John Bonnett
-
Posts
819 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Never
Content Type
Forums
Blogs
Events
Downloads
Gallery
Membership & Shop
Everything posted by John Bonnett
-
Indeed it will Nick. I've had three or four weeks of enforced inactivity due to Triumph knee caused by folding myself up in the footwells when fitting the sound deadening but now being fully fit again and the G15 all ready for me, I'm like a coiled spring. 🙂
-
Well, it's back and no time was lost in fully bolting the shell onto the chassis. I'm really looking forward after all the delays to finally move the project forward. I have no idea why the first photo is the wrong way up.
-
For reasons with with I won't bore you, the engine cover hasn't been painted neither has the aluminium bonnet. So I'm going to indulge myself and do what I said I'd do at the very beginning; make one in aluminium. It has been a very long time since I've done any serious metal shaping and gas welding of aluminium and I'm very excited about the prospect. I've always said it should be pretty straightforward to make but now I'm going to have to put my money where my mouth is.
-
I have to say it came as quite a surprise to me to see it in the colour I had asked for. The painter seems obsessed with blue because I suspect he has vats of the stuff.
-
I thank you Clive. All being well I'll have it home on Friday and then I'll be able to crack on.
-
Had a look at the shell this morning. It has been very nicely done and in the right colour; Porsche Signal Yellow.
-
In part it is good news Nick. The downside is that he has massively exceeded the budget that I gave him. Pics tomorrow.
-
Within an hour of my last offering, I've heard from the painter that the body will be finished this afternoon. Guess where I'll be headed in the morning?
-
Nothing much to report. I'm at a standstill waiting for the body to be painted. This whole project has been beset with delays without which the car would be on the road by now. Just a photo of the chassis with part of the front suspension fitted which is as much as I can do until the body is back.
-
I believe there is at least one for sale at the moment. Certainly a very pretty little car. I think the little spot welds are where the baffles are fixed. I'm twiddling my thumbs at the moment with not much I can do until the shell is back. The chassis is on the rotisserie just waiting for it.
-
Well worth checking that the cable that passes through the centre of the gear lever hasn't worn through the insulation and intermittently earthing.
-
Indeed he does mean well Hazen and we get on really well and always have a good laugh, mostly at my expense. But he's absolutely right; my work falls painfully short of the standards professionals achieve and it's down to him to work his magic so that the finished result looks good. So, I've made a vow that for my next project (no, I haven't a clue what it will be yet) I'll improve my hammer and dolly skills and that the panel work will be so good I can polish it. Something petite like a Cooper Bobtail would be a nice project.
-
You're cooking on gas Hazen. Great piece of work. Well done. I had to laugh this week. When I took the G15 over to the painter, he took one look at the aluminium bonnet and said well, I can see you're panel work hasn't improved John. A bit later he noticed some special nuts I'd machined up and said, they look nice. You're good at lathe work and crap with panels. 🙂
-
Cannot see the picture Hazen
-
I dropped into the painters a couple of days ago and was very surprised and encouraged to see that he had already started work on the shell. So, good news there. I now have the chassis back from the powder coaters which is another step forward. I'm hoping to get it on the rotisserie next week and start the final build. I've finished wiring the dashboard and all the circuits all work which is a bonus. Been a while since I posted any pictures but that should change quite soon.
-
I hope so too Tim. Actually it won't have to be that great to exceed my expectations! 🙂 No, just joshing. The G15 is a very pretty little car and with BMW power it should perform rather well. I've been wiring the dashboard all day and so just about to go and lie down in a darkened room.
-
Over a month since I last wrote anything but we have progressed. The chassis will shortly be ready to collect from the powder coaters and amazingly after months of waiting, the body is with the painter. We have agreed the colour; Porsche Signal Yellow but the painter is a law unto himself so we'll wait and see what shade of yellow it ends up. 🙂
-
[quote=7952]I really need to get that dvd. Been meaning to. I frequent metalmeet too. Excellent source. I wouldn't have been able to get this far with out it. Need to figure out the tuck shrinking. I'll get there. I may not need it with this piece, but the next bit of whatever I decide to shape, who knows. As for power tools, I need electric ones right now. believe it or not I've done my entire resto without the use of a compressor, and one is not in the budget right now. Sure could use one though...[/quote In his video, David demonstrates amazing work just using hand tools that most people have. I have found the US Tools stretcher/shrinker very useful and has a place alongside tuck shrinking. Foot pedal operation would have made it better. Not a huge job to modify it though.
-
Don't say I didn't warn you Hazen. 🙂 Well done on yer. You really are spoiled in the States for metal shaping tools at amazingly cheap prices and you've got some seriously skilled guys doing amazing work. Plenty of videos too. In the video you highlighted he mentions David Gardner's DVD which I have and found really helpful. David is British but he does contribute on the Metalmeet forum along with other greats including Peter Tomassini and Wray Shelin. Well worth a look at. If you are interested, here's the link to David's site. https://www.classicmetalshaping.co.uk/dvd/ I'm no expert at tuck shrinking but it is a very effective way to shrink metal quickly.. Wray Shelin makes it look so easy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGQ7JKpMIs0 I bought a Harbor Freight pneumatic planishing hammer a few years ago. I can't remember what I paid for it but I notice Frost are selling it for 400GBP and in the States you can get them for ninety nine bucks. Harbor Freight are not noted for their quality but I've found it a really useful addition to my workshop. Keep up the good work, cheers John
-
Ditto that Hazen. Coming on nicely and best of all it's your own work at a fraction of the cost of buying one. But you do realise that metal shaping is highly addictive and right now you're on the slippery slope 🙂
-
When I made the template for the tank, I made no allowance for the additional height of the fuel gauge sender. Predictably The bonnet fouled it so I had to form a small bulge which has done the job nicely.
-
Delays seem to have been a feature of this restoration and I can see another one looming; painting. In fairness to the painter, I did step out of the queue until I'd established whether any modifications were going to be needed to the body because of the non-standard engine but now I'm back in line awaiting the telephone call. In the meantime, the chassis is ready for the final strip down prior to going off for shot blasting and powder coating. Once chassis and body are painted, the plan is to fit the two together and put them on the rotisserie which will make the installation of the services that go through the tunnel very much easier. So, not much more to say for the moment.
-
My stainless steel fuel tank arrived today. A really fine piece of work.
-
We've been to France twice this year and found that 98RON is available from most supermarket petrol stations but we never saw it in the roadside petrol stations in rural areas. In those cases, I believe they are using the old 98 pumps for E10.
-
Some time ago I discovered that the rear longitudinal chassis legs were welded at the factory at the wrong angles; sloping down too much and one more than the other. I was a fair way down the road with the chassis at the point where I discovered it and decided to do nothing about it. Having fitted the engine cover on its hinges I found that the valance return fouled the buffer mounting brackets as the cover was opened. A direct result of the chassis problem. I had to remove the brackets and move them higher to achieve clearance. A classic example of the knock-on effect of one problem if not solved causing another and another........... The Triumph cones will do a good job. The difference in relative height of the chassis legs is evident by the adjusted heights of the buffers.