Latches

 

I said the boot latch had separated from the boot lid the other day? Rather than just stick the MDF back on I've made up a "thing" which seems to work. I realised the old one had failed because the car was built with the wrong type of seal around the boot, one with a "bulb" of soft rubber at the side - which is for a door - I bought one with the bulb at the top which seals, but also means the lid is constantly being pushed away from the latch & the "glue" (it looked like the silicone "potting compound" used on electricals) had failed under constant tension.

In the Big Box Of Interesting Things (stuff I've acquired over 40 years in aerospace) I found some very light machined alloy boxes & selected one the right size, put two slotted holes in, then made an aluminium sheet with two riv-nuts to match a bracket from the same box, so the bracket bolts to the box, but I can release the bolts & adjust it side to side. I made up a bracket to glue to the boot lid & hold the above in position & added a nylon spacer as a striker barrel. It all seems to work quite nicely, but could potentially suffer the same fate, but it is glued on with Tigerseal, so should be OK. If not I can glass it on. While I was there I painted the boot hinge silver to match the bonnet one & put some holes in it for the look of the thing, you can see it in the background.

At the other end of the car I'm still agonising over the dashboard. The car had a bonnet release & brake bias adjuster on a panel below the dash, which wasn't going to work with the new one, so I made up an angle to hold them - it'll be behind the dash, but reachable from the driver's seat, so there's no risk of faffing with either of them accidentally. While I was sitting there I decided the steering wheel was too low. I'd taken spacers out when I was trying to create enough space for the 4" clocks, but I've just about decided that Cobra clocks aren't right on this car, so I'll keep the minor gauges & get replacement 80mm clocks - so having gone to my brother's in the Quantum, I turned up some new aluminium spacers to raise the wheel to where I want it.

This is all small stuff I know, but it's the small details that make it MY car & the Stylus is the keeper.