Cobra 427 Build

[Alan Cutler (Adge) - Dorset AO]

Blimey Gary, that's some drastic bodywork surgery you're undertaking! Looking forward to seeing how you "stick" it all together again.

[B.RAD]

17 minutes ago, KugaWestie said:

Over the weekend I slowly and carefully opened up the bodywork to expose the fuel tank filler neck

 

 

 

A nice photo for IVA showing the fuel tank earth strap connection

 

 

 

This gives me another problem to overcome, the fuel cap neck won’t sit flush on the body as it is clashing with the tank neck, so it will need reducing to allow it to sit down nicely

 

 

Should it have a rubber or foam between the filler and body?

[KugaWestie]

5 minutes ago, BCF said:

 

Should it have a rubber or foam between the filler and body?

 

Once it fits yes

[KugaWestie]

7 minutes ago, AdgeC said:

Blimey Gary, that's some drastic bodywork surgery you're undertaking! Looking forward to seeing how you "stick" it all together again.

 

Its going to be a steep learning curve Adge!

[XTR2Turbo]

1 hour ago, KugaWestie said:

Whilst making holes in the bodywork, the next step is to try and sort out the lack of symmetry at the rear end around the wheel arches that I discovered when originally positioning the body.

 

Time to learn some new skills 😱

 

 

Project Binky did something similar if you have not already seen you could get some ideas / tips 

[Stu Faulkner]

Brave man Gary, very brave. 

[KugaWestie]

Clamps swapped out for two pieces of batten bolted together

 

 

 

3 layers of chopped strand then fitted onto the underside of the cuts in three locations as a starting point

 

 

 

 

 

 

Underside of of the arch/wing

 

 

 

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed a crack in the body at the edge of the rear wheel arch. These cracks appeared when the body was initially stretched over the chassis, probably due to the age of it and how hard it is compared to a new body being slightly green still.

 

So whilst the resin and chopped strand was out I screwed a plate onto the area that can be removed later and glassed the crack from the underside

 

 

 

This lot needs a good 24 hours to go off before I continue 

 

 

 

 

 

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

You could have screwed plates on from the outside covered the gap with masking tape, then you can matt it all together just leaving the gap to fill. 

[KugaWestie]

7 hours ago, Robin (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO said:

You could have screwed plates on from the outside covered the gap with masking tape, then you can matt it all together just leaving the gap to fill. 

 

 

That's not a lot different to how I have done it @Robin (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO really. 

I will have some gaps to fill when the timber clamps are removed.

 

I decided to do the glassing in sections no longer than 6" like I have due to trying to work upside down, I was concerned that larger sections of matting would have peeled away due to the weight of them when loaded with wet resin.

 

My intention is to get it all glassed from the underside and then sand away the gelcoat on the outside to form a recess say 1" wide either side of the slot and then glass over the lot in larger sections from above so the I am bonded on both sides

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I believe, the standard, or at least, the standard from guys that have learnt in the boat world doing structural hull repairs, is to grind the edges of the hole back at quite a shallow angle. 12:1 roughly, the mat is then laid in to the gaps, and run up the slope, obviously the outer layers of mat will sit proud of the surface at the very edges. The whole lot is then sanded back flush. I’ve used this method on Westfield and similar parts, letting one side cure, then doing the same from the reverse, and had hugely strong repairs. The biggest catch though, is that for strongest results, you are laying CSM down from either side, so you don’t have a gelcoat layer, and the final result needs painting.

[KugaWestie]

25 minutes ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

I believe, the standard, or at least, the standard from guys that have learnt in the boat world doing structural hull repairs, is to grind the edges of the hole back at quite a shallow angle. 12:1 roughly, the mat is then laid in to the gaps, and run up the slope, obviously the outer layers of mat will sit proud of the surface at the very edges. The whole lot is then sanded back flush. I’ve used this method on Westfield and similar parts, letting one side cure, then doing the same from the reverse, and had hugely strong repairs. The biggest catch though, is that for strongest results, you are laying CSM down from either side, so you don’t have a gelcoat layer, and the final result needs painting.

 

Thanks Dave.

 

I am hoping that I can keep the matting down below the surface of the existing gelcoat on the topside. This will then allow me to make up the difference in either flow/gelcoat or filler and sand it back

[Kingster]

32 minutes ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

The biggest catch though, is that for strongest results, you are laying CSM down from either side, so you don’t have a gelcoat layer, and the final result needs painting.

Which isn’t a big issue I guess as it’s getting painted anyway. 

 

Good of luck with it Gary - I’m sure you’ll do a cracking job. 

[KugaWestie]

19 minutes ago, Chris King - Webmaster and Joint North East AO said:

Which isn’t a big issue I guess as it’s getting painted anyway. 

 

Good of luck with it Gary - I’m sure you’ll do a cracking job. 

 

Oh yes it will definitely need to be a sprayed finish!!

 

I am doing my best, hopefully it will turn out a nice build

[KugaWestie]

2 out of the three clamps removed, topside then sanded with 80 grit and bevelled

 

 

 

3 layers of CSM applied to the topside of the cut

 

 

 

 

Arch crack glassed as well

 

 

 

[KugaWestie]

Rear section of the arch up next!