Update November 2019

Painted shell

Option1 have worked on the car to bring the panel fit and shut lines up to scratch. 

Final warm silver colour applied, you need to see this in the flesh to appreciate the warm that is in the silver. Looks really good.

Body Shell refit

Body shell was lifted up and then the engine was fitted to the chassis. Once in place the body shell was very carefully lowered into place.

Engine

Specification highlights

• Aluminium super race case, full flow oil and bored to 94mm
• Engle 120 crank
• EMPI GTV-2 cylinder heads with big valves
• Pertronox Flamethrower ignition system
• Twin 44 HMPX carbs

Colour choices

• The tinware has been powder coated in grey/silver with metal fleck.
• Subtle use of the purple colour
• HT cable clips
• Throttle swivel linkage
• Oil filler cap
• Gearbox cradle and strap
• Carburettors stripped and painted black with the stacks (although hidden) coated purple

Fit

The engine has been fitted to the chassis, big milestone. No electrics or fuel connected yet. The exhaust will be custom made later in the project, fitted an old one for now

Engine Bay

I had the quilted aluminum work that is fitted in the engine bay painted to match the purple highlight colour that is being used across the whole car. The idea, was to have the light coloured tinware "pop". I think it looks good, but radical!

Also note the custom hinges, these are one off I had made.


I wanted a very clean look to the engine, part of this was to have no visible coil. The coil pack is now fitted away from the engine and invisible when looking into the engine bay from the back of the car.

Remote Oil Cooler

The engine has a full flow oil system and I needed to fit the cooler, fan and pipework, but where? There is very little space, the two options. 

Option 1, tucked under the rear wing, but it would have needed a very complex set of brackets and probably no place for the oil filter.

Option 2; Use the rear stowage area, this is fine for me as I have some ideas on what that area will look like in the finished car. I will need be to box in the fan, another job for later, but access was much easier and the pipework and oil filter will work out fine.

Engine Teaser!

Here is a little teaser on the engine, full detail end November!

Update October 21st 2019

Window winder mechanisms

Fitted the door opening mechanisms and window mechanism, it took much longer than I expected.

The biggest problem was having enough bravery to enlarge the pre-cut top slot, it needed to be much longer. Then the rest of the job was just very fiddly

Engine bay trim

During my research on the 356 I came across a car in the US that had a very pretty although very impractical quilted leather engine bay.

I really liked the look, but my car is going to be used and it's not going to be a "trailer princess", so leather engine bay maybe not.

I then came across "big wig race cars"  a US based company who have a range of door panels made of pressed aluminium. This gave me the idea that I could get the same look "quilted" look but with a much more practical material.

Big Wig Racing door panels

One of Davids creations

So now to find someone in the UK who could custom me what I had in my mind. Step in David Cooksey, guru of all things relating to metal bending. Its really an art!

David got what I was after and took the car into his workshop so he could custom make what I was after. He has done a great job. 

Material marked up ready for hand rolling

This aluminium will be finally painted to match my overall colour scheme.

Hinges

The hinges supplied with the body were really nice quality but lacked on a bit of design flair.

I have had both sets of hinges used on the front bonnet and rear engine cover custom made out of stainless steel. The design I came up with matches the custom gear shifter and drilled out pattern in the seats.

The photograph above shows the original black hinges. The photograph on the right shows the custom hinges trial fitted to the rear engine cover. They they will look much better once I'm sure that they fit and they are polished.

First seat done.

Interior

Working with Rob at Intatrim we agreed a design and material palette. (see August blog)

The first seat has been made and I have to say it looks and feels great. We may make a small adjustment but for now 2nd seat is underway and we will try the additional design tweak on the 2nd seat.

Lots of work to do on the rest of the car interior design, but we are months away from those being important.

Body shop

The car is now in the body shop at Option 1. Frank and the team are hard at work on the preparation stage. More information next month.

Update September 20th 2019

Body kits arrived

The body arrived from Chesil with a whole host of other parts.

I have lifted the body on the car and ensured everything fits, it is heavy and much more substantial than I expected. Everything fits!

Soundproofed the doors

Started to fit the window winder mechanisms, not an easy job

I have test fitted all the lights and trim and made quite a lot of amendments to the openings.

The engine is  making progress, albeit slow and next job is to get the engine bay lined, I have a plan which will hopefully make the engine bay look really good. More detail in October/November

I'm going to lift the body back off and get it into the paint shop and I will then start sorting out the external oil cooler and a few other jobs on the rolling chassis.

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Update August 19th 2019

I have been busy with work and waiting for parts but at last I'm moving on again! The body, electric pack etc is arriving from Chesil this week which will give me a lot to do.

Interior

I have done some work on the interior design and fingers crossed I think I have come up with a nice design. I'm going for a two tone colour using a Savannah and Cashmere leather colour.

Initial seat designs is done and I'm having one made up to check the final look.

Braking system

All adjusted and bled, I'm using DOT5, from what I have read it is more suitable for the car that doesn't get used too much and it isn't corrosive, it was however more expensive.

Wheels on!

Car now off the axle stands and on its wheels.

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Update 30th April 2019

April progress

Didnt get mich den duirng April due to work and travel. But I did make a little progress on the following:

Sound Deadening 

I read up a lot on this topic and it seems to me you get one chance to fit this easily. So I bought this product from Noico. I have fitted to floor and tunnel and have enough left to fit to doors. It makes the whole floor pan "feel" and sound much more substantial

Floor Pan Seal

Fitted the floor seal, after discussions with Chesil I was advised not to punch out the body fixing holes, we shall see.

Engine

Here is the high level specification of the engine. more to follow in May

1915cc turnkey spec

• Aluminium super race case, full flow oil and bored to 94mm
• 94mm barrels and pistons
• 40 x 35.5 big valve, mini wedge port cylinder heads with dual HD springs (Equiv)
• Engle FK8 camshaft Engle
• Twin 44 HMPX carbs
• Counterweighted super race 4340 69mm 8 dowel crankshaft
• 12v lightened flywheel 200mm 8 dowel
• CB Performance MagnaSpark II ignition kit
• External oil filter & cooler with thermostat operated electric fan

Update March 31st 2019

IRS Suspension

I  decided earlier in the project to fit adjustable plates, providing me with the ability to adjust the ride height without having take apart all the rear suspension, however when I came to fit these, they didn't fit, after much head scratching and self doubt, I found out that this wasn't uncommon, so had to drill them out.

The torsion bars were fitted with upgraded urethane mounts. Lots of tugging and heaving but all fitted.

Pedals and cables

All the pedal assembly and cables have been fitted. I might come back to the accelerator pedal as  I don't like the look of the EMPI covers.

Brake pipes

All brake pipes have been fitted quite a nice job to do. Not filled the system yet but have decided to use DOT 5 silicone based fluid that doesn't take up water so lasts a long time, reduces component degradation and doesn't damage paintwork, lots of upsides, downside is the price...ouch!

Other jobs completed

• Fitted new bush and starter motor
• Fitted both drive shafts, packing with grease has got to be one of the messiest jobs ever.
• Final fix on shock absorbers
• Fitted rear sway bar, which was really easy to fit.