With Christmas out of the way I managed to sneak out in the garage and spend a day finishing off the window surrounds and moon disk fitment.
The initial fittings that I made up to fit the moon disks worked really well so I simply replicated them until I had enough for three fittings for each wheel which is the minimum requirements in DLRA rules. The brackets are the standard Dzuz fastner brackets bent 25mm from the end. They are bent so that the angle matches the angle of the moon disk.
The moon disks themselves are drilled 25mm in from the existing fixing hole. This is easy enough to mark with a ruler - simply line up the hole with the centre of the disk by placing the ruler through the centre of the pattern on the disk.
I used a stepped cutter to cut the holes for the Dzus fastners. If you have more time / patience you can also make a die to form a countersunk hole and fit the dzus screw directly into the moon disk. This gives a much neater and smoother finish. Details of this method of fitting can be found elsewhere on the web.
With the Dzus fastners riiveted to the disk the next part is to temporarily attach the brackets. This is done by holding the bracket and clip and temporarily clipping them in place. Once all three are done you can then oiffer the moon disk to the wheel.
One thing to take note of is the posiotion of the air valve fitting in the rim. If you are not careful you can easily position one of the mounting brackets over the air valve location which will result in not being able to pump up your tyres. I positioned the disk so that the valve was half way between two of the dzus fastners. I also stamped the disk so I could easily identify the corrrect orientation. I stamped each rim and each disk with a number so that I could also identify which disk came from which wheel.
When you fit the disk, make sure that the brackets are a good fit, taking the time initially to get them to fit properly at the start is definitely worthwhile. I found it easiest to turn the wheel upside down so that it rested on the disk. Once you are happy with them mark the position of the brackets with a texta and take the disk off.
Next remove the paint from the locations you have marked. Once done refit the disk and flip the wheel over so that it sits on the disk. I opted to tack my brackets on with the wheel in this position whilst relying on the metal disks contact with my welding bench to provide an earth. If you are a bit more precious with your disks and do not want to get burn marks on them you might want to figure something else out.
Once tacked up remove the disk and fully weld the brackets in place. I TIG welded mine but you can use whatever is suitable. Once welded sand back and give a coat of paint / blast & powdercoat / etc and then repeat for the other three wheels.
With the wheels finished I moved on to the window mountings. I welded up the frames that I prepared the other day and made up additional frames for the front windscreen and front drivers door. The drivers door needed the quarterlight and original glass window removing so these were removed.
Once I had made up the additional frames I welded them together and shot some matt black paint over them. Next up is to make some templates and cut the polycarbonate sheeting out for the windows.
