Well here it is! I got my tub delivered by Derek Hambly at the beginning of the month, and what a fine job it is too. Made mostly from 20swg Zintec I reckon it weights in at about 70kg. I specifically asked Derek to leave out any holes so I could put all the access etc where I wanted it, the first job, particularly on a competition car is to get everything lined up and straight through the centerline of the car.
Firstly, I got myself a laser level from Screwfix to make the job easier, fixing it to a step ladder for height I marked the centerpoints of the subframe fixings and then the centre of the main tub then I lined the laser through, making sure the tub was level on it's pallet with castors base.
After marking the centre lines on the chassis at various points I then bolted in the subframes. Before I bolted them in I had measured the center of top and bottom arm pivots and marked them with a little hack saw cut on the top of the subframe.
After bolting them all in (I had to jack up the front to meet the floor pan) I Checked with the laser through the chassis centerlines. It is a great indictment of Derek's workmanship that I was 1mm out from front to back! No adjustments needed here, brilliant. Now i drilled all the holes needed, 2 extra into the rear subframe (they can be just seen in the above picture) and 2 into the front where the rear legs meet the floor pan, I also added two 3mm stiffening plates to the front towers.
The next evening session I got, I set about cutting some holes, firstly was the the one for the gearstick, then an access hole to the side for getting to the Mini remote housing. Next came the Handbrake, this is off a MG Midget but I will modify the linkage to except the cables from a Morris Minor at a later date.
Here is my Steering column bracket, I didn't want to use the Dolimite one that came with the car as it angles across the car, plus in the event of a shunt I have a massive Javelin right in front of my breast bone! I picked up a MGF lower steering column off eBay for a tenner and that fitted beautifully The main column is a 400mm Steering shaft from CBS running on 3/4"Oilite bearings in a 25mm I/D tube, works a treat. I have also fitted a quick release steering boss as I'm not as supple as I used to be!
Next job on the list was to get the front end built up and in, Firstly I bolted up the top arms cones and the adjustable trumpets, then on to the adjustable lower arms, these are the bushed ones rather than rose joints as I don't believe that rose joints and road dirt are a happy mix!
Then the hubs with cut down shafts went in and the Steering rack, positioned as indicated in the GTM build manual, I have some rather lovely rack brackets from Derek in Alloy which look great, pity you can't see them when everything is bolted in! I also cut the holes for the 25mm Aluminium cooling pipes that run through the tunnel.
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