Fitting the Boot Lid

The Mark 2 Avon body tub comes with a boot.  This is a welcome improvement on the original design.  As part of the body work kit the boot lid is provided.  However, this requires quite a bit of manual work to fit it.

As supplied the boot lid has quite an uneven edge - I assume where it has been cut out of the mould.  First up was to trim the edge down to an even 20mm depth.

The lid still seemed to catch slightly when fitted in the boot.  I thought about trimming more off (as it is at a shallow angle it would have made the overall dimensions smaller).  In the end I decided not to trim any more and see how I got on - I've cut too much off things before!

Next I cut slots for 25mm chrome hinges.  I used a small drill and a needle file to create the slots so that one half of the hinge would sit flat on the inside surface of the lid top.

  

Grip Fill used to 'glue' the hinges into the lid.  The other half riveted to the body tub.

Cam lock bought of eBay fitted.  Dog leg added to locking arm to ensure the arm cleared the lip of the boot lid.

Blu tak used to gauge where the locking arm strikes the rear inside of the boot cavity.  Of course all the while making sure the boot lid was flush with the upper surface of the rear body tub.  A slot was cut for the locking arm.  Later on I'll make a aluminium surround to finish it off better and protect the rough fibreglass edges.

Tiger advised me to add some 'stops' inside the boot to stop the boot lid going in too far, e.g. if somebody leaned on it.  At this point I found the the boot lid would not quite sit flat.  When locked one corner was raised a few milometers.  If this was pressed down the other corner would pop up!  I needed something to hold the corners down.  I came up with the idea of magnetic cupboard fasteners screwed into the corners.  These double up as 'stops' and also hold the corners down.  After a few days the boot lid settled a lot anyway and the magnetic part is almost not needed.

The other half of the magnetic set up was glued to the inside of the boot lid lip using epoxy resin.

Finished boot.  I may add a third, central, hinge at a later date to add a bit more support.  The lid opens nicely  and the lock locates relatively easily.  When I find some I may add a small piece of black automotive carpet to the floor of the boot.  Will stop things sliding around and look better.

Rear Lighting

All fitted, wired up and tested.

Some of the wiring could be attached to the chassis tubes, but inside the wheel arches there is nothing to attach the wires to.  Some Grip Fill was used to glue clips to the inside of the wheel arches and then cable ties could be used.  Sprial wrap was then added to all wires to prevent chafing, particularly where the wires pass through the fibreglass.

As the fog light needs to be vertical for the IVA test I used one of Tiger's fibreglass 'wedges'.  I didn't need to use them on the rear light clusters as my light units are tapered at the back.  To mount the wedge I made up a small bracket.  I made sure the holes in the bodywork are the same spacing as on the fog light until, so in theory I can attach later without the 'wedge'.

Cycle Wings

After the bonnet the job I was least looking forward to was fitting the cycle wings.  It did indeed turn out to be quite involved.

First off I needed to clear the threads in the front uprights - these were rusty and also had some paint in them.  I hadn't realised when renewing the uprights that these threaded holes would be needed.  A second hand 8mm tap from a local tool shop did the job easily.

Spacer tubes need to be cut to mount the cycle wing vertical arms the correct distance from the tyres.  This is a bit of trial and error and I found it easiest to use washers to calculate the length prior to cutting the tubes.

With the stays mounted in the correct position I could start to fit the cycle wings themselves.  They don't just bolt on unfortunately.  The horizontal arms of the stays need to be bent up into the curvature of the cycle wings.  To work out how far to bend them I tried spacers of different thickness.  A couple of pencil rubbers turned out to be perfect for the job.

Then the stays were bent in the vice, ensuring that the upper part remained parallel with the tyre.  Due to the bending of the stays some of the powder coating flaked off.  Some Hammerite was applied to prevent rusting.

The cycle wings were then trial fitted using an axle stand as a height reference.  The current IVA manual states that the cycle wings must extend at least 50 degrees to the rear and 30 degrees to the front.  The rear was nearly 90 degrees so that was okay.  The front was harder to measure.  In the end the geometry of the wheel came to the rescue.  There are 12 spokes.  360 degrees divided by 12 equals 30 degrees per spoke.  With one spoke vertical I could easily determine that I had about 45 degrees coverage to the front.

A length of bicycle inner tube (700c x 23) was pulled over the horizontal arms to protect the fibreglass from the metal edges.  Holes were drilled in the cycle wings and stays and then dome head bolts used to secure them together.

19mm holes were drilled to accommodate the LED side repeaters.  I had to be careful here as it is quite close to the edge and I didn't want to split the cycle wing.  The repeaters are mounted by inserting the rubber collar into the hole and then pushing the light through, making sure the 'TOP" marking was uppermost.  Due to the curvature of the cycle wing shoulder the rubber did not want to sit fully flat with the (curved) surface.  A little persuasion from Mr Super Glue did the trick.

Finally, the wiring for the side repeaters was extended to reach the inside of the car.  This was cabled tied to the cycle wings stays and under the cycle wings cable tie mounts were attached using Grip Fill.  Before fitting the side repeaters I tested them on the car battery.  They are reassuringly bright.  One oddity is that the black lead is not negative, but positive!  White is negative.

In the end I am quite pleased with result, but the cycle wings are quite a lot of effort from start to finish.