Nose Job

The goal this week was to get the nose mounted on the car. There are more steps involved than you'd think, as we have to be careful that everything lines up before we start trimming fiberglass from the nose and doors.

The first step was to get the body in just the right place. We drilled holes and mounted the taillights, sans bulbs and red lens covers. These hold the rear of the body in place as well. We had to squeeze washers between the chassis mounting plates and the body so we could tighten the bolts on the brake lights.

Next we turned our attention to the sides of the car. We needed three bolts on each side. They are hidden by the exhaust when it is installed later. These were difficult to drill and attach due to really tight spaces involved.

The hood is mounted and hinged using a clever bracket system. We attached the brackets to the hood, once again using lighting to help with the attachment. In this case, the fog light mounting bolt is one of two used to attach each bracket to the nose. The hinge system is adjustable in all three axes so that we can get the fit just right. For now, we were just happy to see it installed and be able to hinge upward.

We decided on a new rule: NO CLOSING THE GARAGE DOOR WITH THE HOOD OPEN! I think you can see why...

Our next goal is to carefully mark and cut the hood so that it joins the body where it is supposed to. This is a nail-biting step for us. If we remove too much we're going to have to figure out how to add it back on. Once we've cut it, we have some more adjusting to do before we can add the various posts and latches that hold it still at highway speeds.

Body goes on... Body comes off... Body goes on...

It has been a cold week, but we did find some time to test fit the body on the chassis. It turns out that the donor gas tank conflicts with the body more than we thought it would. We pulled the body back off about 4 times to gradually cut and grind enough of the fiberglass to fit it perfectly onto the chassis. The results look very nice (pardon the dust!).

You can just see the source of the conflict with the body in the next picture. We had to cut and grind the body on the driver's side of the gas tank so that the rear could be centered over the frame of the hatch.

The funny thing is that before we put the body on it looked like we'd added a whole bunch of parts to a bare chassis (and we did!). Now all I see are the areas under the body where we need to add a bunch more parts.

The next steps are to secure the body to the chassis by adding the taillights, drilling and bolting to various mounting points, and starting to add items like the fuel filler neck. Once the body is where it needs to be we will mount the hood.

The hood and the doors will need to be cut down to fit the openings on the body, as the manufacturer makes those parts bigger. The manufacturer believes it is easier to cut the doors and hood down to size than it is to add material to the doors and hood.

Prepping Aluminum

We focused efforts in a few places this week. One area was the cockpit aluminum. We finally riveted the rear of the cockpit in place.


We also slotted the transmission cover for a few wiring harnesses that need to pass through it, and set it in place with the dash and switch panel.


We went over the wiring putting the last few circuits in place. As of now, the list of things to be wired is very short. As a result, we were able to apply some zip ties to organize the wires a bit. We also pulled the plastic vacuum lines and replaced them with new rubber lined. We also finally found a home for the vacuum regulator on the front of the A/C bumpout.


We learned a lot about setting the timing and idle, and spent time in the driveway today improving the idle on the car. We think we have it set nicely, though as the water temp started to climb we noticed that the radiator fan didn't come on. I was able to ground the switch to get the fan to come on, so the problem seems to be with the thermostat itself. We put it on the punch list.

In fact, with just a few items left to do before the body goes back on, we looked at those things that needed to be done and those that could wait. So, next week should bring some BIG visual changes. Stay tuned!

It's coming together



We had a big week this week despite less than ideal weather.

The week started out well enough. My oldest son came by for a ride in the Coupe, so I took him out for a shot of adrenaline. You can hear him laughing all the way up the block after we drive by!

Then it was back to work. We installed the electricals for the remote door openers and tested them. More on those when we actually install the doors.

We cleaned up a bunch of wiring and wrapped it up nice and weathertight. We re-installed the firewall bumpout so we could put the air conditioner in place. We then started sorting through the wiring. I have one more circuit to identify so that the engine fan runs whenever the AC is turned on.

We bent the dashboard, switch panel and trnsmission tunnel covers so they will fit, then checked and updated the length of some of the switch leads so they reach the connectors behind the dash.

We drilled holes in the dash and the switch panel for the air conditioner vents (2 for each passenger).

We installed the gauges and wired them as well, then put it in the car to test the gauges. The tachometer shows the engine revs, the voltmeter shows that the alternator is charging the battery (yay!), the fuel gauge shows almost empty but it is registering. The water temp gauge started to rise after a minute or two of idle, and the oil pressure gauge seems to be working as well. I still need to wire in the clock and the warning lamps, and then we'll have the dash finished.

You can see that the gauge lights all work, though the taillights sitting in the trunk throw a red cast to the dash.

Did I mention the weather took a turn? Those are icicles on the body as we pushed it back into the garage today. Brr!