James
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| posted on 15/7/05 at 01:49 PM |
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Making Ali Side Panels- any hints or tips?
Just wondered if anyone had any good tips/hints for doing the ali side panels?
I fancy making a start this weekend but I'm a little unsure of a few things.
For a start, how have people done the long bends where the sides curve round under the engine bay? I was wondering if it could be bent around a piece
of 4" drain pipe or something? Presumably it's important to match the profile of the nose cone in this area?
Anything else I should know?
Thanks,
James
[Edited on 15/7/05 by James]
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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want2race
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| posted on 15/7/05 at 02:03 PM |
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Its cheaper and easier to use paper or thick cardboard first! Dont ask how I know 
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Peteff
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| posted on 15/7/05 at 02:04 PM |
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Are you panelling all the way to the nosecone filling in round the wishbones? It makes the job more complicated if you do. Finishing them at the fu
tubes makes life a lot easier and lets the air out from the radiator before the engine bay.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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Surrey Dave
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| posted on 15/7/05 at 03:18 PM |
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The bends top and bottom are right angles , they dont need to follow the nose cone 'cos there's a cut out right at the front for the
wishbone...........
 
Rescued attachment frontalloy.gif
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Surrey Dave
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| posted on 15/7/05 at 03:24 PM |
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This was the template that I made........you can see by the writing that I muffed up the position of one of the holes, good job it was the
template..............I think I still have it James
 
Rescued attachment template.jpg
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Fozzie
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| posted on 15/7/05 at 03:44 PM |
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Yup, good advice...templates every time
Fozzie
'Racing is Life!...anything before or after is just waiting'....Steve McQueen
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paulf
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| posted on 15/7/05 at 05:50 PM |
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I used a bit of 50mm dia tube attached to the lower chassis rails by two bits of strip welded to the round tube and g clamped to the lower chassis
rails.I set the tube to be parrallel and directly below the top chassis rails.
I then made a pattern from some old wallpaper and adjusted till correct .Cut the alloy and bent around the temporary former .
Paul.
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steve_gus
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| posted on 15/7/05 at 11:07 PM |
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you can make the alu easier to bend with the soap and blowtorch technique. do a search on my posts if you need to know cos ive explained it so many
times its becoming daft 
atb
steve
http://www.locostbuilder.co.uk
Just knock off the 's'!
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alfasudsprint
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| posted on 15/7/05 at 11:23 PM |
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Ali side panels, best advice is take your time and consider every cut carefully, plus how you handle it etc to not scratch it, especially if doing
alone, like me! My opinion is that its worth doing the whole lot in one piece, the bends are easy if you support the panel well with wood battens both
sides before hammering (with rubber hammer) its really not difficult to cut holes for suspension components to fill in to the nose cone, I prefer the
look personally. Its a very satisfying job!
I imagined you had finished yours already James, you were ahead of me before, thought I was taking my time!
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Ian Pearson
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| posted on 16/7/05 at 08:43 AM |
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I made a full length template from grease proof paper. 90 deg bends all along the top edge, 90 deg bend along the bottom edge from rear arch to
bulkhead. From the bulkhead to rad, I then produced a curve with some old floor boards and rope. Resulted in a very nice curved panel. Didn't
anneal the ali, as I've never been able to get a satisfactory result that way. Good luck!
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James
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| posted on 20/7/05 at 01:07 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by alfasudsprint
I imagined you had finished yours already James, you were ahead of me before, thought I was taking my time!
Yeah, most people seem to think something along those lines too!
They don't realise I had to stop to secretly build 4 other Locosts in the mean time!
Thanks for all the advice everyone, I'm off sick from work so maybe I'll start this week!
Cheers,
James
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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kango
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| posted on 10/8/05 at 04:50 AM |
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James
I am at the same stage and was waiting for you to share some of your findings.
What did you end up doing.
I want to use SS for my sides, but was looking at the problem or how to get the sides to match the nose come.
Share some ideas.
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James
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| posted on 10/8/05 at 10:10 AM |
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Ok, well I haven't really got that far.
This weekend was knackered by having to fix my tin top and the arrival of an old mate of mine (recently released from a mentalist institute!  ) in a
knackered transit that needed some emergency work!
Just in my skill-set that is... fixing old transits- not!!!
Anyway, I've so far got as far as making an experimental paper template of one side so not an awful lot of progress yet. Also hit a slight flaw
with the chassis/engine height which I need to resolve before much longer.
Cheers,
James
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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RazMan
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| posted on 10/8/05 at 09:54 PM |
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Get some Cleko panel pin thingies!! They are a Godsend for fixing your panels accurately.
You can get them from Car Builder Solutions and they are worth every penny 
Oh and some cheap plastic clamps like the one shown in the pic
[Edited on 10-8-05 by RazMan]
 
Rescued attachment Cleko pins.jpg
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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James
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| posted on 11/8/05 at 08:05 AM |
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I have a bag of the plastic clamps.
And Ned has the Cleko things and only lives down the road from me so they shouldn't be too hard to source!
Cheers,
James
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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ned
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| posted on 11/8/05 at 08:32 AM |
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oo, i dunno, you'd have to ask him first though
beware, I've got yellow skin
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darren(SA)
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| posted on 15/8/05 at 07:49 AM |
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I found it easier to do the bending once against the chassis, I used some large clamps holding the ali tightly against the rails. Get a mate to give
you a hand so that two of you can bend at the same time (sounds bad!). You should be able to do the initial bend easy enough by hand, from there use a
long straight piece of wood and gentle hammer the edge down. This should give you a perfect angled edge. Rivet the top/bottom in place before
proceeding with the other edge.
My biggest tip is to keep the protective film on the ali until you absolutely have to take it off, don't let it tempt you
cheers darren
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MikeP
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| posted on 15/8/05 at 01:45 PM |
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Same here, I bent most of my panels in place, often leaving the final bend until I was ready to glue or rivet them in place.
When folding over I've found it's best to clamp very tightly with wood just shy of the bend point, then use a soft hammer to coax the ali
over from the bend point out - this cuts down on the tendency of the ali to spring back from the fold.
Some step by step pictures.
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kango
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| posted on 16/9/05 at 04:28 AM |
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Any progress James?
What thickness Ali are you going to use?
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