A Floor In My Plan!

 

Well it would seem that I should use more logic and less stupidity when working on this project. I offered up the floor pan sheet which is laser cut to the correct dimensions, and despite me measuring the new outriggers correctly you can see pictured here that it’s well out. I need an even 20mm sill lip in order to mount the body on. The build manual does state to check the width and narrow the outriggers if needed. So I just needed to reduce the width of the centre support and adjust the angle of the front side profile slightly. Bit of a ball ache really but all part of the learning curve I suppose. Still it should make constructing the other side much easier and straightforward.

So another few hours messing on and it was sorted, a nice 20mm even sill flange front to back. Now to start on the other side. The floor pan on these pictures is just measured and set in the correct place then clamped onto the chassis and outriggers allowing the sills and other dimensions to be checked first. Once the other side frame is complete the floor pan is then welded to the chassis which will also add to its increasing strength. If you are going to attempt a build yourself of this car then measuring and clamping the floor pan should be the first thing you do and will make fitting your front, centre and back outrigger considerably easier to construct, whilst keeping within the tolerance for the dimensions.

The image above shows where I have finished the main frame now and removed the floor pan sheet ready for trimming. It has been fully marked up and the centre of the floor is cut/removed as so the prop shaft will be accessible from underneath the car. 

I have welded the floor pan to the chassis now and allowed sufficient overlap underneath to allow a seam weld along the inside face of the chassis rails. It is stitched on around the perimeter on the inside face and the outer joins will be sealed with some seam sealer to eliminate any water ingress. 

I intend to hit the whole chassis again with the bed liner texture paint, as it has taken some abuse during the construction stages where I have had to strip it back to allow the welding to penetrate. I will treat and prep the bare surfaces first to a good 2k primer then top it with the same texture black bed liner. I can’t really do this until the ambient temperature increases slightly as today was barbaric in the garage and I’d be surprised if the temp was anything above 2/3 degrees…. Still the enthusiasm of progress kept me warm….. sort of! 

Now the chassis has some considerable weight to it, and manhandling and flipping it over was getting bloody tricky on your own. It wasn’t particularly easy before however now with the added weight of the diff, main spring, new floor and outriggers it’s nye on impossible to lift and shift where you need it to be in order for access for welding. Still it’s nearly time to build up the running gear and get the whole thing rolling, that will be a good milestone. 

I’m happy with how this is turning out and my confidence in welding is massively improved, but I’m slightly sick of the constant weld, grind, weld, grind, tidy up process already. The satisfaction of constructing something substantial out of metal is immense, however the construction process is a tad laborious really… all for the greater good mind.

Next up is the front body mounts, which double up as the radiator fixings also. These are simply twin flange bit of steel that cap the front chassis rails, where we removed the original bonnet hinge brackets. 

I offered the body tub up onto the chassis just to basically check that all the floor sections were acceptable and no further adjustments was needed. Then after a play around with the front body supports/radiator brackets I decided to leave them until later on. If you see pictured here that the front support will need some angle adjustment in order for the top 10mm flange to sit on the chassis rail, and this is not really possible to determine yet, until I’m closer to fitting the body tub permanently as a cannot determine it’s final position yet. When each of these brackets are fitted they then have a further second flange bracket welded onto them at 90degrees which in turn then creates the mounting point for the radiator. 

  I have retained the radiator from the donor car and so now it’s time to start getting it overhauled and ready to be used again, I have considered an alloy replacement, however the majority on the market are superseded units for the Spitfire and are considerably wider than original and will not really be suitable for this project… that and the cost of the bloody things are barbaric in comparison to an original reconditioned unit. 

The second picture here shows the radiator support bracket that will be welded to the body bracket, it will give me ample room for fitting the radiator and allow some further fixing points for a cooling fan (either push or pull) I’m intending to totally over engineer the cooling system for this project. My Cobra is great when moving but sat idle for any medium to long period and the overheat becomes a serious concern, and the cooling fan is grafting at full capacity… so not really very practical. Now I know this won’t have a whacking great V8 in it, but I want it to be robust enough to sit on idle all day long with no airflow through the nose cone and still hold temperature correctly. This will simply be a basic thermostatic controller within the top hose kicking the fan in and out as needed, and secondly the fan fitted must pull/push the capacity of air requiring to sufficiently cool the radiator. The original viscous fan I think will be pretty much redundant on this setup. I have been researching about changing the viscous unit to a standard direct drive fan off the water pump, however with the movement of the radiator and engine within this car I can’t see at this point how it will be anywhere near useful if fitted and so I plan to just do away with it all together. Lots more to do before I start considering these decisions mind… like where I’m going to put my size 12 feet!!!

With the body offered onto the chassis it was difficult not to get a tad excited and start planning future bits here and there. One thing I did notice was how narrow the foot well is. Again comparing with my Cobra I have sod all room in that to rest my left foot when not operating the clutch, and whilst this image here is slightly accentuated because of my rigger boots, I’m still going to have similar issues on this one, unless I start planning some changes now. On reading the manual it’s advised to cut the top flange on the offside outer section and fold down to give more room for your right foot on the accelerator, however I’m going to start considering making a wider footwell as there is a good 3-4inch between the outer sill section and the curvature of the body tub. Again reading the build guide it’s advised to utilise this space for brake/fuel lines etc… and I’m also considering locating the battery in the boot so the main battery cable can run down here also, however none of these components demand as much space as there is and the operation of the pedal box is far more important than cable runs. Also their is the nearside void that could be utilised for all this as the passenger footwell can be narrow as they will not be operating anything with their feet. 

Again with the body tub offers onto the chassis it was mandatory to sit in and make “brum brum” noises with my youngest sat shotgun, thinking I’m a total wally. Still it was a tad exciting to imagine what the finished product is going to look/feel like and start to get a feel of how it’s all going to be. 

If anything I’m a tad daunted with just how much work and construction is actually required building this, and as I’ve said before it is not just a bolt together kit, so I hope my brain and body hold out long enough to complete it…. And my bank balance!

Now I really need to start getting all my running gear sorted so I can start the rolling chassis, this is going to be a relatively tidy sum of parts along with adjustable suspension etc… but again, all very exciting and enjoyable. 

Chassis time, let’s get the party started!!

 

Well I think now it’s time to step this project up a gear, I have had some uncertainty’s and doubts over the winter period but with all that behind me and the main fabrication parts now available it’s time to crack on. The chassis parts are now all with me from David at Morfabrication and are ready to start getting measured and cut for fitting. We had some teething problems getting the parts all correct, however we soon got it sorted and now have a chassis kit produced and a cost price sent to Mick at Fiorano. So future kits might be supplied through Fiorano possibly from a north east supplier, we shall see what the future brings. 

With all my chassis bits now in my garage it was time to really get my head round the build and start making some progress. This build is totally different to my AK Cobra that I built a few years back, there is significantly more fabrication and building as such as opposed to just a bolt together project. 

I started by temporarily refitting the diff, as this machined face provided the datum point to which all floor pan measurements are taken. The floor pan is made up of a front, centre and rear outrigger with a side profile angled the same as the sheet floor. Because the outriggers are

just welded onto the chassis sides it leaves the original chassis as standard hence just a technical re-body for registration process. There is also the rear handbrake bridge which creates the fulcrum point for the handbrake cable, which is something I’m determined to make functional as opposed to a novelty like on the Cobra. Every year at MOT the handbrake efficiency on the Cobra is a bone of contention, it’s notoriously weak on the gen1 AK kit with inboard rear callipers…. But not on this project!

I spent considerably longer than was needed probably checking all dimensions and creating a drawing with every possible measurement sketched on it including angles of the side profile cut which involved some GCSE maths that I haven’t used in nearly 25 years, but still after checking all measurements again and again it was time to fire up the mig and start welding some bits together. 

With each outrigger I have spent some time profiling the end cut to the chassis, which should create a good strong structure when all fused together with the art of welding. This was tedious really but important as it keeps the accuracy for the overall dimension of the floorpan which will support the body, along with the firewall bulkhead. The sill is created by the floorpan overlapping the outrigger when welded together (I’ll cover this later in the blog when I get to it) 

  I initially tacked the outriggers on to allow for any adjustment within the geometry of the build up. This allowed me the chance to create one completed outrigger section and to check all my dimension according to the drawings and datum point for accuracy before finally stitch welding it all together and making a solid structure. 

I always envisaged the chassis being considerably wider than this when browsing pictures online. But after checking again all my measurements and cuts I’m more than confident that it’s all correct. Again I was surprised at how strong the structure now is even without the central outrigger in place like pictured here. The bulk of the strength will come from the steel floorpan that will get stitched to the underside of all this substructure and welded round the perimeter and centre outrigger. I have only had time to get the one side done so far, but it’s just repetition for the other side and then to flip the chassis over to start on the floor sheet, made from 16gauge steel.

I really hope that more people will find this blog in the future and use it as a guide to start their own build. So little information is available online for these vehicles and again so few of these vehicles are ever seen at shows etc… so fingers crossed this blog will help buck the trend and get more people building as opposed to just saving up money to buy one built already. It’s a steady decline bred into children from primary school that to be “practical” or “hands on” is just not desirable in the modern world we live in. However the industrial revolution is something we should embrace and be proud of…. Not apologising because it might have upset someone’s feelings or it doesn’t conform to you current standards of life or ethics. 

Last up was to weld up the handbrake bridge onto the chassis. Caution is advised in the manual as if you use the original donor cable, then it may have stretched slightly and not allow as much adjustment as required to get an effective handbrake. I intend to fit a brand new cable, custom made if needed, to give a more than adequate handbrake. And I’m considering an external hand break lever similar to that on some more vintage vehicles. Another option is a cosmetically nicer chrome hand break leaver from a MG midget. These are much nicer to look at than the grubby plastic Spitfire unit that I still have…. However these decisions can be made later on. 

Next update in a week or so probably, just showing the other side complete and the floor pan in hopefully. I’m going to have to start a shopping list to start all my running gear and bushes so I can get the chassis rolling!…. Now that’s exciting…. For me anyway!