Roll Hoops Fitment

With the body in position, I decided it would be good to get the roll hoops fitted.  This is one of the jobs that seem a bit daunting, since you have to drill large holes in the cars body!

I levelled up the chassis as best I could, by jacking the chassis up and placing it on axle stands with packers on top - my garage floor is far from level!

This took some time to get the chassis anywhere near level, but I wanted it to be right.

From underneath, with the rear wheels off, I could reach to drill up through the innermost mount holes with a right angled drill.  I made a bushing to fit inside the 12.5mm hole in the chassis which allowed my 6mm drill bit to be central.  Once these 2 holes were made, I placed some masking tape across the width of the upper boot floor and drew on a straight line between the 2.  I then used my cardboard template to mark the other 4 holes that were required.

Once I was happy with the position, I drilled the 6 holes in the upper boot floor - 4 @ 60mm, and 2 @ 50mm to allow plenty of clearance for the base of the roll hoops.  These lined up well with no problems. 

Firstly I made a measurement device so that I could detect the hole centre, and how far off I was.  I used a nylon M10 top hap washer, slightly padded out with a rotation of tape (taking care to ensure the tape ends lined up) and an AutoCad created 1mm Grid with centre line.  This was stuck to the washer with double sided tape.  Next the awkward bit......

I placed masking tape onto the underside of the rear bodyshell, so that I could project upwards a plumb bob mark.  This involved climbing in the boot, twisting, laying on my side / back / front to try to see what the plumb bob was doing.  I held the plumb bob just above the marker and using the thumb nail of one hand, held the string to the underside of the bodyshell and marked with the other hand the central point.  I did this for all 6 holes, and then double checked them.

They all seemed not too far away.....

I then drilled a 2mm hole up through the bodyshell at each mark to enable the plumb bob string to pass through to get a real reading.....

There was only 1 hole that was around 3mm out!  I drilled a new hole just to the side, and then it was spot on.

Now came the twitchy bit.  Rather than go for the 60mm holes and 50mm holes which would give the required 5mm gap all around the roll hoops, I went for 50mm for the front holes and 38mm for the rear (the exact diameter of the roll hoops).  I drilled the 50mm holes first and opened them up very slightly with a drum sander so the legs could just go through.  I tried the first hoop in and it fitted!

I then drilled the hole for the rear leg (38mm) which again, after being opened up a little, fitted nicely.  Or so I thought.....

After I had fitted both roll hoops, I tried to tighten them down.  I realised that they wanted to pull forward slightly.  I had to remove them and elongate the holes towards the front of the car a few times until the hoops fitted.  This possibly means that the chassis wasn't perfectly level prior to the drilling!

Not to worry, once the required 5mm gap was drawn all around the bars, the biggest gap I had was 6mm.  Well within tolerance of the large rubber grommet that gets fitted along with the aluminium cover.  I still have to fill the hoops with expanding foam to help deaden the noise, and I probably won't finally fit the hoops until the boot carpet has been fitted.

All in all a job well done that was probably the job that I feared the most! 

Roll Hoops Test Fit to Chassis

I thought I had better try and see if the roll hoops fitted before fitting the body and finding out they require tweaking!

These fitted with no problem.  These use a stud in the outermost holes (Above the shock absorbers) and bolts in the others.  These are 1/2" UNF.

I made up a cardboard template to enable me to mark out the holes in the boot floor once the body is fitted.  This will be used later!

Anti-Roll Bar

I managed to get around to fitting the front Anti-Roll bar to the car.  This includes two drop links fitted with Rod-Ends linked to a bar that goes across the chassis mounted with plastic mounts.

I screwed the rod ends into the supplied drop links with around 1-2 threads showing above the lock nut.

The anti-roll bar was fixed to the chassis using the supplied plastic mounts and 6mm high tensile bolts to rivnuts in the bottom of the chassis.  Note:  Ensure you use hex head bolts since you can't get an allen key in for the upper wishbone.

I jacked up the front of the car and allowed the wishbones to drop down at full droop.  The rod ends were then bolted to the anti-roll bar and wishbone as follows to permit the softest setting:

Anti-Roll Bar - Hole Furthest Out (Furthest from pivot point)

Lower Wishbone - Hole Nearest Centre of Car (Nearest to pivot point)

Once bolted together the car was lowered.  Job done!

Gearbox Tunnel & Brake Connector

Since I thought that the fuel system was complete, I decided to fit the Gearbox Tunnel Sheet.  This was just set on, and fixed using M6 x 20mm Set Screws.  In previous photos, you may have noticed that I used some black sealer to put a bead down between the sheet and the chassis.  I then put on the self adhesive foam that was provided by GD.

I then mounted the brake pipe / clutch bracket.  I still need to finalise what fittings I am going to use for the clutch bleed.

I have since removed the tunnel sheet again to alter the positioning of the fule supply hose and Y-Piece as per the previous post.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Since the exhaust has been clamped up and the majority of the chassis work is now done, I decided to lower the chassis to the ground.

I used two engine cranes and two lifting strops to lift the chassis up enough to remove the trestles.  I then slowly lowered the chassis to the ground.  It rolls!

The only issue I have now is that the right rear tyre has a slow puncture.....  I'll have to see if I can find some other wheels / tyres.......

Exhaust Preparation

To be able to fit the underslung exhausts I had two choices due to the fact that the chassis is sitting on tressels since there is no way of mounting the exhaust.

I could put wheels on and lower the chassis to the ground, however this would limit the space underneath to work with the exhaust.

I opted for placing blocks under the chassis, raising it up by 100mm, but leaving a gap for the exhaust to pass through.  I cut up some wood and held the blocks on the tressel using two pieces of 3/4" plywood and multiple screws.  It is still solid to work on, only a little bit higher.

Perhaps if building another, the steel tressels could be designed to incorporate this gap to allow the exhausts to pass through.

I will dry fit the exhaust system to ensure it all works before sealing each joint and fitting the clamps.

Rear Suspension

I have loosely assembled both rear quarters now.  I will make up the brake pipes before putting in the diff and driveshafts.  I am waiting on my new tube benders before doing this, so I will be moving on to the front suspension.

Poly Bushes Fitted

Since the wishbones have been painted also, I started to assemble the suspension.  The polyurethane bushes were pressed into each wishbone using a G clamp to help - they weren't too tight though....

The stainless bush inserts had to be trimmed to fit my chassis.  This was done on a small Sealey lathe which did the trick.  They bushes started off at 38mm long, but I required approx 34.5mm long to fit.

Some of the wishbone lugs on the chassis had to be opened up using some threaded rod and a couple of nuts.  The holes also had to be cleared out to 1/2" to accept the high tensile bolts.

Once the bushes had been turned down, I pressed them in using the vice to give a helping hand.

Again they weren't stiff to go in.

I then loosely bolted the wishbones in place - I will properly tighten once on the ground.

I bought some rubber boots for the rose joints to see if this will help prolong their life.  I covered the ends in grease, and pulled the boots on.  The only one I didn't put on was the inner rod end on the rear turnbuckle since the covers have bits that stick out and the wishbone didn't really have enough clearance to get the cover on.  The boots were bought from McGill Motorsport - http://www.mcgillmotorsport.com/

Chassis is Back from Painters

The Chassis and bare metal parts have been hot metal sprayed and coated with a 2 pack paint.  The chassis has been sprayed with a wheel silver, and the other parts are in gloss black.  The finish isn't smooth since the molten aluminium isn't quite like a paint or powder coat.  It does look good in the flesh though, and at least it won't rust!

Chassis

After a lot of pondering about which chassis to go for I eventually opted for the EURO chassis.  It is a bit more expensive that the JAG based, but I thought that I would prefer the newness.

I was originally going to go for a JAG based one - I even have an old XJS available (Which is now for sale)

I thought how I would prefer to build the car from scratch and the EURO option seemed only to be available as a rolling chassis which ruled it out, or so I thought.....

I discussed at length with Andy regarding rust prevention since living in Shetland can be quite harsh.  (You may ask why am I building an open topped car?)

I have researched hot dip galvanising, but this isn't a preferred option due to the potential for twisting the chassis, not to mention all the holes that require to be drilled into all the tubes to let zinc in and air out.

The powder coating process is quite good, however if it cracks at all then water finds its way in and the powder coating can peel off.

I then looked into hot metal spraying which coats the bare steel in hot molten metal.  It ends up similar to hot dip galvanising protection, but the insides can't be coated.  This will have to be coated with some cavity wax of some sort to prevent rust from forming on the inside.

I discussed with Andy and let him know my thoughts and he agreed that I could take a EURO chassis unassembled, apart from the wheel bearings pressed in by GD.  This way I can get the best rust protection I can.  GD don't provide this sort of coating yet and so that is the reason of the unassembled chassis.

I'm sure this will take a lot of phone calls to GD to assist since there is no build manual!

I plan to hot metal spray all the bare metal parts, but I will decide once I get them here.

This rolling chassis was on display at the GD stand at Stoneleigh 2015.  I hope mine looks like this someday...

This is what mine looks like today.....