SouthEast Build

[tenpin]

One thing I didn't mention is that I filled the gap between the two layers of fibreglass along the side edges with fibreglass filler. This means that you may have to redrill some of the holes to fit the glass or the grilles.

When you test fit the engine and lower the rear deck you may see that it touches at the front. Try to move the engine back as far as it will go. You may have to increase the length of the notches at the back of the engine to do that.

I'll post more pics on how I fitted the engine so that you can get at the roof etc.

 - tenpin

[tenpin]

I've had a question abut how I reduced the amount by which the doors open. So, let's see if I can explain...

This is controlled by the door stay strap which is bolted to the car and disappears into the front edge of the door - you can see it when you've got the door open. Essentially this is a metal rod with a large nut on the end that's inside the door. There is a plate on the inside of the door through which this rod passes. As you open the door, the rod pulls through the hole in the plate and door, until it comes to the nut and stops the door opening any wider. Part way along the rod there is an indentation which allows the door to stop part-way open.
There are two ways of limiting the opening - you can move the nut down the rod towards the front of the door or you can space the plate away from the front side of the door and towards the nut.

On mine I spaced the plate away from the front of the door, which meant that I still had that part-way stop as you open the door.
However which is best way I can't say.
For the purists it's not a rod and a nut but a strange shaped flat piece of metal with a rubber stop at one end..... However I hope that my description above made it easier to understand.

 - tenpin

[tenpin]

Which ever way you do it you need full access to the inside of the door. When I did it I used 4 or 5 washers on each of the two bolts. This was quite a trick to get them all on as they seem to prefer dropping into the bottom of the door. In the end I put a bit of tape around them to keep them together, so I could fit them as one very thick washer - that seemed to work well. The other thing was I loosened both bolts to pull the plate away from the door, but only removed one bolt at a time.

 - tenpin

[tenpin]

Another of those this is what happened when.... stories
On Saturday I was driving along the M25, with the roof down and after the extra long queues for the Dartford tunnel evrything looked good and we speeded up. Went past some stock car racers with their vehicles on the back of trucks (their cars were a particularly nice shade of red, though lighter than mine ). Then after a few miles we all came to a standstill - time to get out the picnic as everyone gets out of their cars - some big accident a few miles along the road. After half an hour or so, things start to move - they've opened up one lane, and as always seems the way the other lanes are moving faster than mine, though mine's the one that's signed as open.
The truck with the stock cars catches up and pulls alongside, I've not seen 4 guys all leaning out the drivers cab window before... "Oy mate, nice car, we've not raced one of those before, d'you fancy donating it to us?" After some more good natured banter, they understood that I wasn't about to part with mine and their lane speeded up and we each continued on our way. (I finally got to Cambridge about two hours late.)
These cars seem to attract attention and comment from just about everyone -  kids to little old ladies.

 - tenpin

[tricky]

did you tell them i was a replica?

[dangerrous]

You went past Arena Essex which is 1mile off the Dartford Tunnel, I raced there for around 20years. We all looked for 'special' cars to wreck, the favs being Vintage, American, Limos and rollers.
 I live 10 miles away, had a lot of fun there
D

[tenpin]

I'll post some more photos etc of the engine cover process, but here's one to be going on with.
 - tenpin

[tenpin]

Here's a couple of pics showing the front lamp housings, sort of a before and after shot.

 - tenpin

[tenpin]

I've been asked about the rear deck latches, so here's some pics. Let me point out this is how I did it, and not how it's been done on DNA builds. I'll explain more later, but I'm trying to get my bits together for the Stafford show right now. I re-used the rear lid release for the drivers side and a new cable release for the passenger side. Both release pulls are by the drivers seat, the advantage being that the original one still has its lock. The cables are held in place by P-clips, reusing the existing bolts and nuts - see pic.
The brass bits I used on the ends of the cable sheaths will be familiar to the US builders - they're the inner parts of a power cable twist-on joint.

 - tenpin

[tenpin]

Here's a close-up of the business end of one of the releases.

 - tenpin

[seriph]

Just wondering if anyone has done a dual solenoid-type release setup?

[tenpin]

Continuing the engine cover theme, here's a few pics of how I attached it.

 - tenpin

[tenpin]

Next two

 - tenpin

[tenpin]

Most remiss of me, not to post earlier, but I'd forgotten that I hadn't!!

Back in December, on a very cold day, I went up to Birmingham for a photo shoot, I couldn't really say anything until the mag had come out. Anyway I've just been nudged (and the mags been out a fair while now) - so the car appeared in the February cover edition of CompleteKitCar alongside the DNA white 430 demonstrator. I can't post the whole article, so go buy a copy! But here's the front cover of the mag.

 - tenpin

[tenpin]

And a closer one of my car.

 - tenpin