Wowee! - just had my first drive in my gilbern

[3cpb]

Spins rear wheels in all gears 0 - 60 only for the brave.

For the technically minded:

No airlocks with the radiator in this position
New wiring loom especially for the colourblind

I find the heating very poor but the ventilation is very good!

Things to do:

Change hessian rope for britax seatbelt
Half a pallete of spuds on the back to aid stability!

Find a good bail of straw for a seat

Colin

[mike whiskey]

Thats a great set of photos, and looks like some really nice work.

Make me feel kind of churlish to criticise, but I notice you have routed the front to rear brake pipe down the cill where it would have been originally. This is now advised against because it gets hidden inside the cill, and cannot be inspected for corrosion or damage. I know corrosion on copper is less of a problem than with steel, but at this stage it would be very easy to route it up the transmission tunnel instead.

But as I said, really nice looking work, enjoy.

MW

['Gilbert']

Nice Hedge! Did you trim it yourself? Car looks good also- interesting to see a mobile chassis. Keep up the good work!

Mike

[Greybags]

Just love the convertible effect

With all of our various car restorations progressing to be as good as new, there will be more "new ones" than old ones soon.

Cant wait to drive mine properly either ..

Hopefully next year..

Keep at it and post more pictures please


Grahame

[3cpb]

Thanks for the comments - having rebuilt chassis, engine and running gear I couldn't resist throwing it together to take the chassis for a quick run.
Fortunately everything works well! The brake pipes were only temporarily put in. On completion of the body will pipe will be located down prop shaft tunnel.

Keeping my fingers crossed that I've welded the chassis correctly as my next job is to return the body. Any tips welcome!

Many thanks to Brian Somerfield for the advice on removing the body and Roger Spares (a very helpful man!).

PS I do cut the hedge - It wastes valuable time on the gilbern!

[Bitsa]

Colin,

My advice is you need four people to put the body on if it's your first go. One to hold each end and one each side to pull the body out at the front to get it over the front bulkhead metal framework.

I dropped the nose on first and pulled it right back very very hard so that you can drop the front of the door surround over the hinges - this is the tricky grindy graunchy bit. If it's your car wear ear defenders as the body makes horrible creaking noises when you flex it.

I'd also issue thick gloves to anyone you want to come back and give further help as the bodyshell seems to have lots of razor sharp edges and you end up pulling from lots of different angles to get it on.

We took about an hour with some unusual technical issues of the chassis being 1/8" too long. Yes it's that tight ...

Cheers

Chris

[genie]

Colin,
I have just refitted the body onto my Genie. You need four people in gloves & you as director of operations. ( it does help having one person seeing the whole operation).

The way the factory fitted the body was my method.
Place the body behind the chassis. Lift up the front over the chassis, when the body is about 3/4 over the chassis, drop the rear , about 45 degrees.
Once the rear is in place , lower the body & pull the A frame around the hinge posts. It does take alot of pulling. It will go. then lower onto the bulkhead & front of the shell onto the engine bay. I cut ( due to accident damage) the bodyshell to avoid the bonnet hinge mountings. Take your time. Mine took 25 mins to fit it. I am still fibreglassing the inner panels to the outer shell.
Julian