1978 Reliant kitten rebodied in hand formed aluminium

[johnbonnett]

I have also spent a bit of time, most of it wasted on installing the Hall effect speedometer sensor to pick up on the propshaft yoke. I have in the past used the bolt heads holding the brake discs but the set up I have on this car doesn't have any bolt heads so the propshaft was my only option. I drilled and tapped the U/J yoke for an M6 hex head screw and welded a bracket to hold the sensor fixed to the body frame. That clearly isn't going to work because the mm clearance required will vary from several mm to knocking the thing off as the engine and gearbox move on their mounts. It's obvious of course and I have no idea why I didn't realise that before embarking on the plan. The sensor has to be mounted off the gearbox for it to work which looks like it will be possible.


The next thing I did was to form a second skin against the roof as a fixing for the sun visors and the interior lamp. That too went badly with the shaping of the profile at each end and the two different paints I used reacting and bubbling si I fear that will all have to come off and be redone.

[75swb]

Some irritating setbacks, but progress is progress!

[johnbonnett]

Jun 16, 2024 6:37:03 GMT 75swb said:

Some irritating setbacks, but progress is progress!

Yes indeed but setbacks are inherent in every project. I'm a little bit disappointed that I made the glaring error with the speedo sensor but there we are, it's human to err. Smacked wrist and put it behind me 

[logicaluk]

Apr 18, 2024 18:54:25 GMT johnbonnett said:

You may remember that for the bonnet hinge arrangement I am copying an original idea of our own Biturbo and refined by Fanatik Builds on his GT6 restomod.

Could someone find a link to these posts my GoogleFu is not strong today.
Dan

[rodharris83]

Jun 18, 2024 14:28:09 GMT logicaluk said:

Apr 18, 2024 18:54:25 GMT johnbonnett said:

You may remember that for the bonnet hinge arrangement I am copying an original idea of our own Biturbo and refined by Fanatik Builds on his GT6 restomod.

Could someone find a link to these posts my GoogleFu is not strong today.
Dan

This of use?



1974 Unibody Triumph Spit6 (with some detours inbetwee

[johnbonnett]

After a false start which cost me a week or two I've made good progress with the bonnet frame. The cause of the delay, a result of changing my mind about the profile of the bonnet at the scuttle end, my original plan being to kick up to shroud the roots of the wipers. I went quite a way down this route and actually rough formed the steel support.



I had to make it to decide whether it was right or not so I don't begrudge the time spent. This is probably a downside of having no drawings. The second iteration is no kick up and that sits better with me. Rather than use a transverse tube at the scuttle end I decided on sheet metal which I could form more accurately in the two required directions by shrinking and stretching. I formed the out ends which have a lot of curvature separately and welded them together making handling much easier. Once the decision had been made the frame came on quite quickly. Unfortunately, I cannot hinge it open until the buck is out of the way but I'm hope that it will work as it should.

[blackpopracing]

Coming along well John.

[Darkspeed]

Jun 15, 2024 20:12:40 GMT johnbonnett said:

The sensor has to be mounted off the gearbox for it to work which looks like it will be possible.

Also bear in mind that the sliding yoke will also move in and out of the gearbox quite a bit.

[johnbonnett]

Jul 25, 2024 19:24:12 GMT blackpopracing said:

Coming along well John.

Thank you Mark. I've been a while standing still but the last few days have been productive and it'd nice to be moving forward again.

[johnbonnett]

Jul 25, 2024 19:45:56 GMT Darkspeed said:

Jun 15, 2024 20:12:40 GMT johnbonnett said:

The sensor has to be mounted off the gearbox for it to work which looks like it will be possible.

Also bear in mind that the sliding yoke will also move in and out of the gearbox quite a bit.

Good point Andrew and it would mean a large headed bolt head, well two of them actually to allow for the propshaft sliding in and out. It's not an ideal solution but given that there are no retaining bolts holding the brake rotors I cannot think of anything else.

I'd be very grateful to hear of any suggestions

[pmc]

Some great progress, you get a real idea of what the front end will look like now.

Could you mount the speed sensor to the diff and take a reading from the diff flange? Or if you have the space you could fit an adapter to the type 9 box to allow you to fit an electronic sensor www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/revotec-electronic-speedo-sensor-adaptor-to-suit-ford-type-9-gearbox-glot9-a/

[blackpopracing]

^^^what he said.

[johnbonnett]

Many thanks for the suggestions and I agree that a direct fitment to the type 9 box would be the best solution. However, I already have the speedometer, ETB, and looking at their web page it looks as if they don't offer a compatible sensor. Mounting on the diff certainly looks to be a good suggestion, picking up on the pinion flange nuts. It's just a question of clearance and I will check on that.

www.etbinstruments.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=99_110

[johnbonnett]

From time to time I have to lay the panels that I have formed in place and put the car at ride height to kid myself that I am making progress. The dashboard has been under a sheet for what seems years and I have never offered it up so I rectified that. It wouldn't fit quite into place because of the hanks of cable going across the car that I shall have to do something with but close enough to give a bit of an idea of how it will look. I had to remove the footwell panels to get it in and they haven't been refitted. All a bit of a waste of time really but better than the other option which is what I started to do, tidy up the workshop and give the floor a good sweep. I get too easily sidetracked.

[blackpopracing]

It's really coming together now John.

[johnbonnett]

So, anything to delay the workshop tidy up, why not dig out the remainder of the panels that I had made earlier and pop them on? If for no other reason than to kid myself that the front end is well under way even though I know there's a long way to go.

[jimi]

I can only imagine the satisfaction you get from looking at that, knowing you made every panel from flat sheets of metal

[jake899]

Well done John, inspiring me to get on with my stuff!

[blackpopracing]

Jul 28, 2024 16:44:04 GMT johnbonnett said:

So, anything to delay the workshop tidy up, why not dig out the remainder of the panels that I had made earlier and pop them on? If for no other reason than to kid myself that the front end is well under way even though I know there's a long way to go.

Looking Good!!!

[Jonny69]

I know it’s nowhere near finished, as you quite rightly say, but for us readers it’s really taking shape. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this thread so far and just want to say thanks again for taking the time to post about it 👍