Escadrille Ecosse Posted August 31, 2020 Author Share Posted August 31, 2020 Glassfibre is curing before I strip it all down to trim and polish the mould. Then start on the left hand side. Meanwhile, onto temperature sensors. With the Webers/injection there is a spare threaded port on the water pump housing usually used for the manifold heating hose. This has a 5/8" UNF thread. The Lucas 73246 coolant sensor from the Rover 100,200, 800 series has the appropriate thread. While I was at it I got a second one and soldered a boss into the radiator header to replace the existing sensor that sits in the radiator gills so I can control the fan via the ECU. Lots of debate on t'internet about the best place to put the fan sensor but the header tank won our by a slim majority in the end. So we'll see. They are close enough to run common wiring loom. While I was at it I also soldered a boss into the bottom of the radiator so i could fit a drain tap as pulling off a hose to drain is not an improvement on the original design. I was able to get a 1/2" to 1/4" BSP brass boss off ebay to make the drain plug fitting but the fan sensor required me to make a boss from a bit of round brass bar. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted September 1, 2020 Author Share Posted September 1, 2020 Mould for the reverse flange. To be trimmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiTurbo228 Posted September 2, 2020 Share Posted September 2, 2020 Looking good, and useful to know about the Rover temp sensor fitting the stock housing. Will probably go that route for mine as well, provided the 6-cyl bung is the same dimensions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 Back onto the passenger side door to sort out the pattern. The skin moulding was not a great fit so needs material adding down the front, along the top and a wee bit at the rear to match the shape of the wing. Front and back is pretty easy. A glassfibre 'flange' added (oversize) to provide support for the filler. This will get filed back as necessary to get the panel gap even. Top edge a bit more awkward as there is no 'edge' as such. So a wood strip covered in @BiTurbo228s magic brown tape clamped on to the right line. First dose of filler on and roughly cut back to check the fit. I have taken it off to do the rest of the fettling as it's easier and a lot cleaner on the workbench. Particularly with the side post of the hoist in the way. The mark is where the front of the panel needs cut back to match the line of the scuttle. The top corner is too flexi and needs some additional support glued in at the back once the whole thing is off the car. Meanwhile I made up a foot pedal control for the flex-drive Dremel which I use for fine trimming of the edges. Between holding the flex drive and the dust extract you quickly run out of hands! Press and hold for on - failsafe. Hopefully. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiTurbo228 Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 Glad I could be of service! looking great Cool idea with the plug-in foot pedal. There's lots of bits I can think of that would benefit from being foot controlled. Will have to make one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted September 15, 2020 Author Share Posted September 15, 2020 29 minutes ago, BiTurbo228 said: Glad I could be of service! looking great Cool idea with the plug-in foot pedal. There's lots of bits I can think of that would benefit from being foot controlled. Will have to make one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteStupps Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 On 9/12/2020 at 11:52 AM, Escadrille Ecosse said: Meanwhile I made up a foot pedal control for the flex-drive Dremel which I use for fine trimming of the edges. Between holding the flex drive and the dust extract you quickly run out of hands! Press and hold for on - failsafe. Hopefully. Now that's a very good idea. I've just got one of those flexi-adaptors for the dremel and it's not ideal when you can't turn the thing on and off without a 3rd hand. How did the driver's side door come out, or is that still work-in-progress? I'm very interested in all the moulding business, it's completely alien to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted September 15, 2020 Author Share Posted September 15, 2020 33 minutes ago, PeteStupps said: Now that's a very good idea. I've just got one of those flexi-adaptors for the dremel and it's not ideal when you can't turn the thing on and off without a 3rd hand. How did the driver's side door come out, or is that still work-in-progress? I'm very interested in all the moulding business, it's completely alien to me. I never liked the switch arrangement on the Dremel really. Inconvenient at the best of time and if something is going wrong then not good at all. This should do the trick though hopefully. Drivers door mould is made. I've not started any of the carbon fibre fabrication yet. Plan is to get all the moulds (except the bonnet) made first - bootlid, bootlid reinforcement panel, doors and front valance. Then I'll get the kit to do the carbon fibre. And saving my pocket money for that at the moment. The carbon fabric is actually not that expensive. A lot more than glass but not ridiculous as you don't need as much. The epoxy resin is a lot more expensive than the polyseter but again with the vacuum system you use a lot less. Then there is the one off cost for the vacuum pump, guages, valves and resin knock out pot. And a lot of vac bagging consumables, the bags, sealer strips, various tubing, bleeder membrane (that carries the resin under the vac bag), peel ply that stops the bleeder sticking to the cured part, etc, etc... Temperature control for the epoxy is also a lot more critical than for the polyester resin so I want to try and hit it all in one shot. I got the passenger side door all filled and rubbed down over the last couple of days and into a first coat of primer this afternoon. Get it rubbed down and filled this week hopefully 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveJM Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Enviable skills and great inspiration... Always looking forward to your posts... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 Like the dremel switch. Also enjoy the composite works..... Prefer to spectate on that! Presumably you’ll set the car on its wheels before gaping the panels? I know a Spit is less floppy than a Vitesse...... but even so.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 Cheers Nick Actually the car is pretty stiff and the way I have it supported is reasonably close to the road position. The triangulated door bars brace the aperture significantly too. The pads on the hoist are adjustable and you can wind a corner down without the car following too much. However....yes I will do the final gapping with the car on its wheels I can cheat a bit further too by minor adjustment of the position of the skin on the shell before finally bonding the two together. Rubbed down the pattern after the first coat of primer and had to add a bit more filler. Various pinholes and a couple of larger areas. Second coat of primer applied, rubbed down and polished. Finished laying up the mould today and it's curing. Meanwhile I have ordered the bits for the carbon fibre moulding. Gulp. Vacuum pump, resin knock out pot, valves, hoses, scales for weighing everything out, a non contact thermometer to ensure temperature is right. All the bagging consumables and special spray adhesive to hold the dry cloth in place in the mould. And 7m2 of 200g/m2 3k carbon fibre cloth (£85), 5kg of epoxy resin (£60) and 3kg of epoxy compatible gel coat (£35). And some special vacuum compatible core fabric - only £18 for 2m2. Gulp. That lot should do the two door skins, the boolid and bootlid reinforcement panel. I have decided that I'll also make new door shells and the front valance in carbon fibre but I'm going to do these by vacuum bagging rather than resin infusion so I can use the existing moulds for these. I'll need more cloth and resin for these. Also the recent arrival of autumn and associated drop in temperature has been a bit of a shock so I ordered some welding screen material to make a curtain so I can close off an area of the garage that will be easier to keep at a controlled temperature. The epoxy resin for the resin infusion process is a slow cure and needs to be kept warm for 24 hours curing time. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 So after my request @PeteStupps very kindly lent me a pair of Le Mans style GRP overriders to make a mould so I could make some for my car. Started work on this the other day. Bit ripply on the sides towards the bottom of the overrider so some filling required along with a bit of general sanding as it looks like the originals were moulded using PVA as a release agent rather than wax. Also had a think about the best way of making the mould and in the end decided that a split mould would give the best result as it allows me to mould in a radiused return on the back edge of the overrider. Made up a foam block to form an extension to the part. This gets a surface skim of filler to seal it before painting. Looking a bit 'Free Willy' ready for paint Ready to polish I'll get on to putting it all together tomorrow ready to make the first half of the mould. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteStupps Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 2 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said: Looking a bit 'Free Willy' ready for paint Lol. Sorry about the ripples! They've been floating around my garage waiting for some pipedream project. Incidentally are you adding any sort of bracket to fix them onto the bonnet hinges? I couldn't really decide how I'd ever fit them, if I ever got round to trying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 3 minutes ago, PeteStupps said: Sorry about the ripples! They've been floating around my garage waiting for some pipedream project. Pete, no worries. I'm pretty sure the ripples were there from the original moulding rather than anything else. I was having a look at fixing options. I think it should be possible to glue in a bracket that clips over the cutout at the top of the hinge bracket and bolts in at the hole at the bottom. Tigerseal to the rescue. However need more experimentation on that front! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted October 28, 2020 Author Share Posted October 28, 2020 (edited) Overriders part deux... Got the thing polished and stuck onto the block. Join between the two faired off with a wax fillet and the whole lot glued on a board to make the top flange. Then a temporary centre flange made up to form the first half of the mould. 'Smart' front side... And the 'ticky-tacky' on the reverse holding it all up Tomorrow I hope to get out to the garage to get the gel coat on and start laying up the first side of the mould. Edited October 28, 2020 by Escadrille Ecosse spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted October 30, 2020 Author Share Posted October 30, 2020 Sheeted off half the garage yesterday to make it easier to keep things warm. Makes a big difference. Also helps keep the styrene pong down a bit which pleases the wife and probably the neighbours too. Out today to get on with making the split mould. Ready for action Gel coat on the first half Glassed up Leave that to cure for a bit before tackling the other side 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteStupps Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 I realise it's probably not that complicated but I have to go over these posts several times slowly, to understand what's going on! But I get it now With a split mould, is the joint line obvious on the finished piece? Does that depend how good your prep work is or there some trick to avoid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted November 3, 2020 Author Share Posted November 3, 2020 The flash from the split will be visible on the part and need cleaned off. The overrider is a really awkward shape a bit of a 'draw' but not a lot and also quite small and difficult to grip. The parts I borrowed from you Pete were quite thin on the flat edges which i suspect was done to give a bit of flexibility so they could be drawn from the mould which isn't ideal. With the split mould that isn't needed and the back edge can also be moulded as a return. Which makes trimming to size a lot easier. Making a split mould ideally you would put it on a corner where it is less obvious. This can be mportant if you are wanting an unpainted finish for a visible weave on a carbon fibre part although even then you will usually be fine if there is a gel coat of some description. With the overrider putting the split on the edge doesn't really really work as you still have the issue of extraction. So I put the split right down the middle where it's easiest to form and easiest to extract the moulded part. However there won't be much flash, it will only be gelcoat and easy to see the form for final finishing and polishing prior to paint Or at least that's the plan Hope to get the mould trimmed and split this week and then try making a part from it...... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted November 7, 2020 Author Share Posted November 7, 2020 Got the mould split, polished, prepped with release and bolted together. Plan to get the first part started tomorrow with any luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 Got the first overrider made over the weekend. At least as awkward as anticipated trying to lay it all up in such a confined space. Gelcoat on. Bit hard to see there were no pinholes looking at a black surface down a hole! You can see on the right hand side where I scraped it with the brush. Ended up putting on a second gelcoat just to be sure. And getting the finished part out was a bit of a faff too, even with the split mould. First half off... Getting it out of the the other half was even more difficult as there isn't anything to lever again. Eventually though a rather alarming crack noise and out it pops... Flakes of mould release and cured resin from the raw edges all stuck there with static but quite pleased with that. Very little flash from the seam needing removed. All cleaned up and gel applied for the second one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 Like shelling peas now....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 Amazed by your skills, fantastic work. RR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted November 13, 2020 Author Share Posted November 13, 2020 Number four out of the mould this morning. Gets a lot easier to separate as the mould ages. First one out is always a bit of a struggle.... and a worry. Pair for me and a pair for @PeteStupps. Seems only fair as one of his was damaged and I ended up messing around with the other one to make the pattern. Thanks again Pete. Next up will be the carbon fibre bootlid but a bit of a hiatus on that as I have a wee job to do in the house leveling and replacing the T&G flooring in one of the rooms in our 1860 Victorian pile before Christmas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteStupps Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Escadrille Ecosse said: Pair for me and a pair for @PeteStupps. Seems only fair as one of his was damaged and I ended up messing around with the other one to make the pattern. Thanks again Pete. Ah you're kidding! That seems like a massive upgrade, they look great. That's very decent of you thanks Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now