I finished the removal of the bonnet latches (top halves) as well as drilling the whole for the badge on the nosecone. The bonnet latches took a little bit of time as they had blind rivets in them and I didn’t want to stuff them up. I’m getting closer to getting the car ready for painting. All that’s left is to cut out the exhaust hole and then I have to wait to get the new rear lights, aero screen and fuel cap so I can drill the holes and test fit.

Today I went and picked up a few more tools for the car. Things like drill bits, tap and die set and a rivet gun. So I went about doing some more removing of bits off the car that had to be taken off prier to painting. I would have to say that’s it is a bit stressful drilling holes into the car body, but this way if I stuff something up I’ve got the option of getting it fixed while it’s painted.

So it was with drill in hand that I gathered up all my courage, I set about drilling out the rivets for the bonnet catches (bottom halves), the fuel cap and the defuses, I also took the time to drill the holes for the second rivet in the catches as they had only put one in from the factory. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. I also cleaned out the threads for the roll cage and ran the die over the roll bar bolts too. They fit a lot better now.

Well, much to my disappointment my engineer was a no show. I rang him an hour after he was supposed to be here and he said that he’d completely forgotten and he wasn’t even in town. So I made another appointment to see him and hopefully he’ll show up this time.

On a happier note, I received a rather unexpected delivery early this morning while I was getting breakfast. I heard a van pull up and the front and when I went out to see the driver he handed over a box which I had no idea what it was, but when I opened it I found the centre console for the clubbie and a template to cut the exhaust hole out. So I went and marked out the spot for the
hole ready for me to cut.

Not a lot of progress on the car itself, but I did manage to get the springs fitted to the dampers. I took some time this afternoon to clean the glue and foam rubber off from under where the scuttle and bonnet sits. I also contacted the engineer that I will be using for the build. He said he was a bit busy this week so I’ve made an appointment for him to come around and start on things on Monday the 23^rd.

It’s been a few days since I did anything with the car so I thought I’d just go and have a bit of a play around. I was only going to set up a set of shelves and tidy up some of the loose components. But once I got started I just kept on going. After putting up the shelves, I filled them with various bits and pieces like front rotors, suspension bits and headlights.

I also removed the gauges and shelved them. I played around with the steering rack too and ended up removing the steering rack brackets and all the bits that bolt to them as there were some brackets that sat outside the car, and I had to remove before painting it anyway. I dismantled the headlights so that only the shell remained, again so I can get them painted. I removed the scuttle too but it wasn’t until I had it off that I realised that I still needed to pre fit the aero screen before painting and I haven’t even ordered it yet. So the scuttle will have to go back on at some stage before I get the screen.

Today I spent most of the afternoon playing with the interior of the car. I installed both the seats, so they are all secure. I also put the gauges in to see how they look (very happy with the result). I also attempted a dummy fit of the lights at the front of the car. There are some bits that I’m not sure about on top of the light support bracket, they don’t seem to need to be there but I’ll tackle them another time.

Today’s the first time I’ve been able to do anything with the kit other than unpack stuff. But before I get it painted I want to make sure everything fits first, so I put the rear guards on. Which took a few attempts as the holes didn’t quite line up with the body so I had to re-drill some of them. But after a bit of fiddling the car has the rear guards fitted

I also took this opportunity to un-wrap one of the seats I had bought and put it in the car. I then sat it in the body, got the steering wheel out and sat in it. What can I say? I’m a big kid. :-)

I spent most of today going through all the packets and small boxes that came with the kit, and trying to figure out what everything is and where it all goes. There is a growing pile of things I will refer to as the “What the??” pile as I still have to figure them out.

Well, today’s the day my kit arrived. I awoke around 7am, bright and early in eager anticipation of my kits arrival. Although it wasn’t suppose to turn up until 7:30, I was pleasantly surprised to hear a truck pull up with a rather large box on the back about 10 minutes after I woke up.

I went out and greeted the driver, who had some questions about the contents. He knew that it was a car body from the shipping details but couldn’t quite figure out what type as the box was too narrow for a normal car body. I explained what it was while we waited for the forklift to show up and once it arrived the unloading went very smoothly and finally the box was sitting in my carport.

I spent the next few hours unpacking everything from the steel frame it had been shipped in, and with the help of my brother Mathew and my girlfriend’s brother Jason, I was able to set up the body on axle stands in my shed.

Unfortunately I have to work tonight so that will be all for today. But here's a pic of how everything arrived on the truck.