(Author: ikom Friday May 7, 2004,
May,07,2004May,07,2004
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Friday May 7, 2004
I took the day off to work on the car since the weather forecast called for a high of 17 Celsius. I had decided that I was going to work on the bottom floor panels before I committed to drilling any holes into the tubes in the cockpit area of the chassis. This would give me a better overview of the entire paneling task so that I could make any adjustments before the cockpit panels were permanently positioned and riveted.
My son and his friend helped me take the chassis off the dolly and to place it on work stands in preparation for this task. The factory floor panel package was opened and the panels trial positioned on the bottom of the chassis. The front most panel (radiator bottom panel) was a little bigger than the chassis and required a little cutting to make for a perfect fit. I marked it and the air shear neatly sliced off about 2 millimeters of excess aluminum on one side where it overhung the chassis. Once all the panels were securely clamped in position they were marked, centre punched and drilled on the drill press - or by hand where the drill press could not reach. The cordless drill and countersink bit took care of de-burring both sides of all holes. I spent the rest of the day helping my son and his friend work on their cars in preparation for an Autocross scheduled by the Solo Association for the next day at the track.
