Reassembly-Floor and rear interior panels

I put a vinyl trim around the wheel openings

And closed in the area behind the wheelwells

And riveted in the aluminum floor panels. My hands are really sore from all the drilling and riveting at odd angles or on my back.

Reassembly-Motor mounts, engine installed, wheelwell, interior panels

On the left is the new engine mount, on the right is the old one. The old one had a urethane bushing so the engine could move a little, the new one is solid and makes the engine a stressed member.

The great lump is back in the car and looking good

I made aluminum panels to cover the holes in the inside because they lead directly to the wheelwell and would let smoke in the car

Finished the passenger side wheelwell

Reassembly-Wheelwell, frame plates, heat shield, headlight covers

Built the drivers side wheelwell out of aluminum

And covered the footwells in heat reflective material

Covered the outside frame holes with thin aluminum

And made headlight covers out of aluminum

I covered the inside frame holes with aluminum

And bolted in the fuel cell and rear shocks

It's starting to look like a car

It's painted!

Here is a time lapse video of me painting the car. It went well except that there was a lot of rubber dust in the air and where ever is settled on the paint, there is a little pit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnG31_rA--4

Bumper

My wife, Briget, decided to contribute to the project by building a fiberglass front bumper. With no previous experience, she took an MGB front bumper and made a beautiful and very light replica.

Here is the trial fitting of the bumper and the blue stuff is glaze to fill in the low spots.

With a coat of primer

I built these lightweight and sturdy aluminum mounts and riveted the bumper to them

Bodywork and paint-part 4

This is what writing with a Sharpie looks like even after several coats of primer

See? Marks that weren't even readily visible suddenly jump out when the primer hits them. And several different kinds of thinner were used in an attempt to remove the Sharpie ink. I finally had to wire brush them off.

The Interior is primed and it wasn't easy. All those holes are little dust traps and the roll cage is very hard to get around.

Bodywork and paint-part 3

I went in this morning and worked on the final scrapes and dents. Just when I thought I had them all, I turned on a flourescent light and found many, many more. I also welded the main roll hoop to the body because it will stiffent the whole structure.