Norfolk Tornado

[Andy Green]

A bit more panelling work:
The top of the tunnel has been made removable for access to the handbrake cables and so has the cooling pipe cover in the foot-well area, again retained by M5 cap-head screws. I also plan to run the main electrical harness down here.

My current thoughts are that only the floor will have carpet on, all remaining panels will be powder-coated satin black, so this is why I taking a bit more time on the fitting & finish of these panels.

Regards
Andy

 

[Andy Green]

For the last 9 months I’ve also being very slowly progressing my brake system. They are based on 310mm discs with AP calipers and a separate handbrake caliper. I’ve then designed the custom brake bells & caliper brackets. They still need some final machining of the brackets to centralise the calipers over the discs & some material removing from the bells, but getting finally there.

Regards
Andy

 

[Brett James-McCall]

Nice work Andy. Where did you get that AP handbrake caliper?

 

[Kelly]

Hey Andy, happen to know how much your rear uprights weigh bare?

Best,
Kelly

 

[Andy Green]

Hi Brett,
Thanks for the complements. The handbrake calipers were sourced from a Lotus Evora mule vehicle that was being scrapped at work.

Hi Kelly
The rear uprights are fabricated steel Tornado items, which I’ve then modified to remove a lot of the excess material. Final weight is now 3kg

Regards
Andy

 

[Andy Green]

For the front access panel, I didn’t like the idea of just bolting on a cover plate; I thought it would look a lot neater if the cover sat flush with the rest of the panel. This meant creating a stepped section around the hole. As I don’t have access to a press or a bead roller, I created the joddle over a couple of aluminium formers. Using a modified brick chisel (with the tip ground to a radius) and a few other home made tools, the aluminium was slowly worked over the formers. Annealing it a couple of times made it malleable and easier to work. It was a bit fiddly, but the overall effect was worth it.

Regards
Andy

 

[Jack]

Very, very nice! Well done.

 

[Brian Kissel]

Andy
Now that's taking it to the next level. Excellent craftsmanship. Keep up the good work.

Regards Brian

 

[Andy Green]

Thanks for the complements guys. This is one of the reasons why this project is taking me so long it’s all the small details that take all the time.

When I fitted the rear roll-cage and preliminary panelled the rear bulkhead, I ended up with a void area, in which I could then potentially place fuel pumps, relays etc. To create an access panel I followed the same principle as the front with a stepped section. As this was a lot smaller than the front, I made a simple press tool out of 3mm aluminium, with 6mm bolts being used to ensure the upper & lower section were aligned either side of the panel. This worked really well.
However the last photo shows what happens when you’re tired, not thinking & marking out on the reverse of a panel – beautifully formed but in the wrong place. Panel scrapped!!!!!
Time for a beer!
Regards
Andy

 

[Jon Briggs]

Easy done, especially when your tired.

The car looks fantastic, and coming together really well. You and Ian have both set the bar really high for those of us following behind.

 

[Andy Green]

More panelling work. This seems to be taking ages. I make most of the panels a couple of years ago, but they all require final finishing, before going for powder coating. Although I’ve invested in a home powder coating kit and have successfully finished many parts including the front wheel arch panels, the limit to what I can do is the size of my curing oven (an old domestic oven)

The rear screen had been trialled & fitted and the in-fill panels between the roll cage & the spider made. The 1/8” plywood backing is required as there’s very little structure to support the panel (especially around the edges). The aim is that the plywood will be riveted/screwed to the door lock upright and the aluminium then riveted to the plywood

The engine access cover has also been fabricated and is located on M6 rivnuts. It’s actually a double skinned construction design, so the void can be filled with rock-wool to reduce the heat & noise transfer

I debated for a long time whether to add the faux sill top access panels, as I generally don’t like adding anything to the car that doesn’t have a function. In the end I decided that the sill just didn’t look right without them, especially as they will not be covered. After a couple of aborted attempts of making them in aluminium, I had them laser cut in 1.5mm stainless steel, which I’ll brush finish when finally installed.

Regards
Andy

 

[Andy Green]

Finally some bling bits, with the brake parts back from final machining & anodising. I’m very fortunate to have a good friend who retired from running his own a precision machine shop and now works on smaller jobs in the back of his garage. I was recommended a local plating company (Electroplate UK in Beccles, Suffolk) for the anodising, who did an excellent job and importantly accept cash jobs

Regards
Andy

 

[Andy Green]

Well I‘ve reached the point of no return (well not easily) and have finally started riveting finished panels to the chassis. The battery box was one of the first parts I fabricated (with hindsight I would have mounted it on the other side to minimise the length of battery cable needed), so this was powder-coated & fitted. I’ve purchased black pop-rivets, so they don’t stand out too much.
Brake lines have been also pre-fitted, before the panelling starts. These will all be accessible when the panelling is installed, but it’s so much easier having complete access whilst working out runs, drilling holes etc. A couple of studs were added to the chassis before painting to mount the 3-way connectors on. The pipes are positioned so that I can fully panel the engine bay and will end up hidden by the panels.

These photos of the brake pipe install will also be used to support the IVA inspection to demonstrate that the brake pipes are ‘adequately clipped or otherwise supported’

Regards
Andy

 

[Terry Oxandale]

Great work Andy. I always enjoy your latest posts.

 

[Andy Green]

Before I started panelling in the front wheel arches, there was one job that had me musing over the last few months, especially with the cold weather, will my heater work?
With the electric pump and bypass thermostat at the front of the vehicle, the heater feed/return are in the main coolant pipes, so there is no separate heater feed pipe from the inlet manifold. In case there is insufficient differential flow in the heater circuit, I’ve modified the system to include a small electric coolant pump. This will then be wired in with the heater fan, so is only used when the heater is demanded.
This resulted in a 5 minute job, but would have been a real pain when fully panelled, especially trying to get the rivnut into the chassis to mount the pump

Before I fitted the front bulkhead panels I wanted to pre-fit the fuse box, as it would be easier to drill out the mounting holes. This is a modular design from MTA that allows different base units to be fitted (maxi-fuses mini-fuses, relays etc). A separate fuse box cover will then protect the units from any water in the front compartment.

So now the panelling can commence in earnest, if it wasn't so bloody cold :laugh:

Regards
Andy

 

[Andy Green]

Well I didn’t get as much done in the workshop over Christmas as originally planned, a combination of apathy, cold weather and other DIY projects in the house. However I did get started on the cabin panelling in the footwells. As this is effectively a double skinned area, the void has been filled with rock-wool to absorb any noise coming from the front road wheels.

To minimise the heat radiated into the cabin from the coolant pipes, they have now been wrapped with self adhesive insulating foam/aluminium foil tape specifically designed for coolant pipes. I presume this is generally used on domestic heating systems as it came from the local DIY shop. I had originally planned to use glassfibre/aluminium mat that is normally used in this application, however wrapping it would have proved fiddly, and with the stuff I used both pipes were spiral wrapped in a few minutes.

The throttle cable is a direct pull on the pedal and as I don’t plan to run a cover on the driver’s side sill and I didn’t want the cable exposed, it now runs inside the chassis tube. A couple of tie wraps holding in one corner of the tube and stopping it rattling around. The aim is that it will come out of the top of the bulkhead, with a straight pull onto the throttle bodies. The clutch line in -4 Aeroquip has been also routed & clipped.

Regards
Andy

 

[TrevS]

Looking great Andy, very impressive panelling.

What colour rivets have you used on your wheel arches? I am thinking of using black ones to match the powder coat on the panels.

Trev

 

[Andy Green]

Thanks for comments Trevor. I've used 4mm black rivets from the place I'd previously posted. Note I originally ordered a box of 500 to cover the powder coated panels (excluding the floor) and I now don't think I have enough
Regards
Andy

 

[clive]

Andy, thank you for posting the photos above.

I am forging on with mine, trying to get everything related to the bare chassis welded into position prior to re-powdercoating in satin black.

I had forgotten the brake line mounts at the 4 wheels. These will be installed forthwith.

Clive

 

[Andy Green]

Hi Clive,
after having my chassis blasted, zinc primed & painted, I realised there's lots of small brackets that could have been incorporated into the chassis before finishing. However, the saving grace is riv-nuts. I also pondered for a long time over paint vs powdercoat. My final choice of paint was right for me, especially when I had to move the rear anti-roll bar mount to make way for the exhaust primaries.

Regards
Andy