#31
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Not much shaping, but a bit more hammerforming for the fuel system mounting panel and gave the new spot welder a run on the top hat mounting brackets. Mounting panel is 1.6mm ali, the same at the swirl pot. Pressure tested the latter and found I had a tiny leak on the cylinder seam, thankfully not behind one of the brackets Note to self - if ever do this again, pressure test tank before welding on mounting brackets, or don't be a cheapskate and buy a length of 100mm tube.
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Richard "I know nothing. I from Barcelona" (Manuel - Fawlty Towers) Link to our racecar project https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elan-...ab=public&view |
#32
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In the gutter where I belong.
Slow progress on the boot area sheetmetal. Got the gutters done - took an age, but there is quite a bit going on with them in terms of shape and gaps. Folded the main piece, trimmed the upstand off at the back and then pulled around a pipe to get the rear shape. Made a patch piece to complete the rear corner, but had trouble turning the top flange in the swage, with the thin end running away and being troublesome to shrink back. Finished up making a quick hammerform to premake the flange and then trimming and welding the corner back in. Pretty pleased with the fit and boot gaps, but a bit of fettling still to do on the top flange once the inner guard is welded in and the whole lot stiffened up. The new rear panel has very skimpy flanges at the back where it meets the rear quarters, with the factory simply fusing the flanges, rather than spot welding. Felt that I needed a bit more meat to allow me to get the spot welder in there when I attach the rear inner guards. Made up some new flanges, stepped them in the swage and then used the new spot welder to attach them. Copper sprayed them first for some corrosion protection, then used the coated setting on the spotwelder, which pre-heats to melt the coating and then welds. Worked a treat and with the different heat settings, was able to use full power on the lower ones and then back it off a bit for the ones close to the edges.
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Richard "I know nothing. I from Barcelona" (Manuel - Fawlty Towers) Link to our racecar project https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elan-...ab=public&view |
#33
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Some times the small stuff can take a lot of thinking and time to do them, but is just as satisfying.
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Marcus aka. Gojeep Victoria, Australia http://willyshotrod.com Invention is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less materials you need. |
#34
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Absolutely Marcus - as you would well know with your huge project! Wheels arrive at the end of this week, so then I'll be able to start thinking about the buck.
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Richard "I know nothing. I from Barcelona" (Manuel - Fawlty Towers) Link to our racecar project https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elan-...ab=public&view |
#35
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The 'phone has been pretty quiet insurance wise this week with most folk away on school holidays, so a chance to get back to some of the panel work.
Got the inner guard panels formed up and fitted around the tail lights. Made a quick hammerform to help with forming the safe edge around the lights. Then used the swage to raise the centre of the panel for decoration and stiffness. I'll leave the bottom edge long for the time being, until I get to the bottom of the rear outer guards and work out the correct line. Folded up the rear screen gutter into a Z and pulled the curved shape in with the shrinker/stretcher. Once I was happy with the shape, then used the swage and tipping dies to put in the last fold on the 8.0mm upstand. Finished it off with vice grips to get it up to vertical. The corner transition to the side gutter has really taken some time. Mocked up a corner of the boot lid alloy skin and inner flanges to get an idea of where the pins are going to sit. Missing the skin return with the latch speed clips underneath, pushes the pin in quite a bit, which meant rethinking the side gutter at the front end. Modified this to allow a nice flat area to pick up the pin when these get fitted. Folded up the corner piece and then took a slice out and re-welded to get the angle change. Tried making a hammerform to get the shape but wasn't happy with the result. Turned up all of the flanges with vice grips and some medieval methods with bits of tube and shafting to finalise the shape. All sits pretty well in the end, but now the perennial challenge of making the second one look the same.
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Richard "I know nothing. I from Barcelona" (Manuel - Fawlty Towers) Link to our racecar project https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elan-...ab=public&view |
#36
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Out of the gutter now...
Finally got the second corner made up - took 3 attempts to get it to look right, but sits pretty well now. Should be quite sturdy for the boot pins when welded up. Once it's all welded, I should be able to set the boot pins to be dead vertical with some dummy pins from threaded rod, some really thick washers and a bit of heat from the O/A. Corner joints in the window frame will be brazed as per factory, but should be able to get the spot welder to most of the rest. Few marks still but nothing a couple of gallons of spray putty won't fix - dump it on the painter... Now I can move onto the hopefully slightly less taxing boot filler panels.
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Richard "I know nothing. I from Barcelona" (Manuel - Fawlty Towers) Link to our racecar project https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elan-...ab=public&view |
#37
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More on the boot area sheetmetal
Got the rear boot filler panel made up today. Starting to find my way around the swage a bit more now. The rear edge of the panel, as well as being curved, needed a depression to clear the latch stiffener and this took a while to sort out a method that would work satisfactorily. Ended up gradually tipping the edge with the swage, but doing this in three sections, a bit at a time. As the flange came up I kept setting the depression with a quick gizmo I made up to fit in the vice. The top of the depression wanted to ride up, but managed to flow this material back down and stretch the return to relieve the panel tension. The curved edge need a slight shrink to flatten everything off after the flange was done. Before I started all of this I put a bit of shape into the top of the panel with the wheel, as I figured that the three step beads would need some extra metal to stop the final panel from 'oil-canning'. Stepped the front flange to sit over the fuel cell box and made another little gizmo from some scrap aluminium to finish the returns. Basically just squashed the very corner by clamping it all up to the welding table with a G clamp and a supporting piece underneath. The three step beads ain't perfect - newbie error. The panel is 950 long and of course won't rotate fully in the throat of the swage. I finished up reversing the step dies (Lazzie calls them 'flame dies') reversing the machine and doing them backwards to finish the ends. Close enough, but you would want something a bit better if it were a 250 GTO.
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Richard "I know nothing. I from Barcelona" (Manuel - Fawlty Towers) Link to our racecar project https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elan-...ab=public&view |
#38
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Nice results there Richard.
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Marcus aka. Gojeep Victoria, Australia http://willyshotrod.com Invention is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less materials you need. |
#39
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Cheers Marcus! You wouldn't want to be billing it...
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Richard "I know nothing. I from Barcelona" (Manuel - Fawlty Towers) Link to our racecar project https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elan-...ab=public&view |
#40
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Hmm, nice yardage of clean tin, Richard. What are those few shiny copper-aluminum cylinder thingies, sticking out of the foreground metal? They look so familiar ....
oh, so that what they look like when new .... ...guess it's been awhile.....
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Kent http://www.tinmantech.com "All it takes is a little practical experience to blow the he!! out of a perfectly good theory." --- Lloyd Rosenquist, charter member AWS, 1919. |
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