Haven't been updating....shame on me.

To those that have forgotten. This is why I'm doing all this work. 

Looks good.

I hope everything is okay for your wife.

Great progress on your car! Hope nothing serious with taking wife to hospital. 

Car looks good. How's the wife?

Yeah.....How's the wife?  That's the most important part.....

Cheers all. The missus is all good now and shame, bless her heart, she told me last night that she's sorry that she messed up the time that I was going to work on the car. What a trooper. 

Cars come and go, but she's a keeper, Gary.  Hang on to her!

Good to hear she's ok.

So an update. And we had a damn good day. Got a lot done and then some. So first things first was to get the body mounted and stable so that we could move it around as it’s going to be on this trolley for a bit as the pan will be at my house for at least 2-3 weeks while I paint the pan and do all the detailing that I want to do and also use this time to change rubbers, mounts as well as anything else that will be easier to do while the body is off.

Flipping the body, this was actually an easier one than I thought and we had it done and on the trolley in about 2 minutes flat. Once the car was in this position it made the final welds on the frame dead easy and I was able to carry on while Willem was busy with other projects that he had going on at the same time. Here she stands, covers off and she looks a little worse for wear.

Yet as per normal and on que we found that the bad repair on the rear quarter was worse than either of us thought as nothing underneath was welded, so last week we were considering pulling it all out, so it was a no brainer when we saw the bad fix underneath the car. We decided to cut it all out.  

So the reason that we started this project was to do the back seat upgrade, so after lifting the body up to slide the seat section underneath, we started checking for fit and I was happy to see that we were spot on with where we were supposed to be.

Once the back seat got place we were able to start cleaning everything up and taking off the undercoat so that we could expose the raw glass and so that we would have a solid surface to bond the cotton flox.

And here she is in place and fitted with cotton flocks. A whole days work for this, but it was all worth it. 

And here's how the day ended.

Gary, your speedster appears to be mimicking some prehistoric South African roadkill.

I'll bet though that a good veterinarian with some metric wrenches can bring it back to life!!!

I'm jealous. I would love to have a proper rear seat area. After seeing the amount of work involved, I'm not sure I have the intestinal fortitude to tackle this one.

Looking great,

Ted

A rear seat, a nice addition if you can use it for your 4 year old maybe... that is the last time I used mine or was he 7 or 8. It does look nice and makes a nice place for a bag when the top is up mostly. But Ted it can be done it is just easier when you have the body off, so if you do have the body off you got to do it. Ray

While it's been a while since I've updated, the body is still on my car.  I have no plans to separate the pan and body it anytime soon. I will leave that up to the adventuresome types.

Ted

Cheers Carl.........Ted.....I'ts actually very doable to do this mod without taking the body off the pan. Manny from South Africa had his done and as far as I know it was all kept one piece. His seat does sit a bit higher than mine as I cut down about 3" to get it to sit right. 

I'm glad that I went into this so far as I found some issues that had to be repaired now know that everything that I have back there is now solid. 

I went over the car tonight quickly and I've also decided to run new fuel lines for the car as well as move the fuel pump. More on that later....

I ran an electric fuel pump last week. It sits really nice up by the frame head. I need to whip up a relay for it and wire it all in.  Car is looking great!

Ted

Weekend was a bust. We had drizzle and rain most of the day and so I could forget about glassing anything at all. I however took this opportunity to carry on preparing the body to fill all the crap that needed to be filled.

I moved to the nose of the car and started with mock-up of the radiator that's going in there. My reasoning for wanting to change this was that the Civic radiator  didn't really fit in there too great and it needed a cage to get it mounted. Willem and I were talking and we're able to get a radiator that's almost twice the size in there, that also takes up less space. The new radiator will be mounted much closer to the beam and will also be totally boxed off. I’m determined to get my radiator in there as well as the spare wheel, Willem reckons that it’s very doable, so I’m holding him to that.

I cleaned off pretty much most of the old undercoat that was in the fenders and then also ground back all of the rough fibreglass that was there from the original build. There is a lot of little things that aren’t too neat, so I’m taking the opportunity to clean it all up.

The side panels can actually be used again, so they'll be trimmed up, moved out 50mm and then re-glassed back to the body. I was glad that I did this anyway as the joint between the body and the spare wheel well was not the best of quality and has already started delaminating from one another and the last section by the nose just pulled off. I didn't even need to cut it out. Both sides trimmed.

The radiator will actually be flipped so that I can get everything away from the steering box. We're going to be cutting up most of the water pipes anyway, so we're going to so nip and tuck the new set up. 

Gives you a good idea of how much space I have to work with. Once again the radiator will sit as close to the H beam as possible. The fan will still be on the back side of the radiator and there will also be a cowling in place that will attach to the body that will be able to direct the heat away from the front of the car. I'm really hoping that I can get the spare in there as if that's possible, then that will mean a proper porsche looking tank in the front

Getting there. Boxing in started on the radiator area. I'm making this so much neater and cleaner than I did my old one. The radiator in question is for a Golf/ Rabbit Mk1, which are dirt cheap locally and you can get really good brands for not much money. 

As you can see we have decided to move the radiator more forward than before, this is because there is no ways that I'm going to get my spare in the nose, so we're going to re-do the fuel tank and let that sit lower and higher which will free enough space for the spare, plans are also to make space to get the battery up front as well. (here's hoping on that one)

The frame is pretty sturdy as will be bolted to the under body of the speedster in 2 places on each side. The reason for this as these points will also be where my bumper brackets will come through and mount to the body. 

By these pictures you can see that the radiator will be mounted from the bottom of the car. I don't plan on taking this out too much. 

This is actually how much of the radiator will be seen from under the car. There will be a cowling for intake and exhaust that will fit below it, so if something takes a hit up front, then the radiator will be protected. 

Part of the cowling side panels going into place and it gives you an idea of how much further it will come down. One issue that I had before was that the fuel in the tank would get hot and the fuel pump as well. I'm relocating a lot of stuff in the car and also making some changes that will allow everything to run cooler. 

Last of the patch making will happen this weekend, then it's grind the whole lot down, cover with 2 layers of glass (1 on each side) and then she'll be ready for stone chip. 

I'm itching to get going with the back seat and also finalising the trimming. If all goes well, then this weekend We should be able to flip the body over and get to work on the back seat area. 

Nice fab work. You've probably thought about this but if not, now would be a good time to build a removable panel in the body to allow access to the rear shift coupler where it joins the nose / hockey stick on the transmission. Someone might have to get in there someday if taking the tranny out and it would really help when connecting things up later.

I'm just going thru a tranny reinstall right now and had to do some ugly surgery in the rear seat area around that transverse 2 x 2 steel beam.

Cheers buddy. I’m actually taking this opportunity to pretty much do everything possible to the car while it’s apart and when things are easier to get to.

For starters, the shifter bush is going to be replaced as that’s a cow of a job at the best of times and I know that I have a very sloppy shifter, I’m going to be making an inspection panel for the back as well. I have the plate steel for the panel already. I’m also going to completely redo the whole front pedal assembly and detail and clean everything up. Most of the pan has already been painted, pending a few areas. My brake lines will be replaced (flexible units) and some of my hard lines will also be replaced as they have been bent to within an inch of their life.

Our rear beam is actually 2 x 3 (50mm x 75mm), I’m proud to say that mine is now 2 x 1……the only way that the revised back seat will fit in where it’s supposed to be.

Body was flipped back over, over the weekend so that work can start on filling the gaps in the backseat area and also to fill up all the old holes from the old install from the old radiator. 

I love the new set-up. The radiator albeit twice the size takes up less space than the old one because we were now able to go wider than before. 

From the front..........Yup you won't see anything of the radiator at all. 

To get cold air in, the duties will be given to a custom scoop, (damn everything is custom) which will be a 1 piece section that will sit close to the H-beam to protect it as much. 

That big fat hole in the nose will be filled as there really isn't a reason for it anymore as the radiator gets enough air from underneath. Going to be fun filling that up though. 

And the whole reason that we started this rebuild was for the backseat.

Everything trimmed back so that we can work on the panels to get everything closed. 

This weekend will be to flip the fuel tank so that it's up top, so that I can get my spare tyre as well as the battery up front. As you can see, locally, ours is the other way around....total waste of space.

Back seat is almost totally grafted in now. We are doing what we can to the top before we flip the body again and I start work on the bottom side, hopefully for the last time. 

If all pans out well, then we can have this back on the pan and the underside coated and painted by the end of the month. I have a date in mind and I want the car back in running mode albeit looking ratty as hell by the first week in August for a local car show. 

Wow, that's an amazing amount of work in a relatively short time.  You've made great progress, though, and should be proud of the new (old) look!

Cheers Gord. It's actually moving waaaaaaaaay slower than I would of liked and that's mainly down to us about to hit winter. Fibreglass is taking longer to dry and I'm getting 3 days a month to work on it. 

From now it should go pretty quickly as once the body is flipped I should be able to start and finish a lot of small projects in a pretty short time. I reckon that i have 2 full days work left on the body before it can go back on the pan. 

So here were the pics from the work this weekend. I had to reinforce all the back seat fibreglass work that I did last week on the outside and basically prep the top side so that I can get ready to flip it back for hopefully the last time. You can also see just how skew everything was on the car, the indicators were skew, the trim was skew…..it was all just skew.

On to the nose.

On our local cars the fuel tanks were mounted more forward to keep it more or less in line with the beelte design, but this wasn’t going to work for me as I needed the following in the front for various reasons.

• get the battery up front, (which is usually in the back compartment, which I don’t longer have because of the open arrangement).
• The radiator in the nose (no brainer)
• Fuel tank – Well that’s the only place for it
• Spare wheel – I was always going to shove in a slim spare for emergencies as I don’t rely on the kits as they don’t work and the last thing you want to be in South Africa is stranded on the side of the road.

So chop chop chop and the layout is there. We’ve moved the fuel tank back about 7” and also off to the one side by about 1” so that I could get around my steering column.

This weekend will be making it all look like it's supposed to actually fit in there and make it all look nice. Then hopefully if all goes well and it's warm enough, we can flip the body back over and start on finishing off the bottom.

update time.

This is how I had to relocate the tank to get everything to fit. 

Battery section and the fuel tank were first as this was the most of the work that needed to be done. 

We glassed all around the front of the car and did the nose section as well. The inside of the nose in the fenders has three layers of glass on it and the inside where the radiator is will have another 3. The battery tray will also be cut out next week and I'll be able to make a new one and in then also tie up the nose section. 

 The back seat area was ground down at the back and then 3 layers of glass added and then also by the B-pillars it was ground down and more glass added. 

The inside of the backseat has to be ground back and then glassed, this job is made easy now that the body has been flipped. 

And then back to the front of the car and then pull off all of the sound deadening so that I can glass the cabin area where the fuel tank now comes through. This actually gives you an idea of how far the fuel tank has moved back in order to get everything to fit in the front of the car, doesn't look like much, but it's moved a good 20cm. 

Got a lot done on Saterday and also took another big step in getting the body ready for the fitment stage. 

First was to get a new mounting panel done for where the battery will go and also where the front of the nose bolts to the pan. 

Panel was ground back and then 3 layers was laid on from the bottom. Another 2 layers will be from the top once the battery base has been made and located. 

The backseat was also ground down and then another 3 layers of glass was laid on, so the backseat is now on good and proper. 

We were also able to do the final fitment for the fuel tank for the front inside the footwell. 

Then finally the stonechip can go on. I realised that I had missed 3 spots what still needed glassing, but Willem said to leave the areas and we can do all of the larger spots on the car that could already be done. The engine compartment where the side walls meet the firewall will have to be made as well as the rear panel that I cut out when I had to do the rear frame repair. I was able to do 99% of the nose, the frame rails as well as about 90% of the back of the car. This stuff sprays on like a treat and I've only gone through 3 bottles so far. I still have another one that I'll use for touch ups next week as well as also cover the spots that I still have to repair with fiberglass. 

The fenders will have to be taped off so that I can coat the inside of the fenders properly. But overall, I'm chuffed. It's awesome to see the base of the car in one colour. The frame of the car will be painted normal black before it goes back on the body, so all of that surface rust that you see will be ground back and painted before a new chassis gasket seal will go on. 

If all goes well I should be able to do the final glassing next weekend and then paint the last of the spots shortly thereafter if the weather is good. I have already removed all of my fuel lines as well as the fittings and fuel pump that will be used to mock up my fuel line routing on the bottom of the car. Once the fuel lines are on the body, then I can mount the body back on the pan. 

I don't know if anybody else is paying attention to this or not, but Gary isn't a casual builder here: he's re-engineering the packaging of his car in a way that can only be described as breathtaking.

He's going to have a vertical radiator, a spare tire, a battery, a gas-tank, and some storage space up front. His rear seat area will be as original, much larger that most replicas, and with no wasted space between the bulk-head and the bathtub (because there will be no space back there).

He's doing this all in South Africa, with materials on hand.

Hats off to you, Gary. 

x2...it's astonishing!!!... and appears to all be accomplished in 'shade-tree, open-air' facilities. I can't figure out if Gary re-engineered this project as a one step dictating a follow up step basis, or if there was an envisioned overall plan in the very beginning that he adhered to.   

At least one SOCer has mounted their battery in front of the passenger's tire.  They fiberglassed in a tray with hold downs.  This gives extra space in the front trunk and offsets the driver's weight. Others have used compact gel batteries to gain space.

Amazing job!

I am a strong proponent of the small gell-cell batteries.  Mine, which weighs all of 14 lbs with a metal case, is about seven years old with no apparent reduction in cranking power.  It releases no fumes so you can even put it inside the car, and it can be in any orientation except fully inverted.

Lane Anderson posted:

I am a strong proponent of the small gell-cell batteries.  Mine, which weighs all of 14 lbs with a metal case, is about seven years old with no apparent reduction in cranking power.  It releases no fumes so you can even put it inside the car, and it can be in any orientation except fully inverted.

Lane,

Are you using the Odyssey PC680?  I am considering one, but a little concerned with the CCA rating of 170 amps. 

James

Yep, that's it.  I think mine is the PC680-M.  It has the optional metal case that I though would be a good idea as I have mine in the engine compartment.  It has never seemed like it was too weak to spin the engine quickly.  Of course, it doesn't get that cold down here and I probably haven't driven the car in below freezing temps more than a handful of times.

EDIT: Mike McKelvey has one as well (he turned me on to these) and he lives in the Great White North, but I don't know if he drives his car in cold weather.

https://www.batteriesplus.com/...3s4c0CFQYuaQodb3UOxA

350 CCA, 19 lbs, $50. 

Cheers Stan & Carl. Cheers for the kind words, but shucks, I'm not really doing anything special, it's just a crud load of work that has to be done in stages in order to get to the next stage. 

Carl, Yup, in SA pretty much all home wrenchers do things outside under a tree. I prefer in the sun though as the glass cures faster and I can get more done in a day. It's the middle of winter here and I can still work outside in shorts and T-shirt. We actually get pretty much everything that you lot get in the states supplies wise, but I get it at a fraction of the cost from my local pool supplier. By the way, I just don't see the point of rollers. 

Carl, i've always had a plan with the car and knew what I had to done and where it all needs to go, but the battery I was like..........."**** Willem.......erm, what are going to do with the battery". That's been the only unplanned thing, (to a point) with the build. 

By the way, the whole rebuild of the car including paint will have put me back about $400 and yes, I'm going to be painting the car myself.