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...

Dashboard

I am using the black GRP dashboard provided by Tiger.  Some people have fixed this on with screws, others with adhesive.  I wanted the clean looks (without screws), but without the permanence of adhesive.  I decided in the end to use regular clear silicon sealant.  My thinking is that it will hold the dashboard firmly, but can be removed later, if needed.  Perhaps by using a very thin long blade.  That technique may damage the dashboard, who knows.  Hopefully I won't need to find out.

I am mounting the digital dash (nearly) flush into the dashboard itself.  A template was cut for the hole required in the dashboard.

Hole cut in dashboard prior to sticking the dashboard to the body shell.

 Same size hole made in the body shell behind the dashboard.

A bracket to hold the digital dash at the right 'depth' was fabricated out of aluminium strip.  This was glued to the back of the dashboard using two healthy blobs of epoxy resin.  Seem to have held very well.

The dashboard had to be filed a bit to get the correct profile to match the scuttle.  I then took a few more millimetres off all round.  This allows a little space around the edge that I will glue some rubber trim on to for IVA.  I've tested a short length, made from the round part of P-trim, and it looks quite smart.

A second bracket was made to brace the lower part of the dashboard - to stop it flapping around.  Once the digital dashboard was mounted the switches were installed for the headlights, etc. Powered up and everything still worked!

Template made for seat back panel

Inspired by pictures on other build diaries I created a cardboard template to assist with the cutting of the seat back panel.