Well, that didn't fit

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agnoraan
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Re: Well, that didn't fit

Post by agnoraan »

Well, Ive measured the angle of the screen an it's 55 deg, which seems the same as the others. I'm hoping to try the other roof on it later to see how that fits.
cheers..Nige
Last edited by agnoraan on Sun Jan 31, 2016 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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agnoraan
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Re: Well, that didn't fit

Post by agnoraan »

Just tried the other top on and it does look a lot better, but still doesn't fit the body lines, which was to be expected.

With the roof in line with the edge of the door/1/4 panel it looks like this at the screen


Image


It looks like this at the top of the 1/4 panel. I should think that if the roof were radiused to fit the curvature of the 1/4 panel it would pretty much all line up, with it requiring a small amount of repairs to get it all gapped up as it should


Image


Image
Last edited by agnoraan on Sun Jan 31, 2016 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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agnoraan
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Re: Well, that didn't fit

Post by agnoraan »

Image


Image


Image


Is anyone able to tell me the distance between the edge of the roof and the top of the door please on an original or Hawk roof? As it sits in those photos, it's 34.5 mm from the roof to the door top. To fit it to the screen, I would need to drop it backwards at the top and also lower it, as going by the measurements from Clives hawk instructions, there should be a 3mm gap between the screen and the bulkhead. I've got a 22mm gap at the moment :roll:

Ah well, now I've got to decide which is the lesser of two evils and which one to use, mmm decisions, decisions

cheers...Nige
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Migge
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Re: Well, that didn't fit

Post by Migge »

What decission ever, you need to flat down the windscreen
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catsx11
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Post by catsx11 »

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Last edited by catsx11 on Wed Aug 23, 2017 6:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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agnoraan
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Re: Well, that didn't fit

Post by agnoraan »

catsx11 wrote:
agnoraan wrote:...As it sits in those photos, it's 34.5 mm from the roof to the door top….
I think you mean 345mm - which would fit in with the dims I sent you
Doh!! whatever happened to feet and inches, yes of course, I meant 345mm. Thanks again for those measurements Alan, greatly appreciated :D

cheers..Nige
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agnoraan
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Re: Well, that didn't fit

Post by agnoraan »

Well, I've got a bit of spare time so I figured I might as well get on with fitting the Le Mans hardtop. I offered the top to the car and as can be seen in the photos above, there were huge gaps everywhere. To get it anywhere near fitting, I had to rake the screen back and I used the measurements taken from Niks FIA as a guide. Even then the curvature at the top of the Vipers rear 1/4 panels is waaaay different to that of a 289. It was touching the bodywork at the crown of the 1/4's but nowhere else. So, I slowly trimmed the underside of the roof on both sides to bring the gaps closer together, being mindful of not altering the side window aperture shape too much. With being able to alter the screen and roof height I was able to reach a good compromise.

The next step was to lay some strips of 2" masking tape around the area where the roof would sit. The aim here is to get the gaps looking tight to the bodywork. With the roof secured in place, I mixed up some body filler and pushed it in the gaps between the roof and body, (with the masking tape protecting the body from the filler). Once, this had cured I then spread some more filler over the top of that to build it to a nice thickness. This will allow me to remove the top and sand down the inside flush with the roofs original fibreglass, whilst still retaining the shape of the bottom edge of the roof.

Once the inside is sanded flush, I can then fibreglass over the filler on the inside to get the bottom edge structuraly strong. The fibreglass can then be trimmed to the profile of the filler edge, which should then correspond to the shape of the body. Once I'm happy with the gap fit, I can then sand down all of the filler from the outside, down to the new fibreglass and just give it a light repair to get it right. This is a much easier method to make and shape profiles than using templates etc.

The roof originally came with a 40mm internal flange that a rubber seal could be fitted to, which stops the roof itself from sitting on the bodywork. ASt this point I've lost quite a bit of that, so I have to find a new method of stopping the roof rubbing/scratching the body when fitted.

Did original cars have a seal fitted between the roof and body or not?? I'm assuming that, as race cars they didn't??

I can either leave a small gap without a seal and just fit some small rubber bonnet type rubber "buffers" towards the front and rear of the roof, OR, I can remake the flange, which is quite a lot more work, OR, I can fit a perimeter seal as per the photo below, your thoughts please?

Here's the filler applied to the roof, with the tape underneath


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The edge of the roof after the tape had been removed and the filler having had a slight trim, the gaps are looking nice now :wink:


Image


Image


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The easy option would be to fit a perimiter seal similar to this


Image


cheers...NIge
Last edited by agnoraan on Sun Jan 31, 2016 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
catsx11
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Post by catsx11 »

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Last edited by catsx11 on Wed Aug 23, 2017 6:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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agnoraan
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Re: Well, that didn't fit

Post by agnoraan »

Hi Alan, no i hadn't seen the Newsletter re the roof, but it's pretty much as thought it should be done :wink: The roof is going body colour with the stripes continued over it. Having thought about it, I may as well put in a little bit more effort and put the flange along the bottom edge and add some 19mm wide foam seal to it to the body. Tomorrow is going to be fibrglass day :D

The rest of the work I'm going to be doing won't affect this, as i'm not going to the extent of altering the tops of the 1/4 panels to match an original. I will be making a split boot, altering the wheelarch openings and the rear valance, along with fitting the L452 tail lights I had from you at some point though :wink:

cheers..NIge
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StewbieC
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Re: Well, that didn't fit

Post by StewbieC »

Looks like you are doing a really nice job of that!
Very impressive!
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