Wednesday 21 January 2015

Assembly Continues

Since my last post there has been a bit of activity to keep moving forward. Before I could continue I had to get the fibre glass insulation installed through out the fire wall, foot boxes, trans tunnel and the exhaust channels down the side of the chassis which is used to hide an under car exhaust. The insulation comes in a roll with the glass exposed on the "down side" with a heat reflective aluminium coating on the outside. The insulation is pre-marked to make cutting out easier. The dining room table seemed to be the ideal place for this job and it's a good idea to use good quality sharp dress making sissors as this stuff frays like crazy.

Once I had all the cutting out done I then numbered each part for identification purposes so they wouldn't get mixed up. I cut about 8mm inside the line to give plenty of area to seal the glass fibres. Next I used Selleys Silicone 401 Industrial Grade Adhesive and spread a reasonable thin film over the insulation prior to fitting to the chassis. The reason for using the Selleys product is that it is a strong adhesive that can be used on most surfaces and can withstand high temperatures up to 205c continuously. Another good thing about this product is that you have a bit of time to make adjustments or reposition if required.
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Once the silicone adhesive has dried, I went over all the edges with Parfix Roof, Gutter and Concrete Silicone Sealant to stop any fraying of the insulation. The Parfix remains highly flexible and will also withstand heat up to 160c.

Once the fibreglass insulation is fitted, pre-cut polished stainless steel heat shields are screwed in place to cover the insulation. Holes are drilled and tapped through the insulation and into the chassis and stainless screws are fitted using 4mm spacers on the screws between the heat shield and insulation to create an air gap.

Now that the fire wall is finished I can go ahead and assemble and fit the pedal box and brake lines.

Until next time,

Cheers

Russell