Peugeot 205 Saloon Libre

[grahamb]

Great to see another tin top in Libre, for now

[Cameron]

Thanks Graham, I had a good look through your project a few weeks back (took me a while!) and it all looks very impressive.

I finished work for 2011 yesterday, so had a good day in the garage today. The platform is taking shape pretty fast, it shouldn't be more than a day of work until I can start fitting the surface to it and taking some nice accurate measurements to confirm my CAD. I was a little over-fuelled due to having a new coffee pot that seems to brew about twice as strong as my normal one, but bordering on being uncomfortably energetic seems to be good for progress!

I made a whole load of braces to tie the platform in to the chassis stands, making sure I only welded them to the platform until I could check it was level. I went round and double checked / adjusted where necessary then whizzed round and welded the whole lot up. It feels pretty solid already, but I'll put some packers under the long spans just to make sure it doesn't flex too much.





I made a start on the finishing touches, fitting some 25mm angle to retain the measuring surface, but only managed to get a few in then ran out of gas!



I'll go and get some more tomorrow, but it's unlikely that I'll do any work as I still have a few final Christmas prezzies to buy! That'll probably be it for progress until the 28th now as I'll be doing the whole family thing, getting drunk and growing a festive food-baby.

Ps my new year's resolution will be to get rid of that old engine, I'm sick of tripping over it!

[Adam]

Looks like an interesting project, im particularly fond of 205s (don't know why i didnt buy another one tbh!) as I started competing in one, and always good to see someone doing something different.

[Alpinepg]

I doubt any scrutineer has ever checked a ground clearance in his/her life (you might be the first now youve posted on a national forum!) so I wouldnt worry.
I am bored of the chassis now...can we get to the poooowwwaaahhh and the gearbox and things with oil and fire in them please? (oooo and the seats....I like seats!)

******goes back to the pub******

[Cameron]

All in good time! The powaaaaaahh is safely locked away in my shed at the moment awaiting something to put it in.

[Cameron]

Today is a good day, because this platform is finally finished!
I'd been slacking off since the Christmas break so had a weekend montage full of sawdust and trips to B&Q. I decided to install some strip lights underneath it too so I can see what I'm doing a bit better.





I only messed up one piece as well, which means my normally appalling standards of woodwork must be getting better! Oh, and just FYI the large black lines near the lights aren't gaps, they're where the angle iron sticks up a bit, I'll grind them down flush later.

Too tired to do any kind of detailed write-up, it's not exactly the most exciting part of the project anyway. However, with this out of the way I can get some nice accurate measurements to confirm all my CAD, then start building myself a car!

[Cameron]

It's been a while since I updated this but since I've just been sat in front of my computer clicking buttons for the past few weeks there hasn't been much to report! I've been working on my space-frame design, now that I have some good measurements off the bodyshell, and it's coming along pretty nicely. I'm now at the stage of running some torsional stiffness simulations on it and fine-tuning where needed. I'll double-check with an MSA official that I have free choice of tubing that doesn't form the ROPS before I actually go ahead and make anything.



I've also been developing the rear suspension components and running FEA on them, and they're all at a standard that I'm happy with. Eagle-eyed people may notice the method of adjusting camber via a shim stack between the upright and upper wishbone clevis.



And to bring this up-to-date, I picked up my Custom Cages roll cage yesterday - or rather the front and main roll bars or a CC cage, since the rest will be custom. In true kid at Christmas style I tore the wrapping off and got a picture.



Now starts the unenviable task of scraping off underseal and seam sealer so I can get started with the fabrication. Ergh..

[novarally]

Originally Posted by Cameron

Now starts the unenviable task of scraping off underseal and seam sealer so I can get started with the fabrication. Ergh..

I recently had my Nova hillclimb car stripped of paint (and anything else not made of steel!) at 'Paint Strip' in Preston.

It was very sensibly priced, and got to be better than blow torches and scrapers on underseal. Plus you get down to bare metal everywhere, saving weight and making welding easy.

They can then prime and/or powdercoat anything you want on the bodyshell.

[Cameron]

How much was it, if you don't mind me asking?

[novarally]

The actual stripping process was £400, the priming was £200.

That was for a shell with no front wings, no doors and no bonnet or tailgate.