Project Coalnotdole's Scimitar - Machining work: Speedometer Drive Unit 12/4/19

[DSdriver]

Fortunately its a car not a boat so you'll be alright as long as you don't go driving through really deep puddles. I have always walked away when asked to quote on repairs to boats that have been near boats that went on fire.

[coalnotdole]

You're never bored with a Scimitar.

Its not so much that they all have issuses more that I bought a 'bad' car in 2010, No one sensible would have persevered with it.

 

I touched on it a little in the first post on this thead:

 

Naturally at this point I went on eBay and because I did not know what I was doing I inevitably bought the worst Scimitar project available. The engine bay had been on fire and badly repaired with steel, the wiring loom was missing, The chassis needed a total overhaul, the suspension was fucked and the brakes only existed as parts in a bucket!

 

If your bored theres an account of the early work on the car here: (yes there's pictures)

!http://www.scimitarweb.co.uk/sgwrs/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5676

[Guest Hooli]

I just expected that, it is the AS way after all.

[coalnotdole]

Fortunately its a car not a boat so you'll be alright as long as you don't go driving through really deep puddles. I have always walked away when asked to quote on repairs to boats that have been near boats that went on fire.

 

Thats what all the previous owners / repairers did!, I'll happily use filler for faring I just belive there needs to be something structural underneath it....

[somewhatfoolish]

Scimitars were/are remarkably prone to underbonnet fires; anecdotal evidence pointing to a batch of DGAS having self-releasing fuel hose nipples, deferred or nonexistent maintenance, that horrid cheap reinforced polyprop hose that hardens and then falls off, add on the spendidly high underbonnet temps that plastic pigs can achieve and then all that's required is a spark, which elderly Reliant wiring can be relied upon to provide.

[coalnotdole]

Scimitars were/are remarkably prone to underbonnet fires; anecdotal evidence pointing to a batch of DGAS having self-releasing fuel hose nipples, deferred or nonexistent maintenance, that horrid cheap reinforced polyprop hose that hardens and then falls off, add on the spendidly high underbonnet temps that plastic pigs can achieve and then all that's required is a spark, which elderly Reliant wiring can be relied upon to provide.

 

Thats correct, not just annecdotal, there was a factory recall for it. The ignition was probably more likely to be petrol pouring onto a hot exhaust as most of the catching fire incedents happened while the cars were relatively new. Presumably Capri's and Grenada's would have been similarly affected, though the results would have been less spectacular on a steel bodied car.

 

I thought I had a service bullitin detailing the carb problem, but I can only find the one about filling all the windscreen rubbers up with sealent to stop them leaking....

[somewhatfoolish]

I vaguely remember a Top Gear report where they poured vital fluids on hot exhaust manifolds to see what would happen*, dizzle and pez merely created a fuel air bomb seeking a source of ignition whereas brake fluid merrily burst aflame; it surprised me that the autoignition temp of DOT4 was less than that of unleaded.

[Guest Hooli]

My dad once had a renault 21 that proved that. It chose braking from 70ish towards a village for the ideal time to let the master cylinder burst & create a lovely external combustion engine that couldn't slow down. Two impressive black marks from the handbrake later & dad, being an ex fire marshall, had the car out long before the fire brigade arrived. Total write off mind.

[Honey Badger]

Could you fab some plugs up out of MDF to make a moulding you could bond into the body for the rear light clusters, you could make the flanges behind the body bigger and use a MMA adhesive to bond them in place, that would stiffen the surrounding area up as well?

 

 

I wonder if you could make up a repair panel for the  engine bay and bond it on with a decent high HDT bonding paste with the engine insitu, it would be just as strong as the original and could be doable in a couple of sections as long as you give the joins a good fillet of bonding paste to spread the load evenly.

 

The reason people dont use a gelcoat finish is that it's really hard to get a decent finish with most colours due to mainly most laminaters not being fit to wipe their own arse let alone apply gelcoat evenly and consistently, plus you cant have metallics and the selection of colours is limited, light greens, blues and greys being very prone to colour faults.

 

Plus your tooling has to be spot on with no blemishes, watermarks or surface defects as they will be transfered to the finished moulding. Tooling to that standard is very expensive and easy to damage if your not careful when using it. so generally use cheap shitty tooling and accepting the remedial work before painting is easier for the manufacturer, plus gelcoat repairs never match the original gelcoat.

[coalnotdole]

Continued from the last post:
 
I'd known ages ago that the passenger side light cluster needed some work so had remembered to keep a repair section left over from another repair job in 2011. Sometimes its useful to keep this stuff lying about after all!
 


Offering up the repair section, The rough size was marked to make sure the right amount was cut out.



Damaged section cut out, Edges feathered:






The sharp eyed may have noticed that there is another section of filler to the left of the light cluster, I've not got a reapair section for this so will have to build up csm and then shape it manually... First stage is to get some new GRP at the back, This then means the filler can be dug out and additional GRP layed up from outside.



Rear layer complete:



More filler dug out, The pile was getting quite big at this point.



After the inital lay up it was possible to gring back and go for a second hit. (I think there was probably 3 or 4 individual hits to get the thickness needed.



With the thickness there it was possible to rough out the basic shape.





After a bit more work:





as you can see its coming together slowly, theres still more work to do to get both sides to match but its getting there...

I'm still completely undecided about the final colour.



 

[coalnotdole]

Update time:

 

Sorry this is another update about fibreglass repairs, sorting this car out has eaten most weekends for the last few months and many hours before and after work...

A few pages ago I posted this picture of the fire damage to the engine bay:



Heres a few more pictures showing thr progress on the repair...

A first attempt to apply fibreglass failed as there was nothing really to adhere to. so for my second attempt I took a flat fibreglass strip and bonded it to the back of the engine bay with structural mix (cotton microfibres & resin.)



This achived a good bond with the damaged section and provided a solid base on which to build.





Heres a photo from midway through the filling and faring process,



I've since done quite a bit more work improving the curves and finish but don't have any more pre primer pics.

During a break from the endless fibreglass repairs I took the damaged B-pillar trims off. I'm going to redo these in extirior grade vinyl.





I then suffered from mission creep and took the gutters off.... As I'm pretty sure these had never been off the car before the red underneath was probably the colour It was when it left the factory.



I then took the door speakers out to protect them during the prep / paint stage. The plastic backing bowls are a very effective solution to protecting them from damp. After 7 years in the car they are still in very good condition!



Doors off:



I wasnt origonally going to take the door frames off but eventually I decided that as I'd done this much it would be daft not to so they were Stripped down too:





And in the process I found lots of other bits that needed repair:



Heres a picture after the repair, There were a string of these repairs too many to document in depth and they arent all that interesting



I then started to strip the engine bay out, for painting and also to repair some more cracked fibreglass...



Cracks had appeared on the innner wing where it meeds the drivers side front chassis upright, fortuneatly the passenger side which had a lot of repair work in 2010 seems to be fine.



To repair this properly I had to get fibreglass on it from the underside which meant unbolting the body enough to get it to lift off the chassis. The front nose sections and bumper points were allready loose the hardest bit was getting to the outrigger bolts that were buried under a thick layer of carpet and sound insulation and were held very firmly in place with contact adhesive. With the bolts holding the front of body removed it was possible to jack the nose up off the chassis with two trolley jacks placed in the wheelarches and a long length of wood to get the height, A timber spreader at the top prevented the load being taken in one place.

This photo shows the clearance between body and chassis, just enough room to get in and prep with a powerfile.



New fiberglass on



After this picture was taken the surface was flatted off and another layer of fibreglass was added from this side.



I just about finished the structural work before the car was due to go to the painter but ran out of time to do any priming myself so the painter is going to take car of that. Heres a few photos of the car Earlier this month when the car went off for paint:





Which will give me an oppertunity to tidy up the garage.... Interestingly this is picture 666. The garage of the beast?


 

[dollywobbler]

Excellent. I fear I've much to learn about fibreglass repairs...

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

just........ WOW

I'm in the same boat (see what i did there) as DW on this. Fiberglass is the prickly foreskin lube of the devil!

[coalnotdole]

Cheers, up until this recent series of repairs I'd always treated GRP repair work as a 2 person activity. As when you have a batch  of resin on the go you often need an extra pair of hands to cut the csm to size. This time as Dave has been busy with work, his boat, SS1's, life etc I've had to get on with it myself! which has definately slowed things down a bit.

 

Happy to jot down a list of tips if that helps? always happy to give an opinion on approaches to specific repairs too.

[vulgalour]

Is there a way to stop fibreglass just sticking to everything?  Whenever I've attempted fibreglass repairs I've always ended up looking like a five year old with a pot of jam.

[somewhatfoolish]

Not as far as I can tell, it's just one of those processes that naturally tend to entropy; just protect that which is not to be stickified with polythene or clingfilm or similar. Cheap parcel tape is a good nonstick surface.

[beko1987]

Nice Aquavac Plus 3000! As seen here in the 1994 Goblin brochure

 

[Honey Badger]

You can use wax as a release agent, or just tape things off with Masking tape and remove it before the resin sets.

 

Or use this

 

http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/#!/wax-and-mould-release-agents/PVA-mould-release-agent.html

 

 

Good work on the light bowls and the bulkhead ColenotDole, I've never come across using cotton fibers for reinforcement before.

[coalnotdole]

Nice Aquavac Plus 3000! As seen here in the 1994 Goblin brochure

 

Capture.JPG

 

Its a brilliant Vacum for garage use, I bought it at the car boot a few years ago and apart from a new filter I've not had to do anything much with it. I'm on the lookout for some ends for it if you ever come across any. The pole and all the attachements were missing when I got it and I really miss the crevice tool when doing the car carpets!

[beko1987]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Henry-Hoover-Tools-Hetty-Cleaner-Brand-new/302542137849?epid=1605518069&hash=item4670eaa9f9:g:h80AAOSwU4FaGJPS will sort you for small tools, the double taper adapter fits into the Goblin hose, then the tools fit on that.

 

Or if you want wands and a floor tool as well, the bent end of the wand is also a double taper, so will convert the reverse 32mm goblin hose to normal 32mm

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Numatic-Hetty-Henry-Hoover-Vacuum-Cleaner-Hose-Pipe-Full-Tool-Kit-1-8m-Hose/310831437007?hash=item485eff54cf:g:NYYAAOxy2FZSP~IU

 

All the cheap toolsets come with a hose which won't fit the Goblin, although you could probably rig something up with a suitable joining pipe stuffed into either end for an extra long hose.

[coalnotdole]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Henry-Hoover-Tools-Hetty-Cleaner-Brand-new/302542137849?epid=1605518069&hash=item4670eaa9f9:g:h80AAOSwU4FaGJPS will sort you for small tools, the double taper adapter fits into the Goblin hose, then the tools fit on that.

 

Or if you want wands and a floor tool as well, the bent end of the wand is also a double taper, so will convert the reverse 32mm goblin hose to normal 32mm

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Numatic-Hetty-Henry-Hoover-Vacuum-Cleaner-Hose-Pipe-Full-Tool-Kit-1-8m-Hose/310831437007?hash=item485eff54cf:g:NYYAAOxy2FZSP~IU

 

All the cheap toolsets come with a hose which won't fit the Goblin, although you could probably rig something up with a suitable joining pipe stuffed into either end for an extra long hose.

 

Brilliant, Thanks for that. At those prices it would be rude not to get one!

[coalnotdole]

Priming

The paintshop had originally planned a 2 week window to paint the car, so after a week I called in to see how the car was progressing. After the first 5 days progress hadn't been as quick as hoped the painter had someone signed off sick for a week and was short staffed (Its unclear if they went off sick after seeing the state of my car... :w ) In anycase after 5 days the 2 pack epoxy primer I supplied had been applied but there hadn’t' yet been any flatting back. with the primer on there it was amazing how many additional imperfections in the bodywork were revealed. These were present to a greater or lesser extent on most panels (though the doors and bonnet were not really affected) It's hard to tell if they were caused at Reliant or during the rubbing down process from past resprays. I'd known this body shell was bad but sometimes its not until you get some primer on you start to see how much work is needed.

Looks ok from this distance:



Bubbles:



The bubble holes were in addition to problems from past crude rub downs which had caused damage to the swage lines revealed lots of odd pock marks in the gelcoat. There were some low spots caused by me when I Da'd the car back, or scraped the paint off a little too hard but the majority of issues with the body do seem to be historic. On top of those there was further work required to some of the accident repair areas and around the doors / door sills which had never been totally finished since I replaced some of the reinforcing the steel work in 2010.

Over the weekend the painter came in and flatted the primer back and stared filing and faring.



A few days later and I called in again to see how it was going and there was another coat of primer on there:



Swage lines were looking much better, as was the roof and the wings.



Some time was spent improving panel gaps on the doors, I've not really got any pictures that show that stage. Once complete the doors were removed and the area around the door sills and door apertures were ready for priming. The body had also had more priming.





A few days sanding (and yet another primer coat!) later and the surfaces were all looking much better.



Compare these shots of the driver’s side wing / scuttle to see how much its changed:





And this one of the roof.





Here’s a few more overviews. After all this work the multiple repairs have been well concealed, Removing the past layers of paint and primer seems worthwhile as the definition and sharpness of the styling seem to have been restored. It was now ready for a final primer coat, a final look over then we could move on to colour!









I'll leave you all in suspense about the final colour choice...

[Guest Hooli]

I'm liking the wheelie bar.

[coalnotdole]

Whoever said Reliant don't have enough motorsport heritage....

 

 

Yes it was factory approved / sponsored!

[djimbob]

what a brilliant thread, all I have to add is I had a fire caused by shite wiring in my fusebox on the M62, pulled on to the hard shoulder, dragged the battery off somehow (don't remember using tools!) and hurled it onto the grass verge, not sure now how I put the smoking wires out

 

Anyway, rang Our Lass'es dad who turned up in his landrover, and towed me back home, bought a cheapie fuse box from the autofactors, and was back on the road next day - amazed myself to be honest, it would be a totally different job on a modern of course, way out of my league

[Junkman]

Whoever said Reliant don't have enough motorsport heritage....

 

 

Yes it was factory approved / sponsored!

 

That is the John Woolfe Racing/Ed Shaver car.

There was no factory involvement whatsoever.

[Junkman]

I'll leave you all in suspense about the final colour choice...

Beige.

[stephen01]

Top work. 

[coalnotdole]

There was no factory involvement whatsoever.

Seems you can always rely on someone to snub what I had meant as an interesting tangent. I was making a subtle dig at those who think a car/marque only has value if it won a rally in the 1960's or was made by a manufactuer with Le Mans or F1 winning pedigree.

 

I never claimed Relaint built the John Woolfe car, but the factory were involved. Reliant gave them a new body shell for free, in the year the car was launched - a pretty bold desision for a small manufacturer. It also had Reliant’s name on the bonnet.... the factory sponsored and endorsed its use and reaped an advertising / commercial benefit.

 

 

 

 

[cort16]

Great thread . This is going to be an amazing car when it’s all up and together . Do they have to use a special primer on the fibre glsss body?