Bulk Head Panels
The build can finally start again as the new chassis has arrived. Onto the first job, we need to rivet the bulkhead panels in place. To start with we covered the chassis in masking tape to protect it (not shown in the pictures as they're from the first attempt on the original chassis).
The two ally panels were notched and trimmed to fit exactly.
We then used a centre punch to mark rivet locaions as close to the frame as possible. Using a 5mm drill bit we drilled holes through the panel and frame in one go.
Before inserting the rivets we applied a hefty amount of clear sealant to all frame to ally points.
Then inserted 4.8mm rivets apllying quite a bit of force on the gun pumping it 2-3 times.
Here's how the two panels ended up with the protective film still in place. This time round we also riveted the diagonal piece on the drivers side to give it some extra strength for the pedals.
Brake pipes
Second job was routing the brake pipes. As ours is unlike the manual chassis, as Marc has made some more improvements :) I made a cardboard temlate then fabricated it out of some ally to to make a mounting point for the front brake 4 way "T" piece and riveted it to the chassis. Its held down by a small bolt, washers and a nyloc nut.
For the rear "T" piece we thought it would be best to get the diff and tank in position to look for the best mounting location. To get the diff in the web at the back needs to be sawn off.
We mounted the diff but behind this there isn't much space for the "T" piece. So it had to be attached on the other side in front of the tank. With the chassis masked up and hole punched we drilled straight through and applied some sealant.
We then routed the copper brake pipes to it. There are going to be two cylinders for braking; a 0.625 for the front and a 0.75 for the rear. A good idea that my Dad uses is to feed thick cable through the pipes so when bending they can't kink.
Bending the brake pipes is easy so we routed them into place by hand. To hold the pipes down we covered the area in masking tape, measured a point no more than 6 inches for the p-clips to hold the pipe down(for SVA requirements), centre punched a hole, drilled, filed, filled with sealant and then attached the p-clip with a rivet. So heres how the front and rear "T" pieces turned out.
Fuel pipes
Next up is the fuel line. Being an injected R1 engine it needs a send line (tank to engine) and a return line (engine to tank). The diff and tank need to be in to check where the pipe needs to be routed to. Not knowing the central point of the diff we just put some bolts in to hold it roughly in place. Just like the brake pipes we inserted thick cable to reduce the chance it would kink and bent it by hand. It's much harder to bend but by taking it slow and using flexible fuel hose for the tigheter bends it's achievable although it took a while. We made sure the hose type and brand were visible for SVA as the SVA man needs to know the hose is fit for purpose. Just like the brake pipes we covered the area in masking tape, measured a point every 6 inches(for SVA requirements), drilled the hole to the size of the rivet, put some sealant in and riveted the clip in place.
This picture shows the central tunnel that the propshaft sits in looking towards rear of the car. If we were to do this again we would definetly do the fuel line first as the brake pipes are easy to route around the fuel pipes and not the other way round.
This picture is from the rear looking forwards where the differential will be mounted.
Thats it for this weekend, during the week were hoping to get started on the wiring, EEP!
