Mk 1 Project Zippy. Looking Like a Car.

[kelvink]

Must be one of those green fuel conversions. So it used to run on bio ethanol I guess

[MrBounce]

Not a huge amount to report this week other than that I have finished the modifications to the seat runners. I managed to do this without Father-in-law's pillar drill, but it probably took an awful lot longer as a result... As per my last post, I had hacksawed the front of the runners off as they're surplus to requirements and then set about removing the "spikes" that would also get in the way. These go through the runners and are held in place by a kind of rivet. The best way to remove these is to simpy drill out the rivet, which is not quite so easy with a handheld battery drill. Still, after much swarf, I was able to drill as far as I dared then twisted the remains out using the vice.

I moved on to the back of the runners where once again there are some rivets holding in the curved mounting plates that aren't required. Again, there was much cursing and swarf, but once drilled, it was an easy job. The runners are now back on the seats; I am going to get some "top hat" spacers made up with a thread on them so they can be fitted to the bolts with no likelihood of them falling off. This will make fitting the seats an easy one-man process.

I have started to clean the carb. I have given the dashpot, spring, damper and needle their first go through the parts washer - I think I need to give them another go as they're still a bit dirty. Lovely...

Rear mount removed - just add bolts and spacers to fit!



Bits removed from the runners. A weight saving if nothing else...



Runners fitted back to seats.

[MrBounce]

Carb parts after their first clean - they're still dirty!!

[MrBounce]

I needed to turn the body over as the nearside front end needs a bucketload of sanding and sorting following all my fibreglass rectification. This meant calling Shaun again. Cheers buddy! We carefully rolled the shell outside, then whilst we had it out, we put it the right way up. The reason for this was to mark the positions on the floor for the seat runners. This was the first time I had sat in the car since buying it nearly 3 years ago! I made "Vroom!" noises, naturally.

There is not a lot of room in there, even for a relative shortarse like me (5ft 8"). The seats (although small) are only an inch and a bit away from touching the roof. We have positioned them close to the exhaust tunnel; I did consider swapping the seats around so the marginally better condition passenger seat would become the driver's seat. Not a chance. They are different on each side and simply won't fit. To clear the "humps" in the floor (where the fuel and brake lines run underneath) I will need to concoct some spacers for the runners and bolts; luckily, I know a man with access to a lathe...

Once we'd done this we flipped the shell over to the other side and pushed it back into the garage. Sanding will start again soon. I am so excited by this...

Once more out into the open.



Sitting in it at last... "Vroom" noises made of course!

[DavidL]

The seats (although small) are only an inch and a bit away from touching the roof. We have positioned them close to the exhaust tunnel; I did consider swapping the seats around so the marginally better condition passenger seat would become the driver's seat. Not a chance. They are different on each side and simply won't fit.

Have you considered dismantling the seats and swapping over the padding and covers?

[Geoff Butcher]

At least you're smiling, Bouncey! I'm 6ft and I had plenty of room in my Mk2, in fact I put pieces of wood under the runners to lift the seats a smidgin...

[MrBounce]

I hate filler, cracks in fibreglass and other people's bodges. Yup, I am now having a closer look at the driver's side nose. And man it is not pretty. There was about half an inch of filler unde it, and the area under the bumper was mishapen, bumpy and - you've guessed it - full of yet more poxy cracks. I am annoyed at myself for missing them beforehand. Anyway, out came the powertools again. I even resorted to the angle grinder with the wire brush at one point as I just needed to get all the old crap out.

The Dremel once again came in very handy sorting out the cracks - it took me over half an hour to get all the ones I could see. However I am now on my last cutting disc, having gone through 68 of them, all whilst working on this car. There were not only cracks on the nose under where the bumper sits, but also under the "air dam" and also on the wheelarch. All have been ground and have been rectified. This will be followed by some sanding. Have we been here before???

Getting the filler from under the nose out. Yup, I was picking my car's nose (with power tools).



Not the best of pictures, but look at all those "lovely" cracks.



Midway through getting all the garbage out of the under bumper area.

[MrBounce]

Once again, surgery is required...



And also under the wheelarch.

[MrBounce]

My recent fun has once again involved the now filler-free (ish) nose. Lots of further grinding was required to get rid of as many cracks as possible. I will never manage it completely, but hopefully most of the problems have now been eliminated. I have repaired the underside of the nose and under the bumper, but this is the first "rough" repair, so more will doubtless be required. However, I want to use an absolute minimum of filler and although the majority of the work is under where the bumper sits, I want it done properly. I wouldn't be happy if I bought the car and saw a bodge job underneath!

I have bought a Mini centre speedo, as although I was toying with the idea of a digital unit, none of the ones on the market within my budget really appealed. I shall be going with good old analogue for now, as it only cost £6. I have taken the speedo apart to give it a good clean, and also to paint the casing as it had gone a bit rusty. A few minutes with some sandpaper and some silver spray and it looks good again. I have zeroed the mileometer and am in the process of cleaning everything. I am in two minds whether to paint the speedo needle the same orange as the car will eventually be. Not sure yet.

Finally my hunt for a new centre cap for my Mistral alloy wheels is over. My friend's father in law has made me 2 copies, one in white metal and the other in some sort of resin. The resin one is amazing; the white metal one almost as good but MUCH heavier. They'll both look good when painted. Bottle of wine coming your way sir!

Is this what called "getting a nose-job"?



Centre Speedo - exploded view. You can see the repainted casing top left of the pic.



I have stripped it almost fully. I love intricate bits.

[MrBounce]

Wonderful "new" centre caps. Original on left, resin in middle, white metal on right.