What? No Panel?

[builder]

So, I have the panels in, rack and steering col, pedals, masters and fluid lines, battery and cable, rad and hoses, A/C/heater blower, and am now working on the heater plumbing and the (larger) rear blukheads. Looking at the car and visualizing the next steps, it hit me. It seems there's a panel missing...

Why is there no ali panel between the rack/bat/master area and the rad? Doesn't that area get really dirty without? Wouldn't the cabin footwell stay cooler, too?

[steve_d]

builder said:

So, I have the panels in, rack and steering col, pedals, masters and fluid lines, battery and cable, rad and hoses, A/C/heater blower, and am now working on the heater plumbing and the (larger) rear bulkheads. Looking at the car and visualizing the next steps, it hit me. It seems there's a panel missing...

Why is there no ali panel between the rack/bat/master area and the rad? Doesn't that area get really dirty without? Wouldn't the cabin footwell stay cooler, too?

The area will still get dirty as the ends are open. You just get used to putting a workshop vacuum down there to get all the gravel out. The skin would make it even harder to get out the muck in the gap between rad and new skin.
It may reduce the heat transfer although the section of the front clip that forms the hot air exit does fit quite close down to the rad. To make your extra skin work you would need to close the gap between the top front chassis rail and the underside of the clip to stop hot air coming over the top of your new skin.

Steve

[builder]

Thanks, Steve. Understood...although, that's borderline unacceptable. It's not that I am a clean-freak; by far not. That just sounds like something that could use a little improving. We'll see how bad it is...I may want to come up with something a little more desireable there.

[ROWDYRENAULT]

Builder: A thought for you. The heater hoses that come out of the heater and down along the left side, I used a preformed 90 degree rubber hoses that I acqiured from NAPA off the shelf. this got the hoses headed in the right direction then I bent a piece of 5/8 tubing to cross down and line up with the heater valve. I changed the heater valve to an electric valve from Vintage Air and than ran the hoses back along the side pod. This all worked out great particulaly the 90 degree hoses and the electric heater valve. If I were to do it again I would mount the valve closer to the heater so that I could get to it under the dash then I would build two or three 90 degree bracketts with bigger than 5/8 inch holes in them to allow a rubber bulk head fitting around the pipe and then run the heater hoses down the side of the car in hard line. through these bracketts. Just a thought, Lee

[builder]

ROWDYRENAULT said:

Builder: A thought for you. The heater hoses that come out of the heater and down along the left side, I used a preformed 90 degree rubber hoses that I acqiured from NAPA off the shelf. this got the hoses headed in the right direction then I bent a piece of 5/8 tubing to cross down and line up with the heater valve. I changed the heater valve to an electric valve from Vintage Air and than ran the hoses back along the side pod. This all worked out great particulaly the 90 degree hoses and the electric heater valve. If I were to do it again I would mount the valve closer to the heater so that I could get to it under the dash then I would build two or three 90 degree bracketts with bigger than 5/8 inch holes in them to allow a rubber bulk head fitting around the pipe and then run the heater hoses down the side of the car in hard line. through these bracketts. Just a thought, Lee

Thanks, Lee. Great suggestions. I am working on this plumbing and stuff today. We'll see how it progresses...

-- Scott

[davefiddes]

It has been suggested here that the reason the heater valve is in the sidepod is so that if a hose comes off scalding hot water doesn't land directly on the drivers legs whilst moving... You can't forget the heater core connections but at least your minimising the risk.

[v8owner]

Just reading through IKOM's build site.. its a nicely made site..!

and look:

www.ultimabuild.com/june_2004/000427.htm

must admit im quite tempted...

[Builder]

Ike's got good stuff up there. My rad has been installed for a few weeks. It's nothing to take it out to put this panel in, so I may do that. I want to continue with the progress towards body fitment and see what develops.