Tunnel Vision

A productive afternoon today after a slow morning.

It seems to me that smart plastic pipe clips are far more abundant than they were when I last built a car. It seems a shame not to use them.  Hence, I'm not spending a small fortune on p-clips for the Gemini.

These plastic clips can permit you to attach pipes and cables in a much more space-efficient way than might otherwise be achieved, at least unless you're just bundling stuff together with zip-ties.  The IVA inspector doesn't like untidy bundles and since IVA is something that I might want to explore, I need the neater option.

The only issue that I can see with the plastic clips is that they attach to flat surfaces in such a way that the joint isn't water tight (unlike a gas-tight blind rivet).  Hence, I don't want to attach them directly to the chassis tube as they might allow moisture in and cause corrosion.  So, what to do?

The answer is to compromise a teeny bit on weigh and double-skin the main tunnel section where I want to use the clips.  In the photo above the clips nearest the camera will take two 8mm fuel pipes (one to the swirl pot and one return) plus a 6mm(ish) brake line.  The clips on furthest from the camera are for the 7-core trailer cable that carries electricity from the front of the car to the back.  There's a small length of the cable visible in the clip in the middle of the shot; just checking.

Also visible in the second photo is a reasonably chunky piece of aluminium angle which is riveted to the tube at the top of the tunnel.  As well as providing a firm mounting point for the middle of the rear bulkhead, it also provides a nice mounting point for the fixed portion of the slide latches that will hold the cover for the back of the tunnel in place.  The clamps are just there to make sure that the PU can do its bonding job.

Now for something that makes me happy: I'd had the dash mount panel water-jet cut ages ago and welded it to the column without being sure that it actually fitted.  I had to open up the little bolt holes where the powdercoat had shrunk them but, that aside, it's perfect.  I'm using the ETB Digidash 2 Lite with infra-red lap timer upgrade.

I can't wait to start permanently bolting the exciting parts on.  In the mean time, the footwells are proving to be a pain to panel.  More on this next time.

TC

Oh, by the way - I was beaten to my preferred #41, so will be racing with Kate's lucky number i.e. #57.