Hi,
I’m making progress on my RCR 40 and want to reciprocate for all the advice I’ve gleaned from you guys on the forum. Time is especially tight this time of year for me so apologies in advance if I cannot respond promptly to any questions that may arise. Also apologies to all those professional replica builders but hopefully this may help a few newbies like myself. So, here are a few bodywork tips that have worked well for me so far over the past few months since delivery of my car.
1) Sit the car on wheel dollies.
2) Box up the parts in separate boxes for each area of the car
3) By all means line up the body panels first but don’t dwell too long on fits at this stage. Don’t remove any fibreglass material. I spent far too long on this at the start and would now do it later when I’ve got a better feel for the car. (I’m still pondering on how to align the front clip square side to side with the spider exactly square on the chassis. But now with some confidence and looking at others it seems that the important thing is to get the shut lines and wheel arch clearances accurate and accept that its 60s car. If you have any lingering doubts over your own efforts have a look at the body build quality on an ‘original’ original car!)
4) Fit up the hardware to the body panels and doors (lights, handles, windows etc) with the panels off the car
5) Cut a 1” dia hole on the inside door panel around the hinge hardware (thanks RCR!). Plug it with a solid grommet later
6) Move the door hinge brackets out by ¼ inch with an aluminium plate between hinge and chassis – it worked for me in roughing out the door fit
7) Fit the door handles using right angle aluminium sections as per RCR recommendation, then to hold them temporarily in position with small diameter long screws through the door panel. Bond them in later after you have fitted the latch and interior release and then fill the small holes
8) Tape the lamp covers and windows in position before cutting anything
9) Use a hot air gun to bend the Perspex to get an accurate fit in a couple odf areas. Practice on scrap first and you’ll see that it starts to move with gentle pressure well before getting very pliable and out of control! Gently heat the whole panel first on both sides before getting serious on the area in question.
10) Rough out the Perspex with a thin disc cutter air tool, get nearer with a Dremel disc cutter, finish off dimensionally with a belt sander, smooth and chamfer the edges. A DIY belt sander mounted firmly on its side at the edge of the bench works just fine but, although it’s a pain, use a mask and goggles. Keep offering the panel up to check.
11) Don’t be frightened of the RCR supplied Perspex, it’s a lot stronger than I was led to believe. Just try bending it and cutting holes on a piece of scrap!
12) Mount a narrow point marker pen in a wooden block with an edge stop to run around the windows and covers to mark out the fixing screw distance from the edge
13) Use special Perspex drills for the initial holes but, if you to need to enlarge the holes, regular sharp drills work fine on the RCR Perspex. Back up with a wood supporting block.
14) If you want to fit 5.75” circular lamps into the lower lamp bays try Vehicle Wiring Products in the UK – they have them, with mountings and suitable indicators in stock. Vehicle Wiring Products
15) To hold the windows and lamp covers. I’m cutting very coarse pitch threads in the fiberglass for black nylon screws then fitting them with a touch of silicon grease to ease them in and seal the hole. I’ve cleaned out the supplier, but hopefully we can source some more and I’ll give full details. Great thread type and diameter with an integral small washer the only problem is that it’s a cheese/dome crosshead that’s not the correct look………hopefully OK when I’ve blacked out the window edges and they blend in.
16) Buy a £20 vacuum cleaner on Ebay and keep sucking up all the mess and tidy the tools each night – the only time I didn’t do this it was a depressing sight next day! But why do I need about 20 tools for even the simplest marking out and drilling op???
Finally, thanks to Fran and his team at RCR for providing the basis for all the fun – good stuff indeed.
I’ll try and update this from time to time and must get to grips with the photo thing – many thanks to all you regular posters for the help
kind regards
Roger Allen
I’m making progress on my RCR 40 and want to reciprocate for all the advice I’ve gleaned from you guys on the forum. Time is especially tight this time of year for me so apologies in advance if I cannot respond promptly to any questions that may arise. Also apologies to all those professional replica builders but hopefully this may help a few newbies like myself. So, here are a few bodywork tips that have worked well for me so far over the past few months since delivery of my car.
1) Sit the car on wheel dollies.
2) Box up the parts in separate boxes for each area of the car
3) By all means line up the body panels first but don’t dwell too long on fits at this stage. Don’t remove any fibreglass material. I spent far too long on this at the start and would now do it later when I’ve got a better feel for the car. (I’m still pondering on how to align the front clip square side to side with the spider exactly square on the chassis. But now with some confidence and looking at others it seems that the important thing is to get the shut lines and wheel arch clearances accurate and accept that its 60s car. If you have any lingering doubts over your own efforts have a look at the body build quality on an ‘original’ original car!)
4) Fit up the hardware to the body panels and doors (lights, handles, windows etc) with the panels off the car
5) Cut a 1” dia hole on the inside door panel around the hinge hardware (thanks RCR!). Plug it with a solid grommet later
6) Move the door hinge brackets out by ¼ inch with an aluminium plate between hinge and chassis – it worked for me in roughing out the door fit
7) Fit the door handles using right angle aluminium sections as per RCR recommendation, then to hold them temporarily in position with small diameter long screws through the door panel. Bond them in later after you have fitted the latch and interior release and then fill the small holes
8) Tape the lamp covers and windows in position before cutting anything
9) Use a hot air gun to bend the Perspex to get an accurate fit in a couple odf areas. Practice on scrap first and you’ll see that it starts to move with gentle pressure well before getting very pliable and out of control! Gently heat the whole panel first on both sides before getting serious on the area in question.
10) Rough out the Perspex with a thin disc cutter air tool, get nearer with a Dremel disc cutter, finish off dimensionally with a belt sander, smooth and chamfer the edges. A DIY belt sander mounted firmly on its side at the edge of the bench works just fine but, although it’s a pain, use a mask and goggles. Keep offering the panel up to check.
11) Don’t be frightened of the RCR supplied Perspex, it’s a lot stronger than I was led to believe. Just try bending it and cutting holes on a piece of scrap!
12) Mount a narrow point marker pen in a wooden block with an edge stop to run around the windows and covers to mark out the fixing screw distance from the edge
13) Use special Perspex drills for the initial holes but, if you to need to enlarge the holes, regular sharp drills work fine on the RCR Perspex. Back up with a wood supporting block.
14) If you want to fit 5.75” circular lamps into the lower lamp bays try Vehicle Wiring Products in the UK – they have them, with mountings and suitable indicators in stock. Vehicle Wiring Products
15) To hold the windows and lamp covers. I’m cutting very coarse pitch threads in the fiberglass for black nylon screws then fitting them with a touch of silicon grease to ease them in and seal the hole. I’ve cleaned out the supplier, but hopefully we can source some more and I’ll give full details. Great thread type and diameter with an integral small washer the only problem is that it’s a cheese/dome crosshead that’s not the correct look………hopefully OK when I’ve blacked out the window edges and they blend in.
16) Buy a £20 vacuum cleaner on Ebay and keep sucking up all the mess and tidy the tools each night – the only time I didn’t do this it was a depressing sight next day! But why do I need about 20 tools for even the simplest marking out and drilling op???
Finally, thanks to Fran and his team at RCR for providing the basis for all the fun – good stuff indeed.
I’ll try and update this from time to time and must get to grips with the photo thing – many thanks to all you regular posters for the help
kind regards
Roger Allen
