Berlinetta build and restoration

[cameronfurnival]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

or electric doors in the house? No need for bump stops then?

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Who will be first with an electric Marlin?

[DamnedFrog]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Smart system! In addition, you're ready for e-Berlinetta, with near instant replacement of discharged battery as imagined by Tesla

http://www.zdnet.com/article/watch-teslas-90-second-electric-vehicle-battery-swap-demonstration/

Christophe.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Thanks Cameron. The only problem is that the doors in the house hit the wall now!

[cameronfurnival]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

looking great! Good idea with the bumpstops!

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Fitted the fuel tank today. After waiting several weeks for someone to weld a mounting flange I gave up and decided to use stainless straps instead. I went for four straps for extra safety.

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The boot floor will hold the tank down, and to hold it from moving sideways I got some special polymer based anti vibration fuel tank mounts.

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You may know them as door stops!

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I will paint the tank with a thick coat of rubber paint or something similar to protect it.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Hi Christophe, thankyou for the kind words. I can't help you as regards the different properties of stainless compared to ally. Usually there are three main reasons for choosing ally or stainless.
1. Usually stainless is more expensive for a given gauge.
2. Stainless is more difficult to work with.
3. Stainless is heavier for a given gauge.
I would say if price and weight are not an issue and looks are more important then I would go for stainless every time.

[DamnedFrog]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Hello Scott!

Very impressing diary, for sure!

The stainless theme of your engine bay asked me a question for the rebuild of my Roadster...

Since I rebuild my Roadster keeping only fiberglass parts, core mecanic and chassis, I have a total freedom of re-design.

I'll use the service of a laser cutting company near home that, amazingly charges me MORE for AG3 (alu) than 304 (stainless)...

So I'm seriously thinking to a more radical style: everything but the dashboard (safety) could be in 1,5mm stainless riveted sheets instead of 3mm AG3.

I fear a "drum effect" with the engine vibrations because the steel would be thinner and more elastic than AG3, what is opinion on this? All alu or all stainless for the rebuild ?

This is not a question of money, and parts would be laser cut even the hundreds of rivet holes...

Regards,
Christophe.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Bling bling. A while ago when I came to make a new bulkhead the plan was to replace the aluminium panel with the same, although this time I thought I would paint it rather than leave it bare. However the local blacksmith had no ally in stock and offered me some stainless steel sheet instead. Then a few weeks ago a friend suggested that I panel the front of the scuttle top with stainless, I also made a heater box from stainless. So by accident I had created a theme of having the engine bay shiny. When I needed to buy a fuel swirl pot and a coolant header tank I continued the theme and got polished examples. It now seemed a shame to have a black pedal box, so I got it and the cam belt cover powder coated in chrome effect. I hope to polish the stainless parts.

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[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

I had a look at how Dane fitted a similar heater and copied some of his ideas, then added some of my ideas and this is the result.

I cut holes in the new stainless panel to match the outlets on the heater.

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The top three holes are where the heater will draw air from when it is covered with this box that I made from off cuts of stainless.

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From inside the car you can see the two holes in the side panel where the fresh air will come in, this is behind the louvered panel in front of the door. This worked well when I had the Cortina heater fitted, although you do need the fan on all the time like most Berlinettas. The plan is to connect the two outer holes above the heater to the fresh air inlets, the middle hole will be blanked off, but is there to give me an easy option to increase the air flow if needed at a later date. The two small outlets will go to the screen and the two large outlets will go to Y flaps to divert between feet and dash vents on each side.

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[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

I managed to get hold of a handy surplus stainless lid for a good price. It is ideal to panel the bulkhead as was suggested to me, and it already has folded edges, so it would be rude not to go ahead with it.

Here is the bulkhead with various now redundant holes.
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The first job was to remove the return edges.
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Here is the handy lid.
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Cut to shape using one side as the bottom fold.
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Meanwhile I put the sump and head on the engine and sat it in again, to see what parts encroached on the bulkhead.
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With an old battery sitting in position, it looks like space is tight. There are other things that have to go on the bulkhead, a fuel swirl pot, a coolant header tank, a screen wash bottle and a fuse box, so I am thinking that I may put the battery in the boot as it was when the V8 was fitted.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Hi Dane, I managed to find the first installment myself but now with your help i have just read the other two. I love reading about how other Berli owners have solved various problems. It's a coincidence that you and I arrived at similar solutions to replacing the Cortina heater, great minds think alike! I'm not sure if I am brave enough to go for the fresh air scoop on the bonnet though, it never crossed my mind until now that I would change from drawing fresh air from the side panel.

The other night I got a visit from a mate who works in a body repair garage. As I plan to rewire the car I was picking his brains about how to fill in the various, now redundant, holes in the fiberglass bulkhead / scuttle. For example the Cortina fuse box fits through the bulkhead with the box on the engine side and a multiplug on the passenger side, there are also two multiplugs where the loom splits at the bulkhead, fitted in two holes. When I explained my plan to panel the gap for the Cortina heater with stainless steel he suggested that I put a sheet right across. He suggested that I remove the return edges on the fiberglass to have a flat surface and then bond a sheet of stainless over the full width, probably with a folded lip on the lower edge to fix to the lower bulkhead. I was concerned about the strength of the fiberglass when the return edges are removed, but he assured me that with the stainless bonded with some modern bonder like Sikaflex it would be stronger.

[Dane_Rescueman]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Hi Scott,
I'm sorry to have taken a while. The saga of Moll (my Berli) starts in Pitstop Aug 07, appears again Dec 08 and finishes in Feb 09.
I hope some of it is useful to you.
Good luck with the build,
Dane.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Thanks for the feedback, most of the time I'm in the garage on my own and it's good to bounce some ideas around and see what other people think. I'm a big fan of Car Builder Solutions but I have never noticed the tank strap rubber before so thanks for the tip.

I was just not sure about sticking an extra layer of ally on and I've gone off the idea now. During the original build I got some rubber paint at a car show, after all these years it is still stuck to the ally inner wings so a good coat of something like that should do.

I was going to get a flange put on the tank but I just couldn't decide exactly where to position it without trying the actual tank in the car, so I left it off. I will ask about for someone local that can do that job. I think I would still have a couple of straps for a belts and braces piece of mind.

[David]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Nice looking tank. When I had a similar tank made for my Roadster I had a flange welded on all the way round that sat on brackets or a welded on lip (I don't recall which) in the chassis frame. The tank was then bolted to the chassis with insulating rubber between them. Much firmer than straps.

Just need to decide where the flange goes on the vertical face so that you get the correct amount of tank hanging down at the back of the car.