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.