Lots Been Going On

 

So there has been lots and lots of little jobs been going on recently. First off is the front and rear indicators that I have been searching for a specific style and size before committing to purchase. I eventually found them online but they are motorbike units with only a single wire positive feed as they are earthed through the body, so I’ll have to make some modifications to accommodate them to a fibreglass body tub… and paint them. They are the same units fitted by most pre war Bentley owners as they are nice and subtle yet bright and practical. Firstly I needed to add an additional feed to earth the body. This was really easy to be fair, the hollow mounting bolt was drilled out to about 6mm as so to accept two wires as opposed to one. Then I simply drilled the internal bulb holder with a 2mm hole soldered on a second wire to act as the ground wire and fed it back through the mounting bolt and reassembled the whole thing…. After priming and painting the whole thing. 

These have turned out really well and will look great when fitted and functional. I intend to mount them for the front turn signals and the rear also, but I’m still a long way from making them a permanent fixture on the body yet. But it’s nice to tinker away on little jobs that will be a doddle to fit later down the line when I get to that stage. 

The next little sideline project was making a start on the carburettors. I’m using/rebuilding the original twin SU carbs that were fitted to the Spitfire. Two main reasons really… one is that I already have them, and second is that my budget can’t really stretch to twin webbers, which is a bit of a dream….. (or a possible future upgrade) 

I started off stripping the carbs down to component form (one at a time) and giving everything a good clean and soak in petrol to help remove as much gunk and years of grim as possible.

I’m going to broadcast my concerns now that with a fully rebuild engine/carbs and gearbox that when I get to a test run of the engine, then I think I’m going to struggle with the initial setup and running of the engine. Simply because everything, absolutely everything has been removed, cleaned, repaired and rebuilt. I still have to order some bits for the carbs t such as the usual gaskets etc… however I noticed that one of the needles was dog legged when removed so a new pair of needles will be required amongst various springs and wax stat removal kit. All in all the rebuild for the carbs alone (not including the linkages) will totally around £200… so need to keep and clean as much as possible. 

One really satisfying job on the carbs is to polish up the dash pots. This was really fun and easy. Once they were removed and initially cleaned I simply popped a long bolt through each unit and tightened with a washer and bolt, then tightened the bolt into my hand drill.

I cable tied the trigger and set about with some 800grit wet and dry and cutting compound. Then after a while on each dash pot I then spent some time on the bench polisher and mop wheel, bringing each one to a gorgeous mirror shine, yet keeping some patina and age to the rest of the carb body’s and components.  I have briefly mocked them back onto the inlet manifold and fixed onto the engine, simply to check for clearances and potential issues with the steering column…. But it was all ok and they look flipping awesome….and will look even better once I can afford the rebuild kit and nice pancake filters.

Next job on the list was to make a start on the dash. This has been on my mind for a good few months now and I want to get a mix of modern practical and usable gauges, switch gear but with a general period look and feel to it all. I did consider a sheet steel dash finish with a turned finish. However I have opted for a more traditional flat dash which will be finished in a nice textured black leather. I first off started with some 12mm sheet marine plywood and set about cutting and tailoring the fit to my body tub. My final fixings will be three long m6 bolts, with the heads buried into the wood to give a flush/flat finish, drilled through the frame that I have bent, welded  and fitted previously. 

Next job was to figure out my gauge and switch layout. This was easily done with some paper templates that are just moved about until I was happy with the positions and layout before committing and marking the centre holes and making some cutouts. My switch gear is all going to be toggle switch controlled so I have had to use my router attachment on my Dremel to thin out some areas of the ply as so the switch will penetrate the depth of the wood and fix securely. I have really enjoyed the dash construction so far and when I get it trimmed in the black leather it will look tremendous with all the switches and chrome bezelled gauges. 

I have temporarily placed all the gauges and switches within the dashboard, whilst I’m waiting for delivery of my leather finish. It’s going to look tremendous when all done and for anyone who followed my Cobra build blog, or knows my Cobra may notice the starter button has the same style…. Because I got two “Go-Baby-Go” switch tags many many years ago… and I never throw anything away! 

I have fitted all my toggle switches with the relevant I.D tag markers along with my fuel pump switch with arircraft style knock off, which looks epic on the dash… more so when the red contrasts the red body colour popping off the black leather dash. 

The last little sneaky preview for the next update possible is the seating. I have been really really struggling to get any form of seating that I was happy with. I have butchered up one of the old Spitfire seat frames in the hope of getting to something that I can use and looked good in the car, however after hours and hours of fettling and cutting every single result felt like and looked like a compromise…. Not acceptable for me. 

I even got a seat on ebay from a bucket seat manufacturer that is brand new (ex display unit) for only £10, but unfortunately was far to wide and never going to fit nicely or well… so that’s back up for sale with a profit hopefully, as I need to offset that against my latest acquisition pictured here. 

I used the power of the internet to find a fella through an MG club site, that produces steel seat shells for many pre war cars such as the MG J2. After a few discussions and various txt messages he sent me the details and dimensions for these K3 seats that he actually had on the shelf ready for dispatch. And as you can see they fit absolutely spot on and when trimmed up correctly they will be superb for the car and overall finish. They are specifically made with a cut out for the prop shaft, which i can now start to fabricate a cover for with handbrake fixings also… so every job done allows me to start on the next one. 

All this now gives me plenty to tinker on with over the upcoming autumn and winter months, so hopefully we can push the build on further and make another step towards the finished car!!!

Keeping My Guard Up

So a while back I ordered some headlight stone guards which is something I really wanted on this car. They are fairly generic items that are readily available for all 7” headlight units and “normally” fit with three brackets onto the plastic headlight back bowl, under the main chrome bezel. Now on my headlights this fitment method is not going to work because I’m using the stainless steel headlight bowls mounted horizontal as opposed to vertical like they are intended (which I covered in an earlier post) 

I have had my brain thinking as to how I can now fix these guards onto my headlight units and keep them looking professional and look like they were intended to be there and not a stick on after thought. 

I order some more stainless steel M5 button head machine screws but only 10mm long this time along with some lovely M5 knurled blind nuts which are going to work a treat. 

This whole build process on this car has involved some serious fabrication of parts and brackets etc… something I’m really enjoying doing, as it will make the finished car 100% unique and tailored to my taste and style along with hopefully making it interesting for people to look at when I’m out and about in it. The pleasure I get with my Cobra is looking at other cars the same and seeing how other people have solved the same issues but in a different fashion. 

So let’s start making or changing the brackets that came with the stone guards. I started off flattening out the bracket and then shortening them slightly. I had to cut them just behind the original hole and then clean it all up with a file. Once that was done I needed to drill another hole for the M5 machine screw to pass through so this was just measured and centre punched then drilled through. I could have done all these brackets at once, but because I was not following anything other than my own idea I just did one bracket at a time and that allowed me to make minor adjustments with how I had to bend and manipulate them slightly for a better fit. 

I then masked off the main polished stainless bezel of the headlight bowl and after some careful mocking up I marked the hole I needed to drill to push the machine screw through. 

This all worked out really nicely and after I had drilled the main bezel I was able to fix the first bracket and then move onto the next one. Because I’m fitting tripod headlights I want the fixing brackets and knurled buttons to mirror the symmetry of the tripod bars in the headlights, so the first one was in the top centre and the other two at around 4 o’clock and 8 o’clock position. Then after a little fettling with bending the brackets accordingly I was able to refit the headlight within the bezel and then back onto then bowl.

I was a tad concerned that when refitting the bezel onto the bowl, that the now head of the machine screws would void the lip of the bowl and I would have to cut some notches out. However I was pleased to see that the machine screw button head, even with the added depth of a locking spring washer, did not effect the fitting of the outer bezel at all and they fitted back on perfectly as intend and the now overall finished effect and look is absolutely awesome (in my opinion) they look really period for the car and certainly not a stick on component…. All for about 4 hours work in my garage and a total cost of around £24 total… happy with that!

Louvre Myself and Bozzeye Solution

Been a while since I have had some garage time and made some progress. But here’s a little update to keep you entertained. You will possibly recall that I have fitted my headlights and had to fettle the mounting height to get them level and aesthetically pleasing. A tad more fettling has been required to get them to my standard. You can see pictured here how the headlights are not projecting at a ninety degree off the centre line and as shown with the yellow line they would both be directing their emitted light beam slightly bozz eyed as such. I need the light pattern to be more parallel to the centre line as displayed with the red line. 

The headlight bowl is held in place with a hollow bolt spigot that is fitted through the bowl itself with a captive washer. In order to solve my cross eyed effect I’m going to have to just extend the opening of the elongated hole. This is needed because I am not using the headlight bowl as they were intended, my fixing position is horizontal as opposed to vertical as these were designed for. The curvature of the body nose cone accentuates the projection of the beam and hence some custom modifications are now required. 

So I started off just marking up my desired cut lines to give me some further adjustment when fitted. Then using my dremmel and a drum sander, slowly opened up the cut keeping it all neat and tidy. Once this was sorted it gave me significantly more adjustment of the headlight bowl and was hopefully going to solve a little snagging issue. You can also see in this picture the small gap between the captive washer and the headlight bowl, just to the right of the washer. This whilst not noticeable when fitted will allow a small amount of water ingresses and because they are mounted horizontal as opposed to vertical this water will not be able to drain out. This problem is easily solved by simply drilling a few small holes just in the lower lip of the headlight bowl. They originally did have a drain hole, but again remember these have now rotated 90degrees out of position because of the change in the mounting orientation….. solve one problem, create another. These new holes are not visible, unless you were to lay with your head on the ground, so jobs a good-un. 

So comparing the new position/projection of the headlights now to how they were before, you can see they are significantly improved and they should give off a much better light pattern to how they were previously…. Next up body work. 

Part of the journey with kit car building is reusing and recycling items and parts that you accumulate during your life…. Aka hoarding bits that you think will be useful for something or other at some point. So Christmas Eve about two years ago saw my oven go pop and was beyond repair so it was naturally replaced. However before it went the distance I took many good components and parts from it…. Because “you never know” eh!

 In this case the rear panel of the old oven is a good steel sheet with many louvres cut into it…. Louvres are for venting…. Engine bays need venting. The thought process started and is now getting put into practice. 

The bonnet and body of my Spyder are fibreglass, which you can’t just cut bonnet louvres into easily as you can with a steel panel, so some further fabrication is going to be required.

First off was to cut two sections of the louvres out of the panel, which was easily done and then they were fine tuned to make them both identical in shape and size. Then I needed to start planning my fitting position for them, which actually took longer then expected because I’m indecisive basically. However after a while I decided that I wanted them further back on the bonnet as pictured here. So now I needed to mark the positions and check basic symmetry off other features such as the bonnet scoop and hinge positions. I specifically wanted these louvres to blend in with the bonnet as opposed to a bolt onto the top, so I’m going to need to bond them in.

I marked the position of the louvred panels with pen then marked a cut section with masking tape. The cut section is about a quarter inch smaller than the overall size as I need a lip to bond the louvred onto. I used my multi tool to cut the section out the bonnet then went around the perimeter cutting down/thinning the lip as so when the louvre is bonded it will be flush with the bonnet and look seamless. 

 The louvred panel was bonded on using a high strength PU sealer and once cured off overnight has allowed the bonnet to regain some strength after cutting two whacking great holes in it, which was a concern. 

The next step was to start blending and filling the perimeter seam as so the panel looks blended with the bonnet. I started off cutting excess PU sealant off then skimming around with a fine body filler. This is a tedious process really as it takes two or three passes with the filler to make sure the panel is flush and to eliminate any risk of high spots or low spots. I have dusted over with a primer which helps identify the areas that need more work and once I’m relatively happy I will just throw down a guide coat with a gloss finish so that will show any further snagging areas that are needed. Overall I’m really happy with how this little change is working out and will look really period when all done. One secondary issue from now having holes in the bonnet, specifically the offside, is that they might drop water directly onto the carburettors. This I have already got an idea in mind to create a baffle plate that will be mounted underside the bonnet. This will channel any water down away from anything important and also allow the louvres to still vent and draft the air through. So I have made some progress, I just need to keep chipping away. 

Steering Time

 

The whole steering setup has been a tad tricky so far and mocking everything up had not been particularly easy or straightforward really. The build manual/guide is extremely vague in regards to the steering column support and brackets, so I’m off on my own here as I don’t want to keep asking Mick from Fiorano for assistance and I need to figure things out for myself. 

So starting with my second attempted front support brace, I welded in a horizontal tube with upright support which gave me something to weld a thick 6mm plate to which in theory will be drilled in the correct places to accept a U-bolt and clamp the top of the steering column. This was all vaguely clamped together in the car first and should give me plenty of tolerance for movement and adjustment when it comes to the final fit. 

I painted the frame when it was out the car again as hopefully I won’t be removing it anymore but it’s no real hardship if I need to. Next was to look towards the lower end of the steering and the rack itself. I had to replace the lower universal joint on the rack as my original Triumph unit had worn rubber joints and the only replacement parts I found were silly expensive. The new universal joint is from Car Builder Solutions and is the standard 14mm 36spline but has the advantage of being solid mount (no rubber to perish over time) this will hopefully give the steering a much firmer and more responsive feel as there are no rubber joins that will soften over time and give a little spongy feel to it all. The new lower joint has created its own slight problem as in the physical dimensions of the whole thing are bigger than the original unit and it voids with the suspension tower. I have found my own solution to this problem, but I’m unsure of the side effects yet (hopefully none) 

The build manual/guide does cover this issue even using the original joint and simply advises to use a hammer and drift to further manipulate the suspension tower strut and basically bend it, smash the hell out of it so that it doesn’t void with the joint…I don’t like that idea much in regards to a proper solution. So my solution is to simply move the steering rack forward by about 1/2 inch. This then creates ample space for the bigger replacement steering joint and all I have/had to do was drill a couple of extra holes on the chassis and budge the whole thing forward. Again now I’m hoping that this will not affect the whole steering geometry too much, in regards to caster,camber,toe in/out and most importantly bump steer. However in theory the only further adjustment will be with the toe in/out of the front wheels…. Non of which have been set yet, so fingers crossed. 

My steering column is going to be made up mostly from the donor Spitfire but with the addition of a lower shaft to take into account the difference in steering angle and positioning. The upper telescope section (pictured here) slides into the upper column and clamps with a break away clamp onto the flat section. This allows a bit of adjustment of the column forth and back but I’m fixing my upper column on the brace bar that I fabricated so once measured, cut and fitted I won’t have any adjustment. I did have to shorten this shaft slightly and with my grinder extend the flat point. I could have cut and welded this but its strength is greater as one original piece and with the slight modification. I have also added a sleeved section towards the one end. This is to increase the shaft diameter to 19mm where it will sit in the bulkhead bearing. This was just slid on to the correct position and welded into place.

The lower section of the column is the new splined shaft from CBS and a second universal joint. This shaft did need cutting in order to fit. And after a few trial and error fittings I was happy with the length and tacked a couple of welds to fix together. This then allowed me to fine tune everything really and making sure I was happy with the whole setup. It has been a massively fiddly task and a fair amount of swearing will have been heard from my garage… but it’s definitely on the downhill slope now.

Once I was fully happy with it all I gave the lower shaft a full perimeter weld and with the grinder flattened the weld back. This was so I could weld a sleeve to the shaft and in theory strengthen the whole section. The steering takes a lot of forces against it, so sleeving the join just felt right and gives me a slight safety net in case a weld joint fails… can’t risk that mid corner at speed. 

So now was time to fit everything and make it all good. I painted the visible sections of the lower column as I want to keep everything looking good. I also had to nip a little section out of the engine mount in order for the shaft to rotate freely without scraping, but after lots more fiddling about and many many swear words getting thrown around the steering was pretty much done and functional. 

The bearing was also fitted to the bulkhead which I purposely fitted engine bay side as opposed to footwell. If it was on the internal footwell side there is a slight risk it would stop the clutch pedal getting full travel and thus engaging the clutch. So naturally the bearing also had to get painted to match the bulkhead and body colour…. Attention to detail!!

I’m very pleased to have this completed now, as it will also make moving the car about considerably easier. The whole steering feel is very firm with no tight spots or binding and even dry steering is very easy and light. The two new solid mounted universal joints give the steering a very responsive feel and there is zero play in the column when starting to turn either right or left. I have also kept the indication cancellation pins in the boss that cancel the indicator once you have turned the corner, something on the Cobra that is not very good for some reason. I very often have the indicators still on after complete the turn but can’t hear the click of the signal over the engine noise. 

My last little extra for this update is my quick release steering wheel boss. I originally purchased it when I was around 18 and had it on one of my classic minis, so it’s lucky that I tend to horde stuff in my garage. I planned this after a saw Paul Wards car and he was showing how tight it was to get in and out the car if the steering wheel was fixed. He also has a quick release boss but it differs slightly to mine as mine can’t be removed without the key. These bosses also add further security to the car as if it’s left unattended for any period you can simply remove the steering wheel and either lock it in the boot or keep it with you.

You will have also noticed a few cheeky Ferrari badges/logos which I have fitted. Yes I know this is not a Ferrari and it never will be, but from day one of this project I said to myself that I wanted to badge it as one to hopefully engage the conversation to the original 1948 166 Spyder. Paul has mentioned that his car gets a much better response from people not being badged as a Ferrari, so any badge or logo that I fit I’m making easily removable at a later date if I so choose or to change to whatever I want. 

 Next up on the job list is making a start on the dashboard and getting the engine fully built up really. So lots to be getting on with. 

Time To Tape The Bonnet

 

I’m still halfway through writing another blog update covering the steering column install, however I need around £200 to order some parts and I just don’t really have the spare funds yet, so will have to wait a few weeks until I can finish that update. However this is a great little progression step that I have had planned from the early stages of the build. I don’t want rubber or neoprene seals round the bonnet and engine bay as I wanted a more vintage look to the car. So I have opted for a thin seal of bonnet tape to stop the bonnet rubbing against the body. This acts as a cushion between the bonnet and the flange on the body and will look extremely period when fitted. 

In order to fit the tape I don’t want to use adhesive or clips really, as in my opinion with adhesive it’s just a matter of time before it fails and makes a mess of the paint and bodywork and whilst clips would work they would also potentially scratch any sections that are in contact with them. So I have opted for my own style of installation, weaving the tape between small slots cut into the body, zero risk of any scratches and impossible to work its way loose when installed.

I started off making a template of the correct size slot/hole I needed for the tape with some thin cardboard. Then with some masking tape on the mounting flange I started to measure and mark where I wanted my cuts to be. I have spent some time on this planning the route of the tape, and measuring so that each section is consistent in its spacing and more importantly symmetrical from offside to nearside. This was relatively easy and just took some time planning the tighter curves in the panel on the lower edge and was easy to just continue my way round the full perimeter of the body tub. 

Once all the marks were made I used my dremel multi tool and a small drill bit to make the openings required for the tape to pass through, by drilling two holes at either side of my marks then elongating the holes to make a small oval cut in the body. 

With the tape woven in and out of each slot it was looking really cool and I was extremely pleased with such a trivial issue that now looks superb, and will look even better once the body is painted…. Another tick in the box of “attention to detail” 

I still need to find some bonnet hinges (same as the boot) so I can fit the bonnet but I’m keeping my eyes peeled on eBay for another bargain as they are around £80 from S&J new which I don’t really want to spend when the same boot hinges cost only £15 on eBay….. patience I suppose. 

 The bonnet tape came from Woolies and only cost £15 so not expensive whatsoever for the overall finished effect. I used a total of 4 meters which has given ample excess to cut and secure at the start and end point at the front centre of the engine bay. I will be securing these ends with a small rubber bonnet spacer and fixings once I get my hinges and can actually start fitting and spacing the bonnet.

Last on this update I want to show you why you must measure and check everything for symmetry when working with kit cars and specifically fibreglass kit cars. You can see on the image here the flash line in the moulding of the body, which could easily be presumed as the centre line for the body tub….. it is not!

When I measured a centre line from between the end of each side of the bonnet tape you can see the mark on the masking tape is easily a good 2cm away from the flash line, so if using that flash line as a centre point it would knock everything cock skew off centre and really fudge things up! Granted there is a small tolerance within this because of the nature of fibreglass and its shrinking whilst curing (which takes a year or so technically to fully cure) but it’s much easier to be conscious of these potential pitfalls during the build and act accordingly. In this case I can confirm the centre line by placing the bonnet in situ and the masking tape line should be central to the bonnet scoop opening give or take a millimetre or so….. and it is, boom!! In fact it only accentuates further, how far off the flash line actually is!

Bending Again… Attempt Two!

 

I’m trying to push this project on a little with limited funds currently due to life, but hey ho I’m always looking for a bargain or a nice cost saving alternative without compromising quality. So to totally contradict that statement slightly I’m spending some more money on some steel tube to redo the front support frame. The first one I did I was a tad overzealous with the gauge of the steel tube and it just wasn’t working well. 

I picked up a 3 meter length of 2.5mm 1 inch tube and I spent some time mimicking the bends of the previous attempt. This time I started with the near side section, slowly bending each bit using the tube bender. This was working nicely and the smaller diameter tube was working just as well as the previous attempt. However this time I wanted the offside section to follow the contour of the body tub so that involved starting to bend one half up first to follow the radius of the cockpit body.

This was a little time consuming but after lots ant lots of little adjustments here and there it was pretty good really and fitted well. You can see here how it now follows the full shape of the body and will give me more space when the dash is fitted to fit the gauges, without them voiding on the frame. Next I moved on to some lower fixing brackets that will be bolted onto the outer chassis rails, these were made from offcuts of 2mm steel and welded onto each lower leg of the new brace support. I’m also going to fit a tube section from the top middle to the front bulkhead which will add even further strength to the whole setup. 

The centre support section was simply made using an off cut of the tube cut to length and welded into place on the frame and a plate section the other end which is aligned and drilled for the bulkhead fixings. All of this might seem fairly trivial and straightforward, but it takes a huge amount of time fitting, removing, trimming, measuring, welding etc… etc… however when all sorted and finished it will all be hidden from sight behind the dashboard with only me really knowing how much work was involved getting it right. 

I am however this time around 100 times happier then my last attempt, and this will be more than sufficient to support the steering column, when I weld in the horizontal brace also. This will have to wait until some further mock ups of the steering column and extension shafts have been done as these will dictate the height and position of the brace bar. I’m going to remove all this again soon to prepaid it to be painted, as I want everything uniform and looking professional. 

Another bonus is that I can now play around with my dashboard setup and positioning of the gauges before I commit and get a sheet of steel to actually make the dash itself. It will be good to get the steering column in now and I think this is going to be a tad tricky in regards to the rack position and getting the steering column sections aligned nicely without creating tight spots from lock to lock…. But this is all next on my to do list!

The Cheapest Flange I Have Ever Had!

 

Well it’s been a while since I last did an update, but you can rest assured I have been scratching about and keeping my eyes peeled for bargains and auction specials. So we’ll start this update with my fuel system. I managed to find a Brasscraft fuel filler flange with locking insert for the grand total of £25. Granted I still need the Aston style cap (like on my Cobra) but this flange piece alone is easily over £100 and ticks all the box’s for me. I specifically wanted a locking insert on my fuel filler as this acts as a seal to the fuel tank, along with the main cap. I also wanted the flange to bolt to the panel as opposed to just a classic mini style fuel cap that just grub screws onto a filler neck with no support other than the 50mm fuel hose onto the tank itself. Granted this fuel flange does have a little trauma damage to one of the thread holes but I’m hoping to be able to file/polish it back enough to totally disguise it…. Fingers crossed. 

So to fit the fuel flange I first of need to prepare the mounting position on the body. The body tub has a raised area which is considerably smaller in diameter than my chosen filler cap, but luckily I am just going to use this as my cutting diameter as my flange is big enough to overlap and give me a secure fixing point and enough movement to align with the fuel tank below. So out with the multi-tool and a simple cut out and neaten off the edges. Then I dropped in the filler flange and got everything central and measured up correctly so I could mark the bolt fixing positions keeping them symmetrical. 

The fuel flange dropped in perfectly and I was able to mark and drill the fixing bolt positions. I need to get about 6” of 50mm fuel filler hose to fix the filler flange to the fuel tank still and more importantly now I need to start to hunt for a 3 1/2” filler cap that will thread onto this. I will if i have to buy a new one but I know about 10/15 years back when the Cobra was getting built, how much i paid then, so with inflation etc… etc… it could be a tad eye watering for a new cap from Brasscraft. Still I’m in no hurry as such so I can keep my eyes peeled and hunt every auto jumble I go too and see if I drop on. 

I bolted the filler flange into place and I have used the same machine screw stainless fixings as on the bulkhead and peddle box  as so to keep the theme of the build consistent and the attention to the detail. 

I also just borrowed the Aston cap from the Cobra for a second so I could visualise how it would look and it looks bloody terrific in my opinion. On the Cobra, with the filler neck being recessed it hides the cap slightly and whilst it’s clearly visible here it is top and centre and a real feature point for the car, so I’m pleased with that. However in true kit car building process, you venture away from the build manual and you create further problems… but only little in this case. You can see here that the filler cap latch sits fairly far back and so when the boot opens now I am going to have to restrict its fully open position and so the boot lid won’t void with the filler cap. The boot opens more than sufficient for normally use but it now can’t move past the vertical position and stay open on its own, still easily solved later on down the line with a boot hold latch which are easily obtained, or I might consider a nice bit of chain or rope whichever looks best.