Selling up the bits and bobs

Items that sold out of the garage

These items where sold on eBay shortly after the low loader was booked to move the buggy to its new garage in Bexhill. The items went to a man that drove down from North of London . I hope he enjoyed them.


some items did not sell
The old brake drums and spindles where not sold on eBay even though they where in very good condition. They where dumped in the local dump as not one bid was entered.

The Moving day

26th October 2005
The buggy was moved to a different garage in the Bexhill area on the 26th October 2005. I had succeeded in some of the goals but failed to get the buggy finished by the deadline of the move. In three months I had managed to get the chassis cleaned up and fitting the chassis. I had wired enough of the ignition system to enable the car to propel itself with a speedometer and rev counter working. Some items were still out being finished. I had taken the windscreen to a cleaning company after getting a friend to weld the holes in it up. It had not been returned and I knew that I would have to pick it up after the buggy was moved.

I was very pleased that the chassis was now rolling as it could easily be positioned onto the low loader that I had organised to come today. There was two weeks left before we finally moved and this was a huge hurdle moving the buggy out and leaving about two weeks left for me to pack. I new that I would have to pack solidly for two weeks to ensure everything I had was packed into cases. I had purchased the seats but had still not managed to fix them in place so I used the Child's car seat again to sit and drive the buggy out of the garage. The buggy ran out of the garage and I parked it on my driveway so that I could clear the garage. three months of fibre glassing and general car workshop 101 had left the garage needing a tidy up. Additionally this gave me the option to ensure that nothing important was going to be left at the old site.

The low loader arrived at about 9:00am and I was happy that my partner had stayed over to help with the move I asked her to take some pictures of the move and I gave her the camera for the day. I ran the car out onto the road as the low loader was unable to fit through the drive way entrance. I had inadvertently given her the camera knocking the automatic switch off its setting therefore the pictures are all a little over exposed. The buggy was wheeled up onto the ramps of the low loader and with its wide gate just fitted across the low loader. It had not gone up quite straight so I had to push it over on the back of the lorry with the driver. The buggy was secured to the low loader over its axle with large straps running under the lorry. I loaded the tool boxes onto my car and we set off to the new garage. I was glad that I had had time to clean out the garage as I would not have time in the following two weeks to get back to it as my packing schedule was already fully booked.






We followed the buggy all the way down to the garage it was some 15 miles or more and we both watched eagerly as the buggy wound its way through the lanes. I new I had more time to get the car on the road as the garage was going to be a new work shop. My father had been finally diagnosed as having cancer of spine and he was getting regular treatment. It was possible that I had a new alarm clock and surely would be able to get the buggy on the road from the new garage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ugpmx0N8RQ

Fitting of the petrol tank.

One day later.
The tank arrived finished a day later pictured left. It was cleaned up and hot flame zinc sprayed all over with a non corrosive finish. I was happy with the item especially as I was told that there where some holes shown up by the blasting process. These had been welded by AC Blastings and then the zinc spray finish had been applied. I expected the tank to fit straight into the chassis but was surprised to see that it hit the lower steering column and would not sit in its location flush. I had made some adjustments to the tank before sending it away. The GP manual states bash it with your largest hammer, I would suggest get really annoyed then take your largest hammer to it. Obviously you need to find a hammer with a good round surface something like a ball pane hammer. It is best to use a plastic one as you will find that it will not mark the tank so easily and leave a finish somewhat similar to panel beating. The process involves a lot of trial and error and finding the amount the tank moves each time it is hit . I had to ensure that the tank had at least an inch of free space. After an afternoon of hitting the tank and several beers, the tank eventually took shape and fitted.

The tank was bolted in with two bolts either side of the tank through the fibreglass. The front of the body work was situated at least 4" above the front beam axle. The tank sat just above this and it looked as if a bracket was needed to take the load of the tank onto the front beam axle. The GP manual states you need to make up two Z shaped brackets and they need to be bolted onto the front beam body mounts and then onto the bodywork. I decided that it would be a better solution to create a long beam with z brackets underneath to spread the load of the body and provide a stronger anchor point for the tank.

Cobra or OMP Seats

One Day later.
I found what I thought where Cobra 4x4 seats on eBay. They where located in the basement of a shop in London as they had been used once for a display. They turned out to be OMP seats , which where Italian in origin and very similar to the Cobra ones. The mounts where slightly different as they bottom mounted. I arranged to go up and get them and brought them back. I decided to try to convert the existing seat mounts by getting hold of two seats and converting the seats into seat sub frames. The process involved trying to brace the runners so that they where parallel and would not move the seat structure could then be cut away with an angle grinder and a rigid frame could then be welded onto the runners to allow the seat to be mounted.

I had made one up showing my friend Ben the process he set about using the angle grinder and the welder for the first time. He did a fabulous job pictured right.

The process seemed simple enough to do but initial testing showed that the seats that we purchased could not have fitted as after the process the bars where to tight to work or be usable. Both seat runners one made by me and one by Ben did not fit it was obvious that I needed to buy the OMP runners that matched the seats and cut the old runners out of the chassis.

Paint

Three weeks before we moved.

The clean down of the underneath of the chassis went quite well and was achieved with 160 sanding disk. the resulting finish was a little colourful in the picture opposite, but this picture does not only show this. During the clean down several bits arrived back from the blasters 'AC Blastings' The Roll Bar and the front bumper were tested for fit so the body had to be transferred back onto the chassis for alignment purposes. The buggy body was then removed and the rest of the bottom was finished returning it back to the fibreglass. It was then painted all over with a combination of Gel coat and other chemicals which would allow the Gel coat to set without being inside an air tight wrap. The finish provided a clean gray colour. next the body work was prepped, primed, and painted with spray cans. This was intended as a sealant to the bodywork that would last until the finances for a full respray was available. The finish came up pretty good considering it was sprayed by unconventional means. Obviously it did not have the high gloss finish that comes from two pack paints but it gave the project a more finished appearance that pushed the build on. The dash board was also Gel coated and then primed and sprayed. Once the paint was dried the parts where re-assembled and the bonnet was primed to be painted. The buggy was starting to become mobile and was now a rolling chassis. I was starting to see what my dream may look like. The final paint was applied to the bonnet and the paint work was finished. The bonnet had not been fixed in place as the tank was still at AC Blastings being zinc coated. This was necessary as the tank was showing some signs of rust and I wanted to be sure that the tank would not leak. Would the tank come in time and fit correctly so that the rolling chassis could be moved.

Redline Linkage Saga

Wednesday July 2005
My Redline Linkage kit was on order from Weber I was excited about receiving the new one as the old linkage kit transversed the floor of the engine compartment. This used a poor bolting system to bolt a vertically mounted bearing. Pulling on the throttle would pull the vertical bearing over making the accelerator stay depressed. Clearly this was a poor design and the Redline one transversing across the carburettors was much easier to set up.

The kit I had purchase came with the manifolds as part of the kit so I removed my manifolds that where short and touched the exhaust and replaced them with the Redline ones ensuring that the gaskets where seated well. I replaced the carburettors ensuring that the gaskets where oiled before the carburetors where seated onto the manifolds. The linkage kit was next and the top bar went on easily. However for some reason the linkage kit was too long to fit.

In error I tried to shorten them believing I could re tap the threads. This in theory was not so bad if I had picked the correct end to shorten. Opposing ends of the bar had left and right wound threads so that you could twist the rods to increase or decrease the bars length. I picked the left hand thread to shorten and only had a right hand tap to re- thread. As you can imagine this did not work at all and left me with a problem . My new linkage kit was lacking a vital part.

As luck would have it I searched Yell for a company that produced these ball joint kits. I found a company that produced them in my locale and telephoned them. They had moved north , but where still willing to help supplying me with lockable ball joints that could be removed whilst in situ. I was fortunate as this error cost me only £30. An new linkage kit would have been much more expensive.

The lockable ball joints turned up two days later they where exactly the correct length and with the quick release system fitted in about 2 minutes by removing the little wire and swinging it out and removing it to release the ball. The difference was amazing they took up all the slack in the system and allowed the linkage kit to be calibrated evenly.

The engine was turned over it started and the engine ran beautifully. I wondered what the chassis /engine ran like. Several moments later I figured out that the engine could be started with a hot wire and the steering could be fitted to give some ability to steer the chassis. This coupled with a lawn mower petrol tank we where using and a child's car seat. The Chassis was finished and mobile! The chassis was very light and with no weight in the front the 100ft drive way was used most of the rest of the sunny afternoon driving backwards and forwards up and down the drive. This was the first real time test of all the components on the chassis. The braking component worked fine in fact the front was so good it seemed to lock up easily. The engine provided so much power it was easily able to push the front wheels off the ground. By the end of the day I was smiling from head to toe and covered by a huge grin. I was amazed that the project was looking so good. I had finished prepping the chassis and was trialing fitting of components in the tub prior to a quick respray.