ade - when you cut your hand was the blood projectile, i was more angry about my blood hitting my nice new paintwork, did not really care about the ft of blood flying out my wrist lol
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ade - when you cut your hand was the blood projectile, i was more angry about my blood hitting my nice new paintwork, did not really care about the ft of blood flying out my wrist lol
nah - wasnt a spurt job - it bled but not that much - it was more the shock that hit me - the thought of nearly slicing a main vein made me panic! (I HATE blood) - seeing it pulse under the skin didnt help either.
Craig - the lights stick out over the bumper about 4 inches! The reason for that is because the Punto lights are curved unlike the Nova ones - I plan to build a custom front bumper following the curve of the lights based on the OPC corsa concept with Monaro style side skirts and a custom rear end, smoothed boot and custom interior - see the draft pics on earlier pages (1 to 5) for rough ideas...
I pretty much have everything i need - hoping to get more of the lights done this weekend although have plans for Friday and Saturday night so work will be limited. If I can get the housings for the lights I can start on the wings - then move onto the bumper...
Doesn't involve pints does it?:DQuote:
Originally Posted by ade
lol - a little!
Friday 11/08/2006
Pretty good day on the rebuild. Did more on the lights and started building the boxes to support the backs and top.
First though I had to play on ebay and after a bit of close bidding won a 7" touch screen monitor for my in dash PC. Paid ?120 which is over half the price of these things new, so am well chuffed!
My wrist has healed upo nicely but to be on the safe side I masked off all sharp edges! Also wore a coiuple of sweat bands - felt like some 80's FAME disco dancer! lol
First task was to rivet the base plates in place and support the fronts of the lights (they stick out approx 4" over the lower front valance)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights30.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights31.jpg
I used galvanised brackets from B&Q - they fit snug behind the carriage bar and fit perfectly.
Heres both sides complete -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights29.jpg
Theyre perfectly and are very firm however they still have enough play in them to adjust if I need to - this will stop though as soon as I build the rear, side and top supports.
My biggest problem is still the radiator which is right up to the back of the offside light housing. The main problem comes if I need to remove the back to change a bulb - could prove difficult. Spent ages thinking how I could get round it but think I've found a method that doesnt result in me removing the front of the car and then the light unit itself!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights26.jpg
This pic shows the cardboard template - note the black section to the right. This is where the main light unit cover is. You can see the arfeas on the left that need cutting away so I can get access to the left side too.
The following pics show the top section as well as the radiator in position and just how neat it is.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights25.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights28.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights27.jpg
From this I'll tweek the templates (thres 5 sections that make up the housing), then make it out of sheet metal. This section will join onto the original centre slam panel at the corner of each light again using sheet metal. It should be rigid enough but to make sure I'm using 1.2mm sheet bent at the edges to act as a support.
Inhjuries
Didnt cut myself today (although did drag my knuckles along the wall which was sore!)
Drinks
only 2 cups of coffee! Must be a world record for the least amount drunk!
lol
I may consider relocating the rad 1" to the left - Will need to make some kind of platfoorm/support that will slot into the oringinal rubber feet, allowing me to slot the bottom of the rad onto the platform and then lock it in place...
not sure though...
Great work Ade!!!
Cant wait to see the finished product, have you not thought about getting a smaller radiator? I dont see waht other options there could be other than re-locating it
Keep up the good work:thumb:
Heres the radiator idea - bought the parts today and it shuld work -
Posted a thread a while back looking for a solution to moving my rad as part of my rebuild.
problem is my new Punto lights were obstructing the passenger side mount and I needed to move across 2" or so. I didnt really want to drill new mounting holes in my new lower valance so after thinking long and hard came up with this solution.
Take 1 U shaped metal bar and sit radiator in it through 2 drilled holes.
Need to drill to small 1cm holes for the new radiator pegs - but these are more for additional support.
Where the existing mounting points were, drop 2 screws which will be self tapped into the U bar into the holes. Because the ends of the radiator (the plastic bits) are wider that ther actual rad itself, you need to cut 2 sections out of it. This is handy because it stops the rad moving about and lock it in place making a perfect cradle!
Secure the tops and sides by drilling out the existing mounting point welds and remounting with either rivets or new welds -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/rad1.jpg
I've yet to actually do it but I cant see why it wont work.
Saturday 12/08/2006
Plan today was to make the metal surrounds for the lights. Fisrstly I purchased the stuff I needed for the rad relocation (see above) - simply 2 L shaped bars with channels cut in them (like mechano) - nice and thick for strength and when bolted together a perfect fit for the rad.
The lights
Using the card templates I cut out the sections out of sheet galvanised steel 1.2mm thick. Didnt appreciate how tough this would actually be and it took pretty much all day! not looking forward to doing the other one tomorrow (dont even know if I'll be able to my hands are so stiff!)
Once the patterns were cut out it was a case of bend to fit and then tweek.
I made 5 sections as follows -
1 x back section that supports the rear of the lights allowing access
1 x side section that fits wound the outside of the inner wing and provides support for the light side
1 x front end section and supports the inside part of the light and provides a mounting point for the centre mount
1 x top section that provides a mount for the 2 top mounting points a strengthens the top section making the lights secure
1 x bracket shape to link the existing extension at the front to the new front end section and provide support underneath.
The entire structure fitted pretty well and provides good access to the back. I mounted it temporarily using macking tape and when assembles it was really tough! The light is held firm. It'll be really strong once revitted together and then screwed to the light.
Here was the original card template -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights26.jpg
Heres the actual metal surround held in place with tape -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights40.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights39.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights37.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights36.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights38.jpg
Tomorrows game is to bolt this in place and then do the other side...
looking sweet ade dude,
one of the reason i checked back was to see how this was getting on...
I think you should get you're own thread made though without all the comments that only you can post on so we can see all progress from start to finish over the least amount of pages!
Keep on it dude ;)