Popular Post 98cc Posted April 15, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 15, 2018 Right hand side going back together This guard was very broken but after a bit of cutting i was left with just the arch. This had 2 fairly clean breaks and glued back together and fitted back onto the body well. The front was very munched so needed a new foam block. It was good to be able to reuse the arch as this defines the rest of the guard shape. I didn't get any pics but i rebuilt the inner structure so it looked just like this, a handy picture to have! And glued on the foam sheets. There is one more sheet to glue in and then its ready for shaping 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 98cc Posted April 23, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 23, 2018 All shaped up. I made some formers from the other side to get the shape exactly right. Used 80 grit builders paper to shape the foam, very easy to do but jeez it's messy! And the first layer of glass on Next up is another layer of glass over the whole front and then flip it over and do the inner guards 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 98cc Posted May 3, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 3, 2018 Structural work on the body is now done. Two layers of glass done on both of the inner guards. This was the first layer going into the RH side And another layer of glass over the front I gave all of the exposed plywood a couple of coats of Everdure, this is a marine product which is basically very thin epoxy that soaks into the wood and seals it off. One of the things that happened in the accident was the front wheel got a bit damaged, Dennis's homemade rims are very thin so it would of not taken much to do it Had it welded up by a place in Drury Made up and mandrel and remachined it. It took quite a bit of hand filing and sanding to blend it in after machining and make the repair disappear. Had lots of problems turning the OD and ended up having to glue a big wooden plug inside the rim as it was flexing so much each time the tool contacted. All done 45 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 98cc Posted May 16, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 16, 2018 Part 1 of the Smith Spider story.... In 1964 Dennis Smith started building a single seat race car. It created lots of interest in the race car community at the time as it was powered by a 1.5l 2 stroke outboard motor. He finished it in 1966 and it had its first outing in October. He hadn't completed the gearshift mechanism yet so put it in third and bump started it, the session went well and he was quite surprised by the wheel spin in top gear! On the third outing, Guy Fawkes day 1966, the car was all finished and running well. He was timed at 130mph down the main straight at Pukekohe. The car was very light and only weighed 220kgs. Unfortunately a strong cross wind picked up and Dennis lost it down the straight a few laps later. 2 years of building and 1 month finished and 3 outings before the accident. He spent the next 6 months in hospital recovering from the crash and when he got out started building the Spider mk2 sports car. He used the engine and gearbox from the single seater and started fresh with the rest of it. A couple of pics I have found of the single seater The car looking very smart at Pukekohe 1966 It was named the Spider because of the narrow body with suspension parts sticking out looking like Spiders legs... A great pic of Dennis building the car in 1965 Last weeked I went around to vist Dennis. He said he had the remains of the single seater and a few other bits I would be interested in under his house, this is what we pulled out.... Had to lay it out I gave the tub a good scrub, it's quite bent! Dennis's legs were not in a good way after this The original wheels are in very good condition and survived the crash unscathed. The wheels and the tub are all that's left from Mk1, as well as the engine and gearbox in the sports car. We also found the box full of all the wooden patterns he made for the cars including the full set of wheel patterns. Laid all out to have a good look at them, They are all beautifully made just like the rest of the car Rear upright pattern for the sports car Front upright for the single seater Brake caliper pattern And the collection of wheel patterns Very happy to get this stuff, its great to keep it all together for the history of the car Update on the sports car this weekend 52 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
63Ragtop Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 220kgs! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kws Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Oh gosh that tub is bloody horrifying. Im amazed there is anything left of his legs looking at that! Dude made some cool stuff though, that little single seater looked great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 omg this is blending two of my most favorite things.... a good story and cars. So so so so so good. Was there a practical reason for casting his own wheels? sizes not available here or something? These days virtually nobody would consider casting their own wheels for a race car!!!! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truenotch Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 I feel like @Snoozin would appreciate this thread. That single seater looked great! And the crash must have been horrifying... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyteler Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 It was pretty much a given in early open wheeler days that if you crashed you were breaking your legs. They are the crumple zone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carsnz123 Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 3 hours ago, flyingbrick said: Was there a practical reason for casting his own wheels? sizes not available here or something? These days virtually nobody would consider casting their own wheels for a race car!!!! A lot of people tend to forget that back in the 60s NZ was in the middle of butt fuck nowhere. It still is but technology has reduced that gap artificially (not a good way of explaining it but anyway). For craftsmen it was cheaper easier to make performance parts for their race cars rather than mail order from the states or UK. A couple good examples are the Chain drive Stanton Corvette and the Silvester V8 coupes inlet manifold and carbs. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Vapour Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 And Hogan Flathead for v8 heads 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Ohv conversions for flathead morris minors 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoozin Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 14 hours ago, Truenotch said: I feel like @Snoozin would appreciate this thread. That single seater looked great! And the crash must have been horrifying... Snoozin's been all over this since it was posted It rules, really enjoying the story as well as the workmanship. Looking forward to the day it sees some action again. Definitely an important part of Kiwi motorsport history! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 98cc Posted May 20, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 20, 2018 On 5/17/2018 at 13:29, 63Ragtop said: 220kgs! With the 100hp it probably would of had at the time the performance would of been quite exciting! On 5/17/2018 at 15:04, kws said: Oh gosh that tub is bloody horrifying. Im amazed there is anything left of his legs looking at that! Dude made some cool stuff though, that little single seater looked great. Yeah man it sure is, i think one of his legs is a bit shorter than the other because of it... On 5/17/2018 at 15:54, flyingbrick said: omg this is blending two of my most favorite things.... a good story and cars. So so so so so good. Was there a practical reason for casting his own wheels? sizes not available here or something? These days virtually nobody would consider casting their own wheels for a race car!!!! Its a great story, very lucky that Dennis is still around to tell all the history. I think one of the main reasons for casting his own wheels was to get exactly what he wanted as nothing available would do the job. On 5/17/2018 at 16:35, nzed said: this. because people dont have the knowledge and this sort of thing, people rather spend the money to buy stuff.. just such few people left these days like this and ol mate burt munroe. such a shame really. Also, mean thread and build. you're quite talented! Cheers man! All talent has to be given to the builder though, i just have to glue it back together... Coming up with something like this from scratch is a real engineering feat. On 5/17/2018 at 18:21, Truenotch said: I feel like @Snoozin would appreciate this thread. That single seater looked great! And the crash must have been horrifying... I have talked to a few people that were there the day of the crash. They remember it very vividly, not nice. On 5/18/2018 at 09:02, Snoozin said: Snoozin's been all over this since it was posted It rules, really enjoying the story as well as the workmanship. Looking forward to the day it sees some action again. Definitely an important part of Kiwi motorsport history! Yep very important part of kiwi motorsport history, Its going to be great to get it back on the track for everyone to see again. I got the car outside for a couple of pics, Wrapped to see it all back in one piece again! Now for a big session of sanding..... 28 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73crownwagon Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 @Threeonthetree can you organise a winter shed raid with 98cc garage as the main attraction???!!! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 98cc Posted May 31, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 31, 2018 Was outside sanding this and the neighbour wandered over for a chat. He said he had some high build primer that's used for fairing up fibreglass boats spare and would I like It. YEP! Jeez it was thick, just what I needed..... 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Truenotch Posted June 4, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted June 4, 2018 Alan Dick / Classic Auto News made a post about the Smith Spider on Facebook and it's sparked a bit of interest. A couple of people put up pics: 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post cletus Posted June 5, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted June 5, 2018 ^so tiny! Its like a small sleeping bag with wheels and an engine 12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98cc Posted June 5, 2018 Author Share Posted June 5, 2018 That's awesome Truenotch, thanks for putting me onto that. Hopefully some more period pics will turn up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 98cc Posted July 2, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 2, 2018 After much sanding and painting the body repair is finally finished! The original number came up great with a cut and polish I hope to never have to piece this jigsaw puzzle back together again..... I will get a some pics of it with the body on shortly. Next job is to get the mechanicals sorted out. Every thing is in very good condition so it shouldn't take much. 39 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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