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Fitting the Hood Part 3:
Another weekend comes around........at last!!! I get home early on a Friday so I thought I would spend an hour or so in the Garage before the Friday night wine, convenience food and slobbing in front of the fire!!!
The next stage was to sort out the fixing of the swivel joints to the fibre glass mouldings. Once again I have taken the lead from Simon Rudman. I decided that the GD advised way of bolting the swivel joints on from underneath the moulding with the single countersunk bolt, didn't look strong enough. Andy will probably laugh at my concern, but I have always been a "belt and braces" sort of guy!!
Anyway, following Simons lead, I acquired some wardrobe rail supports from B & Q. the swivel joint fitted into these neatly, and it gives the joint a bit more support for the years of use to come! As Simon did, I secured the wardrobe rail fitting with a couple of countersunk M5 bolts from underneath, and used a couple of Dome Head M5 bolts on top for a neat finish. I feel the overall finish is good, and hopefully stronger than the original idea. The swivel joint just sit in and are not secured. It thing the tension of the soft top will hold everything firm, but if not I may stick some self tapper through to secure them.
Also today, I took delivery of some M5 knurled knobs to take the place of the M5 bolts holding the moulding down to the body. These are a much better idea and allow for easy fixing and removal of the soft-top rear mouldings.
Prior to fitting the Moulding, I stuck some tape on the bottom, just to avoid any unnecessary scratching of the body. I
I finished one side tonight, will sort the other side over the weekend.
Fitting the Hood Part 2:
The next stage was to cut the the moulding in half and cut 25mm off each of the inside ends, then cut back a 45 degree angle on each one. This allows the folding of the hood for storage should you not wish to leave it on the car.
Next I had to cut back the ends of the mouldings near the door, to make a flush fit with the body and allow the door to shut OK.
Once this was done I painted the inside of the mouldings and when the paint was dry, test fitted again. Everything is ready now for the next stage which is attaching the support frame. Once I have done this, I can test fit the hood!!
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Fitting the Hood Part 1:
Having picked up all the components for the Hood from GD last week, I thought I may as well make a start fitting it!
First job is to grind down the "knobs" on the bottom of the GRP moulding. These are markers for the fixing holes. Once ground down, I drilled holes for the M5 fixing bolts to go through. Once done I put masking tape on the bottom of the moulding to avoid scratching the body and then offered it in place on the back of the car. Once I was happy with the alignment, I held it in place with masking tape and drilled through to the body to mark the holes for the fixing inserts to go in.
I removed the moulding and using an M8 drill, drilled the 8 holes for the inserts. These inserts are flat topped and have a M5 "tapping" through the centre. They are held in place underneath by a washer, spring washer and nut.
2nd Jan 2012 - Got my hands on one of the laser cut GD badges a while ago but never got round to putting it on. A cold wet day, and still getting over too much food and drink(!!), gave me the opportunity!! I just used double sided sticky tape, cutting it into shape with a scalpel.
17th Dec 2011 - Another winter job I have been putting off is fitting the custom indicator\washer column stalks I got from GD. The original Vauxhall ones work fine but give the car a "kit car" look. Having seen various variety's of these items, I felt it was time to fit my own.
Firstly you need to take the steering column out, and remove the indicator, washer and column adjustment stalks. The three Stainless stalks I got From GD were already threaded on the end for an M6 thread. The Column adjustment lever was all read tapped for M6 so this one went straight in. The indicator stalk and washer stalk were slightly more fiddly. First you have to cut the original lever off (see pictures below) and then tap the stump to take the M6 thread. Screw the new items in, and I put a bit of Araldite in for a bit of extra security to stop them coming loose. Put everything back together and "Voila!", it doesn't look like a Vectra Column any more!!!
1st Nov 2011 - Winters here, not much chance of getting out on the road so time to do a few jobs I have been putting off!! I bought some bonnet handles ages ago but haven't got round to fitting them. I bought the some handles from the internet which had fixed spindles. These spindles were cut down and M5 tapped. I then dismantled the original bonnet locks\catches and bolted them to the new handle spindle. (hope all this makes sense!!! E-mail me if you want more detailed explanation!). Before fastening the original mechanism to the new spindle, I packed with washers so they fitted properly to the locking slot in the bulk head. Fairly pleased with the job, and they look a lot better.
7th Aug 2011 - While doing all the work on the heads etc etc, I decided to fit a "Battery Brain". This is essentially a device that fits to the battery and via a remote control cuts power to the ignition therefore acting as a very good immobilizer. The beauty of the battery brain is that it is intelligent, as in, if you left your lights on, for instance, the Battery Brain would turn everything off when the battery power reached a critical state, therefore leaving enough power in the battery to start the engine.............brilliant!! Very simple to fit all be it a bit cramped in the wheel arch battery bay. Look it up on the internet for further info. They are about £50.00 and well worth it in my opinion.
10th Sept 2011 - I've got about 700 miles on the clock now while dodging the weather!!! Trying to reach a 1000 so I can then take it into GD for them to have a look at the suspension set up etc for me. Having said that, it doesn't seem too bad but I would prefer the experts to have a look!!
One thing that's been bugging me and I've been putting off are the indicators not self cancelling. I kept telling myself its a winter job, but its been annoying me so I thought I better sort it.
There are a couple of ways of doing this, one that Simon Rudman devised, by inserting two metal dowels at the back of the steering hub that position either side of the peg that flips out when the indicators are flicked on. The other method, and the one I used, Alan Daubney told me about, and I believe this is how GD do theirs. Simply make a bracket up that sits centrally up against the peg (the peg is spring loaded so is not affected). As you turn the wheel the bracket slides off the peg, and when the wheel is turned back centrally, it pushed the peg and flips the indicator stalk back into position...............simple!! (a lot simpler than my explanation probably!!!).
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