The Mite
Part: 21
Fitting the Hood (Bonnet) Making the rear wheel arch round, etc...
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Well, the whole bear-claw latch idea did not work out very well. The hood is fiberglass and though not flims, it is flexible and I found it difficult to make the latches work the way I wanted them to work. So, I opted for the Dzus fastener method. First I had to make a couple of supports for the side of the fiberglass bonnet to rest upon. These will also be where the Dzus spring will go. |
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Here's the fit of the hood to the car, with the dzus fasteners in place. They work very well and don't look too stupid. |
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This is the hinge assembly for the tilting front end. The square tube with three holes on each side bolts to the hood and the round bar behind it is the radiator support. The car is upside-down in this pic and the sway bar mount is visible on the left hand side of the image |
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This is how the hood attaches to the hinge. I just cut a piece of tubing into three sections to make the hinge. I'll have a bolt running through the hinge to act as the pivot point. |
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The wheel arches on the 65 are squared off - but... |
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I wanted to make the car have round rear wheel arches like a bugeye. Easy - take a sharpie on a string and draw a circle, then pull out the sawzall! Also see the front end flipped open. I'll have to fab a quick hood support rod to keep it open in the future. |
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Hood closed,, wheel arch radius cut. I still have to weld a piece of sheet metal between the outer fender skin and the inner skin. I'll do it when I flip the car over. |
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Here's the hood fit from the front. I did very little griding on the hood to get a very even gap all around |
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Hood open |
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Round wheel arch |
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The round wheel arch fender and inner fender welded together. |
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Also, while the car is upside down, I cut a notch in the frame and filled it with a thick walled piece of tubing. This will allow the exhaust pipe to sit a bit closer to the floorboards. |
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Here's a closeup of the hinge and the swaybar mount. I had to cut the stock sway bar mounts off and weld on new ones for the 3/4 in bar and urethane bushings. |
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I also finished welding the bottom of the tube shock mounts that were cut into the body. Today I'll spray the whole underside with underbody coating and when it's dry, flip the car over and begin the bodywork on the top side. |