So with the engine, gearbox, drivetrain, suspension and brakes fitted back to the chassis, the next job was to drop the bodyshell back on. Timing was fairly critical on this one as we didn't want the newly painted bodyshell sitting around once it came back to the workshop with the potential to get damaged.Fortunately, the chassis was complete by the time the bodyshell came back, so it went straight back onto the chassis as it arrived back at Protek. The guys had spent a considerable amount of time getting the shut lines and panel alignment good before the bodyshell went off for spraying, so in principle, when the bodyshell came back, it should have gone back onto the chassis in the same position… of course this is never quite the case, and they did have to do a little tweaking with regards to alignment to get things 'right' again, but this wasn't too bad fortunately so it was ready to be bolted down fairly quickly.

Bodyshell back on chassis and wiring loom going in

Engine bay after bodyshell refit

The next step was to sound deaden the whole chassis. Since I've had a lot of experience with in-car hifi (more on this later), I used some specialist sound deadening which I've used in the past and found to be more effective (and cheaper) than Dynamat. We did the whole car in this stuff, which did add some weight, but should ensure that I get less rattles in the long run hopefully.