Scuttle Part 2

So initial form and fit of the scuttle has been done, attention now turns to fitting the flimsy dashboard rail. At this point it struck me that in hindsight it was perhaps best to fit this piece before fitting to the firewall - It provides the best template for forming the shape of the scuttle and fitting it after the firewall in my opinion is harder. Live and learn, not a showstopper by any means but just a more awkward fit in my opinion.

Off with the scuttle and firewall which, having been sat screwed into the chassis for a few days had now assumed a nice curved shape and did not spring out as soon as I released it from the chassis. I laid the pre-formed scuttle onto a workmate and positioned the dashboard rail ensuring the centre tab of the rail matched with a mark on the centre of the scuttle top.

The rail is ultimately riveted into position. This is where you need to be very careful drilling as the rivets will be covered by "tadpole" trim in due course so they need to be very close to the edge of the scuttle. Wandering drill bit is not what is wanted at this stage.

I worked from the underneath, drilling outwards and cleco'ing in position, moving outwards from the centre, left, right, left right each time. The sides were more of a challenge to form round the rail but mission accomplished with some elbow grease and mole grips as an additional hand to help hold things in position.

Overall approx 1 hours work, worth going nice and steady with this task as its flimsy and bends very easy. Drilling needs to be quite precise and you need to be ambidextrous at times bending and pulling together the scuttle sides / dashboard rail.

Putting the dash rail in makes the structure alot more sturdy - relocating back to the chassis was alot easier this time as the shape was already preformed but more importantly robust - I left it in position a few nights before applying the polyurethane sealant to the rear of the firewall, ratchet strapping the scuttle maintains shape and form.

I made reference in the first scuttle post about the top corner of the firewall pushing backwards on the driver side - releasing the scuttle to apply the dash rail resolved this problem as when I came to refit it was much better and maintained its shape.

So ratchet strapped up, glued up along the rear of the firewall, leave it all to cure off nice and hard for a few days - scuttle just needs the front tabs trimming off and the clecos replaced with rivets along the dashrail - job done.

Overall pleased with how this has turned out - certainly looks more like a car now the scuttle is in position - need to look at the pedal box now and get that dry fitted.