14/03/08 (6.00 hours)
Today I enlisted the help of the Father in law and previous owner Dave to give me a hand. I profiled some of the cloth that I’d laid the previous night whilst Dave sorted out the drivers seat support and floor well. This had previously had a repair attempted on it but the cloth had not stuck to the floor and the whole thing just looked unsightly. There was also a hole in the floor where a previous owner had tried to jack it up! After grinding out the old repair Dave cleaned up the area and laid some new chopped strand mat in place.
Whilst Dave was doing this I fitted the bonnet into position and hung some lead shot bags off the underside to pull it into the bonnet recess. I also cut two slots in the rear stiffeners to allow the bonnet springyness to relax. While it was pulled down I laid up some cloth on to the top of the bonnet and then covered that with some peel ply so the surface finish would be good enough for some filler primer or gel coat.
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15/03/08 (3.00 hours)
This morning we went into work to pick the car up, we also removed the peel ply and gave the car a general clean before we bought it back to my house. I've had to get permission off the boss to work on the car in here at the weekends but as long as it does not interfere with work commitments then he usually grants permission!
06/04/08
This Sunday was the AGM for the Rochdale owners club at Coventry Airport. Late last night I went down from Grantham to Solihull to stay at my Father in Laws as it was closer to the event. I decided to take the Rochdale with me on a trailer to show people what I was doing! The morning of the Sunday I woke up to be greeted with 3 inches of snow on top of the Rochdale. Luckily the day got better and all the snow cleared by late morning. I managed to buy some back issues of the Owners club magazine but unfortunately the roof I was going to buy didn’t turn up as the spares officer didn’t make it. An enjoyable day and good to see Duffy for the first time! Fresh inspiration gained lets carry on…..
19/04/08 (8 hours)
Today I went down to Plymouth to pick up a new roof for the car from the Rochdale Owners club spares officer (Nigel Whittaker). Whilst I was there I managed to look around and over Nigel's phase 1 Olympic. A fantastic job and again I left for the 300 mile journey back with new ideas and enthusiasm to finish mine.
8 hours driving!
26/04/08 (11 hours)
This weekend is the Roof fitting weekend! I think the amount of work that needed doing on the original roof made up my mind to purchase a new one. By the time I’d removed all the very badly crazed gel coat and fixed the sunroof hole I was probably looking at weeks rather than days. The new moulding is a lot stiffer than the original and will give a lot more sound resistance and support for the overall structure. Again I enlisted Dave’s help to assist with the whole removal and fitment. Two heads are better than one and the rule of measure twice cut once carried out by both of us meant that no incorrect cuts we’re carried out and the whole thing went very smoothly. I’m not counting my chickens yet though as there is still some more work to do tomorrow. We started the day with a cup of tea and drew a few lines around the shell. Another cup of tea and a few more lines followed by more measuring and we we’re ready for the first cut. With the right tools to hand the roof came off remarkably easy. Once the middle section had been cut out we moved on to the job of removing the grp from around the support tubes. Very easy once a cut had been placed in the top it was just a case of prising it off with a screw driver. Once it was all cleaned we slid a new piece of tube over the gap in the front of the roof tubing to add more support to the structure. We then put the roof in position and fettled the a and b post pillar lengths so that the roof tallied up with our previous measurements. As this is a Phase 1 moulding the back where the boot is was a different shape so we had to cut along the roof about 3 inches back from the rear pillars and join it fwd of the rear boot hinge points. Once the roof was in position we bonded the support bars to the roof with some cloth and left the epoxy resin to go off overnight with the heating set to 25 degrees. Cup of tea admiring our handywork and then off home. We got back home for 9.00pm, curry and bed!
27/04/08 (7 hours)
Early morning start………..was hinted but we got to the GRP bay at around 10.00am. As the Grand prix was on this weekend we set up a tv in the corner so we could watch it while we worked. First thing first for me today was to put the grind angles on all the joins of the roof.. While I did this dave worked on the tunnel of the car. There is a little bit of damge where the gear stick comes up through the tunnel and it’s covered in a greasy film that has soaked into the chopped strand mat. If I want to get a watertight seal when the gear stick comes through then this needs to be sorted. It will also add some needed strength to the overall design. The back roof join was ground out at a 30 to1 grind angle and three layers of 125 woven cloth place over the join. On top of this I put a layer of 110 cover cloth and then topped it of with some peel ply. The roof pillars have been done in the same way. Once we’d laid all our cloth up on the tunnel and roof we allowed the resin to cure and came back home……Resisting the temptation to have a few celebration beers we went back that evening to pick the car up so that the Boss didn’t see it in there in the morning, i'd promised him i'd have the car out by then. Back home about 11.00pm. Tucked the old girl into the garage and downed those celebration pints we’d been promising ourselves when finished…….A bit more bonding on the inside and some smoothing down on the outside and jobs a good’un.
04/05/08
Today I took my Rochdale down to the Stoneleigh Kit Car show. Although it's only a shell it sometimes helps people to see what is actually going on under the skin! Tony Stanton was there with duffy (As you'd expect from the stand organiser ! ) and two Porschedales we're also there. I managed to pick up a radiator and a push starter solenoid from the autojumble for fairly cheap. Not on my priority list of spares but will help further down the line on the rebuild. A good day and well reccomended to anyone considering going in the future. I also saw my old Nova kit car there and had an interesting talk with it's new owner.
17/05/08 (4 hours)
Now the roof is nearly on I'm going to concentrate on restoring the wheel arches to standard. Unfortunately the owners club have not got any stock of replacement wheel arches but luckily another Rochdale owner (Russ Collins) kindly agreed to let me take a mould off his phase 2 . Today I travelled down to Melton Mowbray and started to lay up the mould. I'll go back tommorow and try and peel it off!
23/05/08 ( 5 hours)
Today I took the Rochdale into work. I decided to use the moulds that I'd taken off Russ Collins Rochdale and lay in to them on the car. This will be easier than making some arches in the moulds and then fitting them to the car. I feathered the inside of the wheel arch with a rough 30 to 1 grind angle. I then put the moulded arches onto the top of the bodywork. With some clear polythene I drew the size of the cloth I was going to need and graduated the size of the 4 layers I'm going to use. With the layers of cloth I pre soaked them between two layers of polythene to aid fitment. Easier to fit with polythene on one side and they don't lose their shape as easily. I put some peel ply into the mould so the mould will come off and it will also give me a rough surface to lay cloth on the outside. With the mould fitted I started the lay up on the inside of the wheel arch. When the mould is removed I should have a good surface to put some cover cloth on the outside and cover it with gelcoat to profile it.
24/05/08 (1 hour)
Today I removed the mould from the car and feathered the edges on the outside ready for a layer of cloth before the gelcoat goes on. It all looks pretty good but will still need a bit more of a lay up on the inside. When I went to put the wheel back on it didn't fit! I forgot that the reason the arches we're widened in the first place was to fit these wheels, was that hindsight running out the door again! . Luckily Russ Collins has a spare set of original wheels as he's now changed the running gear on his car and doesn't need them.
28/05/08 (1.30 hours)
Today I've been working on the nearside door for the car. I'm managing to fit a bit of work into my tea breaks during the day! The door skin has come away from the door box section by the door locking catch. This looks as though it has been repaired before and the repair has broken down. When I removed the gelcoat from around the door catch I realised it was a bit more damaged than I first thought and will need quite a lot of cloth putting on to strengthen the area around the catch. I've taken most of the gelcoat off from around the door catch area and have filled the major depressions with some glass flock before I cloth over the top.
08/07/08 (1 hour)
Been a little while since I've let my Rochdale see daylight! Been trying for a new job and that has taken up a lot of my spare time. I wonder how many excuses I can get in this diary about time until the Rochdale is finished! Anyways, I carried on with the door today. I've put some woven cloth on all the areas that had gelcoat removed from around the door catch and on the lower side of the door. Before I did this I smoothed off the glass flock that I'd put in previously in the depressions and gel voids. Might put some gelcoat on tommorow, we'll see!
Nearside wheelarch this weekend! Maybe! I'm off on holiday for 3 weeks so fancy getting something done before I go.
10/07/08 (1 hour)
Today I cleaned off the excess cloth from around the door catch and bottom of the door. I also ground out all the gelcoat cracks on the outside of the door. It now looks like the London Underground! I've put a layer of cloth over the areas that have been ground out and put some extra cloth behind where the door handle goes and in the door handle area. Topped off the with some peel ply so I've got a good surface to put my gelcoat on tomorrow.
11/07/08 (2 hours)
I've taken the peel ply off the cloth I laid up yesterday and ground the edges away so I had a good surface to put the gelcoat on. Once the gelcoat has cured I'll rub it down and reprofile the door skin. Off on holiday now for 3 weeks so won't be a diary entry for a bit.
04/08/08 ( 1.30 hours)
After 3 weeks of sunning myself in France it's back to the grind stone with the Olympic! I profiled the gelcoat that I'd painted on the door before i left today. It's blushed in some areas and I've got a few low points so I'm going to paint some more gelcoat on tommorow to raise it up some more. I expected this to happen as it's a bit of an art to get it right first time, I may have the hang of it by the time I finish the car!
05/08/08 ( 1.30 hours)
Today i made sure that the door skin was ready for another layer of gelcoat and painted it on. This should be the last coat on the repaired door skin area as long as I'm careful rubbing it down!
13/08/08 ( 2 hours )
Today i started on the other door. I know that the first door is not finished but i wanted to play with some power tools! I marked all the gelcoat cracks on the door ready to grind today. After marking i ground out the gelcoat and chased all the cracks. I have also removed the gel where the door handle had pulled through. The next step will be to lay a layer of cloth into these areas before i put the gelcoat on. I'm also going to reinforce the door handle area and fill in the voids in the bottom of the door but thats tomorrows job!
14/08/08 (2 hours)
Today I cleaned all the Gelcoat off the door hinge points so i can reinforce the whole area before i gelcoat i again. It did look quite strong to start with but on closer inspection the hinge points contained a lot of filler so thats why i'm going to the effort of re-gelcoating this part of the doors. Photo's tommorow when i have more time! I should be doing the other wheel arch this weekend so watch this space.
15/08/08 (5 Hours)
Well, today i've tallied up 200 hours in total on the car! I'm sure I've got another 200 to do but at least that means i'm half way there! Today I did loads of little jobs on the car. Forgot my camera though so you'll have to wait until tommorow for the pictures. I started on the wheel arch that I'd already done. It just needed a little bit more cloth on the inside and a layer of cloth on the outside to finish off the glass work.
Now thats done i can concentrate on the gelcoat for this arch and move on to the other one. I also smoothed and profiled the joins on the roof pillars so i can put some gelcoat on them. I also profiled the roof moulding around the door and window frames to allow enough for the fitment of the rubber weather seal.
The repairs that I did when I first got the car, I now realise are pretty rubbish! I ground out the wing repair I did when I didn't have too much knowledge on Glassfibre and prepared it for a more substantial one. I also took the gelcoat off the bottom front windscreen surround as it 's not big enough to support the front windscreen safely and needs a repair to extend it. A few other bits and peices of gelcoat work and that was my day, exhausted! In the picture below you can see the nose cone that i grafted on. You can also see the fact that i didn't know much about glassfibre when i did this as there is a 2 to 1 grind angle around it! this is on my things to do list to do again!
16/08/08 (8 hours)
I finally got round to starting the nearside wheelarch today.
Been promising some action around that area for a few weeks/months now! I basically did exactly the same style of repair as the other side but this time i laid a 0.4mm peice of wax in the mould to allow for the step between the bodywork and the mould. I didn't do this on the other side and noticed today it was slightly proud so will need a little rubbing down or a little less gelcoat?
Because this wheelarch has a crack up the centre I have had to enlarge the repair area to help stregthen it.
I also removed the rear running gear today.
18/08/08 ( 1 hour)
I've moved back on to the bonnet today! I find it keeps me more entertained if I move between jobs, less boring that way! If you've read my rebuild blog then you'll remember I finished the top of the bonnet (except the gelcoat), now my intentions have turned to the back of it. Where the bonnet hinges attach is a little worn so I've laid up some cloth over both the corners of the bonnet where the hinges go. I've also repaired the two cuts that i put in the front and rear bonnet strengtheners. I did the repair whilst the bonnet was sitting on the car from inside the engine bay. I put 4 lead shot weight bags on the bonnet, this allowed the bonnet to be pushed into the recess whilst the cloth cured and will hopefully hold it's position.
19/08/08 (1.15 hours)
Today I cleaned the excess cloth off my repairs and sanded down the areas in preperation for the gelcoat. I'm going to spray a light coat of gel on to the top of the bonnet and brush some onto the back as it needs a little more. Hopefully I will get this done by the end of the week and have my first piece of Rochdale finished. Celebration drink I think!
20/08/08 (0.30 hours)
Today I cleaned the back of the bonnet so that I could paint on the Gelcoat. The picture of the gel coat painted on the back of the bonnet is on the left below.
21/08/08 (1.30 hours)
Tired arms today!This first coat of Gel has been rubbed down quite a lot and the surface is now nice and flat, although the photo looks different! It's now ready to spray, I plan to do the whole bonnet tomorrow and hopefully the offside wheelarch, watch this space!
22/08/08 ( 2 hours)
This afternoon I carried on with the bonnet and sprayed the top and bottom with a layer of gelcoat. As this panel will get quite warm being on top of the engine the last thing I want the gelcoat to do is shrink and show through the cloth underneath. If I put this bonnet in the boiler room at work for a few weeks, this will allow the gel to harden sufficiently before I work the final surface finish with some fine grades of wet and dry paper. I've got plenty of other stuff to be getting on with so I can wait! I'll be putting some heat/sound proofing foam in the bonnet recess so the heat shouldn't be a a problem for the surface.
08/09/08 ( 1 Hour )
I moved back onto the nearside door today after a week off! I'd already cleaned off the gelcoat by the door hinge points and discovered some nasty filler work covering a hole by the top hinge mounting. The whole door hinge structure also needed some much needed reinforcing. To start I laid some tape behind the hole and put some cotton flock on top of the tape. I then laid up some cloth over the entire door hinge area for extra reinforcment before I gelcoat the area again. I intend to also reinforce the rear of the hinge points but will do this when I put the cloth on the interior skin by the door handle. The door is now curing in the plant room next to my bonnet!
18/09/08 ( 2 hours )
If you look on the entry from the 13/08/08 you can see that I removed some gelcoat from the areas of gelcoat cracking on the door skin. I looked at the door skin again today and noticed a 1/4 inch recess in the centre of the door moulding! I think this was probably due to bad stacking in my garage and over time the depression has stayed that way. What I did today was to remove all the gelcoat from around this depression in the centre of the door and fill it with micro balloons so that i can put some cloth on top once it is cured. I also removed more gelcoat from the areas of gelcoat cracking on the other parts of the door and laid up a layer of cloth on them to strengthen the area before a layer of gelcoat goes on the top.
21/09/08 (3 hours)
I moved back onto the engine today. As I'm starting a college course in the next few weeks I didn't want my engine to stay untouched in the garage over the winter period. My intention is to bore out the Riley 1500 block to accept some MGA 1600 pistons. I'm also replacing the Riley camshaft with a MGA 1600 camshaft. This MGA cam modification gives more top end power than the standard Riley cam. As the Rochdale is pretty light I don't think lower end power is what I need and the lightened flywheel thats fitted is certainly going to help give this original engine a bit of poke. So, why not fit a MGB 1800? The Riley unit was intended for this car so I'd like to keep it that way with modifications using items that we're available at that time. The block is off to the same engineers that did the unleaded conversion on the cylinder head next week. I've now got a box full of bits so hopefully I can put it back together at a later date!
23/09/08 (5 hours)
In this months ROC magazine, Alan Farrer says " Repairing the doors can often be as long as repairing the bodyshell" ! This is certainly the case with my doors. As I've done the odd bit here and there on the doors this week and there are already plenty of diary entries about them I've decided to write all the weeks work in this one entry! Basically, I've rubbed down the edges of the cloth from the previous repairs that have now cured. I've laid a layer of fine cloth on top of the micro balloons and allowed that to cure. I then slapped the gelcoat over the repaired areas ready to cure and be sanded. After this I beefed up the area around the door lock with some cotton flock and a layer of cloth. I also put added strength where the weather seal goes on the door next to the window.
01/10/08 ( 6 hours )
This evening I've been grinding! Once I get a power tool in my hand then I usually don't want to put it down! I started on the front offside wheelarch today, before I do the repair to the front wing I want to incorporate a repair to the wheelarch area. Basically it's not very sturdy and the lip that curls round the arch is non existant so I want to put it back in and beef the whole area up.
From here I moved on to the rear nearside wheelarch that I'd already started. All that is left for this arch was to put a grind angle on the outside and lay up some cloth over the entire repair area. I also added some more cloth to the inside lip of this arch.
As I've got access to a handy dust extraction system I decide to put the grind angles into the nose cone that I'd already fitted badly on the front. Basically this was one of the first jobs I did on the car and when I joined to whole nose section to the body my grind angle was Non existant. I'm sure some stress cracks would have appeared over time so I'm re-doing it with a healthy grind angle.
Lastly this evening I decided to gelcoat the offside rear wheel arch. This will need rubbing down when it has cured and then the whole arch area will be ready for a light final coat spray of gel.
As I had some gel left over I also pasted some of it onto the join line at the rear of the roof. This was pretty flat and quite well profiled anyway but the gel will just fill in whatever imperfections exist and will rubb down with some wet and dry after. Busy day but I feel that I've accomplished quite a lot. Now I'll take the car home and tuck it up in the garage for a the next few months!
02/10/08 ( 2 hours )
With a tear in my eye I sprayed the offside door today! I start my college course next week and know this will be the last bit of work I'll be doing on the car for some time ! Oh well, back into the garage for another year. I'll hopefully have time to work on the engine and other stuff so keep coming back for more diary info. As you can see from the pictures I'd rubbed down the gelcoat I'd previously put on over the repairs and have sprayed a final light coat of gel to tie everything together. Once this is cured it will just need a light going over with a bit of fine wet and dry. The picture makes the Gelcoat look a bit orange peel like but once the gel thinners have evaporated and it has settled then it gives a really nice finish. The added bonus of this is that you can see if there are any imperfections in your profiling of the door in the shine.
hours so far 240
