Open Sesame!

I didn't provide an update last week, but we did spend some time in the garage. Depending on who you ask, putting the doors on the Coupe is the hardest task of all. The challenge is to mount a relatively inflexible door on an already-mounted body and adjust it until you're happy with it. Well, it went a little differently for us.

It started out well enough with tons of research. We knew in advance that the driver's side door would be impossible to slide far enough forward onto the door frame without some modifications. I'm glad for the practice with the cut-off wheel while working on the hood, as it sure came in handy as I cut hole after hole in the door.

Fiberglass splinters seem to be able to crawl into your skin with the slightest provocation, and they can't be seen to remove them. My arms are full of splinters after two weekends of door work. Here is the result:

After celebrating the success with the doors we pressed our luck and started working on the window frames. Tune in next week to see how that turned out.

MORE NOSE WORK

Last week the weather was cold and wet. We spent very little time in the garage as a result. The only thing we did all week was to install the Le Mans-style gas cap. The name comes from the development of a flip open cap that could be quickly opened during the many pit stops of that famous endurance race. Ours actually has a normal gas cap beneath the shiny one (not shown).

This weekend was beautiful, and we made up for lost time. We had to remove and re-install the hood a number of times to mark and cut the hood to clear the body, then to set the height of the front nose mounts. We installed gas struts that allow the nose to hold itself open, and some latches to hold the hood shut.

We still need to mark and trim the nose once more to get a nice even gap between the hood and the body. We also need to install two locator pins that the hood will drop into so that the fenders line up with the body every time you close the hood.

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!

Go-Cart Milestone!

We've been waiting for a shorter tie-rod end so we could get the front wheels pointed in the same direction. It arrived today while we were enjoying 70 degree weather in the garage. The car wasn't too torn apart, so we put the new tie rod end on, tightened up the steering and suspension a bit and went for a short drive!

The car has no seats and the engine timing needs a tweak to improve the idle quality, but it was sure fun to get this thing moving for a minute! I made a couple more trips with a passenger before retreating inside due to approaching storms.

I determined that we will need an after-market gas pedal after all. I wanted to use the donor pedal to avoid the extra cost, but the pedal is just too touchy. We also realized that the brake lines on the front wheels are STILL too short. I now understand why people just buy the flexible braided steel lines, and that's what we'll be doing as well.

You may have noticed the pace of the build slowed a little during the last month. My assistant builder and I were called to duty as Santa's helpers on a little project. It's a lighted display case for 1:24 scale models. Our oldest son really likes mine, so we made him one for Christmas.

Now we're back to work on the Coupe. We wired up the radiator fan and tested it, and we removed much of the unneeded wiring under the hood and covered up the rest. We re-built the front wiring harness to add plugs like those used on trailers that can be disonnected. One plug on each side of the car will serve the headlights, fog lights and the blinkers.

We installed the horn (boy is that sucker loud!). We're also replacing four relays under the dash. I originally purchased relays that don't fit in relay mounts. The relay mounts make it easier to attach wires to the relays, and I thought that the slide on terminals I was using would be good enough. I've managed to pull a couple of the terminals off with very little effort, so we're making the change now before the dash goes in.

In the coming weeks we will be wiring in the wipers and the air conditioning, as well as the remote door openers. Happy New Year!