Windscreen, Roll Bar, and Dash Progress

Fitted up the Windscreen, some careful measuring and confirmation from other CR builders and it was time to cut the body.

The windscreen is from Brasscraft in the UK.
Beautiful piece of work.


I left the plastic sheet on for time being to protect from dust, bird poop etc,
This aided in the fitment of seating the windscreen down on the body as the rubber seal slid on the plastic instead of gripping on the body.



After marking the hole, I drilled a hole at either end and cut between them with an air powered mini saw.

I have used the mini air powered saw for all the body cutouts so far. not much dust created, easy to control with a fine tooth blade, no chipping and no exposed fibers on the finished cuts.
Then I use a sanding bit like a die grinder bit in the Dremel to do any finishing.




Under the dash,
The windscreen legs need to be drilled and spacers made to fill between the Dash Hoop mounting and the legs.







Started on the roll bar, but not fully welded up yet.

The hoop was rolled by another CR owner Mike Murphy, ("Aussie Mike" on the Clubcobra forums.)
Mike's attention to detail and finish is excellent.

The hoop is near perfectly formed using his mandrel bender.



I actually pre-built the roll bar on the chassis before putting the body on,
Once aligned and tack welded, it was then an easier process to mark the hole location and angle after body installed.
I did this the same way as the lift jacks by making a bung for the upper tube and marking and drilling a pilot hole, then from underneath i put a hole saw pilot drill through the hole and used the bung in the upper tube as a guide.





















This is not the 3rd leg mounting location specified by Classic Revival, but relocated forward.
Other CR builders discovered an interference with the boot lid mount hoop bar which they had to then modify.

The 3rd lag has a roll bar connection in it to make removal and fitment easier.





Fitted up the dash and after some careful measuring, put a hole in it for the steering column.

The dash panel is normally fiberglass which has a recess pre molded in to it to clear the steering column shroud as standard on the Suzuki Swift/Barina, but i am not fitting this shroud or stalk assemblies, so Daniel at Classic Revival made me an Aluminium panel.


Some minor trimming to the top edge of the dash to follow the curvature of the body and bolted it in.



I've made the hole an oval so I can pass horn, indicators, wiper, and cruise control wires through underneath the column.









Momo Trek R Steering Wheel and Momo Column Boss Adapter 8907 for Suzuki Swift.

Inlet Tray - Part 2.

Some more progress on the inlet tray.
After completing the mold, I took it to Fiberglass Concepts in Pakenham.
Mario Licciardi the owner finished the mold surface, before laying up two parts with a combination of weave and chop.

The intention is to put away one of the parts to use as a plug if I needed later, or as a backup if i stuffed up my first attempt at machining up to fit the quads.

This is the mold as I finished it before Mario coated with Gel-coat and prepared for laying up some parts.

















This is the mold after a couple of parts have been done.
A bit worse for wear, a chunk of plaster I used for the radius-ed edges came away in the bottom RH corner.

Repairable with a bit of filling and sanding.
However, if I need to make another, I would use the second part as a plug for a new mold.







The part out of the mold with flange still on the side.









Next job was to make some mounting rings to fit to the tray which would finish off the edges and locate the air cleaners.

150 x 50 mm billet of 2011 Aluminium


























Lots of chips later, 2 inlet tray mounting rings.












Removed the flange and cut out the 2 quad holes.
In this pic, you can also see I've surface a flat area around the holes for the Air Cleaners to sit level and flush.

The tray thickness is fairly consistent at about 4 mm, but has high spots in it where the chop was used.
Hence the need to surface the Air-Cleaner seats.

Rings inserted into the tray

A bit of a buffing will polish out the Gel-coat scratches.








Finished up the inside with Stone Guard paint, then coated in Satin Black paint

I'm going to use the Motorspray Stone Guard paint on the under-body as well.
I bought the optional nozzle attachment for spraying which works excellent.
Several very light coats allowing to dry a few minutes between each coat builds up a very thick rubbery feeling surface which can be over-painted in what ever paint you want.





All that's left is to locate a hole in the tray and Air-Cleaner for IAT (Inlet Air Temp) sender.

Quick Jacks & Mounts

Made up a small jig that bolts to the quick jack chassis mounts which I can set the height to get leveled to the body and make sure the holes are 2.25" apart to match the Quick Jacks I purchased from Finishline Accessories.

The jig has a plate with 2 holes 2.25" apart.
A bolt fits through one of the mount holes in the chassis bracket.

I drilled a 1/4" (6.35 mm) hole through another bolt which then goes through the other chassis bracket hole and onto that I screwed a bit of aluminum solid with a 1/4" hole all the way through it and drilled and tapped one end to suit the bolt.

I used 1/4" holes because that is the pilot drill size on my hole saw kit.


I then bought a long 1/4" drill bit and drilled through the tube using it as a guide and through the body.

While the jig is still in place, I then used the hole saw  to cut the quick jack hole through the body from the outside using the tube centre hole as the guide.

Using the hole saw on slow speed created a very nice un-chipped hole.

After drilling the hole, swap the jig around for the next hole.
Unbolt the tube, put through a bolt and nut to lock the jig in place, then undo the original mounting bolt and replace it with the tube and bolt assembly for the second hole.



Same deal with the front of the car.



Slow and steady as the body is on a sharp angle at the point.











The hole saw is controlled by the pilot drill being inside the guide tube behind the body.



































The quick jack tubes are made from 3/4" steel solid which I then drilled a 10mm hole through.

Through this goes a 10mm stainless threaded rod cut to suit.

Drilling the quick jack tubes with a long 10mm drill bit.










So... whats it all look like.





I also purchased Body Grommets from Finishline.
I will definitely fit them to the rear as the mount holes go through to the boot, but I'm undecided on the front, I like the look with out the grommets.

The quick jacks kit comes with 2 large and 2 small lift brackets. (the black bits)

Lots of conjecture about which is which for front and rear, but assuming the lifting dolly has a fixed length to it, I've mounted the large on the back so that the lift radius points are similar heights off the ground to the front.

Vent and Side Pipe Holes

Cut the side pipe holes in to each side.
Drew up the side pipes in Sketchup then created a template to clear the pipes.

Printed out the shape of the template to scale on some paper,

Taped onto the body, leveled to the chassis and penciled around the shape

Cut the holes out with an air powered mini saw.
Very easy to control for a neat cut and minimal dust.






Finished off the holes with a file sandpaper taped to a bit of rod in the hand drill.

Also held the vents in place and found the vent holes not very well formed, a bit of sanding and aligning to get the edges parallel.







On the hoist.

Lights

Installed the Headlights, Front Indicators, Rear Indicators, Rear Brake Lights and a High Mount Stop Lamp.

Rear Tail Lights











Front Head Light and Indicator











Centre High Mount Stop Lamp
This lamp is from a 2012 Mazda MX5 roadster.
There is a few different versions of this lamp.
The 2 visual differences are Clear Lens versus Red Lens, and the not so visual differences are the lamp bases are different with retractable roof versions having a bolt on lamp and the non retractable version has plastic retaining clips.

Mine is the bolt in type so i could mount on to the 6mm thick fiberglass body.

Helper springs, Keeper springs,

Here's some follow up pics with the Helper Springs after installation.
The kit came with 2 springs and 2 saddles which sit between the Helper and the Main springs and keeps them aligned.

The springs are 2" tall uncompressed and compress to about 12mm solid as the suspension takes up.
They are made from flat material,

Pic of RH rear assembly











Close up of installed Helper Spring.

In this pic you can see the red anodized saddle that locates between the 2 springs.
The original spring top hat seat is used on top of the Helper Spring

Body On

After putting some rubber insulation tape on the chassis to soak up any vibrations with the body, we lowered the body on with the use of some tie downs (adjustable for getting the right angle) and the car hoist.
Had to remove the oil cooler in the process to get the body in the right spot to clear everything.

3mm Rubber adhesive tape attached to the frame where the body touches.

Along the sides, around the trunk, and the frame area over the rear suspension.






















Also had to remove headers, and shift lever to fit the body down on to the chassis.

The wheel jacks, (great fathers day present :)) make it so easy to move the chassis around within the confines of my shed.

Sitting on the ground.
Initially, the rear of the car was sitting 50 mm too high at the lowest suspension settings.
The springs were the suggested 12" specification,
I had 10" springs spare from when I found the front springs were too long, so in this pic you can see the car at correct ride height with the 10" springs fitted in the rear.

The result of this is that when the car is lifted and the suspension fully extends, the spring drops off the top locator by about 25 mm

There is 2 solutions to this;
Get a 2" shorter shock (17" to 15")  with a 1" shorter spring (9") which is same as the front setup.

I know this works because I pulled off one of the fronts and put it in the back.....perfect.

or the much cheaper option of installing helper springs.





Helper springs have very little spring rate, and come in a variety of lengths.
The springs and seats I have ordered are about 4lbs rate and 2" long.
These fit between the spring and the spring perch and take up the gap when the suspension is fully extended, but compress up when any load is applied.

I'll post some pics when I fit them.


Fitted up the front and rear indicators and marked up the headlight centers.
The Indicators are an Amber LED unit.

The air filters clear the bonnet opening, but I want to fit my inlet tray under them when I finish it which will raise the filters another 16 mm and I suspect the rear will hit the bonnet, so a little fiberglass adjustment will be needed.

Rear tail lights fitted.
I'm using LEDs for the tail lights, the upper is an Amber indicator and White reversing LED all in one combined unit.

The lower is a Red Brake, Red Tail light LED combination all in the one unit.
I may have to change the lens to the original red to meet ADR requirements as I don't think the "E" marked clear lens has the correct marks required for brake lenses.

Pic of the engine bay,
The left hand header fits with good clearance all round.

The drivers side header just touches the steering column outlet on the body.
I need to decide if I ding the number 8 cylinder pipe in a few millimeters to get clearance, cut it and reshape it, or take a bit off the body.
See what I can live with.

Clearance around the header was a good educated guess seeing as I built them with the body off.








After I cut all the holes for Lights, Side Pipes, Roll Bar, Quick Jack mounts, Side Lights, Steering Column, etc,  I'll remove the body again for cleanup and painting underneath before final fitting.