Body Check

Friday.
The first trial of the body fitment onto the chassis came as a bit of a relief, time for a beer and to see what the buggy would look like with the new wheels. The bonnet petrol fuel position had been altered so that it was in the middle of the bonnet.

The trials of the previous weeks had begun to show some clearer images of what the buggy was going to look like. What my partner Catherine had seen several weeks before in my garage was starting to take shape and for the first time everything was steaming ahead.

The body work holes where drilled through the chassis to provide bolt holes with which to bolt the body onto the chassis. The original channel washers where cleaned and painted and used on top of the fibreglass and a 8mm stainless bolt with nyloc nuts.

It was time to start looking at cleaning down the paint from the body work and the interior components like the dash board, bumpers and roll bar.

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.

Body Alteration part one.

A week later.
With the wooden blocks screwed in place i could gauge the profile that i needed to make to fit this section onto the chassis. Several trial fits of the tub onto the chassis had been made to check that the tub fitted evenly on the chassis base.

I made cardboard templates of the profile that could be used to check the height of the build up of fibreglass. I intended to use a vernier type gauge to ensure that the build up of fibreglass matched the distances that I could measure on the cardboard profile this giving me an accurate indicator. The reason for this process was that laying down fibreglass over a large area meant that long lengths of fibreglass sheeting needed and the wooden blocks had to be removed before any fibreglass could be laid.

The wooden blocks were removed and the surface was cleaned up with the 160 grit sanding angle grinder disk. After final preparation with the cellulose thinners. I was able to start fibre glassing. It was soon clear that my guess at the amount of fibreglass was sadly under estimated.

A week later and with Ben now turning up regularly to help with mixing of resin material the transom was building up slowly. I had not anticipated that the fibre glassing would over spill the area. This amazingly was a helpful thing, it gave strength to the new material as it was talking on the contour of the body work and by encroaching forward past the transom it meant I could cut back the material to provide a clean profile in the inside of the tub. The benefit of this was that I could ensure the integrity of the fibre glassing was good. The picture on the right shows the material cut back. I found that an angle grinder was the only way the material could be cut it was amazingly hard. I estimated the amount of fibreglass used at £300.00 which meant in reality buying a second hand shell was more expensive to build as a restoration than buying a new one. This was not something that did not bother me as by then I had found out that FibreFab had stopped making the SWB Rat and where no longer in the United Kingdom in Wokingham. I was restoring a classic beach buggy that there were few examples off left running. Additionally I drew energy from my fathers illness I now had a mission: " To take my father for a ride in the car that we started building together more than 20 years previously".

Body preparation and shell restoration

The next couple of weeks
In the next couple of weeks I assessed the work and decided in which order my time should be spent. Ten years prior to this I had had the opportunity to work with fibreglass repairing canoes as a project with the school. Although this was useful, it was no way going to prepare me for the amount of fibre glassing that was ahead.

You can see from the picture opposite the holes in the rear seat area where fairly large and looked structural.
The bodywork did not fit on the chassis as the sides of the fibreglass had seemed to have warped. These holes would have to be re fibre glassed and special attention would need to ensure that the new fibreglass did not encroach or hit the chassis. There where two additional holes at the corner of the tub across from the rear transom, these would need fibre glassing and would be quite difficult as they were on a corner. I decided to start with the easiest piece. I went to a local car accessory company and bought £50 of glass, resin and hardener. My Angle grinder game out of my toolbox with a 180 grit sanding disk on it made light work of the paint and talking me down to the fibreglass surface easily. Additionally I located a 5L can of Cellulose in the back of the garage. A friend suggested this as a cleaning agent and with experimentation I found that the cellulose would make the fibreglass sticky thus enhancing the new fibreglass's ability to get a good contact. The fibre glassing was going well access to the web was providing additional information about cutting in the new glass to the old by cutting a slope on the join. Before long I had built a box section up and filled the hole in the other side. The box section was built up slowly in layers . The trick seemed to be in getting the first layer of fibreglass in place and semi -hard. The best way of achieving this seemed to be by using a former made from steel sheeting and using household Libron wax polish to act as a greasing agent. Luckily I choose a wax polish that was removable by the cellulose, this meant it was easy to clean down before the next layer was attached. I was almost ready for a first fit but I needed to know whether the new fibreglass work would hit any of the chassis members. It was time to ask my friend Ben to give me a hand to lift the body work back onto the chassis. I had made the battery area larger than it was originally as I wanted to place a bigger battery on board. Unfortunately I had not checked the larger area would fit in the hole in the between the chassis parts. It seemed as if the battery compartment had been designed small for a specific purpose. I had to cut the box section down so that it would fit between the chassis members. With the shape established and completed . My attention turned to the problem of the chassis not fitting the tub. There was about 2" of air between the chassis and the tub, this was marked out on the rear transom with wooden blocks so that the height could be gauged and a fit to the chassis could be made with the wooden blocks acting as a height adjustment for where the fibreglass should be. This fitting process allowed me to gauge the exact amount of fibreglass that was required. I needed to and purchase some more fibre glass as I new that I would need about £200.00 of fibreglass buying it from the auto shop. Fortunately my friend Ben was starting to visit on a regular basis and had helped a few times mixing up fibreglass for me. This was to become a vital part of the next stage of the body preparation as 2" of fibreglass vertically seemed to be an astronomical task. My partner Catherine partner was as usual confident that this was achievable. I was not so sure but I was going to give it my best shot.

OMG Morning blues

The following morning.
After arriving back from Basingstoke it was late before we had off loaded the van and locked up the garage in the dark.

The morning bought a new sense of vigour I was up and at the crack of dawn and at the garage waiting to see how things sized up.

I opened the doors of the garage to the site shown in the picture. I had to get a picture, as I did not believe what I had done.

The body did not fit the chassis it had warped and was approx 2” off the middle section of the chassis.

This had obviously occurred whilst it was in his cluttered garage propped up by the previous owners life collections. I placed my hands in my face and shut the garage doors. I new I would either have my work cut out to finish this project in the time.

Fortunately another friend was to step in Ben.

I had very little experience in fiber glass and had no idea how to solve this problem.

A van, Darren, £50.00 for petrol & a pocket full of dough

Three weeks later.

Meet Darren, he is one of the nicest people that I know he has a wonderful heart and has one of the most interesting jobs that you can imagine. He works in the city area collecting furniture and valuables from house clearances. I first met him in a pub in Hawkhurst. I met the entrepreneur in him trying to get out and was soon seeing him starting a second successful career in music.

After moving from Hawkhurst. Darren moved shortly afterwards as well and I lost contact I hope he is well and his life is full.
We travelled up to Basingstoke stopping at Clackets services for diesel. Darren mentioned that he had a few bits from his business still in the van but he was sure it would not be a problem. The trip was packed with fun as I always enjoyed Daren’s company because we where never at a loss for something to talk about. We reached Basingstoke and thanks to my Nokia 6630 and the Tom Tom GPS unit we found the address easily.

We reached Basingstoke and Daren opened the back of his van. It was half full of furniture! I phoned Catherine and Gabbled a short message to her saying the van was full how on earth was I going to get the buggy bits in there.

The gentleman was selling the contents of his garage as they where obviously moving. He had a range of other strange objects inside including a piano. His partner Donna had obviously asked him to get the bits out in the anticipation of our visit.

I asked Daren how and why and what he said he had a drop in the early hours and he thought the buggy bits would fit. Never tell a man with a van his job, guess he was right :-)

The general condition looked on the surface not to bad. There were two large holes in the rear seat area, the engine cover was broken and the rear seat area had a brake in the fibreglass. Some holes in the fibreglass where evident everywhere but I thought it was possible to make it fit my chassis and do the repairs. The gentleman who I believe was Andy told me that the car had been on the road in the past and was a head turner but unfortunately it had got into bad repair and it was evident that his family and forced move where talking every bit of cash he had. Still from his dreams to my own maybe this is how they pass without us knowing I can only say that we travelled back home in the van and I must have had the largest grin on my face that was humanly possible.

I must say Catherine has always been behind me and has always shown that she fully believes in what I can achieve. I am sure my family thought I was mad especially when they saw what I had spent my money on.