Attempting to build the fastest road legal Elan in the world

[tight fart]

Pic 1 Scrap
Pic 2 Scrap
Pic 3 Oohh that looks nice

[stevebroad]

tight fart said:

Pic 1 Scrap
Pic 2 Scrap
Pic 3 Oohh that looks nice

:-)

[stevebroad]

Exhaust box, what exhaust box?

Nowhere near finished, a lot of sanding and blending in still to do, but the basic shape is there. Before you ask, the weight of the fibreglass removed from behind the carbon end caps weighs more than the caps by approx 300gms, so adding parts whilst adding lightness, a win-win :-)

[stevebroad]

Engine bay nitrous setup now complete. Replaced NOS solenoid with a WON pulsoid, saving 155gms as a bonus. Pipe lengths are equal.

Next task is to route nylon pipe to tank in boot.

[stevebroad]

Selfie alert! I am pouting and my free hand is making a gesture (as you have to, apparently) but, unfortunately, you can't see them :-)

[stevebroad]

I HATE body prep! Spent a hour or so sanding the grill and splitter area. All looked pretty good until I sprayed it and all the imperfections leapt out at me.

[Eddieslofart]

Lesanol ?

[stevebroad]

Eddieslofart said:

Lesanol ?

Not even thought about paint yet. I have some black cellulose that I know how to spray and have the masks for so I may use this with some matt additive to start with.

The grey is just rattle can primer.

[stevebroad]

Fitting the carbon wing vents I made some time ago. A lot of filling and sanding to blend them in but getting there.

Edited by stevebroad on Thursday 8th February 12:55

[stevebroad]

If I made them now the vents would be curved to better suit the wing shape. I will play with the shape a little (add a fillet to the inside corners thereby curving the existing 90 degree angle) once the moulds have been made. I will also radius the interface between vent and body on the mould. These mods will soften the vents to make them more in keeping with the rest of the body. I may also remove a couple of the front vents.

I had considered fitting them upside down but the work required to make them look right was too much.

Having said that, the do actually look better in the flesh when viewed from a little further away :-)

[stevebroad]

Bonnet moulded in and vents reduced to 5.

[Eddieslofart]

Epic Graft. Prefer the reduced vents

[stevebroad]

Eddieslofart said:

Epic Graft. Prefer the reduced vents

Yeah, more in keeping the the proportions of the car. Just another job that I have had to do more than once on this car :-)

[stevebroad]

Front section of mould made, just needs to cure. What do you think of my ultra lightweight grill?

[stevebroad]

Run out of high temp resin so still a couple of layers of fibreglass to be added to the bonnet area but I am almost there. Should be ready to attempt to remove the mould by Thursday.

[Eddieslofart]

As previously.

Epic. Can’t wait to see it on the go.

[stevebroad]

Mould finally complete. That took a lot longer than anticipated, but don't most things? :-) Should be cured enough by Friday afternoon to start removing. I will do a time lapse video of the process for your amusement and edification :-)

I have used carbon fibre for the final layer on the bonnet area as I ran out of the correct fibreglass cloth and have a large bag of CF offcuts.

[shalmaneser]

Illuminati funded project confirmed.

[stevebroad]

shalmaneser said:

Illuminati funded project confirmed.

Took me a few seconds to work out what you were on about :-)

[stevebroad]

Success!!!!!!

Took twenty minutes to remove. Mould finish is not as good as it would have been if someone who knows what they are doing had done it but better than I had expected. A fair bit of remedial work required around edges and wing vents (I expected that) but the main panel areas are pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxav3oiiVok

I am glad that I didn't go with my first idea, which was to make the mould in one piece as I would have never gotten it off!

Edited by stevebroad on Friday 9th March 18:28