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| Dashboard design as at October 2015 |
Dale's Gardner Douglas 427 mk4 Building an AC Cobra re-creation
Monday, October 26, 2015
Comments please on dashboard design
Originally I was going to copy Keith Townsend's dash layout, then Noel Hirst's. Now I am not so sure. I said that I reserved the right to change my mind and I have. I would like to be more individual. So here is my dashboard layout as at today! Before I fully commit, I would appreciate your comments.
The head light warnings are the two nearest the steering wheel. The starter button is to the right of the steering wheel and the hazard light switch is to the left of this behind the steering wheel. If you click on the photo it should enlarge and show what the dials and warning lamps are.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Compounding and polishing the Cobra body
Another job that I wasn't really looking forward to. With hindsight, this should have been the first job after fitting the bonnet, boot and doors, that way I wouldn't have had to avoid lights, bonnet locks, vents and windscreen stay holes etc!
Front end
I carefully rubbed down the edges of the bonnet to avoid exposing the grey GRP underneath. After refitting it to the body, I decided to compound and polish the body. This is a messy and time consuming job, as the polishing machine throws off some of the compounding cream and there are three compounds to apply, before any wax. The idea was to do it before any other bits were fitted to the body, such as the windscreen and wipers.
After a final rub down of the body with wet or dry to remove any imperfections, especially from the bonnet, I used separate firm pads on the polishing machine for the G6 and G3 Farecla compounds. The compounds were applied to the pads directly from the bottle in a circle around the edge. You don't have to use too much. The pad was then lightly sprayed with water (you could spray the body instead), before spreading the compound across it with my fingers (I used throw away latex gloves whilst I did the polishing).
Medium firm pressure was applied to the machine, it was set to about 1500 rpm and tilted at a slight angle so that the outer edge was doing most of the work.
The compound was applied to the panel one way and then at 90 degrees to ensure all the panel was fully and evenly compounded. After each compound, the bodywork was cleaned up with a dry stockinette cloth. Contrary to what I thought, electric light showed up any marks the best. So most of the job was done in the garage. My advice here is don't be afraid, apply the compound until it virtually disappears and the surface is nice and shiny. If there are still marks, have another go or rub down again if necessary! You only need to do the specific area that has the marks.
Care was taken to avoid the polishing machine 'grabbing' the bodywork. If it did grab, then a little water was sprayed on to the panel. The finishing G10 compound was applied with separate lambs wool bonnet in the same way.
The result was great, as you can see from the above photos, although it did highlight a couple of imperfections that I wasn't totally happy with. They will be sorted out at the end (or they may get left), in case I make any marks during the build process! Then the wax will be applied.
Doors
These were finished off with wet or dry, after gel coating the tops. Again care was required here to avoid exposing the grey GRP. Once I was happy with the tops, the doors were polished up using the routine above.
Rear end
The edges of the boot lid were rubbed down to get a smooth finish and then it was re-attached to the hinges. The whole of the rear end, including the boot lid, was then compounded as above.
It took me two whole days to do the car - may be I am a slow worker!
Chassis
When I spoke to Andy at GD last time, he said that my chassis (a Euro) will be assembled at the end of the month, after Jonathan's is complete at the end of October. Jonathan is taking as much as he can initially, as he has to transport it to the Shetland Isle. Good luck with that then.
Oh, and Jonathan is starting a blog. I've had a quick preview and from the initial posts, it will be worth looking at. I will post a link here once he goes live with the blog.
Anyway, roll on early November to collect my chassis.
Front end
I carefully rubbed down the edges of the bonnet to avoid exposing the grey GRP underneath. After refitting it to the body, I decided to compound and polish the body. This is a messy and time consuming job, as the polishing machine throws off some of the compounding cream and there are three compounds to apply, before any wax. The idea was to do it before any other bits were fitted to the body, such as the windscreen and wipers.
After a final rub down of the body with wet or dry to remove any imperfections, especially from the bonnet, I used separate firm pads on the polishing machine for the G6 and G3 Farecla compounds. The compounds were applied to the pads directly from the bottle in a circle around the edge. You don't have to use too much. The pad was then lightly sprayed with water (you could spray the body instead), before spreading the compound across it with my fingers (I used throw away latex gloves whilst I did the polishing).
Medium firm pressure was applied to the machine, it was set to about 1500 rpm and tilted at a slight angle so that the outer edge was doing most of the work.
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| Polishing the rear |
Care was taken to avoid the polishing machine 'grabbing' the bodywork. If it did grab, then a little water was sprayed on to the panel. The finishing G10 compound was applied with separate lambs wool bonnet in the same way.
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| Front section polished. Only the doors and back to do! You can see the unpolished doors and rear end. |
Doors
These were finished off with wet or dry, after gel coating the tops. Again care was required here to avoid exposing the grey GRP. Once I was happy with the tops, the doors were polished up using the routine above.
Rear end
The edges of the boot lid were rubbed down to get a smooth finish and then it was re-attached to the hinges. The whole of the rear end, including the boot lid, was then compounded as above.
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| Shiny rear! |
Chassis
When I spoke to Andy at GD last time, he said that my chassis (a Euro) will be assembled at the end of the month, after Jonathan's is complete at the end of October. Jonathan is taking as much as he can initially, as he has to transport it to the Shetland Isle. Good luck with that then.
Oh, and Jonathan is starting a blog. I've had a quick preview and from the initial posts, it will be worth looking at. I will post a link here once he goes live with the blog.
Anyway, roll on early November to collect my chassis.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Accelerator and clutch pedals
I tackled the accelerator and clutch pedals today.
Accelerator pedal
The accelerator pedal had too little travel - about 80mm when it should have been 100mm. This would have made the engine react quicker, but getting older I thought that I should set it as GD had recommended! The issue was that the linkage to the fly-by-wire pedal was set 10mm down from the top of the accelerator pedal (as per GD advice), but as a result the leverage was too little.
I had spoken to Keith Akerman and he had set his at 45mm using a clamp mechanism - mine was drilled, so had no adjustment. I decided, after playing about, that about 43mm would be ok. So I drilled another 6mm hole 43mm down from the top of the pedal. The original hole in the top of the pedal was left. The hole for the connecting bar needed opening up a little to allow the bar to function without fouling the bulkhead. After adjusting the rose joints on the bar, I got 100mm of travel on the pedal! Job done.
Clutch pedal
Next was the clutch pedal and cylinder. The clutch cylinder needed fixing to the bulkhead, but had to be mounted off it to allow the cylinder to function correctly. GD had supplied longer bolts for this. I spaced out the cylinder with washers and found that 8mm was about right. Sounds easy, but it took an age.
The clevis was then attached to the push rod and adjusted to set the pedal at the correct height. Take care here not to have the clutch partly disengaged/depressed, as the clutch will spin up under load. This can be adjusted with the clevis fixed to the pedal, by rotating the push rod. The clevis locking plate was attached to secure the clevis to the pedal. Another job done!
Accelerator pedal
The accelerator pedal had too little travel - about 80mm when it should have been 100mm. This would have made the engine react quicker, but getting older I thought that I should set it as GD had recommended! The issue was that the linkage to the fly-by-wire pedal was set 10mm down from the top of the accelerator pedal (as per GD advice), but as a result the leverage was too little.
I had spoken to Keith Akerman and he had set his at 45mm using a clamp mechanism - mine was drilled, so had no adjustment. I decided, after playing about, that about 43mm would be ok. So I drilled another 6mm hole 43mm down from the top of the pedal. The original hole in the top of the pedal was left. The hole for the connecting bar needed opening up a little to allow the bar to function without fouling the bulkhead. After adjusting the rose joints on the bar, I got 100mm of travel on the pedal! Job done.
Clutch pedal
Next was the clutch pedal and cylinder. The clutch cylinder needed fixing to the bulkhead, but had to be mounted off it to allow the cylinder to function correctly. GD had supplied longer bolts for this. I spaced out the cylinder with washers and found that 8mm was about right. Sounds easy, but it took an age.
The clevis was then attached to the push rod and adjusted to set the pedal at the correct height. Take care here not to have the clutch partly disengaged/depressed, as the clutch will spin up under load. This can be adjusted with the clevis fixed to the pedal, by rotating the push rod. The clevis locking plate was attached to secure the clevis to the pedal. Another job done!
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| Three cylinders bolted in place. The right hand one is the clutch and is spaced out by 8mm |
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| The clutch pedal is now linked to the cylinder and the accelerator has the correct travel |
Friday, October 09, 2015
Body, brake bias and power take-off studs
Preparing the body
Don't underestimate the time required to gel coat and rub down the body, doors, bonnet and boot. Don't get me wrong, it is not difficult, but it is time consuming. Applying the gel coat is like painting with gloopy Dulux. You let it dry, then rub down with wet or dry.
I seem to have applied loads of gel coat and spent hours and hours rubbing down and once done, it requires more rubbing down! Most times, no matter how much care I have taken, I seem to have gone too far and exposed the grey GRP below the gel coat, usually at the edges.
So don't be afraid to apply a thick coat of gel, especially along the door top and any edges. These seemed to require a lot of gel and rubbing down to get the right shape.
Now it is almost done, or at least I think it is, but no doubt more gel and rubbing down will be required!
Brake bias bar
The brake bias bar needed about 2mm of free play on the pedal. However, mine when I first fitted it, was solid up against the pedal box. Andy recommended that I take some metal off the threaded bar.
I needed help to remove and refit, as the fasteners are in the foot well and the compartment behind the wheel arch. Matthew, my son-in-law came to the rescue after doing his fatherly duties, including the school run.
Matthew undid the nuts whilst I held the screws from the foot well side. The brake bias bar was set with the clevis fixings at 60mm apart and equidistant from the ends. The master cylinder threaded bars were ground down by about 7mm each (after much trial and error - well hopefully not the latter) and refitted. The cylinders were attached to the brake bias bar by Matthew screwing the cylinders in to the clevis from the compartment.
This took a few attempts to get the length right, so it was a bit of an hokey cokey job .... in out, in out! Finally the length was ok, so the cylinders were fixed in place with the help of Matthew.
The brake pedal height was set 25mm below the accelerator height. This allows for heel and toeing, when changing down a gear.
Power take-off studs
M10 bolts, nylocs and ordinary nuts were ordered from ebay. The battery cables were attached to two of the M10 bolts and a washer added to each. The studs were passed through the 10mm holes drilled from the engine bay into the compartment behind the nearside wheel arch.
Attached to the top stud was the negative (black) cable and to the bottom the live (red) cable. These cables will eventually be attached to the battery.
The studs were fixed in place with normal nuts in the engine bay, to clamp the studs in place. The two cables with the rubber covers will be attached to the appropriate studs in the engine bay. These cables will then be secured to the studs with the nyloc nuts.
Don't underestimate the time required to gel coat and rub down the body, doors, bonnet and boot. Don't get me wrong, it is not difficult, but it is time consuming. Applying the gel coat is like painting with gloopy Dulux. You let it dry, then rub down with wet or dry.
I seem to have applied loads of gel coat and spent hours and hours rubbing down and once done, it requires more rubbing down! Most times, no matter how much care I have taken, I seem to have gone too far and exposed the grey GRP below the gel coat, usually at the edges.
So don't be afraid to apply a thick coat of gel, especially along the door top and any edges. These seemed to require a lot of gel and rubbing down to get the right shape.
Now it is almost done, or at least I think it is, but no doubt more gel and rubbing down will be required!
Brake bias bar
The brake bias bar needed about 2mm of free play on the pedal. However, mine when I first fitted it, was solid up against the pedal box. Andy recommended that I take some metal off the threaded bar.
I needed help to remove and refit, as the fasteners are in the foot well and the compartment behind the wheel arch. Matthew, my son-in-law came to the rescue after doing his fatherly duties, including the school run.
Matthew undid the nuts whilst I held the screws from the foot well side. The brake bias bar was set with the clevis fixings at 60mm apart and equidistant from the ends. The master cylinder threaded bars were ground down by about 7mm each (after much trial and error - well hopefully not the latter) and refitted. The cylinders were attached to the brake bias bar by Matthew screwing the cylinders in to the clevis from the compartment.
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| Brake bias bar, with brake switch above it |
The brake pedal height was set 25mm below the accelerator height. This allows for heel and toeing, when changing down a gear.
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| Accelerator set about 25mm below the brake pedal |
M10 bolts, nylocs and ordinary nuts were ordered from ebay. The battery cables were attached to two of the M10 bolts and a washer added to each. The studs were passed through the 10mm holes drilled from the engine bay into the compartment behind the nearside wheel arch.
Attached to the top stud was the negative (black) cable and to the bottom the live (red) cable. These cables will eventually be attached to the battery.
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| Cables connected to studs |
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| Power take-off studs in engine bay |
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
GD 427 bonnet and bonnet locks
Bonnet
Now to the bonnet. First I filed down the edge. What a dusty job!
I had decided on locks, rather than the traditional handles to keep the lines sleek and fuss free. The hole centres were not marked up by GD, so like the demist vent positions, I got them from Keith Akerman's car! Opening the bonnet will be a challenge I face. Hadn't thought of that - I may fit a spring to lift it a little or add a scoop to lift it with! Yet to decide.
I think the fixing process would be similar for fitting the handles as the locks, but check the measurements.
The hole centres are marked up on the bonnet at 41mm from the back of the bonnet, nearest to the windscreen. They are 680mm apart - 340mm each side of the centre line. Pilot holes were drilled in the bonnet, before 20mm diameter holes were drilled in the bonnet with the step drill. Because of the thickness of the bonnet and the depth of the steps, I had to drill from both sides.
The lock holes were taken out with the Dremel (I used the hole cutter bit to do this) to make them 21mm square (although the corners are cut off), to take the lock bodies. The locks were disassembled and then fixed in to the holes and the locating cams re-fitted to the square bars of the locks. I orientated them so that the key slots would run front to back of the car.
The bonnet was packed up to the level of the surrounding body. The cams were then used to locate the edge of the slots to cut in the bulkhead (from the engine compartment). The escutcheons were used to mark the extent of the holes and these were marked out (again from beneath the bonnet). The holes were drilled and again cut out with the Dremel cutter. The fixing holes were drilled for the escutcheons. The holes were not cut to the full extent of the escutcheon slots and were slightly narrower at the fully locked position to ensure that the bonnet was at the correct height. The escutcheons were then fitted, using two long screws and nyloc nuts.
Now to the bonnet. First I filed down the edge. What a dusty job!
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| The ridge along the bonnet edge before filing can just be seen |
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| Ridge filed down ready for gel coating |
The bonnet was not the best GD moulding. It had nearly 30 blemishes on the surface. They are marked up with dry wipe marker pen in the photo below. Many of the circles contained multiple blemishes.
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| Bonnet blemishes marked |
The edges of the bonnet were gel coated twice, before rubbing down. The blemishes only needed one coat. The bonnet was then rubbed down and compounded with Farecla G6, before re-fitting to the body and lining up. This took hours.
Bonnet locks
I had decided on locks, rather than the traditional handles to keep the lines sleek and fuss free. The hole centres were not marked up by GD, so like the demist vent positions, I got them from Keith Akerman's car! Opening the bonnet will be a challenge I face. Hadn't thought of that - I may fit a spring to lift it a little or add a scoop to lift it with! Yet to decide.
I think the fixing process would be similar for fitting the handles as the locks, but check the measurements.
The hole centres are marked up on the bonnet at 41mm from the back of the bonnet, nearest to the windscreen. They are 680mm apart - 340mm each side of the centre line. Pilot holes were drilled in the bonnet, before 20mm diameter holes were drilled in the bonnet with the step drill. Because of the thickness of the bonnet and the depth of the steps, I had to drill from both sides.
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| Pilot hole drilled for the bonnet locks |
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| Lock in place in the bonnet |
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| Escutcheon fixed to bulkhead |
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| Lock on underside of bonnet |
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| View from inside the engine compartment |
Saturday, October 03, 2015
Easy jobs today! Lights and fuel filler.
Lights
The wires had been left after I had fitted them to the body. I connected up the side lights, headlights and repeaters using blade connectors and shrink covers, as I was not happy with the exposed bullet connectors under the wings. It was a straight forward job, the same colour wires connect to each other - I followed the GD build manual just in case. NOTE: See IVA and Post IVA category in the Build Process. I also connected up the rear lights too. Originally I had planned to install waterproof connectors, but after spending hours and getting nowhere, I gave up and chucked them in the bin. I have left the fog and reversing lights until later.
I had thought that a hair dryer would be adequate to shrink the heat shrink wire wrap, but in the end I resorted to the hot air paint stripper! That got the job done.
NOTE: A tip from Noel Hirst. Put a loop in the lower wire to the indicator to avoid water being channeled in to the light unit.
Fuel filler
I have decided to install the flush filler as used on the GD mk3, rather than the bigger Aston style filler in the rear wing. I went this way to keep a smooth fuss free line to the car.
I marked out the fuel filler as per Andy's instructions and after looking at Ryan's blog. Masking tape was stuck along the two off-side edges of the boot. Where they intersect is the edge of the fuel filler. A 45 deg line sets the centre line of the filler. It is then a case of working out the centre of the filler by inverting it and marking the outside on the masking tape. Half the diameter gives the centre point. The diameter of the hole to cut is then marked, in my case 64mm, and cut with an electric hole saw attached to the drill.
Need to find out the thread size for the breather before I can fit that and the overflow pipe.
Door opener springs
I followed Keith Townsend's lead and installed helper springs on the door openers. Not sure that these are really necessary, but gets it out of my system!
The spring attaches to the existing hole in the triangular fixing and a holed drilled in the actuating cam above the handle.
The wires had been left after I had fitted them to the body. I connected up the side lights, headlights and repeaters using blade connectors and shrink covers, as I was not happy with the exposed bullet connectors under the wings. It was a straight forward job, the same colour wires connect to each other - I followed the GD build manual just in case. NOTE: See IVA and Post IVA category in the Build Process. I also connected up the rear lights too. Originally I had planned to install waterproof connectors, but after spending hours and getting nowhere, I gave up and chucked them in the bin. I have left the fog and reversing lights until later.
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| Indicator and headlight wiring tidied up |
NOTE: A tip from Noel Hirst. Put a loop in the lower wire to the indicator to avoid water being channeled in to the light unit.
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| Note wire to indicator now has a dip in it |
Fuel filler
I have decided to install the flush filler as used on the GD mk3, rather than the bigger Aston style filler in the rear wing. I went this way to keep a smooth fuss free line to the car.
I marked out the fuel filler as per Andy's instructions and after looking at Ryan's blog. Masking tape was stuck along the two off-side edges of the boot. Where they intersect is the edge of the fuel filler. A 45 deg line sets the centre line of the filler. It is then a case of working out the centre of the filler by inverting it and marking the outside on the masking tape. Half the diameter gives the centre point. The diameter of the hole to cut is then marked, in my case 64mm, and cut with an electric hole saw attached to the drill.
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| Position marked and hole drilled. The filler is bigger than the hole. |
Masking tape was added to the area not already covered to allow the fixing holes to be marked. The six holes were drilled where marked and the masking tape removed. The filler was positioned and bolted down with the fixings provided. Really pleased with the finished job (see photo below).
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| Filler fitted in place |
Door opener springs
I followed Keith Townsend's lead and installed helper springs on the door openers. Not sure that these are really necessary, but gets it out of my system!
The spring attaches to the existing hole in the triangular fixing and a holed drilled in the actuating cam above the handle.
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| Helper spring fitted to cam opener and triangular fixing |
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