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Westfield_XI
Jedi Warrior
Offline
I have been in the Lonestar State this week, but before I left I finished off the cargo box by building a folding lid to clear the rear body when it is opened. I also tore apart my folded air duct and re-built it using 3/4" alloy angle for all the edges to join the flat sheets. This looks (and hopefully works) a lot better than the 1st one I made. I finished off by cutting holes for the rubber steering boots to stick out of the sides of the airduct. The steering and radiator are inside the duct so I had to seal off where the 2 radiator pipes pass through (3M automotive putty from Eastwood), the sway bar(same), steering column(a cutout made from a pizza shop cheese shaker!) and steering arms(stock rubber boots).
I got all this stuff done and clecoed on to the chassis in preparation to masking for painting when I realised that it would be easier to paint off of the car. Once I got all the new stuff off the factory metalwork didn't look as nice as mine. I have been working in avation since 1980 as a mechanic and inspector and then taught aircraft sheetmetal for 5 years. The guys who built my car would have been "C" students in my class!! The work is strong and safe especially for roadwork, but I just couldn't bear living with someone else's average work forever.
So I drilled out all the rivets on ALL the alloy panels and removed every piece of metal from the car. Now I can spend a couple of days de-burring and dressing the edges of all sheet metal. Then I will paint it all with Lizardskin before putting it back together and fixing all the fiddly little screwups I found when removing the panels.
To all you guys contemplating getting a kit from Westfield don't worry about the build quality from the factory. It is not going to come apart on you @ 90 mph!! not ever! It is strongly built, but I am just anal about metalwork as you can see from my past. That and painting is the only reason I am re-doing the metal.
Plus it will allow me to put bigger fuel tanks into the side pods. I was never happy with only a 5 gal. tank. Now I can build two mirror image tanks for each side pod. If I connect them with a 1" hard line and vent them well they should equalise level and allow me to use the stock tank outlets and filler for both. If I use the stock tank as a template and use cardboard to build a mock-up I ought to be able to build them from the same .050" alloy as the factory.
I have pictures of the airduct and cargo box up @ the yahoo site, but you have to register to see the pics. I still am planning on having a build site and am photographing all my work, but building the car has interfered with building a website.
I got all this stuff done and clecoed on to the chassis in preparation to masking for painting when I realised that it would be easier to paint off of the car. Once I got all the new stuff off the factory metalwork didn't look as nice as mine. I have been working in avation since 1980 as a mechanic and inspector and then taught aircraft sheetmetal for 5 years. The guys who built my car would have been "C" students in my class!! The work is strong and safe especially for roadwork, but I just couldn't bear living with someone else's average work forever.
So I drilled out all the rivets on ALL the alloy panels and removed every piece of metal from the car. Now I can spend a couple of days de-burring and dressing the edges of all sheet metal. Then I will paint it all with Lizardskin before putting it back together and fixing all the fiddly little screwups I found when removing the panels.
To all you guys contemplating getting a kit from Westfield don't worry about the build quality from the factory. It is not going to come apart on you @ 90 mph!! not ever! It is strongly built, but I am just anal about metalwork as you can see from my past. That and painting is the only reason I am re-doing the metal.
Plus it will allow me to put bigger fuel tanks into the side pods. I was never happy with only a 5 gal. tank. Now I can build two mirror image tanks for each side pod. If I connect them with a 1" hard line and vent them well they should equalise level and allow me to use the stock tank outlets and filler for both. If I use the stock tank as a template and use cardboard to build a mock-up I ought to be able to build them from the same .050" alloy as the factory.
I have pictures of the airduct and cargo box up @ the yahoo site, but you have to register to see the pics. I still am planning on having a build site and am photographing all my work, but building the car has interfered with building a website.