Sunday, June 06, 2010

Passenger Bulkhead





Progress has been continuing at a slow but steady rate of late. An amount of thinking time was necessary in order to work out exactly the best way to attach the passenger footwell bulkhead. The problem was that it had to be removable to allow the fuel tank to be removed should the need arise. At stoneleigh I saw the stand from Memfast and realised that rivnuts would be the answer, however, it seemed an expensive way of doing it if I had to buy a rivnut insertion tool. A trawl of the internet led me to develop my own do it yourself solution involving a nut, 2 bolts and a washer, along with 3 spanners! One of the nuts was drilled through to remove the thread. First, the 'good' nut was threaded onto the bolt, then the washer, then the drilled through nut. finally the rivnut was threaded onto the bolt and inserted into the hole. A flat ring spanner was fitted to the drilled through nut and I clamed this in place to stop the rivnut rotating in its hole. Then, holding the bolt still with one spanner, I tightened the nut against the washer which pulled the bolt and rivnut tight and fastened it in position - 3 or 4 turns was more than enough. The end result was a neat, solid bolted bulkhead. To finish off, I put the fuel tank in postion at the front of the car. This leaves the fuel filter and the master cylinder reservoir to mount before the front is finished......ish!