robt964

Thanks again guys

Trust me I've thought about this kind of thing for a long time. If ever I could convince myself it was capable of generating an acceptable/reliable income I'd jump at the chance to do this full time. There are plenty of 1st class people that already work in this field and have been doing it for years. As much fun as I imagine it could be, this market is small and volatile, which scares me off

LOL - Well as my wife is quite instrumental in the success of these activities and she does even on occation read this thread (when the iPad has been left on this page) she is more than welcome to drive the car ... just not for commuting. Not even I would. Erratic stop-start M25 traffic with loons diving for non-existent gaps whilst tapping out a text message is not a great place for a car which by todays standards is quite small with poorly visible brake lights.

I'm more of the similar mindset to jstyer. As much time as we spend on these, and as disappointing as it is when they're damaged, they are just pretty metal/glass/plastic things which are all fixable

STUARTQ

[QUOTE=robt964;11316980]Thanks again guys



Trust me I've thought about this kind of thing for a long time. If ever I could convince myself it was capable of generating an acceptable/reliable income I'd jump at the chance to do this full time. There are plenty of 1st class people that already work in this field and have been doing it for years. As much fun as I imagine it could be, this market is small and volatile, which scares me off

Yep, it can be a difficult leap into the unknown!

LOL - Well as my wife is quite instrumental in the success of these activities.....

I remember reading the part where you were welding and she was helping you and hasn't she always driven your toys, she must deserve some credit for the finished article and to drive it.
Luckily, my wife has no interest in driving

boxsey911

By the time you add stiff suspension, bucket seats, remove the soundproofing and fit a LWF, wives generally lose the interest in driving it. If they want to drive it after all those things are done you need to start worrying that you might have to fund them to go racing!

robt964

Or worse still.. they end up being able to peddle it better than you can

Could you imagine being 'chicked' in your own car !

STUARTQ

Or worse still.. they end up being able to peddle it better than you can!

Well, I think that has happened a few times

I do like to see a women enjoying motorsport!

boxsey911

Yep, a good example is Mrs Jevvy who is very good in the driver's seat around Oulton Park.

STUARTQ

Is she better than Mr Jevvy though?

Maybe you'd better not answer that!

robt964

Driven by the fact I was desperate to fit the freshly painted rear bolt in half cage I'd just collected from Tom's place, I plucked up the courage to start trimming the roof lining.

Over the past few months I'd requested samples of material from here and there to find one I liked. I've settled on a very simple 3mm foam backed mat black head lining fabric (up close it looks like a kind of linen).



Thats an image from the website - I didn't buy a 100m roll !
So last Sunday I spent the first 1hr sat in the car staring at the roof wondering how the hell I'm going to do this. Attempting this in one piece was going to be way too tricky and virtually impossible with the type of material I'd selected (not as stretchy as regular roof lining).

Now, the A and B pillars have the usual padded leather trim that finishes just shy of the roof frame. The C pillars have none. I decided that I'd cover the entire perimeter roof frame, so thats the front area where the sun visors mount, the tops of the A pillars, down both sides to the tops of the B pillars, continuing back to the top of the rear screen, then down the C pillars to the parcel shelf in one piece. So in essence it would be like tackling the entire roof in one go but not being concerned with how the main centre panel looked as that section would then be cutout and discarded. Using a sheet of 6mm open cell foam, I'd then cut a piece that exactly fitted this main roof centre section and butted up nicely all round to the frame. This piece would then be trimmed in the material and stuck in position.

It was a fairly wasteful approach but its worked well. Stage one is complete ie the covering of the frame, A,B,C pillars, cutout centre section, and it looks pretty good. I ran out of spray trim glue so the centre panel will have to wait for now. What it did allow me to do tho was fit the cage
Photos to come, but I'm loving the look

jstyer

Awesome. You're a brave man to tackle that job... Please share the source of your headliner fabric if it's not too dear of a secret!

A bit of a subject change, but what are your thoughts on the interior noise with no sound deadening?

robt964

Re sound levels, I was expecting far worse but in all honesty its not that bad. I think this may be due in part that I insulated the rear bulk head in 10mm high density closed cell foam. This stuff weights absolutlely nothing but seems pretty good at blocking the noise. You can now of course hear stones etc pinging about in wheel arches etc and a little more road noise buts its perfectly liveable and normal conversations can still be had at motorway speeds.

I sourced most of the materials/foams etc from ebay suppliers. If you're not using leather, trimming supplies/materials cost buttons!

Head liner

6mm scrim foam

10mm closed cell foam

Spray glue

too old for this

I look forward to all your posts, I love your can do and sometimes outside the box solutions and i am constantly humbled by your skill set.
I have a decent pretty well equipped home work shop(see pic) and if you ever make the leap to doing this full time.It is yours for 3 or 4 months to *suck it and see* if you really want to do it.I am sure a lot of people would form an orderly queue for your abilities.

MusicMadMike

Rob,

I've followed this thread from the beginning and like most others were in awe of you Jedi wrenching abilities and your very mysterious Tardis like garage. Truly superb. The car is a real beaut and a credit to you. It really is very inspiring. Thanks for sharing. I'm sure many people have benefitted from your build.

Looking forward to seeing it in the metal one day.

fuch

Omg that's one of the the best man caves ever!!.....& that oval looks the nuts can we have more pics of both please.....

I'm of to show the wife we don't need a new kitchen and We need a new garage just like this far more!

robt964

Thanks for the kind words chaps - glad people are able to extract some value from my ramblings

WOW, what a garage and WOW what a car ! That engine bay is immaculate!

What's with the unicycle?

too old for this

the unicycle.....for years the war dept would say what do you want for your birthday,reply....Go Ped, nothing,then the unicycle accompanied with "that is the nearest you are getting to a goped" They are not easy, much smashed ankles and a*se bones in order to manage a few measly feet.It is now an ornament.
The beetle is now gone and replaced with the C4,tbh I am still missing the bug, it was properly quick.
Apologies for blocking your fantastic thread,but here are a couple more pics as requested by Fuchs(the offer of the space was genuine by the way)