The delivery itself went smoothly, but the biggest advice to anyone I can give would be find a local company with a loading dock and ask to borrow it if possible, even if charged! At one point the car was like this.
Not really how you want your car in the air! But this shows the height difference between a delivery truck and a flat bed truck.
Following that it was nice and easy to drag off the flat bed truck.
With space at a minimum I first had to move the shell into where it was going to be stored in the back garden, this was done on delivery day. First of all I had to undo the bolts holding it to the chassis. It was very securely attached and probably took around an hour to free all the panels up but once free it could be removed, it was late by this point and the red below is from fireworks. The fact it was so secure was really nice to see.
I wanted to get the chassis into the garage that night but its so strong and bulky 3 of us just couldn't quite lift it. So I arranged 6 of us to lift it on the Saturday and place it on the car Dolly, with 6 it was no issues, I think with 5 of us was possible but would of been harder. So outside it sat for the night, although was wrapped up.
Once it was in the garage, there was some surface rust on places and this was most likely from the added bonus of being at sea for so long, so I cleaned up the chassis removing all the dust and surface rust spots. these wiped off without an issue. My thoughts on the chassis, is it is strong and the welds are really good. I cant fault it, its going to feel like a very safe car when in it. The paint on the chassis has runs in places which is not ideal and probably could be a little better, but that said it is thick and as its primary job is to protect the steel it does that well. Of course the difference with this chassis is, 99% of it wont be seen.
Following wiping the whole thing down, I looked for ages to check what parts had been scraped on loading etc... and gave a very light sand and spray of gloss black, there was only a few but I wanted to ensure every area was covered.
Not content with that, I decided I would also polish the chassis, this way the paint has a bit more protection as well, it may be a bit OTT. But I will get no other point to do it so easily once things start to bolt on.
Below are a few shots of the chassis, as you can see I am in a single garage, but the car is pushed more towards that wall, so one side has about 10" free and the other about 2 foot. Its not spacious by ant stretch of the imagination but I can work in there.
So the next step....fitting master cylinders, pedals and steering column and Rack first.
james, the car looks great, what is the quality of the rest of the GRP and suchlike, are things square and what overall impresssions of it?
ReplyDeleteThe GRP gel coat is not the best I've seen, overall smooth but on the edge of the pieces is quite chipped so either stuck to the moulds or poorly cut, that said it is the thickest I've come across in any kit so very sturdy with its mounting points. To put it another way nothing a bodyshop can't sort out.
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