1978 Fisher Fury - whoosh!

[mylittletony]

This weekend I had a proper clear out of the garage, got rid of a car full of stuff to the tip and found things homes on the shelves.

I also did a roof chop
Mark up:



Choppy choppy:



Very crudely reattach



I then set about bracing it a bit as I'm going to have to remove more of it before I can start to craft the new one.
But I think it's a huge improvement already, the roofline is WAY better

Then I took some more pics with the targa panels laid in place.









I'm in a bit of a quandary where to take it tbh. I'm actually quite happy with the shape of it, if it was finished. The proportions are good, the height is exactly what I was aiming for.

I could try and cut and shut the roof and fill the gaps, but I think the curvature would be off in a lot of places.
The next option is to basically cut it away from the deck upwards and B pillars backwards and redo the whole thing.

The latter was what I was expecting to do, so I should probably just get on with that...

[jimi]

Looks much better
How about cut-n-shut the bottom rear section and lose the quarter windows ? very rough photoshop

[mylittletony]

Feb 11, 2024 17:00:25 GMT jimi said:

Looks much better
How about cut-n-shut the bottom rear section and lose the quarter windows ? very rough photoshop

Thanks Jimi
That looks good, you can see why I'm tempted to try and make what I have work...

There's a couple of issues, the top of the old screen opening is contacting the roll bar. I'm tempted to cut that out and tilt it back to mate the lower screen opening, but the widths are different because of the chop.

Plus the rear deck isn't actually flat in either direction and everything is curved in plan view too...

I'd like to keep the roof openings, but they start to curve down a fair bit at the rear.

Si I'm basically into redoing anyway.

My current plan is to cut the roof section just behind where I've attached the brace, and the sides from the B pillars. Then form a buck from thin ply strips & ply board ribs and then glass over that.

I think it has a baby corvette vibe to it, so an interpretation of of the C3 corvette shooting brake is my intention.

Like these, but a bit... less

[metalshapes]

YES!!!

I have a thing for breadvan racers, so yeah, I really like those plans...

[Darkspeed]

Or




Which I always fancied a form of on the G27 rather than the G4 bubble type


ETA

Ahem - cough cough - them's not Wolfies.....

[mylittletony]

Feb 11, 2024 19:19:12 GMT Darkspeed said:

Or




Which I always fancied a form of on the G27 rather than the G4 bubble type


ETA

Ahem - cough cough - them's not Wolfies.....

Yeah that's another great influence, if I can get anywhere near that I'll be winning!!

Err yeah, the new wheels have snuck in! They're definitely style over substance, a lot heavier than the slots!

Pretty happy with how the look is coming together though

[mylittletony]

The other thing I started over the weekend and finished this evening is replacing the rear lights.

Slightly complicated by having to create a way of earthing the housing, but otherwise just joining wires and attaching to the body.

Here's a before:



And an after:



As you can probably tell I took that halfway through, but I have done both sides.

The reverse light is getting binned off for a small LED with chrome ring, this needed a little adaptor crafting.

The fog I'm going to swap out for a light I've had for a while, bit of silly fun

[mylittletony]

Riding the wave of progress I thought I'd have a crack at the remaining lights.

This is the LED I got for the reverse



And a 3d printed surround I drew up to cover the hole from the old wipac light



This is now together, tested and inserted into the hole with some sealant to hold it in.

The fog light is also in situ, after moving the cable pass through, making a gasket, fitting longer bolts and drilling some fresh holes in the body.
I think it was originally intended for a chopper, it's just for a bit of a laugh tbh



And all lit up!



(The tape is holding the reverse light in)

I'd like to find some smaller reflectors too at some point...

[HARDCORE]

Was not expecting that #victory

[mylittletony]

Managed to get a little more done on the tonneau.

Longer rivets arrived so I could attach the poppers to the rear deck. There were 2 fitted to the tonneau when I bought it, so I've used those.
Then something I've kinda ignored became an unavoidable issue... how to fit it around the roll bar.

Nothing for it but to grow a pair and cut into it

Here's the aftermath!



I think it'll be ok, not going to win any awards, but it should do





I'm going to rejoin the splits with some webbing and more poppers.
I also need to decide how to fasten it along the sides yet not interfere with the hard top, I'm considering magnets but still mulling.

[Darkspeed]

Usually do the splits / joins with extra material and velcro. Do you know anyone with an industrial sewing machine?

[mylittletony]

Feb 22, 2024 21:28:03 GMT Darkspeed said:

Usually do the splits / joins with extra material and velcro. Do you know anyone with an industrial sewing machine?

No, sadly not. That does sound like a better way!
I don't have any extra material either, although it's fairly basic vinyl...

I've also earmarked a piece of ply to brace the B pillars of the roof to enable further trimming and bought some more appropriate jigsaw blades.

[mylittletony]

This weekend's progress was curve balled by having to replace the driver's door Bowden cable on my daily Audi A2.
What a fiddly job...

Taking off the door card was the easy bit



Even removing the aluminium inner door skin thing wasn't that hard compared to unhooking and then rehooking the cable at the lock end.
New swear words were discovered.
Still it's done now and everything in the door works afterwards, plus I no longer have to open the window to get out, so that's a win

[mylittletony]

Long time update:
We've had a few days without so much rain and it's a bit warmer, so...
I drove it to work today!



2nd time driving, ten times the distance (15 miles vs. 1.5 miles)

I was nervous again, been several months since I drove it last, but it was awesome fun!
Not the best car to deal with traffic, but ok after some time mastering the clutch.

Brakes are soft now, but it's got brand new pads and I was wearing work shoes with wider soles than ideal.

A quick squirt shows around 1 bar of boost (I was curious!) it's fast!

There's a couple of mechanical noises which I'll look into and I think I need to rebalance the wheels.

The ride was pleasantly surprising, I remember it being a bit firm but it soaked up bumps pretty well.

Really looking forward to the drive home!

[zeberdee]

Really liking the wheel choice .

Somehow adds to the ‘period correct’ kinda vibe it has .

Be nice if you could loose a little tyre to arch gap , but that’s just my opinion .
(Think I remember you saying you might be working on that ?)

👍

[Steve]

GREAT SUCCESS!!

Looks the part dude

[mylittletony]

Mar 21, 2024 11:59:24 GMT zeberdee said:

Really liking the wheel choice .

Somehow adds to the ‘period correct’ kinda vibe it has .

Be nice if you could loose a little tyre to arch gap , but that’s just my opinion .
(Think I remember you saying you might be working on that ?)

👍

Thanks!
I'm pleased with the overall look, although like you say it would benefit being a touch lower.

The sump to ground clearance is borderline as-is, going off other people's greater experience. It already has a shallow sump fitted...
In the short term I may try winding down the coilovers a touch, but given the state of the roads I don't think I can go much lower.

Longer term I would need to raise the engine, which has a lot of ramifications.

[Jonny69]

Great to see it out! If the clutch is hard work it might be something you can fix with a change of master or slave cylinder. The Anglia has standard Girling type master cylinders and they come in all different size bores. I put in the smallest one they made and an oversize slave cylinder to make a light pedal with sensible throw.

[Darkspeed]

Good too see that you are getting the chance to get out and use it.


The swap from 15's to 13's will have a marked difference in the ride, especially if you have the tyre pressures in the 20psi range.

For the brakes feeling soft its also worth checking the bulkhead the master is mounted on - Get someone to view it whilst you give the pedal a hefty shove - Some cars are quite flexible in that area and benefit from reinforcement.

I liked the Wolfies - So much so that I may be tempted go that way on the V8 Gemini....

[mylittletony]

I'm pretty sure the tyres are around 20psi, but will double check.

The pads are brand new, so have only had 30 miles of use, hoping they will bed in after a few more drives. I'll definitely check the mounting area and pedal arrangement. It may just be that it's very different to my A2 😂

As for the wolfrace, I still have them and no intention of getting rid. Currently thinking of fitting some stickier tyres... I would really like a pair of 6s to replace the 5.5s though