A New Year - A new Challenge

So firstly, Happy New Year to anyone that may be reading or following this little blog.  The festivities are out of the way and it is time to move on to the next part of the build.

So the next thing to tackle is the drivers side tunnel panels.  This was just a repeat of the way the seat back panel was fitted, but remembering this time to remove the plastic film cover prior to fitment.  The process is: dry fit, line up, mark where the chassis tubes are, remove, centre punch for the holes, drill, dry fit again, drill holes into chassis rail, remove, clean up the swarf, apply Sikaflx (this time with surgical gloves on to stop the mess!), fit and line up and finally rivet it in place.

This is during the initial phases.

This is the panel fitted.  it is actually made up of 3 separate panels with 2 fitted to the inside of the rail and one fitted to the outside to give a bit more space for the size 9's in the foot well.

This is the finished result.

The next thing to tackle was the fitting of the suspension bushes.  This is actually a fairly simple process and if done right is not a bother.  I wish I had found this advice on a blog somewhere before I started as it would have been even easier from start.

So, the process is this.  Firstly, you need to clean out the inside of the suspension tubes.  This can be done with a nice little drill attachment or a dremmel or even some emery paper and your fingers.  The drill bit worked best for me.

Once cleaned out, add some copperslip to the inside of the tube.  You could smear some on the bush if you want, it has the same effect.  Whatever you do, do not try and go in dry!!

Finally you need to push the bush into the tube.  There are 2 methods.  One is to use a normal bench vice or the other is to use a big nut and bolt with big washers to protect the bushes.  I chose the latter and it worked a treat.  Make sure the bush goes in square, but if it starts out a little of, it will correct itself.

The whole job took be the best part of a day in the garage, spread out over a few days, so about 6 hours or so.  Don't rush it, take your time.

I have also spent a lot of time just looking round the car to see what to do next.  As I have said previously, the current version of the manual is not a very good guide and I have found most of my help has come from reading posts on the RhoCar web site (Robin Hood Owners Club and Register) and also from looking at other blogs and photo diaries.  One of the reasons I am not putting up hundreds of pictures is that there are loads of other people that have done this and they are far more detailed than the ones I have taken.

I won't put any links on here as they have a habit of changing or being removed over time, but I would simply say go on to Google and search for Zero Build Blogs and you will find loads.