Steering Column Surround

I have a GBS surround which fits over the steering column behind the steering wheel, however, it leaves the bottom of the column unprotected.  I bought a piece of aluminium from the local carpinteria metalica, cut out the shape, covered it in leatherette material and it ended up looking like this:

And when fitted:

Good enough for now :)

Dashboard Fitting

I was looking for a way to mask the aluminium on the underside of the scuttle which would be visible once the dashboard was fitted.  I have a number of bicycle innertubes which are waiting to be repurposed so cut one and glued it into place.  I put a couple of smaller pieces where the scuttle meets the door sill to cover the gaps there:

New Dashboard

After a disasterous attempt to colour-code the dashboard, I decided to put a carbon fibre skin over the fibre glass to hide the problem.  I bought a kit from Easy Composites and then followed their very useful video tutorial.  Before starting, I roughened the surface of the fibre glass to aid adhesion and then painted it black.  There will only be one skin of carbon, so any breaks in the carbon may reveal the background colour.  Having said that, Easy Composites supplies epoxy resin with black dye to reduce the likelihood of this problem.

Because 2 x 2 carbon twill has a directional weave, I split the dash in the centre and set the weave so that it eminates outwards from the centre point.  Here's the result:

There are some imperfections on close inspection, but overall I am pleased with my first attempt at skinning and think that there are many other parts which could be skinned for good effect.

Exhaust

Time to fit the exhaust and manifold (but not in that order).

Exhaust manifold is easy enough, however the dipstick holder needs to be removed and the coolant overflow needs loosening off to put the manifold in the correct position.  I couldn't get the manifold bolts to bite onto the manifold tightly enough, possibly because they are slightly too long, but adding an extra washer to each bolt solved the problem.

Next, the back end of the pipe needs trimming to allow the silencer to fit and allow it to be removed without having to remove the rear wing.  I measured 60mm back from the weld and cut there.  Once done, the silencer is offered up to determine the correct position for the exhaust mounting bracket.  The exhaust bracket is mounted with 2 x M10 bolts through the floor and one through the side of the lowered floor.

The front of the silencer needs a slot cutting to allow it to clamp round the manifold pipe.  After this, I stop-drilled the slot to relieve the root-bending stresses and prevent it from propagating any further (finally, 3 years studying engineering pays off!):

Once prepared, the whole lot was bolted together (without paste) and that's the exhaust done.

Rear Wings and Lights

Still waiting for the throttle bodies to arrive.  Time for fitting the rear wings and lights. 

The reverse and fog lights must have their reflectors perpendicular to the road surface.  In order to achieve this, about 10mm needs trimming from the bottom edge of the casing.  I used a hacksaw to get them roughly where they needed to be, then finished off with sandpaper on the floor to get a consistent edge all the way round.  I used some thin IVA trim around the edge of the light casing and then bolted them into place:

A caution here is that there are 2 negative terminals in each of the light casings and it is very easy to connect the wires incorrecly causing a short circuit.  


Next up, I cut the tadpole trim so that it would bend around the profile of the rear wing and then used contact adhesive to hold it in place.  Other builders have used the panel-bonding agent, but I really don't like it as I find it very difficult to be accurate and tidy when applying it.  Painting the adhesive is much easier.

Once the trim was attached, I bolted the wings into place:

I used masking tape to help line up the positions for the rear light clusters, noting that the suspension isn't quite level...  ...danger, danger!

I made a cardboard template using the backing plate from the light clusters:

And then used it to mark up the positions onto the wings, drilled holes and mounted the rear clusters:

I ran the cable through a support attached to one of the mounting bolts thus:

I have read some chat about putting the electrical connector inside the bodywork to protect it from water, dirt and other contamination thrown up by the wheel, but this would make it considerably more difficult to remove the wing in the future.  I am not sure how often wing removal would need to be done, but I will stick with this set up for now!