A Little Bling

I'm not a fan of a lot of chrome trim on cars, but a little can be good. Last time I went to Stoneliegh I bought a little chrome trim to fit around the headlamp covers as a finishing touch. As soon as I got home I realised I'd bought 1/2 as much as I needed, so it's lay forlornly in a heap with other rejected car parts. Then I went to Wheels Day & saw an E-Type with the chrome work round the lights & my curiosity was once again piqued.

Having tested the trim out on one cover, I was so impressed by the look that I ordered another 3 metres - which arrived today - thanks CBS. First job was to trim the covers a little to match the recess in the bonnet, then just stick the u-channel over the edge. For such a simple thing the effect was dramatic, a real "finishing touch" (yes - I know it's now a five year old car). The join doesn't show because I cut some sticky-back aluminium tape & stuck it over the join to hold it together. It's also on the straightest part of the edge so the ends are less inclined to peel off.

Also among the jobs was replacing the 4th mounting. this is a "stick bracket" the one at the lower forward edge. The first bonnet had one, but I'd never been brave enough to cut into the second bonnet to replace it. Anyway I have now. A cutting disc in the Dremmel cut a slot, I pushed a strip of aluminium (drilled to help adhesion) into the slot, then dribbled some gel coat / resin / hardener mix into the gap to bond it all in place.

By now I was feeling the love, so looking round for something else to do, I realised that all the chrome was at the front of the car, so I re-cut the old trim off the front to fit exactly in the recess the tail lights fit in, there is also a sort of "lip" round the tail lights, & the chrome strip sits nicely in it. It's not at all shoutey, just provides another finishing touch - niiice.

The trim itself is a little wrinkled, I think it's just got a bit old, I'll replace it with strips of the new stuff tomorrow.

Wheels Day 2014

Wheels Day is special.

There are racing car shows, there are custom car shows, there are kit car shows. Wheels Day is run by the Surrey Street Rodders & welcomes ANYTHING interesting that runs on wheels. There's no pre booking, you just roll in & park up. It's £5 on the gate & the money goes to charity. As you'd expect it's mostly hot rods & customs, but there are many many classic cars, ex military vehicles, American cars, motorcycles etc.

This was the 40th anniversary & about the 6th or 7th venue as it's outgrown everywhere it's been. There were at least 1000 cars in the display area, with a few hundred worthy of interest in the "ordinary" car park. There's 100 photos on my photo bucket account here:-
http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/Fury1630/slideshow/Wheels%20Day%202014

But to give you a taste:-


59 Caddy - someone sat down & designed this as a sensible car

Type 2s

Revenge - this car's 37 years old

Cosworth Turbo Anglia

Metropolitan - very sparkly

V8 Chopper

Gorgeous Willys with painted on rust

57 Chevys a-plenty

Aluminium bodied - superb workmanship

Pretty Elan

 

53 Cadillacs

Fad T

33 & Model A Fords

 

More Dashing

The Fury’s been used for work a few days this week, so I thought I’d do a few of the jobs that have needed doing for a while.

 

First the charger socket. You can see the old one down in the passenger footwell. It worked perfectly well – no problem at all, but that's no reason to leave well alone.

 

There were a couple of riv-nuts on the dash left over from when the old video recorder was mounted there. They weren't even in line & looked unsightly. The gap between the clocks originally had the warning lights in, long since moved to a more prominent position between the main clocks.

 

Coincidentally we had another charger mounted in a “cup” to fit in a cup-holder. It has two lighter sockets & two USB sockets & it occurred to me that I could cut a round hole in the dash, cutting out the riv-nuts & mount the socket there.

 

So I did. But before I did - I was a bit bothered that the battery condition lights would be distracting at night, so I bought a very small momentary switch & wired it up, so it now has a "press to test" button rather than being on all the time.

It looks much neater, solves a problem & is lighter. I even managed to run the wiring through an existing connector behind the dash.

 

I then fitted the long curly cable from the cup-holder socket to the old one, put the Velcro “mount” on the dash of the tintop & that all works too.

But it takes a special type of dedication to cut lightening holes in a plastic part:-

 

 

The dash is quite neat now, it used to be a tangle of USB leads, but with the consigning of the video recorder to the bin & mounting the socket in the dash, the only wire I need wraps round the back of the centre panel & plugs into the Sat-nav. If I want the second sat-Nav (running "Tripmaster" for the French rallye) I have enough sockets for that & to charge the phone too.

 

With the adoption of the GoPro & it's remote, I made up a spring bracket to hold the remote, fitted it to the dash & that now plugs into the original socket, the other side of the steering wheel, so it's on charge all the time. The GoPro itself & the old rear facing camera are powered by a socket behind the passenger seat.

 

In all the Fury now has four 12v sockets & two USBs, but I have USB adapters for the sockets, so there's a possible nine USBs with no 12v, or any combination. Sufficient I think.

 

I also took the top off the transmission tunnel in search of the source of a fumy smell, but the only hose in there looked fine. However I did find the speedo sensor loose & when I tried to tighten it back up the end came off!

 

I've re-fitted it for now, but I think a better solution is over-due.

 

 

 

Latest Renderings

Mounting Alarm

This morning I took the Fury to work with the GoPro on it's new mount facing forward. This was a chilly experience as there was a sharp frost & the car has no heater - but I digress. The camera worked, the remote worked, the footage (is it still called that if it's digital? Gigabyteage doesn't sound right) was good - if a tad alarming at times, as on several occasions the camera went through undergrowth. Fortunatly I was still the owner of a GoPro by the time I got to work. The camera is held by a tether, but I'm not sure how it would fare being dragged down the road adjacent to the rear wheel.

Mounting Excitement

After the GoPro footage I got  (is it still called "footage" if it's digital?) from the side mount on the last run I did I thought about the mount & wanted the ability to fit it on either side - & fit & dismount it much more quickly.

So I slotted the end & fitted a bolt with a silicone rubber sleeve to the inside edge of both pods, The slot is a tight fit over it & I've fitted a riv-nut at the outboard edge of both pods & the camera mount has a pair of headed bushes. I've modified a GoPro attachment bolt & also fitted a riv-nut to the mount to screw the bolt into when it's not in use - as it's modified I don't want it getting mixed up with the others. It seems to work well, fitting & dismounting takes maybe 15 seconds. Here's a couple of photos - no video yet as all the GoPro batteries were flat.
 

Well’ard Top

I’ve been playing with my CATIA model again. The object of all this fevered button-pressing & mouse-waggling (it’s a technical term) was primarily to learn about surfacing & also to establish if it was possible to come up with a hard top better looking than the “official” one. I started off drawing something like a ‘60s Corvette split screen roof – I quite liked it & the style suited the Fury..........




....... but the stunted rear proportions made it look a little odd from certain directions.

 

 

  

Next was a “shooting brake” type item that kind-of worked........

 

 

 

......... then a ‘70s looking attempt with an inset rear window & buttresses each side not unlike the original Mini based GTM. 

Again it worked in a sort-of way, but I think I may now have cracked it.

 

 

If I was going to pay money for a hard top (which I’m not) I’d want something that gave me something the fury doesn’t currently have, so it would have to be pretty water tight & offer some additional practicality.

What I’ve ended up with is e-type (OK - Mini Marcos) inspired in its window layout – you’ll have to imagine a side hinged hatch, as I’ve not drawn one.

Again the styling isn't ideal - having a roll bar 3" taller than the screen top makes smooth lines tricky

The first issue is of course getting in & out, so the top would also need gull-wing panels & I’ve assumed the side screens would be hinged to the screen pillars as mine currently are so they’d open to a small extent to provide a degree of ventilation. Next problem was re-fuelling, as the tail of the hard top covered the filler cap. The solution is .......... not subtle, but does look rather “’60s lemans Racer”ish as the hard top is cut-away round the filler, a hinged flap could be fitted, but I quite like it open.
 

Of course the biggest problems are sealing the top against the Fury’s lithe shape & protecting the rear deck from anything carried in the back & sliding about, the former being particularly tricky as wherever the top touches the rear deck, there’s a slope towards the middle of the car. Stopping this leaking would be near impossible. Here I felt I had a stroke of genius, the hard top has a load floor built in which both protects the rear deck from being damaged by sliding stuff, & means that the weather seal is immediately behind the roll bar where the deck is quite flat. The rest of the periphery can be trimmed to – say – ¼” from the body & I’ve put a couple of venting slots right at the back below the load floor so air is drawn out, venting & drying any water that gets between the deck & the load floor, this arrangement also means the fuel filler is very much outside the car, so fumes are not a problem.
So there you go. Will it get made – of course not, I just enjoy the problem solving.