As I began work on my body spider, I noted the front lip was extremely wavy – It looked more like a Pringle than a flange. And as I sat it on the aluminum chassis, this was very apparent and just wouldn’t work. The cobra builds don’t have a similar item, they don’t match to a flat surface so the molding isn’t as critical. Not so much on the GT40
I placed wax paper on the aluminum and added short glass filler to the voids so it sat flat. But with that, I noticed two problems.
- Where it was added in, the lip varied from 1/8″ thick to 1/4″ thick. This would be obvious when the front clip is raised. It had to be consistent.
- As I leveled the lip, I realized the long strands of fiberglass from the original molding were being ground away. Would the remaining lip have the strength of the original? I addressed this by adding another layer of fiberglass on the bottom edge and again flattening to the aluminum chassis
I used a piece of metal to protect the aluminum as I sanded the lip to a consistent thickness. The spider would be sealed to the chassis during final assembly, thereby eliminating any minor gaps. And the consistent height would make an acceptable appearance when the front clip is opened.
