the car are holding that up 
I spotted the capri in the background , another one of my favorites . Owned one many years ago 

[Marks DTM Calib]

That offcut will make someone a lovely sump guard

Still making good progress though

 

I like working with fiberglass , its got many uses and can make a very strong repair . I was planning on cutting out the rust on my wheel arches and repairing with fiberglass but other issues on the car are holding that up 
I spotted the capri in the background , another one of my favorites . Owned one many years ago 

You have my deepest sympathy

[omega3000]

That offcut will make someone a lovely sump guard

Still making good progress though

 

I like working with fiberglass , its got many uses and can make a very strong repair . I was planning on cutting out the rust on my wheel arches and repairing with fiberglass but other issues on the car are holding that up 
I spotted the capri in the background , another one of my favorites . Owned one many years ago 

You have my deepest sympathy

One of the most reliable cars i ever owned , simple to service an not an ounce of rust anywhere 

[doz]

On the subject of "Brum" noises. I often find myself at the end of a big job just sat in the garage on a camping chair drinking tea and staring at the beast. How sad am I?

[dbug]

On the subject of "Brum" noises. I often find myself at the end of a big job just sat in the garage on a camping chair drinking tea and staring at the beast. How sad am I?

We all do it mate

[lozzzzzz]

I do that sort of thing more often than I'd care to let on.  Its the pride in your own work that wells up and leaves you staring at it

[lozzzzzz]

GRP never stops boggling my mind, one minute, its one sheet of soggy fibers, next you can stand on it, I really enjoy Glassin'. 
So I welded the SS bolts to the SS strips, and glassed them in, then filled over the top with an alu sheet as the mating face for the hinges.  ITs all smoothed out now and ready for garage floor paint (when I can afford the next tub). 






After looking at the bonnet for a while and trying to hold it up in the same place that normal bonnet strut does, it seems that it puts a lot of bending stress on the bonnet and it puts a lot of tension on the RHS hinge mounts, which is probably why they cracked to much.  So I'm doing away with it in favour of a less glamorous swing down strut.  I hunted high and low for something suitable, then as I was about to give up the solution presented itself.  A broken golf club, with a very rigid and very light shaft.  Its about 1.3 the mass of the original, and while it might look a little silly, I quite like the solution. 


I know this is no race car, and I've got speakers , CB, etc, but I'm really pleased that I've been able to shed so much mass from the bonnet to at least offset some of the extra weight I've put in. 

Its back to work tomorrow , so progress will be a little more gradual for a while.  I've really enjoyed cut the bonnet about as it was always niggling at me how heavy it was.  Its given me a new enthusiasm to do something similar with the doors.  I know lots of folk with race cars have stripped the doors before and added polycarb, but the challenge here is to retain the lowering windows, I like having the windows fully open in the summer so I'll be looking into ways for doing this soon. 


More glassin to come

[omega3000]

More glassin to come

Something satisfying about glassing , looking good 

[lozzzzzz]

Thanks EMD 


Got a little done this afternoon.  Its only a bit of bent aluminium but I got the bonnet stay bracket done.  And for some reason the Lathe has started working again and I was able to fix the boot latch. 

It seems the lug that holds the boot shut (on the boot lid), is made of some kind of a cheese based alloy, and while it might taste good its pretty useless at being hard wearing.  Here you can see the deep groove warn into the side of the lug (after it was cut off). 



And the hole that I drilled in what was left. 


Then it was a case of turning up a thingy on the lathe and drilling a hole through it, then taking the top off an M8 bolt to hold the whole thing together. 


And bingo, a boot that actually shuts tightly and doesn't rattle   (this bugged me a lot before I took the car off the road)


I've had the AVO shock units off to have a look.  While trying to free the adjuster I seem to have broken it   This is the straw that breaks the camels back.  After thoughts of trying to redesign the bushes, I think I'll be buying new units from Gaz now.  I'm a little worried the same thing might happen again though,  it might just be a case of getting the car set up right and covering them in elephant tape or something?


On a side note the E36 works a treat in the snow, with chains its an amazing snow machine


More to come

[lozzzzzz]

Well I took the doors down from the rafters and stripped them, stared at them for a long time, then bit the proverbial bullet and took angle grinder the GRP. 


A plan is hatching for a sliding perspex window, so a little mass will need to added in that form and a lightweight pulley design to raise and lower the window.  But.. the doors weighed in at a heafty 21kg before and 11kg after (add a couple for the addition of the perpex and it should mount up to quite a saving.  At least 20kg if the bonnet is included.....

Just to be offset by the roll hoop and side bars    

More to come

[omega3000]

Good weight saving there , be interesting seeing how you put all that back together 

[symes]

Theres a guy out reading way who is using Scimitar chassis and gear for 34 ford hotrod.