Saturday 27 October 2012

Side panel - nearside prep

Making a start on the side panels; nearside first.

The suspension came off cleanly, I removed the shock then took off the wishbone and upright assembly  as a single unit. Its not too ungainly so no need to split the balljoints.

The panel fits fine but needs a little pressure to sit tight against the engine bay bottom chassis tubes. I double checked the suspension hole clearance by offering the wishbones back again. Then took some time to think through and made some decisions about fixing the panel.

Right now its just offered in place. The factory uses bond/glue on its own, I have seen blogs which rivet every 2-3".  I'm going to rely mostly on bond but also some strategic rivets which will also help hold everything in place  while the bond goes off:
    4x rivets on the front vertical edge
    2x rivets on the rear edge vertical behind the rear wheel
    4x rivets on the underside floor parts next to the engine
    3x rivets on the engine bay top tube


The plan is to install the suspension hole edging, glue up the chassis rails, hold in place with ratchet straps then use rivets to hold everything firm while the glue goes off.

Not much more progress - off to watch 007 'Skyfall' at the cinema this evening. Hopefully I can get at least the nearside on this weekend.