Keeping the momentum moving rear to front with the build, time to refocus attention on the scuttle and look at covering the dashboard rail which holds the dashboard in place.
**NOTE this is easier to do BEFORE you apply the rivnuts into the dashboard rail.
Due to the nature of the home build, tolerances are not as exacting as mass produced a vehicles so there will be a gap in fitment of the dashboard relative to the scuttle profile.
Best way of masking this gap is to cover the dashboard rail with some leatherette type material readily available in fabric shops.
You need to get a template of the dashboard rail, so in hindsight (popular word on the blog!) its best to get the leatherette marked up BEFORE you fit the dashboard rail. Thankfully I was at GBS when I bought the leatherette and they kindly marked the leatherette up for me with their template they use.
Basically for you home builders, draw round the template and add 25mm extra either side of the template, this will provide the shape you need.
Cut the shape out and its then a case of getting the glue gun out and gluing the cut out leatherette into position - having a ready supply of clothes pegs is an essential tool for this. Work out from the centre gluing and positioning as you go.
I did this in two stages I glued the front first and then the next night did the rear of the dashboard rail to allow the glue to harden.
You will be left with alot of overlap to trim which is easily trimmed back using the IVA edge trim as your template - take a sharp Stanley knife blade and trim back the surplus.
Focus is on moving back to front with the build, rear panel has been successfully vinyl wrapped and permanently fixed into position (no going back on that decision now!)
I have a nice bare area aka "the boot" which needs completing and there is nothing of significance left to do on the rear end which is preventing me from focusing on getting the boot to a finished position.
GBS do the rear boot panel kit (luggage infill panel kit) which comprises:
Differential inspection panel (needs a hole cutting out)
x2 inner closing panels
x2 rear closing panels
Looking at the panels it is relatively self evident where they fit, the main area of work is in cutting an access hole through the differential inspection panel to create access to the rear diff, brake lines etc (this is required for IVA in the UK as the testers will want to look in this area)
Simple jigsaw job of cutting through the panel, drilling four holes and inserting rivnuts through the holes. You will need a further piece of metal to cover over the hole you have just cut ( I need to get this still!)
Another piece of work which needs doing is to drill a hole in the rear closing panels near the top, to provide access to the retaining nut/bolt for the rear shock absorber. I appreciate it is unlikely there will be a need to remove the shock however I want to build some "future proofing" into the build on the off chance access is required. Again a simple process of using a step drill to drill through the panel to give a big enough hole to accept a socket.
Once all the above is done its a case of put with the polyurethane sealant and fix the panels into position, start with the differential access panel first, followed by the rear closing panels.
With the rear closing panel remember to route the fuel sender cable through otherwise the sender will not work!
the inner closing panels looking at the GBS instruction suggests the top section of the panel goes under the steel chassis section - this in my opinion is not possible due to the powder coating changing the profile of the gap the panel goes under. Speaking to GBS about this they confirmed the panels can be just glued access the top of the steel and not to worry to much about the top going under the steel chassis, So over the top the went!
Panel in - ready for carpet laying
Following on from the trials and tribulations of seat selection and the decision to go with GRP Bucket seats and adjustable runners, now it was a case of getting them fitted into the chassis.
First task, seat runners onto the underside of seats. GBS provide bolts in the underside of the seats so its simply a case of fitting the runners with those bolts into the seat once you have worked out left and right hand runner.
Next to fit is the adjuster bar which moves the runner back and forth. being a universal runner kit means the adjuster bar needs bending inwards at the ends to fit between the runners fixed onto the seat. This is relatively straightforward and easy to bend with some brute force although finer adjustment may be needed in the vice to get the ends of the adjuster bar to fit fully over the catches on the runner. Trial and error with this task, bend a bit check, bend some more and check.
Once happy with that its time to drill the chassis floor.
So, we need to establish where the holes need to be drilled through the chassis floor, set the runners on the seat to their furthest back setting so the front of each runner is visible and in turn you can see where the hole in the runner is that the bolts pass through into the floor of the chassis.
Next get the floor covered in paper so you can mark where the bolts pass through the front holes. Position the seat with the back flat against the rear bulkhead and central between the side and transmission tunnel, mark with a permanent marker the location of the front holes in the runners, relative to the chassis floor. Remove the seat.
The front holes are marked, now its a case of marking the rear runner holes. Time to get the tape measure out and measure the hole centers on the runner front to rear, translate that distance onto the paper and mark the distance. Its worth spending time on this checking distance front to rear on the runner as well distances between the runners, establish several datum's you can take measurements from when doing these to validate your markings on the paper.
Once happy, time to drill! - you will need to drill out to accept an M8 bolt - I went to 9mm to give some maneuverability in the location of the bolts through the chassis holes - some fine tuning and reaming of the holes was also needed to get a good fit but patience will prevail on this task.
Repeat for the other side and you should end up with holes correctly positioned in the floor.
Simply a case of bolting the seat runners into the floor and its all done, seats fitted!
Bolting to floor follows sequence of M8 bolt through runner, M8 nyloc nut, washer, floor, washer, nyloc nut.
[An alternative to this method to marking the chassis floor is to put a dab of paint on the end of each bolt which passes through the seat runner and position the seat into the chassis. Remove and in theory the paint will leave a mark on the floor.. tried this but did not have too much luck with it, however worth a mention as some builders have found this to work]
You need to get a template of the dashboard rail, so in hindsight (popular word on the blog!) its best to get the leatherette marked up BEFORE you fit the dashboard rail. Thankfully I was at GBS when I bought the leatherette and they kindly marked the leatherette up for me with their template they use.
Cut the shape out and its then a case of getting the glue gun out and gluing the cut out leatherette into position - having a ready supply of clothes pegs is an essential tool for this. Work out from the centre gluing and positioning as you go.
