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!!!