Bit by bit the boot is getting carpeted. It's a slow job due to the fact that it is now dark and cold(have to open the garage door and work from outside as my garage isn't long enough! to do it inside in the warm!):
These were then taped in place and the roll hoops removed (AGAIN!). The boot carpet was laid face down on the floor and false floor laid face down on top of it. It was then a simple task to cut round the insides of the plastic "washers" with a scalpel. The washers were then removed and bonded to the back of the carpet. The boot floor was refitted, the carpet slid into place and the roll hoops fitted AGAIN - BUT FOR THE LAST TIME!!
The carpet needs sticking down yet - but it has turned out quite a good fit with no wrinkles or gaps:
Whilst fitting the roll hoops (FOR THE LAST TIME!) I fitted the extra long shock mounting bolts for the hoop U-bracket. This involves a bit of faffing on as you need to remove the other shock mounting bolt to get enough clearance to get the longer bolt in:
So there we are - rolls hoops done - just need a bit of a polish now:
I feel like I've achieved something today at long last! I bought 5 litres of unleaded at the disgracefully low price of 93.4p a litre and bunged it into the tank through the filler. I rigged up a 12volt supply to the pump and pumped the fuel out of the tank and back into the jerrycan - no leaks.
I took the filter element out and checked for any muck from the bottom of the tank - but there was none. All that time spent cleaning the tank out was worth it then.
I then connected the rubber fuel hose to the hard line on the chassis - I just need a 16mm p-clip to the underside of the boot floor to secure it (got none left!):
I then connected the pump again and the pressure regulator at the carb showed 6 psi - spot on - and no leaks:
I left the pump running for 10 minutes against the pressure of the carb and still no leaks -Job Done!
Now if I get depressed it should only take a couple of hours to rig up the electrics so I would be able to hear that V8 once more!!
Whilst I was in the boot I finished off the roll bar grommets (you should remember these from an earlier post) bonded them into place and sealed round with sikaflex:
I've lost track of the number of times that the roll hoops and been fitted and removed, I think I can do it in my sleep now!! Tomorrow may see a start on the boot carpeting - once I've sorted out the big box of carpet pieces!
Spoke to Andy at GD today- A supply of acceptable windscreens has been sourced, with delivery estimated in 4-5 weeks. So come the end of November / Beginning of December it should be full steam ahead!
This evening I fitted the fuel tank and filler hose (filler hose will need to come off to fit the boot carpet): 
Nothing too exciting here. The tank is held in position by two aluminium straps - Bolted at the top into Jack-Nuts fitted into the upper boot floor and bolted through the floor at the bottom:
You will notice that the tank is offset to the offside - this is to allow enough room for the fittings and plumbing on the fuel outlet. The trick is to fit the straps so there is a 5mm gap between the bottom of the strap and the floor - when the bottom fixing is tightened the the tank is pulled down against the chassis foam fitted to the underside and back. It all ends up pretty secure - and easily removable for when I find plumbing leaks!!
Day off work today and an early start in the garage - 7:00!! As I mentioned before the plan now is to get the back of the car finished whilst waiting for the windscreen.
And just for good measure I polished up the Aston Filler Cap and fitted that:
Thought I'd have a go at the repair on the top of the rear wheelarch. So off with the clingfilm and a wipe over with some acetone:
Now I can't seem to find the repair?
It's in there somewhere?I had to admit defeat today.... with the current temperatures the gelcoat I mixed up was under-catalysed. So much in fact that most of the repairs just wiped out with acetone. So this time I mixed up another batch and added an extra drop of catalyst:
Well as luck would have it - temperatures plummeted last night - max / min thermometer in the garage showed a minimum of 5 degrees! and it was still cold this morning. As a consequence the gel has not fully gone off yet. So heater on and time to fine something else to do.
Just needs testing now.
Right, this will either turn out to be a "How to" or a "How not to" guide!
Here is a picture of the chip on the top of the rear offside wheel arch caused by me knocking the bundy tube for the wipers out of the loft - it dropped end on onto the wheelarch (this was quite a while ago - I've been keeping it quiet and can only just talk about it now!):
The first step is to make it much worse by grinding it out with the dremel to chamfer off the sides and then cleaning the area up with acetone:
Then I masked the area off just in case I got carried away with the gel:
There were also three other areas on the back - another scratch caused by me by inadvertently pushing the car back against the garage door handle! The other two low down ones were slight blemishes from the mould - and looking at them now you would not notice them normally! These were all ground out and masked as above:
The next step was to mix up some gel - one teaspoon of gel to three drops of catalyst (I have experimented before with this). Too much catalyst will cause small air bubbles to appear - as will mixing it too vigorously:
This was then brushed into the areas leaving them slightly proud (the gel does shrink slightly) and the area was then covered in clingflim as air needs to be excluded for the gel to harden:
Having sat down and thought about things I've realised that I have effectively completed all the major jobs. Essentially what remains is essentially a fitting out process. The only holes of any significance to cut are for the wipers - need the screen to ensure they are marked out accurately. So I had planned that after fitting the screen and wipers, the next stage would have been to finish off the body. This effectively comprises cleaning up all the mess of fibreglass dust and grubby fingermarks (I had started off trying to keep it clean but this is nigh on impossible). There are also a handful of gelcoat repairs to do.... some (two only!) down to me plus a few (3 only) minor blemishes. No-one would would probably spot these minor blemishes but you find that after having the body for 9 months they start to annoy you because you know they are there!! So if I have to get the gel out to fix the dings/scratches I've made then I might as well do everything else I can find. The final stage would be to polish up the body before fitting it out.
So the plan now is to start this process at the rear of the car.... I can then finally fit the tank / carpets / roll bars / filler cap / lights etc whilst I wait for the screen. Once done I'm confident that I can keep that bit clean and ding / scratch free!!
So in preparation I've removed the lights / boot handle etc.......
Ta..Da..... Backwards Progression!
I have plugged all the bits of looms together and tested as much of the electrics as possible:
Visitors Since 10 Dec 2006
