First topic message reminder :

I shall post some pictures up later and try to keep you updated with the re-build as I go

If you guys can be off assistance to me please do not be shy in coming forward I am very new to dubz (as Fish will confirm)

More to follow later

anyway here is some piccies of the car when I went to view it in London

As mentioned in other posts it's not as good as it looks in the pictures - and the build quality is chronic as you will see from the pictures when posted

Hope you enjoy - it's gonna get dirty in the garge

Thanks Dave and Tony for your help tonight - could not have done it without you :t-up: was good to get heads together

good progress made tonight - Tony and I managed to get the rear axle bolted up ready for when Dave arrived

then it was a matter of lifting the front bodywork section into place, we soon however realised that there was a small section of the jig that needed to be lopped off with the angle grinder and also that the front suspension was let too low after having the adjusters fitted

10 minutes later with an angle grinder and a jack for the adjusters the body was being trial fitted

good news - the new floorpan edges are spot on and the body now sits much more level than previous -

bad news - the body is still sitting high on one side at the front, so looks like I have some adjustment of the tub to do at some point



flintstones, meet the flintstones !!!





another update tomorrow - thanks again chaps

that is a beautiful car mate. apparently its so fast, all the people in the photos lot the tops of their heads driving it with its mini windscreen!

after a session messing about with seat heights midweek I have decided to lower the seat height which means some extra fabrication on the pans - I rather amusingly at the time spent 15 minutes sitting on a stack of floor tiles trying to determine where my head would sit when plonked in the seat - glad it was just me and Jago in the workshop and that no photographic evidence exists :blush: :laugh:

after thinking about it for a few nights I decided to weld on some cross pieces of 25 x 25 mm (not done yet) and then to make up some lowering framework for the seat

first job to decide on the angle and cut four identical pieces to size - off to my best friend (apart from Mr Angle Grinder) Mr Chop Saw - cannot believe what short work this machine makes of cutting up metal



then using a good flat tile on me trestle stands make up the first piece using that as a sample to ensure all the other angles remain the same





then to the other end



all four pieces spot on



showing how the seats will sit onto the framework when welded up onto the chassis - this things gonna weigh a ton :laugh: gonna need more than 50 bhp

tonights job see the front lowered floor pan support going in - my main concern was again matching up both sides so that you could look across from the side of the car and see that a perfect straight line through

as I was using one piece for each side I decided to clamp on one long piece underneath - to this I simply tacked on a small bit of box section either end so that it went below the centre tunnel - I then measure from the the rear hat 730mm forwards on both sides



cut the bits to size and tack in place



welded along top



and finally the money shot - do they line up?



yup thank the lordy :laugh:

tonight 40 minutes sees the the lowered floor pan framework tacked up





one side resting in place supported by a chunk of box section



run out of box section now so might look at another part of the car tomorrow night - these pans have been dragging on forever

one side now in place and part welded up





takes the seat pretty well - other side tomorrow night

I keep thinking about how to fit the panels to the framework I have fitted - I am thinking of using a combination of thin sheet steel for the odd shaped bits and tack welding - and then aluminium for the bigger areas, rivetted as per a westfield

what do you reckon peeps?

i know where to come if i need a ladder making

ya git

nice welding though

Nice thread Cleggy, can't wait to see the finished article ;>

thanks folks - the way it is going ATM it might be on the road by 2020

After a few days of mulling over welding gas or the lack of it I decided today to get my a** down to BOC and get a contract with them

having already renewed the disposable type about four/five times it was getting expensive - they only last about twenty minutes

for anyone that is interested the prices break down as follows - sorry if it is obvious to you experienced boys but it may help a few who are in my situation

Costs to get setup

Argoshield cylinder size X (about waist high) suitable for mild steel £31.80

Mini Mig Hose - small push in connector on one end that fits onto your existing gas pipe and a screw connector on the other to go onto the regulator £9.80

Regulator - screws into the gas cylinder- has one gauge for the amount of gas left in the bottle and another to regulate the pressure to the shroud (about 15-20 is about right depending on where you are welding) £42.55

Plus a fixed charge ??? £13.05

The yearly rental charge is a further £67 pa

I was told that the regulator could be had much cheaper off ebay but TBH it was just easy to do it in one go and know that I had the right bits

So for about £160 I am set-up and ready to go -

So compare that to buying co2/argon disposable cannisters from Halfords

one Argoshield cylinder should last 10 hours - so that works out at £16 per hour of welding

as you only get about 20 minutes out of a disposable bottle and the average cost is £12 each works out at £36 per hour of welding

for my next ten hours of welding in the same year it works out much much much cheaper as I have paid the yearly charge and purchased the regulators etc so do not take this into account - I guess if you go for bigger bottles the price comes down again

So if you are going to be doing a reasonable amount of welding a year it is very much worth setting up a contract as it is at least 55% cheaper - by the way I have done mine on a cash sale basis so they cannot automatically charge me in 12 months time

being too stingy to go buy a trolley for me bottle (well worth having a proper stand for the cylinder and welder to avoid damage) I decided to start knocking up a basic trolley - so it was off to machine mart to get some wheels

purchased some swivel castors for the front and fixed for the rear (£25)- made sure I got rubber wheels as these are a lot less likely to break than the nylon/plastic ones they had on display

Anyway here is the progress so far

Looks a bit like a ladder don't it - makes me think about building a go kart for the boys





will get it finished off tomorrow - as usual I have made it out of much bigger section than necessary

I have designed it (if you can call it designed:D ) so that I can take a bigger welder and bottle in the future should I decide to upgrade

by the way I was told the gas supplied by BOC is much better quality than sold in the disp type cans - dunno how much truth there is in this but so far my welding appears at least OK

picked up these mini welding magnets the other day cheap off ebay - they do the job



welding trolley nearly finished tonight - just got some L shape bits to hold the welder in place and a handle to make up so I can ride it around the garage



now I wonder where the engine will fit

got a m8 coming over tomorrow night so I might actually make some progress on the Spyder

ok I admit it, no progress to the spyder tonight

but did get the welding trolley finished - it's no work of art but it works b****y well



shall be getting the seat framework done over the next few nights