DAX BENELUX

Ga naar pagina: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

Part 5 - Scuttle-but

Working upside down in a confined space is always fun, isn't it? Well Patrick, for one, has had enough of it - so he came up with a solution to the problem of fitting out the scuttle….do it off the car. A quick check with designer Peter Walker confirmed that there shouldn't be any problems doing it this way, so that's how our car was built. "It really is a very uncomfortable job when done the usual way and this made it much easier," said Patrick.

Be careful not to damage the scuttle top

The first item to fit is the windscreen wiper's aluminium motor mounting plate, as directed in the manual. Patrick's tip here is to ensure that the mating faces are comprehensively roughened to provide a good key for the Wurth adhesive and then thoroughly cleaned with thinners prior to bonding. The Wurth adhesive cures sufficiently overnight to hold the motor in position, but full strength is not achieved for several days.

The next task is to drill the holes for the wiper wheelboxes. Patrick has another wrinkle here. "Don't drill them full size. Make small holes and then open them up with a file, filing inwards from the front so that you don't damage the gel coat. Any damage you make here will be very visible." 

It gets crowded under there

The fuse box is positioned for easy access

Then you can offer up the wiper motor to its mounting plate, put the wheelboxes in the holes with their spacers and gaskets, and do them up finger tight. At this stage, you simply want to have everything held in place to help you establish the lengths needed for the three pieces of rack tubing which have to be made up. "It's important to get these long enough to allow for the ends of the tubing to be flared out like a brake pipe," said Patrick. "If you don't, then there's a danger that when the rack is operating the ends will become detached. Once you're happy you can bolt it all in, using plenty of grease."

The demister duct moulding comes in the kit. It needs to be glued and screwed, using the end two screws of the escutcheon plates. Then it's time to fit the heater box - it bolts to the front face of the scuttle, more or less in the middle - and to connect up the demister hoses to the demister moulding. The water hoses from the engine to the heater end in a right angle section and they can be offered up to the scuttle to mark the position for the holes. "It's much easier to drill these holes before fitting the scuttle to the car," said Patrick. He also fitted the windscreen washer jets, under-dash wiring harness and the fuse box - neatly positioned for easy access. 

"This scuttle area gets very crowded," warns Patrick, " and there aren't really too many set measurements. The important thing is to have all the bits you intend to use with you, including the instruments. Then you can offer them up before you set anything in concrete, and if you do have a clearance problem you can fiddle them around until you get an arrangement you are happy with.

"Don't forget, it gets much harder to sort out any problems under there once the scuttle is on the car." 

Ga naar pagina: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10