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Part 3 - The kit arrives
So, you've stripped your donor car of all the parts you need; cleaned, restored and painted all those you're not exchanging for new; and tidied and prepared your work area ready for your kit to arrive. In fact, you're so organised that you've got some time to spare. Is there anything useful you can do with it? Yes, according to Patrick. You can spend the time reading the build manual and making sure you understand it. "If there's anything you don't understand then call the company. We're here to help."
Then the big day: your kit arrives. With Dax Benelux delivery of the kit comes with the package.
Check everything against the inventory and make sure you've got all the parts you need.
Now you can start work, and the first thing you have to
do to your brand new chassis is something you hope you
will never do again - turn it upside down. This is so that
you can rivet on the floor panels using the rivets supplied
at about 2.5 to 3 inche intervals along the chassis members.
Rear bulkhead side panels can be tricky
Don't forget the adhesive and make sure you don't leave any dry joints because you don't want any difficult to cure water leaks at a later stage. In fact, one of Patrick's tips is to think about possible water ingress at every stage of the build and make sure all the fitting points and mounting holes where water could get in are well sealed.
Once the floor is on you can turn your chassis back over to fit the foot-well panels and scuttle-top panel. Patrick advises taping a piece of card over the top of the scuttle panel to stop it getting scratched after fitting. "It is such a convenient place to rest parts and tools on while you work."
The differential in place
Next come the rear bulkhead side panels, which are fibreglass
on the latest kits. "This can be a little tricky", said Patrick.
"There are very slight variations from chassis to chassis depending
on the type of suspension. You have to use a little bit of intelligence
here and get them positioned right for your particular car."
From this stage it's important to think about the order in which you do things, says Patrick. "The manual is very good and most of the time you can follow it religiously, but everybody has their own way of doing things and there will be times when personal preference takes precedence. The important thing is to fit as much as you can while you've got plenty of space."
It's a good idea to fit the differential at this early stage, Patrick says, but first insert the rear 'A' arm ball joint into its housing in the chassis as it's a little trick to do it later. Then you can fit the de dion tube and build up the rear suspension, which goes together easily if you follow the manual. There is no need for any special tools to install the springs.
Patrick's next step on our build was to fit the petrol tank before putting the rear body around it because this makes access to the fixing bolts much easier. He also ran the petrol pipe from the tank to the pre-pump filter and clipped it along the chassis rail to the front of the car. "It would be a right fiddle to do later," he said. "It's important for the SVA to clip it tightly every nine or ten inches. The inspectors don't want to see it flapping around under the car."
The rear suspension
Actually, part of Patrick's philosophy on this build is to try and get
all the pipes and cables inside the car as much as possible.
His next step is to fit the brake pipes. "At this stage, you want to
be thinking of all the things you can do before you put bodywork
in the way. It makes access easier and you minimise the risk to
the bodywork." And Patrick's tip for bending copper brake pipes.
"When I want a tightish radius I bend them round a large socket
in my hand. This gives a good radius without flattening -
if you flatten them, they are scrap."
The handbrake cable can also be fitted at this stage, which is a straightforward job…especially on the drum-braked car. Then its on with the rear body panels. "Just follow the manual," says Patrick. "Do it by the book and it's easy."
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