Footwell panels

One of my early tasks is to get the brake lines, fuel pipes and wiring loom fixed into the chassis before all the panels start to be fitted as once they go in access will begin to reduce. That aside the footwell panels are some which can be fitted early on with little impact on future tasks plus on reflection they need to go in early as front brake lines will be fixed into position on the top edges of these panels.

As a confidence builder they are on the face of it straight forward to fit!

A lot of the panels are already pre-cut to size and shape however the first challenge I found was actually getting the footwell panels into position - a little Chinese puzzle to tease me

for future reference the best way to get these panels into position is through the sides of the chassis frame placing the bottom left corner of each panel into its final position and hinging the whole panel round and into situ (I hope that makes sense and yes it did take me a good ten minutes to realise that was the obvious way to do it!).

You will need to do some filing of edges and corners to get a better fit since being laser cut they don't take account of weld lines on the chassis which protrude - however there should not be too much filing to worry about and overall they fitted well.

Basic process I adopted:

1. file panel and dry fit into position 
2. using masking tape mark out around the edges of the panel the chassis frame
3. find the middle of the tape and equally space holes for drilling
4. drill through with 3.2mm titanium drill
5. Debur the reverse side with a countersunk drill bit
6. Offer panel up and clamp ready for Cleco pins, further drilling, final glue and rivet

So Polyurethane Sealant and Cleco kit on order, the final fixing into position beckons...