Kit sports car uses quick-action fasteners

Kit car designers, manufacturers and assemblers can buy quick-action fasteners to suit their individual requirements ex-stock from Protex, a good example of which is the S7 kit sports car.

Kit car designers, manufacturers and assemblers can buy quick-action fasteners to suit their individual requirements ex-stock from Protex, a good example of which is the S7 kit sports car from Robin Hood Engineering Ltd of Mansfield, Notts.

The expression "form follows function" can apply equally well to the uncompromising design of the Robin Hood S7, based on the Lotus Super Seven sports model of 1959, and the Protex fasteners used upon it.

The Robin Hood is exceptional in that it features a stainless steel monocoque body/chassis.

Stainless steel was chosen because of the inherent rigidity it lends to the monocoque and its ability to meet customers' demands for quality and corrosion resistance.

Built from a kit including the part-assembled body and pre-moulded and coloured GRP components, the car is fast and easy to put together and requires no welding or spraying in its construction.

The engine, gearbox and running gear are standard from a Ford Sierra.

Maintaining consistent quality throughout the car has led to Robin Hood Engineering insisting upon fastening devices from Protex Fasteners Ltd, which manufactures and stocks a range of more than 500 quick-action overcentre fasteners, in both stainless and mild steel.

The Protex products on the Robin Hood S7 are model 58-2000 rigid overcentre fasteners.

Alternatively, kit car manufacturers having less resilience in their application might specify, instead of a rigid fastener, the screw-adjustable model 61-1750.

Both models 58-2000 (98mm long x 22mm wide x 22mm deep) and 61-1750 (94mm x 22mm x 22mm) are available in stainless steel with safety catch and have a powerful breaking strength of 450kgf (4.41 kN).

Their claw engages onto one of a range of five catchplates, whichever is best suited to the space and application.

Traditional as the styles of the Robin Hood S7 and other kit-built vehicles may be, they still have to adapt to the demands of any new automotive engineering legislation, and Protex fastening solutions, custom-designed if necessary, are there to meet such challenges and help the cars along the road to commercial success.

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