I'm not feeling much better than last week, so work pace is still very low. I added wires for both the dashboard lighting and the speed signal to the radio wiring harness.

I replaced the rubber seal around the wheel arches with a 40 mm tall seal. Closing the bonnet is a little bit more difficult but apart from that the seal is a big improvement. The seal is from EMKA, part nr. 1011-27.

This afternoon I started filing and grinding down the seams on the body panels. It's a very time consuming job, but not as much as I feared.

Improved bonnet seal

Close up of bonnet seal

15-11-'03

This week I got my trailer driving license so I can legally tow my GTM on a trailer. This might come in handy in the (hopefully) near future!

Today I continued preparing the car for the fitting of the carpets. I modified the seat belt mountings by securing each mounting plate in the hollow spaces with a countersunk M5 screw. This way the seat belt mounting plates will keep their correct position, even with the belt fixing bolts removed.

After this I closed off al the holes with aluminium plates, except for the ones near the door hinges. These where covered with a plastic sheet and duct tape. This way I can remove them easily after SVA to fit the front speakers.

Holes in near seat belt mounting covered

Holes in foot well also covered

It's been a long time since I've done so much work on one day. And the weekend has only just begun! First up today was the bonding of the windscreen and the rear screen. For this job I hired a specialist. Together we concluded that the best fitting rubber edge trim was that of a pre '95 Audi 80. Strangely enough we couldn't get a decent fit with the VW transporter T4 rubber that most people use. The rear screen fitted too tight to use a rubber edge altogether!

It took some time for me to get hold of some decent spray can contact adhesive, but yesterday they arrived. So I was happy I could finally start fitting the trim panels. I glued small pieces of fabric around both door apertures and around the edge of the roof aperture. The most difficult part was the small gap between the dashboard and the door opening. After this I fitted both windscreen pillar covers and the roof surround panel.

Last job for today was fitting the windscreen wipers. The arms needed a little bending to position the wiper blades correctly and stop them from hitting each other. The washer jets are very tricky to adjust. If they are set just the tiniest bit too high, they spray the rear screen instead of the windscreen!

Windscreen and wipers fitted

Fabric glued around edges

Windscreen pillar covered

Roof surround panel fitted

Yesterday I continued work on the interior of the car. I trimmed the sides of the glove box with alcantara and the bottom with a bit of carpet. This piece came out of the carpet for the rear parcel shelf, which is unusable for the biggest part, because it isn't adapted for the V6 bulge. I'll need to find a solution for that! Covering the vertical faces with alcantara seems to be the easiest solution, and I've just got enough left. When I was unpacking the carpets I also found out that the cut-out for the steering column is on the wrong side. Unless I glue it upside down!

Back to the glove box: I also trimmed the removable rear panel in alcantara. This can be fitted through the front opening after the dashboard cover is in place and the ventilation hose connected.

I placed the demister vents and a pair of tweeters in the dashboard cover and then tried to fit it to the car. Connecting up the ventilation hoses was difficult, but not as impossible as I had imagined it would be. Only problem is that the front edge of the dashboard is being pushed up against the windscreen. This is probably because I made the ventilation hoses a bit too long. Unfortunately I ran out of time and energy, so this is the first job next time in the garage.

Glove box trimming

Dashboard pushed up to windscreen

Today I borrowed a trailer and moved my Libra and half of the tools, parts and junk to my own garage. Angela and I only moved into our new house last week, so now I've got two hobbies! It will be difficult to find the time to give the proper attention to both projects. Anyway, the car is very near now, since we've temporarily set up our living room in the former office in the garage. There's only one door between me and my Libra now!

Tomorrow I'll be moving the car lift and the rest of the loose stuff.

Libra ready to leave old home

Arrival at new home

Overview of new garage

The other side of the garage

The car lift was installed today with the help of some muscular relatives and a forklift. Sorting out all of the tools, parts and unidentified stuff kept me busy the whole afternoon, especially since I lost the spare keys and the remote locking device! I hope to get the electrics for the lift sorted soon.

Car lift installed again

Today I finished preparing my new workspace. The car lift is working again, I've installed extra wall sockets and extra lighting. There's nothing keeping me from working on the car again. Well, except for the small job of remodeling half of the house!

Lift working again

After almost 2 months it was time to do a bit of work on the car itself again. I shortened the ventilation hoses but this made it impossible to fit them to the demister vents. I took the hoses out of the car and enlarged them slightly by heating them (I'm using vacuum cleaner hose instead of the standard GTM ducting). After this fitting the dashboard cover was still difficult but possible, with a good seal on a all demister vents. The dashboard cover fits nicely now, only thing is that I forgot to paint the restrictors in the vents black. They're clearly visible from outside the car now!

I also fitted the trimmed panels to both doors.

Dashboard cover fits nicely

Trimmed panel fitted to door

13-2-'04

Finally another update! I decided to take a day off from work. Could there be a better day for that than Friday the 13th? I started with finishing the rear window surround. First, I glued a piece of Alcantara over the front of the V6 bulge. After that is was an easy job fitting all the panels.

Next job was soundproofing the front bulkhead and floor. I used undercarpet for several parts, because it's a bit thinner and easier to work with than the stuff that GTM supplies. While I was at it, I also covered the tunnel and the front wishbone mountings, to even out all the nuts and bolt heads.

I started fitting the carpets with a very difficult part which fits over the lower wishbone cover. From that I moved on to covering the passenger door sill, which still needs some fiddling. Hopefully tomorrow!

Rear window surround finished

Soundproofing of front bulkhead

Soundproofing glued to floor and tunnel

Carpet fitting in progress

I continued working on the carpets, but I quickly ran out of spray can adhesive. I only managed to fit and glue the carpet over the tunnel. For the rest of the day I did some jobs that didn't require glue.

To prevent the gearchange grommet from popping out the surround panel, I cut the grommet at the bottom and folded it in 4 directions underneath the panel. Then I taped it to the panel and fixed everything to the tunnel. After this I cut away the tape and it stays in place now. On the heater I cut off a lip at the foot well air outlet.

I fitted the carpets in front of and on the parcel shelf, some small parts still have to be glued. And finally I also fitted the boot carpet. Both carpets needed cutting because of the V6 bulges in both areas.

Carpet over tunnel

Bottom lip cut from heater

Parcel shelf finished

Carpet in boot

19-03-'04

Again it has taken over a month to find some time to work on the car. Work on the carpets continued with covering the door sills and the front bulkhead. The sill carpets are quite difficult to fit. At the end of the day I once again ran out of contact adhesive! I just had enough left to cover the heater ducting in carpet. Only the floor carpets remain to be fitted now.

Door sill carpeted

Carpet on front bulkhead

Ugly heater ducting covered in carpet

23-03-'04

I had the day off, so I finished off work on the carpets. After that I fitted the handbrake cover. It fits nicely but it would look much better had it been trimmed in Alcantara. Only after looking at the photos I realised that I should have painted the inside near the handbrake lever as well. When you build your own car there's always room for improvement! Next job was fitting the seatbelts and seats again. No problems with the belts, but I need to find some longer bolts for the seats.

In the afternoon I started work on the grilles. I decided to make them from aluminium square mesh perforated sheet. The hole size is 10 x 10 mm, so according to SVA rules the edges only need to be blunted. I bonded them in place using Sikaflex 221. I'll need to paint over it, because I was surprised to find white stuff coming out of the black cartridge!

Carpets finished

Seats fitted

Grilles bonded to bonnet

Front grille

Small grill in bonnet

Rear grilles

30-03-'04

A small update: tonight my dad assisted in bolting up the seats and placing the bonnet and engine cover back on the car. With the grille in the bonnet it's become impossible to do this alone, because the hinge pins now only can be placed with the bonnet opened. I covered the 4 access holes for the seat fixing bolts with small pieces of left over fibreglass.

Seat fixing holes covered

Rear grille next to tailpipe