build diary

July 22, 2004:
One of the rubber mounts for the muffler.
I had to weld a tab to the frame for this and a hole will need to be cut in the side panel.
entry 498
The complete exhaust system.
Anyone need some short lengths of pool hose?
entry 499
The fully welded exhaust.
It's not terribly pretty yet but it will be cleaned up.
entry 500
This is the size of the hole that needs to be cut in the front panel.
entry 501

July 23, 2004:
I'll be taking the body panels in for painting before too long, so I'm working on getting all the holes drilled and everything worked out.
Thus I built the stone shields for the rear fenders last night and finished the drilling for the front fenders and mirrors. The nose cone received the final Dzus fastener underneath the radiator so it's ready. That Dzus, by the way, is going to be difficult to reach when the car's on the ground. I think I'll have to make a special little tool for it. Brian and I also started cleaning up the welds on the header today. It'll look nice when we're done!
entry 502

Working out the pattern for the rear fender shields.
entry 503
Rear fender shield in place - but I did the measuring on the left side.
Turns out there's a small difference in the shape of the right fender at the bottom. I'll be able to tweak that easily then round off the corners.
entry 504
An installed mirror.
entry 505
Cleaning up the welds on the header.
By the time I'm done, it will look like a single pipe. The reflections make it look as if I've really cut down the thickness of the pipe!
entry 506

July 26, 2004:
It was a weekend of fine detail work.
Lots and lots of sanding on the fibreglass body parts to prepare them for painting. They're very high quality and needed almost no touching up - except for the two extra holes I drilled in one of the front fenders. Whoops. So that had to be patched. I also spent some time grinding down the welds on the exhaust to make everything look good. The side panels have been cut to clear the exhaust and they're now installed. It's getting very close - the only large jobs left are the painting and the exhaust. Then it's all down to troubleshooting and tweaking.
entry 507

I had to redrill a couple of holes in one fender.
This meant patching the fibreglass.
entry 508
Getting the nose ready for painting.
entry 509

July 27, 2004:
No major progress to report.
Some pinholes in the exhaust welds have been filled and now I have to spend a little more quality time with the grinder. One thing I don't believe I mentioned - the only part of the stock exhaust manifold that was retained was the flange. The collector was shelved and replaced with one from an unused Miata race header. It's larger and constructed with more attention to the flow. The body parts are now off at the paint shop. The final colour scheme is the orange and black you can see in this mockup. That should be finished this week as should the exhaust. Then it's a matter of a half hour of assembly and I'll be test driving! Once the fibreglass parts are in place I'll build a hood (bonnet) for the car. This shouldn't take long, just a lot of careful measuring so I don't have to buy another big sheet of aluminum!
entry 510

July 28, 2004:
Big news!
The body parts are painted already! They look spectacular. They need wet sanding to smooth out the finish but the colours are awesome. The front fenders are a metallic BMW black while the rest of the body is Lotus "Chrome Orange". In the sun it's blinding. Lotus paints are extremely expensive and I'm in a little shock there, but this will encourage me to do the paint justice in both finish and attention to detail. Kids, if you buy a Lotus Elise in Chrome Orange, do NOT scratch it. If I'd been smart enough to ask about paint costs I might have ended up with a Daytona Blue car. Naaaaah...
entry 511

A small tweak to a water line gives more clearance for the header.
This line usually runs on the forward side of the dipstick tube.
entry 512
A small hole needed to be cut in the side panel to fit the exhaust bracket.

entry 513
The cutout for the header exit.
entry 514
Side panels in place!
entry 515
The body parts are painted! That's a BMW metallic black for the front fenders and Lotus Chrome Orange for the other parts.
entry 516
All of the parts out in the sun.
entry 517
This shot of the nose shows a bit of the pearl in the orange.
The camera is confused by the bright sign and obnoxious colour.
entry 518
BMW carbon black mica - it's a pretty colour with some good depth.
entry 519
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