Scuttle Dashboard rail

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.

 

                 

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.

Scuttle part 1

So new year, new challenge....thought it was time to have a look at how the scuttle comes together and fits to the chassis.

Approached this stage of the build with some trepidation as the scuttle along with the rear panel requires some panel bending, so quite a sizeable task awaits the amateur builder - definitely out of the comfort zone with this task.

Spent alot of time reading other builder blogs, general web research, studying photos in order to establish the stages to work through in achieving a fully built scuttle. What I established early on is that:

• You need a jig / platform to assist with the initial bends
• You need to ensure all the tabs on the fire wall are folded out forwards and most importantly are flat along the edge which the top of the scuttle will form its shape over
• You need alot of patience and perseverance, plus three pairs of hands! 

So first task, get the folds in the firewall tabs done, I needed a straight edge to act as the guide for the bends and to ensure they folded flat in relation to the edge of the firewall - a steel rule assisted in that together with a "toffee" hammer to tap the fold as flat as possible against the straight edge - overall pleased with that stage. take breath, onto the next stage.

I built a temporary jig/platform and attached the fire wall to it. I then took the top skin of the scuttle and flexed some bend into the panel to at least assist with the bend over the top of the firewall.

The principle is actually quite straightforward albeit you don't have enough pairs of hands, the steel has a mind of its own and its initially very flimsy whilst the first few tabs are secured. Basically, the tabs on the firewall are to be lined up with the tabs on the front of the scuttle skin, rivet together which provides an initial fix and working out form the centre repeat this process along the flat-ish firewall top edge.

Its important to work centre out evenly - centre, left tab, right tab, left tab, right tab etc each time push the scuttle down onto the top of the firewall, locate the two tabs together and cleco / rivet in place

I left the side tabs free at this stage as to be honest although the jig helped with the initial fixings, the side fixings were more challenging and I felt I needed the chassis to now become the jig and help pull the sides of the skin round.


In essence, the scuttle top skin needs to bend round the firewall edge but at the same time also pull the sides of the skin in as well - the jig I built was not allowing for that, so next best thing has to be the car chassis.

6 x M8 rivnuts were fitted along the side panel tops and a further 3 x M6 rivnuts along the edge of the firewall, battery tray panel area. these allow the scuttle/firewall to be screwed into position with dome head screws.

I offered up the part built scuttle, firstly screwed in the firewall into the chassis frame and once that was secure bent the scuttle skin over the remainder of the firewall on either side and pulled round locating into the M8 rivnuts secured with a dome head screws.

this proved surprisingly rigid and forms the initial shape quite nicely.

Some trimming of the panel is still needed to get a perfect fit in the corners and I note the top edge of the firewall as it bends down on the drivers side is pushing backwards slightly so I need to ease that forwards as I pull the skin over to meet with the M8 rivnuts/screws - I think this should be easily resolved.

Overall pleased and encouraged with how this has gone.

So part one done - a scuttle has been formed into the shape, next stages are to:

• Fine tune fitment around the pinch areas I have noted above
• Get a nice thick bead of Polyurethane sealant going across the back of the firewall / inside scuttle area
• Blind Rivet / Poly seal the dashboard bracket to the cockpit side of the scuttle (this should pull the true shape in nicely)
• Cut off and trim the front temporary tabs