What did you do with your Cobra today?

Did nothing today. Too busy letting my nail polish dry! Normally I don't wear any, but my 4 year old grand daughter insisted I did for Christmas day. Not sure it goes with the Cobra image though.

Need to avoid chipping it when next working on the Cobra!

Steering column - leather, trim and switches

Managed to get a couple of hours on the Cobra today before Christmas.

Stainless steel shroud

The leather was cut to an approximate length to go around the shroud and the thickness of the shroud marked with chalk.

Metal shroud and marked up leather (the area to glue is nearest the camera)

Contact adhesive was applied to the metal shroud and leather (within the chalk mark). After 'drying the contact adhesive' the leather was fixed to the metal shroud. It was then trimmed to expose the control stalk holes.

Leather glued and fitted to metal shroud prior to being trimmed

The shroud was tried in the stainless steel trim plate and needed a small amount removing with metal shears at the joint.

The plastic mounting needs to have the two pre-drilled holes opening out a little and then tapped to take M8 threads. I used a 6.5 mm drill bit to open out the hole and a sharp M8 tap to create the thread.

Tapping for the M8 thread

The old mounting brackets (plastic below and metal above) were removed.

Old brackets removed (lower bracket already done)

Next the ignition switch barrel was removed. This is achieved by turning the ignition key clockwise one click to position one. A thin allen key is inserted in the small hole just above the barrel (see photo below) and the barrel just pops out.

Hole to release ignition barrel

The leather on the shroud was cut to the indicator and wiper switches using a craft knife. The shroud was then fed over the column. The switches were then put in place on the column. The stainless steel stalks will be fitted later.

The stainless steel trim plate was fitted to the column and over the shroud using M8 buttonhead bolts to fix it. The leather covered shroud is a friction fit to the stainless steel trim plate, so does not need any fixings.

Old type stalks in place (they will be replaced)

On the plate are operating symbols for the lights, wipers, horn etc, so the stainless steel GD stalks can be fitted before the IVA.

The leather was trimmed around the inside of the ignition barrel.

Leather cut around the barrel

Seat fixing - the runners

Runners

This is the easy bit!

Seat base as delivered

First job was to find the captive threads on the seat bases under the leather. The holes were found by finger and then a small indentation was made by pressing the leather over each hole. There were four of these - one at each corner. These were exposed by carefully cutting around the holes with a sharp craft knife.

Captive threads exposed

The threads needed running through with an M8 tap to clear the them. Eight bolts (M8) had been supplied by GD to fix the runners. One runner was fixed to each seat, making sure that the adjuster spring was nearest to the seat base (the runners are also handed). Next the adjuster handle was fitted over the peg and between the two locating lugs on the fixed runner. Then the other runner was put in to place and fixed to the seat. I have head restraints fixed to the seats, so it was okay to fit the adjuster bar at this stage. If you have head restraints fixed to the roll over hoops, then the adjuster bars should not be fitted for the IVA test as the seats need to be in a fixed position.

Two runners and adjustment bar fitted

Now I just need to fit them to the car

Thank you!

Over 30,000 page views! Wow.

To all those in the US, UK, Russia, Australia, France, Ireland, Guernsey, Ukraine, Canada, Netherlands, China, Indonesia and everyone who has had a look at my blog in the last month.

A BIG THANK YOU!

Carpets - the final fit

Final fitting of carpets

This is a job where you need patience and time.

At the transmission tunnel side, the lower and upper sections of the extension were trimmed with off cuts of the carpet. These small sections of carpet were fixed in place using contact adhesive to make a tidy job.

Small sections of carpet added to horizontal surfaces

Again on the transmission tunnel side, the carpet was cut along the top and bottom of the foot well extension - I cut all the way along towards the bulkhead. The carpet was then pushed in to the foot well extension. The carpet was then marked with chalk on the back and cut to the bulkhead/extent of the extension. A 'v' was cut in to the carpet in the extension to get rid of the ruck. The carpet was then glued in place, using spray adhesive.

Transmission tunnel foot well extension with carpet fitted

Next the off side foot well extension was rubbed down, sprayed satin black and then the cut out carpet was stuck in to the recess (this needed a small amount of trimming).

Carpet stuck in to off side extension

Then the off side piece of carpet was glued down.

Side carpet glued in place

Now I just need the escutcheon that Mark Turnbull is making to finish off the surround.

Floor carpets

The bulkhead carpet was laid and cut to the peddle box. This was stuck with contact adhesive. 

The floor section of the carpet was next. This needed the fixings supplied by Gardner Douglas securing to stop the carpet 'creeping' under my feet. This will be done once I locate the fixings! So for now it is just a loose fit.

Off side foot well almost finished

After this the passenger side was straight forward. The nearside bulkhead carpet, followed by the floor carpet were fixed in the same way as the drivers side. Then I added a 'map' pocket to the transmission tunnel side.

Near side foot well almost complete

Flexible heating pipes

Oh b****r!

The flexible heater pipes had slipped off most of their outlets/couplings or they were easy to pull off. This had happened even though I had used tie wraps at every end. So tie wraps are out for me for this job.

Jubilee clips used to replace tie wraps

Solution, secure these again to the outlet or the coupling using jubilee clamps. A lesson for me. Do it right the first time to avoid re-doing the work!

Widening footwell part 2

Widening the footwell part 2

Once I had the hole cut out, I then reinforced it with resin and glass fibre, overlaping the edges and on the back of the outside panel using West System Exoxy Resin (this helps maintain the structure of the body, whereas normal resin may not bond as well) and glass fibre matting.

The resin is mixed 5:1 (resin to hardener). I made sure that everything was ready, as the resin starts to go off very quickly, so I had to work fast. The resin mixture was applied to the hole, the glass fibre matting was then put in place, then the resin was applied to the glass fibre matting with a brush (Tip: get throw away brushes for this). The resin was applied and worked in a stipple manner, rather than a painting action, then left to set. During this process I created gentle slopes at the top and the edge nearest the driver to avoid catch my foot.

Glass fibre and resin added to top and bottom of hole. The sides and back were next.

This is a messy process, made more difficult by the location. The hole will be rubbed down (take care here as glass fibre can get in to your fingers if you are not careful) and then lined on the flat area of the hole (not the edge) with carpet. This will reduce the space gained to 30 mm, giving the same space either side of the accelerator pedal.

Glassed extension

NOTE: This modification is not recommended by GD.