Sprint racer

[Veesix75]

Thanks Simon.

I'm worried about scruitineers personal opinions and it getting subjective. I read about the rule being applied inconsistently on tentenths.

What have you done with the suds and sprint for fhr ? the cross bar on my sprint cage is too high, the belts would be angled upwards and I think it's a close call on the 45 degree rule.

[Marlow Sud]

Hi Tim,
I just made a tool and checked the golf and the belts are about 43deg! I had to put a bar in to get that.

I will check the Suds and advise.


Brgds
Simon

[KevJTD]

a few hours on the car today, not a full day i'm afraid, easter sunday and all....promise to try harder

the drivers rear arch got sanded back once i'd masked stuff out and removed the inner panels, found the weld line and cut near to that, keep as much material as I can before deciding where to chop & replace

filler was a bit thick at the front edge where the wider arch had been blended in..

front edge where it joins the sill had some rot, not a surprise really, I've chopped it away a little here before going along quite a bit further...but without taking pictures. will need the jacking point area repairing then the central 2 sills before a new outer quarter repair piece can be let in

I then went to change the worn down 1mm cutting disc only to realise I hadn't brought any back out with me after taking my supply to the integrale!!!

still, plenty of other jobs to be getting on with.

the drivers wing had some crazing on the paint with it being a fibreglass one

a run over with the DA sander soon cut through them so not that deep at all, edges i'll do by hand

[KevJTD]

now I knew which wings we'd be using I removed them to have a look at the corrosion around the screen corners...

it'd had some repairs before along the A post and on the screen surround top part, including a hole that isn't needed for anything!

i'll make up some repair pieces next time

drivers side wasn't as bad on top but has had some repairs all down the A post which seem strong so will just get a refresh over them

a steady start but progress should go better tomorrow....

[Veesix75]

That's more progress than I could achieve in a week.....

The rear cill is worse than I thought, but then I should have expected some hidden nasty bits.

Hopefully you will find more metal than fresh air tomorrow....

[PETROLHEAD]

You leave a car with him 24 hours






and its ruined!



Nice start mate, the usual mix of good and bad underneath the outer panels, a day in the life.....

[Kegsti66]

[quote="petrolhead"]You leave a car with him 24 hours






and its ruined!


We all know it will come good in the end though mate.

[KevJTD]

yes, starting off ok, should be better prepared tomorrow so a long day in store.

re the seat belt thing tim, was pondering it whilst in the back drilling out the rivets for the side panels.....I'd think a bar across the lower portion of the roll cage, under the diagonal cross-brace, would provide a fair reduction in seat belt angle. can mock something up tomorrow and make some assumptions if you like?

[KevJTD]

pulled a couple of the stickers off too tim, came off in one piece but guess you'll be getting fresh ones as glue isn't really sticky enough to re-use?

someone was pleased to have them though

not sure what the trotter 98 refers to, but as rob loves only fools & horses and was born in '98 it's perfect!

[junior]

Good luck with the repairs, one thing for sure you will not be having to wait for someone to `find a day to fit your car in'.

Hope your keeping it white, I had a red one (of course) thought it looked good and so it surprised me how well yours looks in white.

[Veesix75]

On the rollbar Kev, if you could mock something up and send a pic that would help . I'm going to get the roll bar tube out that we have at home just in case .

The stickers look great on the imp so leave them on it, I'll get new ones sent anyhow this year.

Trotter 98 is a tribute to a racer who passed away last year called Bob Trotter, he raced an alfetta GTV , the 70's road sports dedicated the Oulton park race to him.

So does that mean the imp is called Del, or Rodney..........

[Kegsti66]

Cassie ?

[KevJTD]

with all my supplies to hand the passenger rear arch was on the list

well first off was to repair the sill area, the sprint has a central sill the same as most cars plus another section before getting to the rear quarter itself

bottom edge near the jacking point was repaired, then the "normal" central sill before a plate was made up and welded in place and given a coat of zinc rich weld through primer

the normal method of fitting a new rear arch is to lay it underneath the original panel but seeing as we need all the width we can get for tyre clearance I fitted it over the top of the original to allow it to be brought out easier with the arch roller...

with that in mind I broke with another tradition of cutting down the arch to a minimum and used the whole width, minus the swage line as that avoids an awkward line to fill

all welded into place, inner arch patched up, new lower section made and fitted into place

sill end closed in, not pretty but that was the brief, solid and as quick as possible

next task was to use shrews arch roller to gain the few mm's to ensure tyre clearance but due to how close the axle line is to the arch the tool was just too big, no option but to do it by hand. I've got it back to where it was with the old arches, which did clear ok without issues, maybe even gained an extra bit of space so all's well

a skim of fibreglass added to the joint to help waterproof the repair

[KevJTD]

this is why I mask out any vulnerable surfaces like glass, or Perspex in this case.
after grinding you get little balls of steel which will stick to glass, simple paper they tend to roll off and cool harmlessly, unless you are careless enough to point the sparks directly at the paper....the you've a fire to sort out

[KevJTD]

re the seatbelts tim.

I took my little angle gauge and roughly lined up where your belts go, had already moved them away to keep clean and safe but using the window seal lined up with the seat and mounting bolt gave a rough idea of current belt angle

if a bar is added across the base of the cage feet like this...

you get this rough angle..

there isn't so much space at the n/s foot so if the cross bar is the same diameter as the rest of the cage it'd need notching out to clear the rising diagonal but you still have about 35mm of clear foot space so i'm sure it could be done with the right machining

[Kegsti66]

Wow Kev, you have been busy. Tim better hurry up with the stickers at this rate

Top work.
When is the cars first outing ?

[Veesix75]

Thanks Kev, 39 degrees is within tolerance just, the absolute max is 45 degree max....just the off chance of getting a scruitineer that is keen (no disrespect to scruitineers btw, tough job that they do for free and they have to make sure all is safe), I'll get the bar out and check lengths to see if one will go across the bottom. I might not have on long enough .

Zero to 20 degrees is the optimum that the msa quote, so the bar will make it pass every time.

Wheel arch looks good, as do all the repairs. Looks much nicer with an original panel.

[Veesix75]

Keith - first outing is in May , one at cadwell hopefully in May but definitely at Silverstone mid May.

James - the sprint is being repainted in white, it does suit it.

[Kegsti66]

Excellent !! I will try and get along .

[KevJTD]

Excellent !! I will try and get along .

i'll try and get it done in time

[Veesix75]

Found this pic, wonder if we could fit a bolt in bar the same as Simon, below the welded in horizontal bar but above the lower diagonal joint.

[KevJTD]

drivers side arch needed tackling today, saw there was some corrosion along the bottom of the rear quarter towards the door opening so expected much the same as the passenger side.

it'd had a patch before at the rear of the jacking point area, I cut this out to make a repair with a proper return on it so the arch panel would have something to weld to and look more "normal"

once the rot had finally been chopped out this is what was left

same process as the other side so didn't bother with a load of pix, besides making the extra patches for the bottom edge etc

once all welded back up this is what I ended up with, same as before, just the plate for the outer skin is a bit longer..

the front edge I took all the way to the main sill, double folded over to create the same strong thickness as before

underside lip made up and fitted, sill end capped in

skim of fibreglass on the seam and it's about done

at least tomorrow it'll be something different

[Marlow Sud]

Found this pic, wonder if we could fit a bolt in bar the same as Simon, below the welded in horizontal bar but above the lower diagonal joint.

image.jpeg

Hi Guys,

The bar i put in was this one:
http://shop.safetydevices.com/collectio ... l-dash-bar

I have got digital clinometer envy! I reckon we need one of those to help the scrutineers out if required.

All the best,
Simon

[Veesix75]

Thanks for the link Simon.

I've also got angle reading gadget envy......might have to buy on for the very reason you mention.

Looking good as ever Kev.

[KevJTD]

Found this pic, wonder if we could fit a bolt in bar the same as Simon, below the welded in horizontal bar but above the lower diagonal joint.

image.jpeg

Hi Guys,

The bar i put in was this one:
http://shop.safetydevices.com/collectio ... l-dash-bar

I have got digital clinometer envy! I reckon we need one of those to help the scrutineers out if required.

All the best,
Simon

it's only a cheapo one simon, I bought it to aid camber adjustment etc as it being magnetic is very handy.

bar looks like it could work, is a bolted in bar acceptable for seat belt mount? guess it's no different than a bolted in cage?

[Marlow Sud]

Hi Kev,
Good question. I have had a look at the Blue Book and this is what I found:

Brgds,
Simon

[Veesix75]

I've just been reading the same Simon, doesn't clarify if bolt on is acceptable or not.

I'm going to call the msa tomorrow.

[KevJTD]

a few boring jobs to start the morning, applying PU sealer to all the welds, i'd given them a zinc primer coat yesterday so once this has dried off i'll give it a few layers of stoneguard protection

took all the Perspex windows out along with the rear window one, the hatch itself then came off

the drivers door had always been planned as needing a repair to the frame, Tim had noticed it flapping on fast straights, not good!
the temporary repair had held it together for last season but a more permanent one was needed

once ground down it looked like this, pretty rotten. I had wondered if i'd be just able to slice open the crack and re-weld it but it was too far gone for that, also it has been welded before..

nothing for it but to chop out a section..

i'd already taken precautions for this eventuality of course, can't just go chopping stuff willy nilly. an old sud door I had at home had it's frame compared for a close enough match to a sprint, confirmed as being a more than close enough match. slightly different curvature to it but not enough to effect a short piece like this..

in place after being carefully lined up

[KevJTD]

the passenger side wing rail at the screen end had some rot under the corner so it was chopped out next, with a suitable plate made up to fit

welded into place and ground down

the car was then about ready for the sanding to start

with all the openings masked out the filling of the rep[airs could start, not a job I mind actually although it does make your hands sore....and gets rid of any traces of fingerprints!

the car as it sits now, had a latish night to try and make some progress, time is ticking and tims' race schedule won't wait

also had a visit from the man himself, mainly to have a look at the seat belt angle dilemma. think we've come up with the best/easiest solution..I'll let Tim give info on that as I think it will affect Simon....

[Veesix75]

Looking good again Kev, Very pleased with door repair as it's saved an otherwise solid door.

Wheel arches look much better with the original ones fitted in the flesh.

With all the original stickers / stripes coming off, time to think about some subtle new
ones - current thought is just some simple ford gt40 type stripes along the lower sides at door bottom hieght in green with an Alfa Romeo script. I never really liked the stripe over the bonnet and roof so that's not being replaced. Need to try and find some nice Seventies style race numbers to go on the doors and bonnet.