build diary

February 8, 2006: Finally, an update with more than just fluff about my garage!
I took a good look at the fender tonight and tried to clean off the bedliner as much as possible. I realised that the paint was damaged enough that this will never be a show piece. I also realised that I could make a nicely functional repair with some well-placed aluminum plates. It may even end up being a stronger setup than it was before. I'll rivet the plates to the inside of the fender. One repair that will probably only work with some metal reinforcement will be reshaping the area right behind the rock guard on the front. It's caved in with surprisingly little damage to the paint, but it seems to have decided it likes its new shape better than the old. A simple solution there would be a thin steel brace to push it back out.

Does this sound as if I'm simply taking shortcuts? Well, partially. I'm still considering a set of aluminum fenders. I'm also hoping that making the Seven mobile again will prompt me to start working on other items such as possibly a front suspension. Mark Rivera provided me with some 3D models of a Hyabusa linkage that should actually do the trick quite nicely, with angles that look pretty appropriate. I'll drop it into the crude suspension model and see what happens.

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