I've taken the plunge and started the body work for my new car. This is the second attempt as the first was a disaster. The use of a profile gauge cut out of card really helped.
Rescued attachment FL lower side.JPG

The pieces are just stacked on top of one another at the moment. I just wanted to see how it might look. The top piece hasn't been carved yet, obviously. When glued together, they won't sag in the middle.

Once the pieces are cut to shape and have a coat of GRP on the back for stiffness, I'll give the outside a final sand to take out any ripples and GRP over the outside to totally encase the foam.

[Edited on 6-9-2008 by smart51]
Rescued attachment RL lower side.JPG

just been looking in your archive, is that those hella lights you're using?

looks like a nice little project too

quote:

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Originally posted by blakep82
just been looking in your archive, is that those hella lights you're using?

looks like a nice little project too

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i was going to use them. as much as i hate to say it, i'll be getting the ones in one housing now, coz thats all the space i've got in mine too...

if you really wanted the other ones, i'm sure you could put those on ebay or something and make your money back?

Here are a couple of pics of some of the body work. The foam has been covered on both sides with GRP and there's a rough coat of filler in places to build up the detail.

[Edited on 28-10-2008 by smart51]
Rescued attachment raw roof front.JPG

And another from the rear.
Rescued attachment raw bodywork rear.JPG

Congrats on getting so far so quickly, really starting to look like something.

Cheers

Fred W B

Here's a picture of the headlight shells I've been making. The back is fibreglass and the cover acrylic. Vacuum forming didn't work well enough so in the end I glued together lots of small pieces.
Rescued attachment headlight 2.JPG

and one from the other side
Rescued attachment hedlight 1.JPG

they look amazing!
hope mine turn out as good when i get round to doing them
going to order my lights next week i think

Another month, another picture. This time of the rear bumper skirt. Its a bit heavy so this one will be a buck from which I'll make a mould and then the final part. It also looks like I'll have to re centralise the tail gate lock hole. Oops.

The rear vents are for the radiator on the left and the exhaust on the right. Should I leave them open or cover them with grille or what? All suggestions welcome.
Rescued attachment rear bumper.JPG

And here it is again with the rear part of the roof.
Rescued attachment rear_with_roof.JPG

i think you should cover them with a grille. i think the holes are a little bit too big to leave open. looking goo though!

Here's a view of the front bonnet. A bit of body filler and it should look all right.
Rescued attachment front right.JPG

quote:

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Originally posted by smart51
Here's a view of the front bonnet. A bit of body filler and it should look all right.

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looks brilliant!

Here's a pic of the dash. I was hoping to finish this by the end of February. Some things take a lot longer than expected. I've got to find some way of mounting the front part without resorting to PU.
Rescued attachment Dash.JPG

Well I have to say that is looking good.
Are you using the scoot dash.?
if so how are you driving the speedo?
i am trying to incorporate the scoot speedo drive on the cortina front axle but I think it will be too small. I wish the speedo was elecronic, ho hum.
Anyow, keep it up and dont get downhearted, it will take time.
Regards Kipper.

Yes, I'm using the scooter's instrument pack which has a mechanical speedo. I'm using mini front hubs which have the drive shafts removed leaving a nice spline. A little bit of welding made up a bracket to join the bike speedo pickup to the wheel hub. I then got an inline reducer to reduce the speed (small mini wheels) and scanned and reprinted the speedo face plate so that Miles were the larger size and Km the smaller. The scanner picked up the grain pattern in the original fascia and printed it out the same so it looks surprisingly good. Speedy cables in south wales did the cable for me. A tidy job too.

It's been a while since I've updated this thread. The last 6 months have just been filling and sanding with little progress that would show up well on a photo. To be honest, my enthusiasm has been flagging and with a baby to look after I haven't had much time. Anyway, with a few panels close to being ready for paint, I thought I'd try out my spraying equipment. The plan was that once I'd seen the colour on a finished panel, the end wouldn't look quite so far away and I might pick up some more interest in the project. This photo is the first finished result, touch dry and straight from the garage.
Rescued attachment rear roof painted.JPG

Looks like a nice finish to me.

Replay the clarkson vid for inspiration.
I think you are doing great , that bodywork puts my sheet alloy effort to shame.
Well done mate.
Denis.

This was meant to be a pic of all the body panels I've painted so far but the two I finished today have got a couple of runs than need fixing.
Rescued attachment RHS.JPG

It's been a while since I last posted, partly because it's been dark outside in the evenings, partly because I'm hacked off doing bodywork now. Anyway, here are some pictures of where I am.



rear bumper skirt

When I made the rear panel, I put tape one the car and fitted the panel, then put filler in all the gaps so it was a perfect fit. It was all sanded down in place to it was perfect. I took it off to paint it and now it is built up, it has shrunk by about 5mm per side. You can see it in the detail shot. What do I do about it? Do I leave it and hope the MSVA man won't care, then fix it next winter? Or, do I cut 2 slots with the grinder, bend it out and GRP over the back then patch up and re-paint now? I've already taken 18 months more than I wanted to and there's about 6 months work to finish. I want it on the road ready for the micro car rally in September really.


GRP has shrunk



close up of exhaust grille

Can't see why the MSVA man would care about panel fit unless it exposed a sharp edge.
Apart from that small problem the fit and finish look excellent to me - much better than most kits and some production cars.