Remember the Bead roller?
Me neither.
In the end in order to stiffen up the bottom edge of plate, Nick put a return in there.
17.15 now…… time flies.
Quick, efficient and functional.
Start with glazing pliers to pull back the planned section.
Then some supported hammer work.
And tighten it all up with some dolly work.
And just like that, no more Rolf Harris jokes.
Next up 101 holes for all the retaining bolts and Nyloc nuts.
Measure, mark, punch, drill, grind back burrs, try all holes………
Holes all holed.
Long way to go yet.
Because the sheeting was from a build 11 years ago, surfaces were damaged.
So a belt sander with used belt was run over the surface.
Followed by me on sandpaper to get even consistency, and Nick on Scotch pad duty to get it looking more brushed than scrapped.
Followed by loads of cleaning with thinners and panel wipe……. Standing back, waiting for it all to dry and the new surface to appear.
A few silly grins, a mini-high-five and then time for commitment, well, we really should have been committed a long time ago.
I opened the Polyurethane adhesive and spread it generously on the old, holed firewall.
Nick had the pleasure of slipping the new plate in place while I took a photo, unfortunately I was a tad slow, so just imagine his manic grin when laying the plate against the adhesive, never to come off again.
More holes, a ton of parts and bolts fitted.
Some clamps to reinforce some load bearing areas’ drying tightly.
And looking down, so much tidier.
A whole day spent on doing it right.
So at 19.30 we shut shop, came inside and I cooked some rather nice chicken thighs with Cajun and plum sauce on rice, along with a celebratory beer for Nick and my usual rum and Pepsi.
A long day, but great results.
Nick ticked the job list off, we are over halfway, but being held up by the fuel tank that is not yet made, and a few other issues.
But we did agree, it would have been easy to just throw this all together in a week, but at this pount, this is a great little build.
Monday morning and it is Back to reality.
Later gang.