Another day, another post!

Thought I'd just post to show you the days work on the bonnet/nose.

I managed to get a good few hours on the car today so am reasonably pleased with the progress:)

Just to give you an idea of the amount of work I've been doing (and trying to justify the amount of time it's taken), this is a pic of the bonnet before I started doing any of the mods.

Underneath that huge scoop are the carbs. It wasn't what I wanted but was more a necessity. That was the first thing to go, so we ended up with this. You'll notice that I've already started playing around with the plenum.

As I wasn't sure what I wanted, but knew what was needed, I ended up with this monstrosity about a year ago, and till last week, this is how the bonnet looked. Now you see why I decided to leave it for a while!

With the intercooler scoops as eyes, the plenum cover as a nose, and the (just visible) radiator vent, it looked badly like a face. Something needed to be done, so....

...off with the intercooler scoops and "nose" over plenum. I also removed the polystyrene bits I was using to widen the lower front of the nosecone - either side of the radiator. Anyway, I had a brainwave and used some steel mesh as a former, which I gradually folled with filler to give me...

I'm aiming for a smooth look, and as you can see in the nest pic, I think I might succeed.


I now "just need to" ( yeah right) get the same finish on the other side (not far off), and figure out how I'm going to cover the intercoolers. Once that's done, it's a matter of finishingall the edges then sanding/painting/sanding polishing to get a really nice finish so I can mould it. After that, it'll be to make a new bonnet, paint and fit, by which time ecu should be in and working, then we'll be off.

I'm hoping to do some work on it in the evenings and next Sunday (finish??????), so, no more till then I'm afraid.

Gotta go!

Simon

Still no ecu, but hey, I've started the bonnet!

I don't know if it's my failings in the computer world, though I have to admit I do despair at times.

I've decided that my level of competance has dictated I return the ECU to Emerald for them to check over, though I'm sure it's fine. When that comes back, I may have to "phone a friend" from Locostbuilders who's kindly offered to bring his laptop over.

While that's away, I thought I'd make a start on the bonnet, as this is very nearly the last part of the jigsaw, aside of mapping the engine.

When I first started this project, I'd started modifying the bonnet without having any of the mechanical work done, which meant that I didn't know where intercoolers would be, nor the plenum etc, so when I started again last week, I had to pull off all the changes I'd made to the bonnet, as a) it looked crap, and b) well, see a).

It's amazing how having a year between certain jobs where originally you struggle to visualise how you want something to look, and how bad it turns out, to starting again, and getting a decent result in a tenth of the time.

Anyway, you're out of luck if you think I'm going to post pics of what it looks like as of today, because it really does look like a work in progress, but (and it's a very big but like what's the weather going to be like tomorrow) I have a whole day on it tomorrow, which should be all it takes.

In the meantime, here's a couple of pics I took last weekend so I could make up a front rollbar template (with 2" drainpipe). No, you're not seeing that either. I may go and see someone about that next week. They can can it out of something a bit stronger:)

Damn, it's got the rollbar on it, and pics of the bonnet:)

I made those nice shiny exhausts from stainless steel, in case you were wondering.

Anyway, I'm off cos I want an early night so I can get on with car tomorrow.

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzsimon