Glassfiber work done

I’ve finished the glass-fiber work including rebuilding the transmission tunnel. The first picture shows the transmission tunnel.

I had saved the bigger chunks of the trans tunnel but had to recreate some smaller more curved pieces. In the picture you can also see that some of the inner doorstep has been re-created. The white piece of cardboard on the right, below the steering wheel, is a template for new metal “door post” that I want to install before completing the doorsteps; Having the door just hanging on the glass-fiber might not be that good an idea.
The second picture shows the rear of the cabin. Just below the center you might be able to spot a seat belt mount.
The underside of the car is also finished. Here’s a picture of the car on the side showing the new floor and jointing of floor and body.

The last picture for today is just a closer look at some of the jointing of chassis and body.


Since I took the last two pictures I sanded down the underside and jointing to make it (almost) ready for paint.

I’m now working on making the body ready for painting. I’ll keep you posted – eventually :-)

It's back together!

Finally the body is back on the chassis! It's fit ok actually. A lot of glass fiber work is still left but this really is an important step! Here's a picture of the car



This second picture shows the right side under the door where the new floor meets the old glass fiber body. I placed the body so it was supported only by the outer parts of the new flow and just cut all the way through the new floor and the old glass fiber. That way the parts just fit together!


This third picture illustrates some of all the work that is still required for the rough glass fiber work to be done; the transmission tunnel must be re-costructed etc.


Oh, by the way; the track rod ends previously mentioned arrived and they fit! I've ordered the remaining ones. Also ordered fuel filler cap and fuel filler neck hose today.

Some pictures before re-assembly

I've been just about to put the body back on the chassis for quite some time but there's always something that comes up that is easier to do before it's put back together. Now I actually believe that it's going to happen sometimes soon. Therefore I wanted to take some pictures before it’s done. First are a couple of picture of the chassis with most of the suspension parts installed and the new floor.

Here are some pictures of the glass fiber body which has been stripped down to bare glass fiber and has had a lot of repairs done.

In the next post the body will hopefully be bonded back on!

I might have found the Track Rod Ends!

I've been looking for a source for this part:

Through this topic on pistonheads.com I has advised that i might find them at Amsteer Sales. And yes! They actually have a listing of Grantura specific track rod ends.
I've ordered a set. If they fit I'll order a full set.

And yet another year!

Just a short update: I've finished readying the body to be bonded back on and has started fitting it back. I've also started buying spares! More detailed update to come (soonish) with pictures!

A year later...

I can't believe it's been a yeah since my last post! The reason why it has been so long is that I've bought another Grantura Mk2 together with a friend which we are racing here in Denmark and in Sweden. The car was "almost race ready" when we bought it but never the less we have rebuild the engine and gearbox, fitted new fuel cell, new suspension bushings all over new shock and exchanged and improved a million little things that I can not remember right now.

Back to my first Grantura: Since my last post the chassis has been rebuild with a full roll cage and painted. The tubes have been tig welded instead of brazed as was originally my intension. I've fitted bronze bushing for the new trailing arms. The new torsion springs have been modified and fitted. I've received new SuperFlex bushings and AVO shock absorbers and currently all the suspension part are being fitted.

I hope to get a bit more time to work on this car and I’ll try make updates a little more frequently than yearly.

Latest progress

Just a little quick update. During the last month I have removed 40 years of paint and fillers from the bonnet. This added up to quite a bit of weight. It's now down to the cell coating and the next step is do a proper repair of the badly patchings that have been done. This includes grinding down the areas with spider cracks and around the holes and building up some proper glass fiber to avoid future spider cracks.

I've spend quite some time figuring out what kind of steel tubes to use for the repairs to the chassis. I've received different advice and I have decided to go for "hydraulic tubes" (freely translated from Danish) with the formal name "DIN 2391, quality K235(ST35)". This is a seamless tube of a mild steel composite. I'll do the fitting of the new tubes myself and spot weld them into place. Thereafter I'll have a specialist welder to braze the tubes together.