(Author: ikom Sunday May 16, 2004,
May,16,2004May,16,2004
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Sunday May 16, 2004
Another early day - sunny and may get as warm as 13 Celsius according to the forecast. I go outside and see if my neighbor can help me turn the chassis upright. I am in luck - he is cleaning his car and is gracious enough to come over to help me.
I am ready to secure the cockpit panels today and assemble all of the necessary tools and supplies to undertake this.
It is a beautiful warm day so I take advantage of the weather and wheel the dolly onto the driveway and into the sun.
I take out a rubber-sanding block with some 100 grit emery paper and edge sand all of the panels that I will be installing today. I pay careful attention to the panel edges that will be exposed - especially at the doorsills since these edges will be handled for ingress into the car. I peel back the panel protective plastic coverings and degrease the panel backs where the Glue and Seal will need to adhere and safely stow them, ready for installation.
I start with the front custom bulkhead, wipe down the chassis with brake cleaner and apply the "Glue and Seal", then position the panel, insert and pop the rivets with the rivet gun.
I am gaining greater confidence with the panel installation process as I progress. It still takes a while since I am vigilant and ensure that everything lines up properly and by early afternoon I have both side panels installed and lapped over the round tubing even though I had a minor emergency of sorts during the installation of the driver's side panel.
During the driver's side panel riveting - with about a dozen rivets remaining to be popped - the rivet gun stops working and I am forced to pull out the hand riveters to complete securing the panel in order to continue with the lapping before the "Glue and Seal" sets up. The hand riveters (we have an industrial strength version and a regular small one) do not produce as good-looking a result as the air riveter and I am really thankful that the remaining rivets are at the base of the panel towards the pedal area and therefore not as visible. After I complete the lapping, I proceed to gather the packaging and other accessories for the recently acquired gun, hop into the car and drive across the city to exchange the gun for a working version. The staff at "Princess Auto" quickly process my request for an exchange - no questions asked - and send me on my way with a new gun. This diversion however, takes an hour and a half out of my day and I return to finish work on the passenger side panel. Thank goodness I live in a Province that encourages entrepreneurial activity on Sundays otherwise the whole day could have been wasted.
The lapping process was quite easy once I discovered that a six-inch piece of scrap cedar two by four on end is the best lapping drift coupled with a two-pound dead blow hammer. Place the wood on the edge of the panel only, so as to prevent any surface marring and tap it progressively down while making your way along the panel with several passes. I tried the carpet-faced block of wood and it just doesn't work as well or as effectively to fold the aluminum tightly over the chassis tubing as the carefully wielded cedar drift. I am very pleased with the final result even though I was initially concerned as to how this lapping would turn out.
I retrieved some leftover bubble wrap from the ULTIMA panel packaging that I had saved and duct tape it as a protective shield over the newly installed and as yet pristine side panels so that I can final trim and test fit the double skin floor panel which I worked on last weekend. I find that I need to trim a few millimeters off the edges and file away with the curved tooth Nicholson flat file that has become the tool of choice for rapid removal of material, until I get it to fit just right. It is now 7:30PM and I decide I have had enough fun for the weekend.
