So, the time has come to tell you what has been going on with the Vette and especially the roll cage.
As you will know from my earlier posts, my concern all along has been space in the cockpit. To that end I selected the smallest seat I could fit into and then locating it as far back as possible for maximum leg room.
So you can perhaps imagine my distress when the day after I got the car back (a big day of trailers and borrowed vans) I discover that the seat will nolonger fit into the mountings I had drilled but instead was held around 2 inches further forward by the main cage hoop.Despite asking the cage guy to let me know if he had any trouble, he had decided that the best and only way to run the cage was to compromise the seat location.
Looking at what he had done, I'm sure it made for the best cage but he should have talked it through as a compromise might have got me a good cage and most if not all of the leg room I need. As it is, I'm now left with my knees tight under the wheel when I shift to the brake or clutch...
So some difficult conversations between myself and the cage man followed. He didn't like the idea of having to remake almost all the cage so in the end we compromised. He has bought me a leather replica steering wheel that's 2 inches smaller than standard and I'll have to live with whatever legroom I'm left with. I may end up having to bend or modify pedals too but I'll not know until it is all back together.
As you will know from my earlier posts, my concern all along has been space in the cockpit. To that end I selected the smallest seat I could fit into and then locating it as far back as possible for maximum leg room.
So you can perhaps imagine my distress when the day after I got the car back (a big day of trailers and borrowed vans) I discover that the seat will nolonger fit into the mountings I had drilled but instead was held around 2 inches further forward by the main cage hoop.Despite asking the cage guy to let me know if he had any trouble, he had decided that the best and only way to run the cage was to compromise the seat location.
Looking at what he had done, I'm sure it made for the best cage but he should have talked it through as a compromise might have got me a good cage and most if not all of the leg room I need. As it is, I'm now left with my knees tight under the wheel when I shift to the brake or clutch...
So some difficult conversations between myself and the cage man followed. He didn't like the idea of having to remake almost all the cage so in the end we compromised. He has bought me a leather replica steering wheel that's 2 inches smaller than standard and I'll have to live with whatever legroom I'm left with. I may end up having to bend or modify pedals too but I'll not know until it is all back together.
With that drama behind me it is time to get on with mock-up. I hate to drill holes and make modifications to a freshly painted body. As far as I'm concerned, you should only be bolting things together once the car has been painted. So I've now got to make all the body modifications and trial fit hardware etc before the body comes off to go to be painted.
First job I have tackled was to fit the extra lights that illuminate the racing numbers. Easy to fit and shiny they boosted my moral after the stress about the cage. So I went to my photographs to decide what and where to put these. As with most cars of the period I think they used Lucas lights and I could get replicas online very easily. The amazing thing I found doing this was that the restored original car was missing the rear number light and that the rear number had been put on in the wrong place! Considering it sold at auction for almost half a million dollars you would have thought they would get that sort of thing right?
The original car on the grid at Le Mans with number light
The restored car without number light!
So out with the DeWalt drill and away we went with holes for mounting studs and screws as well as wiring grommets. Not a big job but they made me feel like we were back on track making forward progress rather than taking two steps back for every one forward.
Light should line up with Number on Boot Trunk!
and this should light the number on the door
More mockup and less of the other thing next time :-)
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