Rear Half of Roll Cage Fitted

The previously made template was used to accurately mark out where the holes needed to be cut for the rear bracing tubes.  A hole saw and a curved file were used for this.

What I hadn't appreciated was that these bracing tubes were at a slight angle.  Meaning that the holes had to be widened to get the ends through, before the rear half of the cage could be lowered in to place.  Covers will need to be made for these.  Probably out of aluminium sheet sprayed white.

The feet were then bolted on to the bracing tubes and holes drilled in the rear of the chassis to accommodate the fixing bolts.  All in all not too bad a fit, the fabrication tolerances probably within a few millimetres.

Luckily the off-side bracing tube clears the fuel filler by about 10mm and also the filler pipe below.  Phew!  That was a close call.

After fitting I tried to get in the boot.  Oh dear, we have a problem.  Looks like the boot on the Avon Mk2 bodywork will only open to about 45 degrees with the roll cage fitted.  Never mind, access is still pretty good.

Next on to the front half of the roll cage...

Fitting the Main Body Tub

Before the main body tub will sit down on the chassis a hole needs cutting for the steering column and the unused Sierra pedal box mounting brackets need to be cut off.  Some Hammerite was applied to the bare metal to prevent rusting later.

The lower part of the dash (only used during lay up of the fibreglass) needed to be trimmed off. The front edge of the front body sides were trimmed equal and vertical.  The body would now sit down on the chassis.  It is a very tight fit.  It seemed easiest to 'hook' the body under the rear chassis and then pull it down forwards.  There was a lot of creaking from the fibreglass, but it seems I got away with it, without any permanent damage.  Large head rivets were then added under the chassis rear and sides, as well as the top rails under the bonnet.

Couldn't resist cutting a hole for the shiny aero fuel filler and trialing the steering wheel.

Collection of Body Work from Tiger

It has been a quiet month or so on the build.  Partly due to holidays and partly due to all tasks being completed, those that needed to be done before fitting of the body work.  Here is the car the night before collecting the body work from Tiger.

Tiger had only moved into its new premises just two days previously.  Despite that they were happy to accomodate me, albeit while in the middle of unpacking, cutting concrete for floor rollers, etc.  The new single site set up is really smart and it should be good to have everything on the one site.

I was going to hire a large van to collect the body work, but the rental is quite expensive and the fuel consumption is generally poor.  Instead I rented a small flat bed car trailer.  The only problem with this was lashing the load securely.  Pipe insulation was used to protect the body work from the trailer as well as the lashings.  Frequent stops were needed early on in the journey to tighten the lashings, but after a while the load had settled and the remainder of the journey passed without event. Phew!
Back home, here is the body work resting on the chassis.  First job will be to start cutting to clear the steering column, etc.  More on that next time.

By the way, the car will be white!