01 April 2012 - Body adjustments
Getting the wiring done and heater fitted meant that there was not a lot left to do before the boddy got fitted, so I took the plunge and lined it all up and held it in place with a couple of ratchett straps, one at the front and one at the rear. Then was just a simple task of fibreglassing the body to the floorpans with some bonding paste, resin and some fibreglass matting. This starts to make the whole car incredibly strong!
One thing I noticed though was that the passenger side front was about 40-50mm further forward, and I had several cups of coffee and head scratching moments, before I took the bold step of doing a cut'n'shut job to make it fit. I think that the issue arose due to the fact that the original donor from Gary at Sammio was 40+ years old, my Vitesse is 40+ years old and the tolerances were not quite so tight as they are today. Couple this with the fact that the kit is extremely keenly priced (ie cheap) so I was expecting to do some work, so this was not too much of a surprise.
As you can see, it was a case of cutting about 40mm out of the passenger side and then cutting a wedge shape out of the top scuttle panel to make everything line up properly. It was all pinned together with some small brackets and then bonded and fibreglassed to strengthen it all up again.
The ratchett strap kept everthing positioned while the bonding paste dried and then with some general tidying up it all started to come together quite nicely.
Now it is all aligned with my chassis and bulkhead, I am expecting some issues with the bonnet, but for now I am just glad it all came together and is back on one piece ready for the inspection with the DLVA office in Bournemouth on the 18th April!
