Body Alteration part two.

Whilst altering the back transom of the tub for height. It became apparent that the middle of the front bulk head needed to be brought forward so that it sat on the rubber gasket properly.

You can see from the picture that most of the perimeter bolt down area was also needing some repair work and this was all repaired at the same time.

The picture also shows the tank in position with its newly welded intake. Luckily the tank was bone dry as it had been in the garage for more than ten years. Normally you should take precautions when welding a tank , but in this instance the welding was quite straightforward.

The front bulkhead lip was cleaned up and taken back to the fibreglass by 160 grit disk on an angle grinder and some was removed by a Dremel type tool. The area was cleaned with cellulose and then the front lip of the bulk head was brought back to size by strapping a steel former below the lip. This allowed the fibreglass to be layered on top of the wax coated steel. The repair was then completed again on the reverse side. material was cut away and then fibre glassed to provide a solid base. During the fitting of the body A replacement master cylinder had been purchased with a new brake fluid reservoir. The brake fluid reservoir chamber unfortunately hit the bulkhead and you could not unscrew the lid.


I decided to construct a block of wood in the shape of the reverse of the lid area to be able to undo the brake fluid reservoir lid. I cut a hole the same size as this former in the bulkhead and then covered the former with wax . It could then be pushed through the bulkhead and produce a blank that the fibre glass could be applied over which would then take the shape of the block.

Once the fibreglass was semi dry I was able to remove the former and it left a nice square box around the brake fluid reservoir. The other side of the bulkhead was ground and then cleaned and it was then fibre glassed to make a strong solid join.

During the course of the alterations I placed a bid on some Revolution wheels that's where for sale on eBay. I new they were in London so could be picked up and just needed to win the auction for them.

I had decided that the original bonnet position for the petrol tank filler was wrong as it was more traditional to have this placed in the middle of the tank and I had already welded the tank inlet to accommodate this. I firstly made a metal sheet that would fit over the old hole. I drilled three bolts through the bonnet and the sheet so that it could be bolted on. Prior to bolting it on the sheet was covered with wax so that it could be released after the fibreglass had been applied. I also ground out the area around the hole so that the edge of the whole had a slant . The fibreglass was then able to be applied on one side. I removed the bolts when it had semi hardened and increased the area of fibre glass layering. The other side was then fibre glassed and then sanded to a fine finish.

The repair work needed on the engine cover and number plate apron was achieved in a similar process. The area was cut back and ground down at the edges to chamfer them. The metal sheet was waxed and clamped in position . The front surface was then filled with fibreglass. The whole tub was turned over the sheet removed and the back of the area strengthened by long sheets of fibreglass. Over the course of the week several other areas where repaired in a similar method. The fit to the chassis was checked at each change to ensure nothing that had been done would stop the tub from fitting precisely on the chassis.