Step 4 of 80

Judging by the number of steps completed, we are now 5% of the way there. Or, we would be if we'd fully completed steps 1 (drill all the panels - on hold for now until we get three replacement panels), 3 (drill holes for securing the wiring loom, fuel lines, brake pipes - mostly done but on hold until I can get clarification of part of the diagram which I can't figure out). So, maybe 3% complete.

Today's job, after cleaning up all the aluminium swarf from panel drilling, was pressing in bushes. The rubber bushes went in pretty easily with the aid of some washing up liquid and a G-clamp:

Rubber bushes pressed in to a front wishbone

Unfortunately the metalastic bushes were considerably tougher to get in, defeating even that most versatile of tools, the large hammer. I managed to borrow a vice (thanks Pete) but that wasn't much use either, as I wasn't able to press the bushes in exactly straight. Eventually I made a simple press tool:

Press for metalastic bushes: nut, socket, wishbone, bush, socket, nut. Sockets are so that it pushes evenly on the correct bit of the bush / wishbone.

This made life pretty straightforward, although still fairly hard work to press the bush in... 15 times. Still, 23 bushes now pressed in today. This means that now I can start building up the suspension, at which point it will start looking a little more like a car. A little.

Metalastic bushes for the rear suspension.

Getting Started

Finally, the first free weekend since the kit arrived. Having left it a bit late to order the tools necessary for the first bit, not all of them showed up at work on Friday, so I had to go re-buy them again this morning. Fortunately, nothing terribly expensive.

The first task is to offer up all the aluminium bodywork panels, bend and trim them where necessary (this is mostly already done, but there is some fine-tuning required). This was fairly painless, although the rear panel doesn't seem to fit - I don't think this is due to my bending-and-fitting skills, but we'll see.

The top of the panel should be horizontal where it curves round - also, note the large gap (left of the 45 degree edge)...

Started drilling holes in some of the other panels where they'll rivet on to the chassis, but I've basically done half a panel edge out of a dozen or so panels, each with four edges... lots to do.