Leather Fetish!!

The final stages are in sight and the IVA application is prepped and ready to post. 

I can start this update with good news, my interior has arrived, after a seriously long wait of 3 months (which has took the shine of it a little) However my final colour choice and ideas are now final coming together and look simply stunning in my opinion. 

I started off with the rear bulkhead leather cover, i wanted leather for this as opposed to the cheaper option of vinyl replica leather as basically I'm a snob and i wanted the best, along with that its so visible i wanted it to look good. 

 I was/am however a little disappointed with how it is finished. On all the images i have been looking at and viewing various cars on the AK website the leather cover spreads the full width of the back bulkhead and although most will be hidden by the seats, it did strike me as odd for it to be so short. In fact i was not a happy bunny and I immediately got on the phone to AK to have a bit of a rant. After speaking with Jon he said that for the last 5 years they have been made shorter like this as the full leather ones didn't fit very well.... hindsight is a wonderful thing because 100% if I'd have known that at the point of order i would have been looking elsewhere. I was a little miffed with the amount this all cost me also. Because my dash has been finished in carbon fibre i didn't want/need my dash covering in leather, nor did i want my door cards with pockets. I just wanted enough matching black leather as the rear bulkhead for me to trim my own door cards. I was offered a discount of £100 of the list price as the in house trimmer (Dougie) still had to get so many cuts of leather out of one hide. However i think the rear bulk head is roughly 30% less leather than i was expecting and three months from point of order to delivery (keeping in mind it was only the seats and bulkhead i needed) so hardly a quick turn around for basically half an interior order with no dash to do. But i have a blank dashboard in the garage so maybe i should call his bluff and send that to get covered for the additional £100, that would then be worth more to someone secondhand uncut and ready to fit to a car.......hmmmmm??? should i rock the boat??

Anyway onto the seats..... these i am exceptionally happy with, the colour is exactly what i wanted (Mulberry red) and the look biblical against the dark carpet and interior trim. I was adamant on the AK seat shells simply because of the headrest fixing kit, as if the headrest is removed their are no visible fixings and keeps everything looking smooth and clean line.... devils in the detail!!
 They are simply bolted through the floor under the base squab of each seat and held in place with four M8 nuts and bolts, with a big penny washer either side as a load spreader. I have used stainless steel nuts/bolts for this as the underside is exposed to the elements so don't want removal to become an issue at a later date. The stainless steel bolts however don't have a high grade strength marking (8.8) on the head which could be an IVA issue, but all the seat belt fixings do so i might be ok, the seats are not load bearing in an accident as the weight would be the occupant and so its the seat belts that need to comply with the rules more... and mine do.

 This was great to finally get the last little bits of the interior together and more importantly gave me my final seating position for driving..... no more upturned buckets for me. The seats have to be fixed directly onto the floor pan to allow the measurements for the seat belt top mount position. If they were lifted slightly on sliders for example then they would fall foul of this measurement and fail IVA. I'm happy with mine direct on the floor, I'm just under 6ft so i need all the room i can get. Getting in and out of the car is now a little trickier than before with significantly less room to move knee joints to bend in directions they are not meant to.... I'm sure i will get the trick of it

The best bit of getting the seats fitted and finding the desired position is the ability to now adjust the harnesses to suit myself, they are a very broad belt and if you follow my blog you will know that i specifically wanted the broad 3" strap as opposed to the standard 2"
 So with the drivers seat and harnesses adjusted for me, it was time to get the passenger seat set for my best mate, to which he was very happy with.

You can notice in the image with my little mate in that the top harness mount is exposed and when you are strapped in the metal can make contact with the rounded lip of the body. AK's solution to this is to have some little leather socks made to cover this, which looks good and is practical also.... but my harnesses were 3" remember not the standard 2" so the ones i had with my delivery did not fit.... Bugger!!

Easy to sort this mind as i had enough off cuts from trimming my door cards to make up some slightly bigger socks to fit my harness buckles. And lucky for me that i had just bought my significant other a lovely little white Toyota..... sewing machine!!! So that was useful to make them up. I have always been a dab hand at trimming as i used to make leather seat covers for my mini's back in the day, using a bloody great old sewing machine that belonged to my mother.... i still have that old boiler to in my loft (sewing machine that is... not my mother)  

 So that's the interior finished, just need to fit the steering wheel spoke cover and head rests (part of the AK IVA kit) as a these are needed to keep the car IVA happy. Next on my list is to start setting the ride height and shock stiffness. Again these need to be set for the IVA and to give me a standard height at which to adjust my headlights to. This will be done with a road trip to my MOT test station legally driven there booked in under the chassis number, i will be looking forward to that along with being scared shit less driving on the public highway for the first time.

I'll finish on the IVA application form which is all filled out and is awaiting postage. I have to send a "amateur build declaration" form also along with photo evidence of the build process from start to finish as evidence. I have a list of jobs i need to do first prior to IVA but the end is in sight.... i hope, just in time for winter!!!

Hmmm smooth leather door cards, with no pockets for shit to gather and clutter up.... just what i wanted.

All Quiet on the North East Front..... NOT!!!!

A small update for all those who follow my progress.
   I left you all last time waiting for my seats and interior, and i still don't have them.... but not much longer. I have however managed to get the interior carpet fitted and lots of other little jobs done.

First off with the carpet fitting was a problem where the bottom of the dash didn't sit low enough to touch the transmission tunnel. A small void would have been OK as the thickness of the carpet could have made the difference up, but as you can see on the image i have had to bridge the gap with a thick 18mm plywood which i have PVA sealed due to the exposure to the elements and potential of getting wet. This is all now trimmed and covered in the black carpet along with the rest of the footwells.

    I started fitting the carpet in the passenger side footwell following the build manual guide. It was very much a case of cutting bits and dry fitting first before getting any glue near the carpet. Some sections i made cardboard templates first but overall it was a very logical and simple procedure to fit. My only advise to anyone about to do anything similar is to make sure the knife blade you use to cut is razor sharp (i bought a bulk pack of stanley blades of ebay for £5 for 100) and renewed them often when cutting. The blade would blunt very quickly when cutting the carpet against the fibreglass body tub.

 Secondly i would advise to ignore anyone who recommends using the spray can of adhesive.... what a crock of shit that stuff is. I have used the standard evostick impact adhesive before and have loved it. It gives a solid and durable bond between the two surfaces, but i found the same branded adhesive in the spray can to be utterly useless, and with some of the carpet bending round some tight curves and radius, it would just lift up with the pressure, so i was re applying with the proper stuff from the tin. Along with the problem that the spray adhesive would spray everywhere and i would have little control over the area it was being applied to.

   Next on the list of jobs was to fit some nice looking and legal pedals. They have to have a non slip surface on them and more importantly have to look good, as you can see they are very visible when looking at the car from the back. The biggest problem i found was finding some that didn't look like they have just fell off the first chaved up saxo that drove past, and not branded in such a way that had "Turbo", "Sports" or "Sparco" embossed into them which in my opinion looks tacky. So you can imagine how surprised i was to find the ones i have fitted from off the shelf in Halfords..... of all places. Some might ask as to why i was in Halfrauds in the first place, but i was getting desperate to find some. 

Another tip to anyone building a car like this is to fit the fancy pedals prior to fitting any carpet. I started the task on a lovely sunny day with the car pulled out the garage, and the carpet in the drivers foot well covered in a big towel. But with the extrema British summertime it wasn't long before the heavens opened and i was hastily pulling the car back inside the garage which pulled up the cover towel and spilt the metal swarf all over the lovely fresh carpet...... which is a total bitch to clean out and get rid of. 

 I have also refitted the door cards, all be it temporally, as they are a little to big now. When the door is closed the rubber seal sits on top of the leather door card as opposed to the door itself, so the overall door card needs to be cut down by about 5mm, to give a neater finish. The fit of carpet round the door seal does look good mind, which is another niggle in viewing these cars.... if the interior looks tatty it just brings the overall appearance down and can look poor. I only have a few visible joins on the transmission tunnel, which should be covered by the seats......... when they get here!!!

The last bit of the interior to fit will be the leather back bulkhead, which will also arrive with my seats, along with some matching black leather to re trim the door cards. So now all i can really do is to keep vacuuming the carpet and cleaning the body work.

I have a few odd jobs to do prior to IVA such as my front nose opening and a rear view mirrors, but that will be in my next update.

Lastly for this write up a big thanks to Ian, Geoff and new to the group James for coming over to "Chez Tommy" today for a mini meet, it was very inspiring to see all the cars (including mine) on the driveway and even better to get a blast round in Ian's Sumo a few days back... thanks for coming guys. Great Fun!!!!

Run your hands over my body

Well this update has been a serious long time coming and you might need a brew in hand as its going to be a big one!!.

I last left you with my car away at the body shop and progress was being made on the majority of the prep work. After what felt like years i started getting updates on the progress and my surprise weekly visits allowed me a chance to get some pictures of the masterpiece. After what felt like the tenth block down and prime coat it was time to lift the car and make some final prep to the lower skirts and valance, by this point all the doors, boot and bonnet had been removed to make the undersides as good as the fronts. Unless you have done this sort of work before you have absolutely no idea how much prep work is involved on such a project, and tedious does not begin to cover it, however the end result is vital to the prep work.

 After all that is a base coat of colour, this is not a finish colour but a colour that will show the polished top coat in all its glory. The base also gives an opportunity to address and further prep work, as a matt finish primer can hide allot of potential problems through the top coat. As you can see pictured that the car was masked down to the floor each time to stop any over spray hitting the chrome of the engine, this is also another reason not to have a carpet in as the dust would destroy it, and never fully come out.

And now a top coat...... what do you think?? The colour is a Jaguar colour that i had been toying with for a long time called shadow grey. Its a mica colour that changes its mood depending on the weather, in the direct sunlight it looks deep and glossy with shades of green peeking though, but in drab gloomy weather it looks dark and moody with subtle changes as it curves round the body. Now to start marking out the stripes!!

 I had been messing around with stripe ideas for months and month, but i had finalised on a style many weeks prior to the paint getting started, and after seeing a car at the Stoneleigh show with the same style, i quickly stole the measurmens with the owners permission... in fact he did it for me, bloody nice chap.

 The broad stripes are 8" wide then leaving a 6mm gap either side a second black 6mm pinstripe follow the main stripes from front to back, wrapping round the scuttle curves and bonnet/boot gaps. I love this style of stripe as they are so wide across the body and with the pinstripe either side and the body colour between it ads a transition between the two colours. Once this was all done a clear coat is put over the full car so the stripes also sit flat and if you run your finger over them you can only just feel the definition between the two colours. Another weight off my mind now is the positioning all the bright work cuts and holes. With the body direct from AK you don't have a set centre line to work from to mark out all the bits like bonnet locks, boot hinges, windscreen wiper wheel box's, demister vents etc... So when all the stripes were finished i was pleased to see that everything that i had cut and marked prior to any prep was situated nicely, without any serious miss alignments that would draw your eye to them due to the stripe edge.

You can see on the picture of the bonnet how the width of the stripes is just broad enough to cover the bonnet scoop, and the bonnet lock holes are also sitting nicely just on the outer pinstripe..... Just think back to how many times i had to move the bonnet locks because they were catching on the back lip of the body..... thank fook i had it sorted prior to doing any of this bodywork.

So with wit the paint all finished it was delivered back to me on Monday23rd June, and i suppose you would like to see it ??

 Now to start the mammoth task of rebuilding all the bright work to IVA standard....without damaging the paint in the process, don't forget that I'm in a single garage and with the paint now finsihed tight is a word that doest do much justice when it comes to moving about.

 So giddy as a schoolboy on Christmas eve iv been spending the last few evening and days in the garage slowly sticking bits on here and there, then taking a step back and with a big grin i think "this could be the last time i fit that"

First up was the windscreen. This was a simple task of fitting the legs back on either side first then fitting the screen to check for clearances and tolerance on the body. And once done it was in exactly the same place as prior to paint with exactly 39" between the centre of the screen and the rear scuttle... i was a little bit pleased with that. Now to leave the legs in place but remove the screen itself to refit the windscreen demister vent louvres. I had picked up a load of button head stainless steel M3/4/5 bolts with nylocks and washers at Stoneleigh and i wanted a running theme with all the bits put on to share the same fitting, its the attention to detail in my opinion that can make or break a car like this.

The same goes for the escutcheon plate round the windscreen pillars, the same allen head button bolt in stainless steel just like everything else, however before opening up the initial marker hole i needed to seal the void between the body and the leg. This is a point that water can run down the windscreen support and enter the foot well of the car, which is not very practical, as it would probably take a diversion via my right kneecap and thus make me wet also. Not forgetting that on the offside the wiper motor sits directly under here so as with most bits on this car now "belt and braces" approach to the finish.

The void is easily filled with a squeeze of black silicon, this is silicon rather than sicaflex as if i do need to remove the screen at any point this will be far more forgiving and easier to remove. This has been done on both sides naturally and should stop any issues with water ingress to the foot well.

Now to fit the escutcheon plate back over that also covers any rough edge of silicon and refit the windscreen and the rear view mirror...... possibly for the last time!!! whooop! whooop!

Next up was the windscreen wipers, these were simply dropped down through the body with the arms and blades removed prior to the paint, so they just get pushed back up through and each arm and blade refitted. These i have now found out to also be a point of water ingress. As i was testing and adjusting the washer jets i have seen water drip down between the wheelbox and the body and directly under the scuttle onto the foot well. I have allot of electrics and relays on the nearside so this will have to be rectified with a drop of black silicon.... "belt and braces"

I'm surprised that the wipers allow small amounts of water in as they do have a rubber seal between the polished bezel and the body, but non the less enough water pooled on the floor for me to be concerned, so it will have to get sorted.

Next up (are you board yet) was the rear lights, all fully functional again. You will see that i haven't refitted my quick jacks or fog light. This is because my IVA man will not like my choice of style and not issue me with a pass certificate, so I'm being a good lad and fitting blanking plugs and a nice/vile square "E" marked fog light....... boooo to the rules!!!

 

  

Next on my list was the rear arch stone guards. These i got from AK simply because they will fit the AK body as opposed to buying cheap and spending double getting them to fit and possibly mucking up a nice new paint job. The same as the demister vents and windscreen escutcheon plates I'm using the same button head allen screws to fit these, one screw in each corner is more than sufficient to hold them on and look uniform. 

 Firstly i covered the back of the stone guard in masking tape, to protect the body when they get offered up into position, and after playing around with getting them to sit nicely and even on both sides they were clamped into position (only lightly, as the paint is still fresh and could be damaged easily) Then once clamped the holes are marked and drilled. I would have though that drilling a freshly painted body would be quite nervy.... but I've cut and drilled so many holes on this car now that I'm more than confident with my process and just get stuck in. One slight issue i did find was that the top two fixings can put a nyloc behind them and hold everything nice and firm, but the bottom fixing sits in a void that cant be accessed. I did however drop on as i drilled the holes with a 2.5 bit and the M3 bolts cut a nice thread as they go in. This combined with the top to secure fittings should see no issues with one working its way loose whilst blasting round the country side...... i hope!!!

 The last little bit of this update (Hooray!!! i hear you shout) is the fitting of the boot carpet.... well some of it. Story goes that i have ordered my seats and the final bits of my interior, however the lead time of September delivery does not fill me with much joy and happiness, however lets crack on. So i ordered my interior and i wanted to refit the roll bar, but with this getting the same treatment as the windscreen legs and needing sealing for water ingress between the bar and the body, i couldn't do this without fitting my boot carpet first, as the brackets sit on top of the carpet. A quick call to Wendi saw a 10meter roll of black carpet sent to me with a boot gas ram hidden in the middle..... hehehe don't tell Mr Courier that we sent an explosive gas device without the correct postage, we could get into trouble haha.Two birds one stone... carpet to start fitting and a replacement gas ram for my limp gass-less one.

 I was looking forward to fitting the interior and carpet to the car, but after the faff on i had doing the boot the shine had defiantly come off. Weekend off work and end of June sees the traditional summer weather pissing down with rain. I don't normally y care about the weather but i was fucking sick of it today, not only that but iv split my head open (yet again) on the garage door as i have to have it down a little when raining so the water runs off into the street... not the garage, and a quick stand up and turn round saw me knocking myself clean out of the edge of the door.... another gash to the skull. Oh well, chicks love scars!!! and fast cars.... which is lucky because i have both.....cashback!!

 The carpet does actually look very good and goes in fairly straightforward, paying attention to measuring and trial fitting a dry bit first before the glue enters the equations, this shit gets everywhere... absolutely everywhere. and with my head in a confind space sniffing all the glorious vapours i nearly took another trip to the floor. But a logical process and step by step procedures saw the main bits of the boot carpeted and that allowed me to refit the roll bar (i forgot to picture, sorry) Once i had done that i was to cold tired and wet... so i went in for a bath and attempt to remove the excess glue off my hands and arms.

My next update shouldn't be to far off now, i have a busy few weeks coming up but an hour or two over the evenings should see lots of little bits getting sorted and finishing touches........ yes finishing touches, its been years for me to be able to say that. but carpet in the boot must be a finishing touch???

Think I'll start making a revision of this IVA application form that i will need to fill out.

Another update soon!!!

Tommy

Loosing a leg!!!

 Hello Cobra lovers, a little update on the progress of my build. On Friday the 2nd May my car was collected by the body shop and was off to get the prep work started ready for the paint. Very exciting stage of the build but frightening also as my garage would be empty for a good few weeks. I got recommended a local fella called Keith Flint (No not Keith Flint from the Prodigy) but a fella who runs a body shop in the next but one village. He has lots of experience with painting fibreglass and he was fairly knowledgeable on the car when he came to initially view it. The weekend the car was collected was also the weekend of the Stoneleigh show, this was a great show again and so much to look at and take ideas from. One tick off my list was to measure the stripe style i wanted for my paint job and get the exact dimensions. These were provided by an AK on the AK stand in the main hall. I was taking some really close up shots with my finger against for scale and the owner of the car (i forget his name) cam up and said "just measure them" then we swiftly ripped the front page of the Europa catalogue he lay that across the stripes and made marks on the edge of the paper. So that gave me the exact dimensions that i wanted for my stripes, and i was very very grateful. His car did look absolutely stunning and if mine looks half as good i will be over the moon.

So back to reality and a week of work. All my goodies from Stoneleigh stashed in the empty garage awaiting the return of my car. I did call past the body shop on my way back from work to check on progress and rest my mind that all was safe and sound. Keith took time to show me what had been done and i could see the effort he'd gone to. You can see in the image the whole car is taped down to the floor and every void has been sealed. This is to stop the dust from blocking down going all over the engine bay and under the car. Granted it wont stop it all and a fare amount of cleaning will still need to be done but its attention to detail and effort like this that rests my mind that hes going to do a good job. This image shows a basic prime and black guide coat ready to be blocked again for yet another primer coat.

Then after a second coat of primer and another guide coat its getting ready for a final prime before the colour is added, stripes marked out and then painted, then a final clear coat and rub down and polish. I have called in a few times over the past few weeks to just check out how things were going and get some pictures. Keith is also photographing each stage and said he will send me copies of them all, now that is a nice touch also and I'm sure not many places would do that without asking. My last update from Keith was that i should be getting the car back in the next couple of weeks, he has booked a slot in his diary for finishing all the big jobs and not to take on any little jobs until the big ones are done...... i somehow think the little series 1 drop head behind my car will be one of the massive jobs that may still be there in a few months.

With my garage empty and the light evenings well and truly here it was time to start making a proper home for my Cobra when she returns. This for me consisted of a few things, firstly the dust issue in the garage. This i hope to control slightly with the freshly painted walls, and the sealed painted floor. This has transformed the look of my garage and has had many a comment from every passer by, it has also made the area much brighter as the walls now reflect allot of the light and it all looks much neater and dare i say it professional.... but remember its still bloody small and tight getting a car in, but its all i have.

Another issue i had previously before the car left me was the tools hanging on one of the walls, they occasionally used to turn into lemmings and launch themselves off the wall to the floor bouncing off the car as they did so..... This will just not be acceptable after the return of a painted car, so the only option was to spend a daft amount of money (on top of a paint job) on a frigging great roller cab tool box. This was actually really good value for money, and has certainly sorted any tool storing issues i had, the only thing i overlooked was how bloody big it was!!! It came from the supplier just finished in dark gray but after a few evenings with some matt black vinyl and a few Shelby Cobra snakes ordered from China it now is a fully custom Shelby Cobra tool chest..... i wounder if i intended to do this cosmetic finish all the time? and i wounder if my car will get painted in similar colours and thus match the tool chest?? you will have to wait and see...... Yes i am a little obsessed or some may say sad!!

 So the garage is all tidy now, i might get a white tarpaulin to fix to the roof in the next week or so, as my budget for fancy sheet plywood has been well and truly blown on bloody great tool chests.

Next update might be some finished paint pictures for you all to look at...... exciting!!!

Tommy