Sunday 3 April 2011

Front Near Side Suspension and Dashboard

I finally got the last 2 bolts I needed to put together the front near side suspension.  The method to put it together was described when I fitted the off side, so I won't go in to any details here.  Suffice to say, the car looks more balanced, with all four corners now having hubs ready to take wheels.  Here is a picture from the front of the car.

  
I can't go any further with this at the moment as I need to get steering rod ends and brakes before the front can be considered finished.  I also have to make a decision on what wheels to fit and this all depends on the final look I am going for.  I do need to decide this fairly soon and I am hoping that a trip to the National Kit Car Show at Stoneleigh at the beginning of May will give me lots of ideas.

Next I thought I would have a look at fitting the dashboard to the scuttle.  First job was to take the scuttle back off the car, then trial fit the dashboard to the dashboard mounting plate.  This is when you realise that you haven't fitted the mounting plate quite as 'sqaure' as you thought you had!!  Oh well, I am sure it will all "pull into place' as things are tightened up!!  From the back, I marked through where the allen bolts would fit and drilled pilot holes.  These were then re-drilled with a 6mm drill to take the bolts.

You can't just fit the dash, you have to cut some of the fibreglass moulding away to make room from the steering column casing.  This will have to be cut away in small steps as i don't want to cut away too much.  Below you will see the dashboard in place, with markings where the instruments will roughly go and also where I have started to cut away the space for the steering column casing.


I tried to fit it back on the car, but it needs more to be cut away.  At this point the 'Sharpie' pen I was using to mark the cut lines dissappeared, and even though I looked high and low, I couldn't find it.  I took this as a sign to stop for the day and not to try and do too much.  I might come back to it during the week, but it is most likely going to be a job for next weekend.  
    

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