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Author: Subject: A New Project, GT6 aluminium body
Volvorsport

posted on 28/9/13 at 01:31 PM Reply With Quote
does you friend have an hourly rate ? contact no ?





www.dbsmotorsport.co.uk
getting dirty under a bus

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PhillipM

posted on 28/9/13 at 01:38 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by John Bonnett


If you really want one I'm sure my friend Mark would be pleased to make whatever you'd like


Does he work for biscuits and tea?

[Edited on 28/9/13 by PhillipM]

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John Bonnett

posted on 28/9/13 at 02:22 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Volvorsport
does you friend have an hourly rate ? contact no ?




U2U sent.

John

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ceebmoj

posted on 28/9/13 at 11:33 PM Reply With Quote
Looks amasing
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T66

posted on 29/9/13 at 07:03 AM Reply With Quote
Quality - Keep the pictures coming John...






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TheGiantTribble

posted on 29/9/13 at 07:59 AM Reply With Quote
I love the time effort and skill involved in this project, well impressed.
However I do find it sad that 'once upon a time' we had a country full of such skills and now they are just relegated to a few people working in sheds and garages.

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John Bonnett

posted on 29/9/13 at 08:39 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by TheGiantTribble
I love the time effort and skill involved in this project, well impressed.
However I do find it sad that 'once upon a time' we had a country full of such skills and now they are just relegated to a few people working in sheds and garages.






I'd like to thank you all for the kind things you have said about the project and for your encouragement. I'm really enjoying what I'm doing more and more as it progresses. I am very much a novice, completely self-taught and owe all I know to a number of tutorial videos made by various craftsmen. I'm slowly unlocking the secrets of wheeling up a decent panel and when it does go right first time it is hugely satisfying.

As far as the number of craftsmen making panels in this Country goes, there are more businesses than you might think all turning out panels and complete bodies to amazingly high standards. We can thank the high market values of vintage and classic cars as well as damage done while racing. Our own Trev D has a thriving business and is just one of several in the Midlands. Near me in Devon there are three or four and there is Geoff Moss (ex Aston) in Liskeard. And they are not all old-timers either. My friend Mark has just turned forty with a great future ahead of him.

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John Bonnett

posted on 12/10/13 at 04:36 PM Reply With Quote
The return is now ready for welding to the quarter light panel and with the main wing panel bolted in place it gives a good idea of how the rear end will look. It is rather more tapered and rounded than the standard car, even the round tail models. The close up shot shows the wing bolted on but not nipped up because just out of shot is a double thickness of material awaiting trimming and welding.




[Edited on 12/10/13 by John Bonnett]

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John Bonnett

posted on 9/11/13 at 05:01 PM Reply With Quote
Work has been continuing on the steel shell but not much aluminium panel work done since the last post. Mark is doing an incredible job and now the rear tub is joined to the floor and the scuttle/bulkhead has been trial fitted. Everything is inter-dependant and each part has a knock-on effect with door gaps and quarter light to windscreen frame gaps. We now have a situation where he is happy and some serious welding can begin very shortly.




When I visited Trev D a month or two ago, his colleague Martin was making a new bonnet for an Alfa TZ (Zagato). I just loved the shape and the curves of the bonnet and thought how good it would be if fitted to my project. Dimensionally the two bonnets are so close to each other this could be a reality Well it seems I can help Martin and in return he is going to make me a bonnet skin. This is really exciting and will be the best bit of my car by a country mile.



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rdodger

posted on 9/11/13 at 05:06 PM Reply With Quote
WOW that's gorgeous!

Can't wait to see that!

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John Bonnett

posted on 9/11/13 at 06:07 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by rdodger
WOW that's gorgeous!

Can't wait to see that!





Yes it's absolutely mind blowingly beautiful. i can't wait either.
The flaps can be opened in the cockpit and the hot engine bay air is taken out just in front of the windscreen. Under bonnet temperature has always been a problem on the GT6 and i'm hopeful that this arrangement will be the solution.

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Andy B

posted on 9/11/13 at 06:26 PM Reply With Quote
I dont think we have spoken on here before John but I have been following your build from the start and its one of those threads that always leaves me gutted when I reach the end of the latest update. Its totally absorbing not to mention incredible in its detail and your skill and I just love seeing the parts being formed from scratch. Keep it up and hurry up with the next update
Andy

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keith777

posted on 9/11/13 at 08:25 PM Reply With Quote
Can't believe I've only just found this thread,your work is absolutely brilliant
Can't wait to see the finished product !





cheers Keith

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John Bonnett

posted on 9/11/13 at 09:30 PM Reply With Quote
Thank you all very much for your interest and very kind comments. I'm still very much a novice metal shaper with an awful lot to learn. Fortunately my mentor Trev is a great inspiration and is very generous in passing on advice. It's probably lucky that he's in Northampton and I'm in Devon. Any closer and I'd be an even bigger nuisance to him

Once the sills are in place I'll be able to finish the left hand rear wing and make a start on the one the other side. To make things a bit easier for me I am avoiding putting in the straight creases or coach lines of the original design and sticking to flowing curves which I actually quite like. I'm not saying that the shape I've conceived is any prettier than the original, just easier for a beginner to cope with.

I'll certainly keep you posted with progress which hopefully will move up a gear once Mark has completed the restoration of the steel shell.

John

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rdodger

posted on 9/11/13 at 10:16 PM Reply With Quote
Have you decided on an engine yet John?

In a body that's going to be that pretty it has to be at least a V6!

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John Bonnett

posted on 9/11/13 at 10:37 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by rdodger
Have you decided on an engine yet John?

In a body that's going to be that pretty it has to be at least a V6!







It is a six but a straight six. A freshly built 2.5 Triumph engine which I'm going to install six inches further back in the frame to aid weight distribution. For the moment, bodywork is everything and that's where I am focussed. The mechanics are pretty straightforward and should be a fairly easily assembly job certainly compared with the body.

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NigeEss

posted on 9/11/13 at 11:02 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by keith777
Can't believe I've only just found this thread,your work is absolutely brilliant
Can't wait to see the finished product !


My thoughts exactly





Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.................Douglas Adams.

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Nickp

posted on 10/11/13 at 07:05 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by John Bonnett



Simply stunning!!

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John Bonnett

posted on 15/11/13 at 06:19 PM Reply With Quote
Mark has overcome all the problems now and has achieved very nice shut lines of the doors against the sills, A post and windscreen. There is still a way to go yet but the rest should be much for straightforward.

For my part, I have welded the return to the lower wing section and welded the two rear wing section together. Once the sill is on, I can make the last two pieces to complete the wing.




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Mike Wood

posted on 17/11/13 at 09:00 AM Reply With Quote
Hi John

An imaginative project with great workmanship; thanks for posting.

How are you going to mount the aluminium body panels? Keep the underlying steel structure - using aircraft/boatbuilding practice of barrier paste, such as Duralac ( http://www.intek-uk.com/duralac.htm ) to stop electrolytic action - combined with Monel rivets to make the structural join? Or go for superleggera approach of lightweight framework of small section steel tubes as used by Touring of Milan for 1950s and 1960s racing, sports racing and GT cars? ( http://www.velocetoday.com/images/january%2007/gt3a.jpg http://www.registrotouringsuperleggera.com/images/storia02.jpg http://www.moal.com/04_gallery/11gatto/01.jpg http://images.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/04/TouringSuperLeggera_01_1200.jpg )

The project does remind me of 1960s works racing cars, either specialist Le Mans cars such as the works Triumph Spitfire coupes - http://www.canleyclassics.com/?xhtml=xhtml/workscars/default.html&xsl=workscars.xsl - or Austin Healey Sprite based Sprinzel Coupes (for racing and rallying): http://www.sebringsprite.com/pmo200.html ; or standard bodied cars using aluminium replacement panels to conform to more limited silhouette racing rules, e.g. http://www.sebringsprite.com/mark2sebrings.html

Your project does remind me of the work of Williams and Pritchard - http://www.williamsandpritchardregister.co.uk/ - who made a range of racing car bodies for open single seater cars, open and closed racing sports cars for a range of manufacturers e.g. Lotus but also initially for Sprinzel for Sebring Sprites. Also makes me think of Italian coachbuilders such as Scaglietti, Touring, Betone and Zagato building sports car, sports racing car and GT bodies on short 'production' runs. The English coachbuilding firms dating from the 1920s and 1930s, e.g. Hooper, Gurney & Nutting, always seemed to concentrate on large saloon cars and limousines, with only new concerns springing up in the 1950s and 1960s working on sports and racing car bodywork in both aluminium and fibreglass.

Engine - surely just use the 2litre straight 6 of the GT6 tuned?; or for more torque could put in the 2.5 litre engine from the 2500 saloon. Guess you've already checked out info on websites: Chris Witor Triumph spares, Canley Classics and Triumph Six Sports Car Club? Also people putting the 2500 engine into Triumph Herald Vitesses.

I enjoyed reading your Fury build blog including all your production engineering - how you solved all the detailed design/fabrication issues for small components and fitting it together properly. So this project perhaps not such a surprise!

Best wishes
Mike

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John Bonnett

posted on 17/11/13 at 10:15 AM Reply With Quote
Hello Mike, very nice to hear from you and to read your detailed reply. The Phoenix you mention seems a lifetime away now. It was a big mistake putting the Cosworth engine in. The sheer weight of the unit spoiled the balance and handling. I believe it now has a K series engine which I imagine will have transformed it into a much more nimble car. I can never understand why people fit heavy lumps up front in a 7 but perhaps like me, they just had one!

The GT6 has a steel skeleton frame which I am using to fit the aluminium panels to. I do have Duralac and also some plastic tape which will insulate the dissimilar metals and help to prevent corrosion. Monel rivets are a good idea too. The roof , tailgate aperture panel and the rear quarter light panels will all be bonded to the steel frame. The rear wings as you can see will be bolted on. I'm going to fabricate a steel supporting frame for the bonnet skin but at the moment I've not decided whether to bond or clench. I'm quite excited that Trev D has agreed to make the bonnet skin for me. It should take several months off the build and it will really enhance the look of the car.

Work is progressing well on the steel shell but still a fair way to go before it is finished. I've formed quite a lot of the panels already and hopefully it will all come together quite quickly once the shell is done. I don't want to hang around with this project and am looking to have it on the road by the middle of next year. Spa in May was my target but I don't think that is realistic although I shall try.

I shall be using a Triumph 2.5 litre engine just because I have one. Otherwise, it would be a 2 litre. I also have an overdrive gearbox and a 3.27 diff. The rear suspension will be rotoflex.

I have two more sub-panels to make to complete the rear wing and once they have been formed and welded together the rear left hand three quarter will be finished.

Will keep the thread updated. Thank you for your interest.

regards

John

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slingshot2000

posted on 17/11/13 at 01:52 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Mike Wood

I enjoyed reading your Fury build blog including all your production engineering - how you solved all the detailed design/fabrication issues for small components and fitting it together properly.


Hi, not wanting to hi-jack the original excellent thread, but can anyone point me towards where I may find the above mentioned blog please?

Regards
Jon

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John Bonnett

posted on 17/11/13 at 02:53 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by slingshot2000
quote:
Originally posted by Mike Wood

I enjoyed reading your Fury build blog including all your production engineering - how you solved all the detailed design/fabrication issues for small components and fitting it together properly.


Hi, not wanting to hi-jack the original excellent thread, but can anyone point me towards where I may find the above mentioned blog please?

Regards
Jon





Here it is Jon. After such a long time, I'm surprised it is still accessible. It is actually a Phoenix not a Fury but both cars are very similar.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/johnsphoenix/Phoenix-build-part13b.html

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slingshot2000

posted on 17/11/13 at 03:08 PM Reply With Quote
Thanks very much, I will have a browse through that tonight when the rubbish is on the box.

Regards
Jon

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John Bonnett

posted on 5/12/13 at 07:09 PM Reply With Quote
Mark has done a fantastic job and the steel shell is pretty much there which is now allowing me to press on and form some more panels.

I took the opportunity today to dust off all the panels that I've made so far and place them in position. Not only is it encouraging it is also a measure of the progress that has been made.

I have to make two more sub panels to complete the rear wing.




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