FOM The Clubman Estate

[Windy Miller]

Welcome back Tupers! We've missed you!

 

[Tupers]

Cheers guys, yeah I'm still alive just been lazy.

I did get do a few odd little bits and bobs today though.

The corners of my seat frame where quite sharp so I chopped them off, welded them up and ground them down with a larger radius.

I finally got round to taking down the welds on my seat back with my new Roloc sanding discs.

While I was in the mood to make noise I flap wheeled the welds down on the centre console and took all the surface rust off. I had planned on priming it but I've still got things to finish on it so I gave it a wipe down with some WD40.

I also welded in a second brace to keep sides from flexing.

 

[Tupers]

I've always wanted to fit my head unit into the centre console but the position of the heater meant that this would not be possible. After talking with Matt about this he showed me these and fortunately that made things a whole lot easier.

I made up a cardboard model of the heater for a size comparison.

It should tuck out of the way nicely.

Now knowing that I could fit my head unit into the console I cut a nice big hole and fitted a cage.

I refitted the console to see how it looked, pretty snazzy I think you'll agree.

Seen as I'm not using the OG heater I don't need to have a console cut away nearly as much so I made a start on extending it to the bulkhead.

I also got one of these in the post this morning. It's a Tungsten Carbide Burr for my die grinder and by god is it handy.

 

[tux]

The tungsten carbide burr was my absolute best discovery of last year. How did we ever manage without them?!
The heater unit looks the business, can't believe how small it is. I hope it lives up to its claims in heat output though.

 

[Tupers]

The tungsten carbide burr was my absolute best discovery of last year. How did we ever manage without them?!

They're really amazing aren't they!


I commandeered Matts inter grips to make sure the extension was in place before I welded it.

Once I was happy, I welded it up and then smoothed it down with a flap disc.

It fits really nicely now, I just need to make some tabs to hold it to the bulk head. I'm also going to make a section of the N/S extension removable to allow me to get at the head unit wiring.

I've been getting more used to my new Carbide Burr and used it take down the welds around the gear stick and handbrake opening.

Seen as I'll have a decent amount of room under the head unit I'm thinking of adding a open glove box type thing. What do you guys think?

 

[the snooper]

purpose built cd rack ?

 

[Angusdog]

CDs? Really Yes to the open glovebox, fully lined, angle the bottom back a little to hold things in there. What about lockable storage? Gonna be secure, being built from steel.

 

[Robotstar5]

Is there enough space for one of those 7" TFT screens? - watch TV, dvd's, reversing camera etc.

 

[Tupers]

Is there enough space for one of those 7" TFT screens? - watch TV, dvd's, reversing camera etc.

There is and I did mock it up with a 7" screen I've had kicking around for awhile but it didn't really look right so I'm gunna go with an open glove box.


I finished grinding down the 'A' panel to wing seam today and found that the panels where slightly staggered. I could have just filled this but decided I'd rather do it properly so slit the seam with a 1MM cutting disc and realigned them.

The 'A' panel still want to a of dolly work but it's much better now.

I'm a bit ahead of myself with this but this evening I stared modifying a split Webber inlet manifold to run a HIF44 or maybe one of these.
Being a Webber manifold it's way long so I cut 35MM from the head side and I'm thinking I'll need to take another 10MM from the carb side.

I also started making the flange for the carb to mount to.

 

[Tupers]

Seen as I'm using an after market heater and not running eyeballs I no longer need the bid nasty holes in the flitches.

On the O/S it was a simple case of cutting a plate the right size and welding it in.

The N/S eyeball feed was a bit trickier.

I had to do a few delicate cuts because of the tight space but it came out fairly painlessly.

I managed to rearrange the bends at the top from a dog leg to a straight line.

And got a nice little plate to fill on the big hole.

I also had a little play with my new wheels although I'm still not sure what I'm going to end up running.

 

[Angusdog]

Nice work as always. I'm painting mine at the mo' and painted the fuel filler surround separately from the panel. Then in an effort to seal it against the freshly painted panel, spread seam sealer everywhere, completely ruining the surrounding paint. Ho hum (The correct sealing gunk would have been better, but it's fixed now).

I welded up the spare wiper holes in the scuttle and the body is fully painted and cut back now - looks miles better than my last attempt.

I have to replace the bottom 6 inches of the LHS rear door, which I might do a thread on here. Then paint the doors and slap her back together.

Are those 10" wheels? I reckon they look a little piddley on estates, but I'm not keen on 13" either. Ours rolls on 12" revos but I have a pair of 12x6 deep disk superlites (in anthracite, yum yum) which I might use if the guards (Group 5s) need filling.

 

[Tupers]

Sounds like you've been doing a decent amount of work Angusdog I'd like to see some more pics of it at some point. Yes the new wheels are 10s. I did at one point thinks about running 13s or 12s but I not sold on running arches so for the moment I'd sticking with the 10s.

Only a little update bit it's something.

I got the flap discs out today and lapped in the plate on the O/S flitch.

I also made a fillet for the gap at the top of the N/S flitch I finished welding everything in.

I also made a start on the inside of the glove box.

 

[Robotstar5]

I wonder if any one actually keeps gloves in the glove box these days?

 

[madkayaker]

i do but there rigger gloves as well as satnav lead, phone charger, DAB power cable etc

 

[Tupers]

I figured I'd ought to throw you guys a little update shaped bone before everyone including myself forget about this build. :lol:

Seen as I'm waiting for an opening at the shot blaster I thought I'd jump ahead and start tidying up the front subframe. I hadn't planned on doing this but as the rest of the engine bay is so smooth it's seems a shame to have a rough looking sub.

I started out by cleaning up the area around the tower joints.

Once I was happy it was good and clean I welded up the grooves.

And then finished them off by dressing the welds down with a flap disc to give a nice smooth finish.

If all goes well tomorrow I'll be make some gussets for the tie bar mounts and figure out how far I'm going to take the smoothing.

I've also got all the parts I need to rebuild my top arms.

 

[tux]

Never mind a bone, we want the rest of the cow as well!
Good to see some progress dude.

 

[ibrooks]

Bit of a stretch I know but the dashboard you looked at fitting on the first page.... Not sure whether you're aware or not but it's from a GTM Coupe. They are a bit of a rarity so think a bit before chopping it about if you haven't already.

Iain

 

[Tupers]

I know it's out of my brothers GTM that's he's currently got in bits.

 

[Tupers]

So now that I'm back to doing my normal hours at work I've finally had chance to get the estate underway again.

I decided to do a bit on the front frame starting with a pair of gussets for the tie rod mounts.

Managed to get some pretty decent welds on them considering I haven't picked up a torch in 4 months.

Then I ground down the vertical weld on the outside to make it look like it was part of the original mount.

I also decided to put a curve into the outer corner of the towers with the die grinder to make them look more symmetrical.

 

[stuvy]

loving your work so far mate, my mate has a clubby similar to the one posted on the first page in mustard colour, if you need advice or info on the sliding window channels pm me and il get some pictures from his work he did on it for you