The Second Stage

The front of the body tub The largest item in the Rossa is the body tub. This complex fibreglass moulding is up to an inch thick in places and has marine plywood bonded into the rear bulkhead and side sills. Some of the holes and apertures are already cut out, while others are scribed as a guide to cutting. The build manual starts with diagrams showing where holes of various diameters must be drilled for mounting components. Don't drill anything without trying up the component to be mounted first!

The rear of the body tub The two prodtruding mouldings at the rear of the tub pick up the top mounts of the rear subframe and form part of the rear wheel arches. The round bits at the very end of the tub locate the boot moulding. Low down on the rear bulkhead is the indentation of the centre tunnel waiting to be cut out. At this stage, the body tub was resting on a "dolly" made from handy angle and castor wheels to allow the tub to be easily moved around.

The roll hoop The factory supplied roll hoop provides mounting points for the inertia reel seatbelts. The cutouts in the rear bulkhead allow access to the rear subframe top mounting bolts.

The dashboard frame The dashboard frame provides location for the steering collumn, heater and the dashboard moulding. The steering collumn comes from an Allegro and provides a two universal joints to allow ideal positioning of the steering wheel (the Allegro steering wheel is used in a number of kitcars including at least one of the GT40 replicas). The control stalks are from the Austin Metro and as they are designed to operate via relays, the Rossa wiring loom needed modifying.

Every kitcar builder must have done this! With the front and rear subfames attached along with the dashboard frame and steering collumn, the first milestone had been reached - the rolling chassis.

The heater air duct The Rossa had been designed to take the heater/blower unit from a Mini. Although compact, it was not known for its effectiveness, so I began to search for something better. The system I settled on was a hybrid of Mk1 Metro heater with a Vauxhall Nova blower unit connected by a homemade duct. The blower unit was trimmed to fit in the air collector area in front of the windscreen and a rectangular hole cut in the fibre glass to pass the air through (bottom left picture). The plastic casing of the heater was modified to create a top air intake, the original side intake was sealed (bottom right picture). A cardboard duct was made to connect the blower to the heater (top left picture), which was then coated in resin and glassfibre for strength (top right picture).

The heater with air duct The result is a system that works well, providing good windscreen demisting and a nice warm cockpit or plenty of fresh air to cool the car down in summer. The two round holes in the bodywork above the heater are for the face level fresh air vents, giving the facility of cool air on the drivers face while at the same time having nice warm feet.

The modified throttle pedal The factory supplied throttle pedal assembly was one of the few things that failed to match the high standards of the rest of the kit. It was replaced by a modified Skoda Estelle throttle pedal. The shaft needed shortening to put the pedal in the right place and the cable arm needed lengthening to ensure that the carburettor butterfly valve was wide open when the pedal was pressed to the floor.

The rear hatches Access to the rear subframe top mounting bolts was difficult, so I cut a hole in each of the mouldings and fitted watertight boat hatches. Access to the subframe mounts is now excellent and I now have two new storage compartments.

The tool used to cut the opening for the fuel filler The Rossa was designed to have a Mini fuel tank housed in the front moulding. This required the bonnet to be opened to fill the tank and I felt it was vulnerable in the event of a crash. I decided to relocate the 7.5 gallon Mini tank behind the passenger seat. This required a flush fitting fuel filler cap to be mounted on the side of the body tub. To fit the filler cap flush with the bodywork, a recess had to be made in the fibreglass. A grinding tool was made from two circular pieces of plywood mounted on a large bolt. The larger piece was the diameter of the filler cap surround flange to be recessed, while the smaller piece was the same diameter as the hole cut in the body. Coarse grit paper was glued to the larger circle and the smaller piece bolted on tight. The tool was placed in the jaws of an electric drill and with the smaller piece inserted in the hole to act as a guide, the drill was operated at a slow speed perpendicular to the bodywork. The finished recess was a maximum of 5 millimetres deep and took almost two hours of careful work, stopping to try the filler cap flange in place at frequent intervals.

The fitted fuel filler This is the result of all the hard work. The filler was connected up to the fuel tank by a piece of flexible fuel filler hose.

The boxed-in fuel tank The fuel tank was boxed in using Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF). The recessed flat top will provide a storage shelf. Always wear a dust mask when cutting MDF as the fibrous dust is harmful.

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	The front of the body tub	The largest item in the Rossa is the body tub. This complex fibreglass moulding is up to an inch thick in places and has marine plywood bonded into the rear bulkhead and side sills. Some of the holes and apertures are already cut out, while others are scribed as a guide to cutting. The build manual starts with diagrams showing where holes of various diameters must be drilled for mounting components. Don't drill anything without trying up the component to be mounted first!
	The rear of the body tub	The two prodtruding mouldings at the rear of the tub pick up the top mounts of the rear subframe and form part of the rear wheel arches. The round bits at the very end of the tub locate the boot moulding. Low down on the rear bulkhead is the indentation of the centre tunnel waiting to be cut out. At this stage, the body tub was resting on a "dolly" made from handy angle and castor wheels to allow the tub to be easily moved around.
	The roll hoop	The factory supplied roll hoop provides mounting points for the inertia reel seatbelts. The cutouts in the rear bulkhead allow access to the rear subframe top mounting bolts.
	The dashboard frame	The dashboard frame provides location for the steering collumn, heater and the dashboard moulding. The steering collumn comes from an Allegro and provides a two universal joints to allow ideal positioning of the steering wheel (the Allegro steering wheel is used in a number of kitcars including at least one of the GT40 replicas). The control stalks are from the Austin Metro and as they are designed to operate via relays, the Rossa wiring loom needed modifying.
	Every kitcar builder must have done this!	With the front and rear subfames attached along with the dashboard frame and steering collumn, the first milestone had been reached - the rolling chassis.
	The heater air duct	The Rossa had been designed to take the heater/blower unit from a Mini. Although compact, it was not known for its effectiveness, so I began to search for something better. The system I settled on was a hybrid of Mk1 Metro heater with a Vauxhall Nova blower unit connected by a homemade duct. The blower unit was trimmed to fit in the air collector area in front of the windscreen and a rectangular hole cut in the fibre glass to pass the air through (bottom left picture). The plastic casing of the heater was modified to create a top air intake, the original side intake was sealed (bottom right picture). A cardboard duct was made to connect the blower to the heater (top left picture), which was then coated in resin and glassfibre for strength (top right picture).
	The heater with air duct	The result is a system that works well, providing good windscreen demisting and a nice warm cockpit or plenty of fresh air to cool the car down in summer. The two round holes in the bodywork above the heater are for the face level fresh air vents, giving the facility of cool air on the drivers face while at the same time having nice warm feet.
	The modified throttle pedal	The factory supplied throttle pedal assembly was one of the few things that failed to match the high standards of the rest of the kit. It was replaced by a modified Skoda Estelle throttle pedal. The shaft needed shortening to put the pedal in the right place and the cable arm needed lengthening to ensure that the carburettor butterfly valve was wide open when the pedal was pressed to the floor.
	The rear hatches	Access to the rear subframe top mounting bolts was difficult, so I cut a hole in each of the mouldings and fitted watertight boat hatches. Access to the subframe mounts is now excellent and I now have two new storage compartments.
	The tool used to cut the opening for the fuel filler	The Rossa was designed to have a Mini fuel tank housed in the front moulding. This required the bonnet to be opened to fill the tank and I felt it was vulnerable in the event of a crash. I decided to relocate the 7.5 gallon Mini tank behind the passenger seat. This required a flush fitting fuel filler cap to be mounted on the side of the body tub. To fit the filler cap flush with the bodywork, a recess had to be made in the fibreglass. A grinding tool was made from two circular pieces of plywood mounted on a large bolt. The larger piece was the diameter of the filler cap surround flange to be recessed, while the smaller piece was the same diameter as the hole cut in the body. Coarse grit paper was glued to the larger circle and the smaller piece bolted on tight. The tool was placed in the jaws of an electric drill and with the smaller piece inserted in the hole to act as a guide, the drill was operated at a slow speed perpendicular to the bodywork. The finished recess was a maximum of 5 millimetres deep and took almost two hours of careful work, stopping to try the filler cap flange in place at frequent intervals.
	The fitted fuel filler	This is the result of all the hard work. The filler was connected up to the fuel tank by a piece of flexible fuel filler hose.
	The boxed-in fuel tank	The fuel tank was boxed in using Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF). The recessed flat top will provide a storage shelf. Always wear a dust mask when cutting MDF as the fibrous dust is harmful.

Rossa Mk2 Build Up - The Second Stage