Tom Hyland's Striker

Cardboard template in place

I had my first few proper hours on the build today, and made my first mistake. My first move was to put some pipe lagging on the roll bar to both protect it from scratches, and my head from bruises. I also put some masking tape on the tunnel chassis rails to protect these as well.

Nice cut, no fold

I started, as suggested by Martin at Raw, with the transmission tunnel sides. First, I made some card templates to the size of the panels. I then offered these up to the chassis before trimming them with scissors so that the fit was good. Starting with the drivers side, the template was then placed back over the aluminium panel, which I marked out and cut. I used a jigsaw, and was careful to tape all the areas that were to be cut to protect the metal. The cutting was surprisingly easy, although some concentration was required to keep the lines straight. Finally, I took the cut panel, covered the edges with masking tape, and offered this up to the chassis. I used a pair of tin snips to make any final tweaks (usually to get round weld), and I thought I was good to start on the other panel.

Whilst popping in to get a cup of tea, I took a quick look at the build manual, which revealed my first mistake. I had cut the panel to shape at the rear, rather than bending it round. By doing this, I will not have good seal when the seat back is put on over the top, so water etc will be able to get into the cockpit area.

This how I should have done the driver's side, with a fold

Worse, I am wondering if it could cause problems at IVA time, as it may be deemed a route for fuel spillage to enter the cockpit area. So I need to get some more aluminium sheet to correct my mistake. Best re-read the manual before every step in the future!