Drilling and cutting

Heater

First the holes were cut to allow air to get to the heater which is located in the nearside compartment under the wing. Five 22mm holes were drilled at equal intervals in the nearside wing air intake. The off side vent is purely for show.

Holes drilled in air intake

The heater is fixed in the nearside footwell compartment.

The sides of the heater were removed, and the flanges cut off as they make the heater too wide to install. This is simply a case of removing eight self tapping screws to remove the sides, then cutting off the flanges with a hacksaw and trimming up with a file.

The internals of the heater were removed, before four 6mm rivnuts were installed - the top about 30mm in from the sides, the bottom 20mm from the sides and 5mm above the centre line of the existing screws (see below). This avoids the heater matrix and gives room to fix the bolts in to the heater from the footwell.

Heater with flanges removed

Side view of the heater with the matrix in place and the rivnuts installed

Now to installing the heater unit. First I measured where the water feed pipes were to go. GD had marked the line up in the engine compartment. The water feed pipe hole positions were marked as were the two main hot air pipes (shown above). The holes were cut - 25mm in diameter and 65mm apart for the feed pipes and the appropriate size holes cut for the hot air pipes. These were opened out a little with a file to allow the pipes to go through to the footwell.

Hot air pipes in the footwell (the relays have been temporally removed)

The heater in the nearside compartment ahead of the passenger footwell.
Here you can see three of the five vent holes on the right

A template of the face of the heater was used to mark up the positions of the rivnuts from the footwell. Now it's just a case of fitting all the pipes and fishtail vents to the scuttle!

Door reveal

You can just about see the marked lines for the cut out behind the door (not sure what these are for!). I drilled a hole at the corner to make the cut neater.

Cut out marked behind nearside door

Below you can see the area with the section cut out. I used the flexible extension for the Dremel, as it was a little less bulky than the main drill.

Area cut out

Extended footwell

The extended footwell gives you more space for the size 9s. The pedals in the GD are off-set to the right and without the extension it is quite cramped. Beware if fitting the footwell extension though. If I had cut the bulkhead using the extension as a template, the hole would have gone in to the offside compartment under the wheel arch. Luckily I drilled a hole to test and found this out.

You can see the line that would have cut if I had used the extender, plus the test hole 

Once the hole was cut, I fixed 6 x 5mm rivnuts to the extender to bolt it in place. There is a gap between the extension and the engine bay wall that I will have to deal with.

Painting the metalwork

I changed my mind. The cost of powder coating was nearly £200, so I decided to paint the hinges etc myself - cost around £60. I used chassis black POR15 paint. This may be a better option, as my experience/opinion of powder coating is not good - it has lifted and flaked on previous race car chassis.

Before painting the metalwork needed preparing by removing all the sharp edges, so that rust wouldn't break through at these points. All the threaded holes and pivot points had previously been filled with plastercine to avoid paint getting in to them.

The metalwork before preparation

Once this was done the metal was prepared by using POR15 Metal Prep. Finally the bits were hung up and painted with POR15 chassis black paint. the stuff runs and two coats are required, but it is self levelling, so produces quite a good finish.

I knew that the caravan airer would come in useful sometime

The paint can warns you not to shake it, to take out what you need (rather than using it from the can) and to use cling film between the lid and can, to stop it gluing itself together. Not your normal paint then!

The metalwork was given a second coat, to make it solid.

Wiring

Snatched a couple of hours today and fixed the under bonnet wiring loom in place.

The loom was secured with 13mm P clips to the inner wing with 5mm machine screws and nyloc nuts, concealing the rear to front wiring under the bonnet lip where possible.

The loom concealed under the bonnet rim

Part of the wiring loom then passes through the nearside inner wing, to supply the lights, indicator and indicator repeater. A hole needs to be drilled to take a suitable sized grommet. The nearside repeater wire, which runs front to rear on the otherside of the inner wing, was also fixed with 6.5 mm P clips, sharing the same 5mm machine screws (avoided drilling more holes), before entering the compartment at the rear of the wheel arch.

Nearside wheel arch showing repeater wire P clipped in place

The loom is then run across the front of the car and attached to the bonnet hinge mount, again with P clips secured via M5 rivnuts. This leaves loose wires (at this stage) for the horn and fan.

Looking at the bonnet hinge mount from the 'grill' at the front

The wiring across the hinge mounting has sufficient slack (hence the curve in the wires) to allow for the air intake vent, of which more later.

The off side wiring loom (again lights, indicators and indicator repeater) then passes through the inner wing, after drilling a suitable hole. The repeater wiring runs front to rear and was clipped to the top of the wheel arch side of the inner wing using 6.5mm P clips. Now it is just a case of wiring up the items.

In my infinate wisdom I had bought some waterproof connectors for the front lights and indicators. This was because the joints are under the wings and exposed to any damp or wet - not that I plan to drive it in the rain. Easy to fit in theory. Less easy in practice! What a fiddly job.

Underseal

Yep. More underseal!

I applied masking tape to the underside of the wheel arch return and the back of the transmission tunnel to avoid getting underseal on these areas.

The underseal was stirred well and applied by brush. Don't leave the brush overnight in white spirit hoping that it will be clean the next day. Instead it will be set rubber. Voice of experience! But at least the white spirit will be clean.

I have done all the wheel arches and the nose cone twice. I also used masking tape to create a straight line under the bonnet just below the wing to the inner wheel arch joint. I paid particular attention to coating the tops of the wings and wheel arches. It is hard work undersealing this! The whole job is a two day task.

The nose cone area runs up to the underside of the bonnet surround and on each side.  I have left the front of the inner wings untreated at the moment. I will finish off to the line of the radiator once I know where this is. See the photo below for the current position.

Undersealed nose cone, with IsoFlex tin centre bottom

In addition I have coated the area around the rear axle/the diff. although this is not really required.

Rear arch area where differential will go

I have not done the transmission tunnel, as again it is not really required.

Wiring success!!

A variety of jobs today.

Number plate light

I managed to get the number plate wire pulled through ..... eventually! After about an hour of trying to hook the wire through the hole I had made in the boot lid, I gave up and drilled a hole from the other side of the boot lid.


Not pretty, but it did the trick! Now needs filling and gel coating

The wire was hooked through this hole, then a draw wire attached to pull it up the channel to the number plate light location. A grommet will be used to fill in the hole.

Wire pulled through

This wire was threaded through the light base and the fitting attached. Then the bullet connectors were soldered on.


Number plate light fitted

Door hinges etc

Next the doors were removed, so that the metalwork could be painted, the lip cut back and the gel coat on the edge rubbed down for the first time.

The gel coat rubbed down ok, but showed the GRP below in places. So more gel Coat was mixed and applied. The joint between the inner and outer skins needed a good coat or two of gel.

The tapped holes and the pivot holes on the metalwork, were filled with plasticine to make sure that they were not covered in paint.

Door aperture

In the meantime the edges around the door apertures were marked from the door side to give a consistent 12mm lip all round. A small block of wood was used for this and a screw fixed so that it stuck out a small way to scribe the cut line. The trusty Dremel was used to remove the excess. Watch the cutting blade! They have a habit of breaking and flying off

Lip cut down to 12mm

Wiring

I drilled 24mm holes through the inner wing for the front loom and the 12mm holes to the under wing compartments for the indicator repeater cables. The hole sizes all allow for the grommets I used. The GRP was thinned down around the four holes and Vaseline used to allow the grommets to fit. The cables will be held in place by various size P clips, once I have long enough cap head bolts of the right size.

Underseal

I undersealed just the one wing today - it is important with GRP cars that underseal is applied to reduce the risk of star crazing, caused by stones flying off the wheels and hitting the underside of the wings. I used IsoFlex (available from big DIY stores and builders merchants), as others had used this product. But, forgot to put on rubber gloves - it goes everywhere! It has the consistency of a thick paint or golden syrup!

One done three to go and then its a second coat! The yellow is masking tape to protect the wheel arches.

Just three more wheel arches and then another coat.



Cobra wiring, boot lid, courtesy light switches and windscreen holes

Today I labelled up the front and rear body looms. I followed the GD build manual that identified each group of wires and every individual wire. Really easy even for a numpty like me! At least I know what the wires are for now. It just looked a real jumble of wires before that.

I also found that the GD loom allows for courtesy lights in the passenger compartment, a HiFi system located in the boot and a rear screen heater for a hard top.

I fitted the bullet connectors on most of the wires. The front lights will get waterproof connectors, as they are exposed under the wings.

With the courtesy light wires available it would be rude not to use them. So I fitted courtesy light switches in the door reveal between the hinges. A 10mm hole was drilled in each door reveal between the two hinges, plus a fixing hole.

Hole for switch and fixing

The switch was then located after a small amount of filing to open up the hole a little. The power wire is connected to this switch.

Courtesy door switch installed 

The lights will be fitted later in the under dash panels to illuminate the foot wells. A wire will go from the switch to the light for the power. The earth will then be the second connection to the light.

What I couldn't work out was how the fog and reversing light were earthed and what the two black with white trace wires were in the passenger compartment. Andy from GD clarified this.

The fog and reverse lights use a loop from the earth of the rear side lights (shared earth). Dead easy using a double bullet connection joint (supplied) and a bit of black wire.

The two black and white trace wires are connected together for continuity where the regular GD column connection is used. These two wires allow for an optional brake test light to be fitted. When the wires are connected, the brake test works when the ignition key is set to the crank position.

Fitting the boot lid was not so easy. First the edges of the lid were filed to prepare it for gel coating. Plenty of fitting and removing of the hinges, hole elongation and gentle persuasion of the hinges with a big hammer to get the boot lid lined up followed, along with some choice words! The boot lid took some time to line up and I am still not totally happy with it. I attached the rubber seal to the boot reveal to make sure that I had the correct position for the lid.

Boot lid fitted

GD had pre-fitted a twin core cable within the near side strengthening rib in the boot lid for the number plate light. That saved a load of time and hassle looking at some blogs, however finding the cable at the light end was not so easy. The wire goes through the near side hinge, which I had to drill in two places, down the inside of the rib and then it emerges at the number plate light position.

Boot lid fitted with wire for number plate light shown 

Here the wire is apparently curled up above the light location point and can be hooked out with some thin wire. That is still to do!

Next I cut the holes for the windscreen legs.

Drill holes within GD markings

 The position was marked up by GD. The holes were cut by marking and drilling holes along the centre line, leaving a millimeter at either side. The hole was masked off. Then the hole was opened up using the Dremel, then the step drill (carefully) and a file.

The cut cleaned up with a file ready for the windscreen pilar

Front and rear wiring loom

I decided that the wiring loom would be next. This is in four parts:

• The front
• The back
• The dash
• The engine

Today I tackled the first two. It was difficult to work out where things went and the GD build guide did not give all the details or photos. It is fine once you have worked it all out or know what you are doing!

NOTE ADDED LATER:  Clearly I didn't know what I was doing! At this stage make the modifications to the column switch wires, the washer earth, the horn wiring (as per the GD instructions) and feed the red wire for the fuel pump through the bulkhead. Do it at this stage to save you time and grazed knuckles.

First I decided to fit the front loom. The fuse box hole was cut out as marked by GD. The fuse box was fitted through the hole. In my wisdom I thought that the fixing holes could be marked by putting the fuse box in place from the engine bay side and marking the fixing holes, then drilling. Wrong!! They are not central and are not the same when the fuse box is mounted from the other side.


Holes drilled in wrong place!


Put the fuse box through the hole, then mark and drill from the passenger compartment. Fix with cap head bolts. Some filling and gel coating to do then.

The relay block was fixed in place with self tapping screws to the scuttle between the windscreen fixing point and the front of the passenger foot well. Note that this is fixed upside down. By removing a couple of relays fixing holes are revealed. I was a little concerned that the pilot holes would come through the wings! Of course they didn't.

Relay block fitted

A 44mm hole was drilled in the near side inner wheel arch where GD had marked. The front loom was fed through the hole and the grommet fitted in place. A little Vaseline in the grommet groove helped fit the grommet in the hole.

Hole cut, grommet fixed and loom fed through.

Next the rear loom was connected to the front loom. There are two electrical terminal blocks to push together. These are unique so can't be mixed up.

A pilot hole was drilled from the boot towards the passenger compartment then opened up to 25mm. I avoided drilling through the panel in the upper area of the passenger compartment. A piece of wire helped me locate the hole from the passenger compartment.

Pilot hole drilled from boot

Once the hole was drilled a slot was created about 10mm wide to help thread the loom from the passenger compartment to the boot. This slot can be seen in the next photo. Threading the numerous wires through took some time.

The rear loom behind the seat location

The rear loom once connected, was routed down the front firewall into the foot well. It then went along the line of the transmission tunnel. From there it went behind where the passenger seat will be and up the rear fire wall, before entering the cut slot/hole. 'P' clips will be needed to retain the loom - something to source.

Holes cut for dash loom

Another 44mm hole was cut. This time in the bulkhead. Below this a 25mm hole was cut both for the dash loom. GD had marked the holes.

Hole cut for steering column

Finally a 60mm hole was cut for the steering column. Again GD had marked the hole.

Next I need to mark up the numerous wires so I know where they go. I will use the wiring diagram in the build manual to do this.



More gel coating and polishing

I have plucked up courage to tackled the edge of the doors. You can see where the outer skin is bonded to the inner skin. This shows as a pink line all around each door. After filing, this edge needs rubbing down with P400 wet or dry paper. It is then coated with a couple of coats of gel.


First coat of gel applied - doesn't look good!

The second coat made it look better. It is then rubbed down with P800 then P1200, to create a smooth rounded edge.

Next I rubbed down the gel coat that I had done the other day. Most was ok, but some of the imperfections should have been gently ground out before I applied the gel coat. As a result, the rubbing down exposed the original fault.

I polished all the front bodywork, excluding the bonnet, using the polishing machine. I wrecked the foam mop head on the wheel arches and especially the light apertures. So with hindsight, I should have polished the body before I cut any holes to minimise this risk. I used Farecla G6 and then G3 and I am really pleased with the results.

Gleaming bodywork!

Now the front bodywork is polished I fixed the grills in place using the Car Builders Solutions adhesive. It is applied by a silicone gun and is available in black and white.

Oil cooler grill fixed in place

Then I took note of Keith Townsend's blog and trial fitted the front registration bar, as it is awkward to do once the body is on the chassis. The bar is bolted between the two inner wings and is a requirement of the IVA test to reduce the size of the opening and is also used by GD to mount the registration plate. I measured 120mm from the bottom of the radiator opening to the bar to get the position. A couple of washers were used on each bolt as packing, as the inner wings were a little wider than the bar.

Front number plate bar fixed

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Bonnet and first gel coat

Today I fixed the bonnet. Sounds easy. Just two hinges fixed by four bolts. 

Bonnet hinge from inside engine bay

However, it took a lot of fiddling to get the shut lines the same all round. The hinges needed bending and I enlarged the holes on the hinges by 2mm to allow for minor adjustment. But it was well worth the time.

Consistent shut lines

There were a lot of small indentations, pin holes and marks on the body after rubbing down. So I tackled the gel coat for the first time. First I identified every mark with tape, where some gel coat was needed. This was to make sure that I touched up all the areas required. I had been told that the mix was 3% of the activator to 97% of the gel coat. Then I mixed the gel coat and activator, using a syringe from childrens Calpol to measure out the small quantity of activator.

Difficult to see the imperfections from the photo, but they are there - honest.

Areas that were relatively flat were rubbed down with P400 wet or dry paper. I covered some with cling film and left some others exposed to test if it made a difference. I have heard stories of the gel not setting, however the weather in these cases was cold. It is over 20 deg C today, so we will find out if the mix is ok and whether cling film makes a difference.

Brake and oil cooler vents

More cutting out today.

I taped and marked up the brake and oil cooler vent areas to cut out at the front of the body.

The brake vent masked up and marked

The masking was not strictly required, but a double thickness of masking tape offered some protection to the gel coat when cutting with the Dremel. Even so, I still managed to mark one of the brake vent cut outs! So another gel coat repair to do.

The brake vent cut out

I kept the pieces of GRP that I remove, so that they could be used as formers for the black mesh that I was fixing. The holes were rubbed down with P800, then P1200 wet and dry, before gel coating, rubbing down and polishing. The mesh was cut about 10 to 20mm bigger than the piece cut out. The excess mesh was bent around the piece and then finally offered up to the hole. They will be attached to the body using Car Builder Solutions polyurethane adhesive/sealant. The mesh which is against the body and the adhesive will be covered with underseal later.

The other two holes were cut and the mesh added. The finished body looks like this.

The three vents cut and mesh fitted

It's starting to look like a Cobra now!

Lights fitted

If I wasn't sure that I needed a Dremel to help build my Cobra, then this really convinced me! Well worth the investment. Someone said that you can't build a Cobra without one!

I started by cutting out the headlights. A 170mm hole is needed for each light. Measure twice cut once! It is quite scary cutting such a big hole in a new body. I found the centre of the cut out area for each light and drilled a small hole for the Dremel guide to fit and one for the cutting bit. GD had marked the area to cut out and had already drilled the fixing holes for the light units. There is a special Dremel bit to cut the circles, which took a little finding. By holding the Dremel guide in place I could cut the big circular hole. 

Hole being cut. Note test cut!

I found that the chuck on the Dremel needed to be really tight to stop the bit working loose. I was too scared to cut the full hole, so I cut the last half inch by hand, using a hack saw blade! I had to drill two other holes with the step drill for the adjusters on each light (again positions marked by GD). One at twelve o'clock and one at 9 o'clock.

Headlight cut out

With the holes cut I could offer up the P700 headlights and fix them in place with the self tappers provided. Then the chrome trims were added to each light.

P700 headlight in place

Next it was the indicators. A 30mm hole was cut for each indicator using the Dremel. Location holes were drilled to secure the indicators the same size as the light studs.

Front indicator cut out and drilled

So that was the front done. I am really pleased with the result.

The position of the rear lights (side/brake and indicator) was established by holding the rubber rings from the lights in the desired position and marking them with a pencil. Fixing was a repeat of the front indicators - drill the location holes, mark out the holes to cut for the light unit, cut and secure in place - don't assume GD's markings are correct (mine weren't as you can see). Also I made sure that the location holes were in line.

Mounting holes for back lights

Once the lights were installed here is what it looked like.

Rear view with brake and indicators in place

Next it was the side repeater lights. These were marked up using tape and one of the chrome rings from the lights. I set the bottom of the lights 15mm above the side air intake vent and the side touching a line from the air intake vent.

Markings for side repeater

I didn't have a 20mm hole cutter, so resorted to using a small drill bit and a multitude of holes to cut out the GRP. The final cut was made using the trusty Dremel! A file was then carefully used to shape and extend the hole. Some builders have had to thin down the wing around the light to fit these, but mine only needed minimal fettling.


Side repeater in place

So that is it for now on the lights. An easy days work, with a lot to show for it.