Radiator panel

(Author: ikom Thursday June 3, 2004, Jun,03,2004Jun,03,2004

Thursday June 3, 2004
I get to the Ultima at around 11:00AM and start work on the double skin panel and it's supporting square tube structure

My son arrives and helps with drilling, riveting and bonding the square tubes to the underside of the double skin cockpit floor panel. This takes a very long time to get right and we pre-fit the panel several times until we are satisfied with its fit in the car. We eventually bond and rivet the square tubes to the panel and set it aside to set.

Since we have the "Glue and Seal" out we decide to rivet and bond the radiator double skin panel which we had set aside the night before. The panel had been pre-fitted several times and the holes were drilled with skin pins in place, however, when we attempt to place the rivets into their respective holes though, only a few will fit. Panic strikes and my first thought is that I may have inadvertently inverted the panel. After much cursing I realize that the problem is the "Glue and Seal" - I placed a heavy bead on the sides of the square tubes and since the tolerances were very close on the fit, especially at the rack end, the "Glue and Seal" is preventing the panel from seating tight against the chassis members. The viscosity of the "Glue and Seal" makes it very difficult to move the panel even slightly since it is so thick and occupies the little space left between the chassis and the panel. I eventually pull out the pry bars and we gently persuade the panel to move a millimeter, which is all we need in order to align and seat all of the rivets. Phew!! What a relief. I resolve not to make this error when we secure the floor pan since it is also very tightly toleranced to the cockpit sides.

We start work on the insulation "sandwiches" for the double skin cockpit floor. I refer to them as sandwiches because they look like foil wrapped sandwiches after all of their edges are sealed with aluminum tape. This is a time consuming and complex endeavor and I am glad that I had a practice run on the radiator double skin panel the day before. We build all of the insulation sandwiches and secure them to the underside of the double skin cockpit panel with some 3M spray adhesive so that they stay in place when we invert the panel to do a final test fit prior to riveting and bonding it.

On the initial test fit we discover that the panel is not seating correctly since the insulation is fouling the chassis cross member and needs to be trimmed. We carefully trim it and after several more test fits we get ready for the riveting and bonding process. By the time we finish this task, it is 10:00PM again, so we retire for the day.