Don thats looks neat. Suprised myself that the resin didnt stick to the tape. I think you should do it again .:D Looks like you may have a marketing product there . Closer and closer your getting .
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Don thats looks neat. Suprised myself that the resin didnt stick to the tape. I think you should do it again .:D Looks like you may have a marketing product there . Closer and closer your getting .
Thanks Bob, the tape looked as if it had never had a speck of resin on it, and it shed the fiberglass like PVC would have. Plus, we bought two rolls of it, thinking we were going to need it, and ended up using a half of one roll. It only cost like $ 6.99 too.
Great product, but I think I will pass on the production idea. Once is more than enough. :LOL: :LOL:
Don
Don with the matt and resin how thick is something like this .
Well, each layer of mat is just maybe the thickness of poster board, but you keep laying up layer after layer until you get the thickness you want. Trick is, once you start you have to keep going, because if you stop and let it cure you have to sand it down because the wax has already risen to the top and new layers don't bond well. But if you keep going while it is still curing, you can lay up an indefinite amount of layers.
We did 3 layers in most places, and I bet up to 5 or maybe even 6 in some spots because we kept overlapping the pieces we were puttng on. The more layers, the stronger it gets. I am going to put one more at least on the underside when I fair it all in on the bottom.
Don
Sounds as if its plenty strong . First time i ever seen something like this have to say fine work . Thickness is plenty strong specially in a radius like the hump.
Don---You did good!!! I like working with glass. I have heard that if you lay polyethylene sheeting over the matt and resin while it is still wet, and smooth it down with a hend held squejee or roller, that when the glass kicks and you pull the polyethylene, the texture of the matt/glass will be very smooth on the outside surface as well. I have never tried it, but it sounds logical. Based on the footroom I am seeing you left with between the left side of the tranny hump and the inside of the cowl, you are going to have to have feet like a pixie to drive that thing-----
Footroom? You want footroom? Try a channelled '34 with a 700/R4.
Two words Brian........hand throttle. :LOL: :LOL: The gas pedal comes out on sort of a steep angle, so it is in the spot were it widens. At least that is the plan.:rolleyes: Sure hope so. If not, I have a couple of spare Craftsman wrenches laying around.....................:3dSMILE:
I have heard the same thing about the plastic sheeting, and I bet it works. The underside where the tape was is much smoother than the top where there was none, so it makes sense.
Gotta head to the shop to correct my little booboo in not leaving enough room at the top of the tunnel. Just going to cut out a small section, put some foam and tape under the cutout, and put down some more glass in a bigger hump right there. No big deal, stuff happens and fiberglass is easy to repair.
Don
Don,
When I rebuilt part of my trans tunnel, I used plain old 2" masking tape over my form. I put some "Gold Class" car wax on it (it was lying around), and the glass popped right off.
i have used alum sheet for a backer when i laid up glass it pops right off . tunnel looks good
It really looks good, good thing you are not a quitter, I have to believe you are really glad this part is almost over.:3dSMILE:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Henry Rifle
Yep, I can see where that might be a little tight too. Looks great though.
Don
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Thurm
You have no idea how happy I am. I would have never thought something so simple could end up consuming so much time. If I never say the word "tunnel" again in my life it will suit me just fine.
Dan was not real happy when he came to the shop last night and we tried slipping the tranny in and it cleared everything except the very top. After all, we did spend lots of time on it and for me to mismeasure that area was kinda dumb, but that's why they put erasers on pencils.....people screw up sometimes. At this stage of my life I'm not going to let a simple thing like this get me down, it just needs fixed and that is that.
He would have built a jig, then a model, etc, but I don't have that many years left. :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
Don
That turned out real nice don, you guys did good, that stucco tape is real good stuff,that was a smart choice, i dont know if i would have thought of that, but i will definatly steal the idea for future projects. I have seen the tape in use for years now, and i have to say its a real strong product.
Thanks John. I never knew this stuff existed, and even though the label calls it "stucco tape", I am still not sure of exactly what they use it for. Obviously it has something to do with stuccoing a house, but not sure what they do with it. Maybe to put the seams in a wall, and when they spray stucco over it that area stays smooth? Anyway, nothing sticks to it, that's for sure. :D
I used more of it today to correct my little "miscalculation" in clearance for the bellhousing. I cut out the offending area with an air saw (and was happy to see our glass job was about 1/4 inch thick). Once I slid the tranny back to where it belongs I noticed it was still a little tight right over the main body of the tranny, so I cut out more until all the interferance was gone.
Evidently what happened was when the original foam sunk from the resin, I didn't build it back up enough with the drywall putty, or maybe the putty shrank too? Whatever happened, I didn't have enough room under there. Glad Dan said to me "have you tried the transmission under there?" and when we did we found the problem.
I was NOT going to make the same mistake again, so I gave myself more than enough room this time. I cut up small pieces of foam and carpet glued them all over the top of the tranny, then taped them down solid with more red tape. I laid up bunches of layers so the resin had no way to get to the foam. Then I put the tranny back in place and jacked it up just a little higher than it will really go. That, combined with the 3/4 inch thickness of the foam should give me lots of room under there.
Finally, I reglassed in the missing section, building up about 4 layers to meet the same level as what we did the other night, then laid up 2 more layers overlapping the existing tunnel, to tie everything together. It should not move an inch with all these layers. Some boats aren't that thick. :) It actually faired in pretty good and doesn't look too bad. Carpet padding and carpet will hide it all anyway.
Here are some shots. The first one is the area I thought I would need to cut out, the second one is the actual area I ended up removing, and the third is the area all glassed in. It should cure by tomorrow, and I'll remove the transmission and red tape.
Don
Don---Now you can see the sense in my old post about gluing the 1/2" long sections of sawed up broomhandle to a dummy transmission case, (which is bolted to the engine and mounted to the chassis). Then filling in the gaps between the glued on peices with drywall plaster, then glassing over the whole thing to create a tunnel. It sounds a bit hokey, but its pretty foolproof. When I did the tunnel on my glass 27, I hadn't painted the tranny when I got to the tunnel building part, so I used the actual tranny that was going in the car---it all cleaned up when I prepped the tranny for finish paint, later----and I had a perfect uniform 1/2" gap all around the transmission between it and the tunnel.
As I was gluing the pieces of styrofoam all over my dummy transmission, I remembered you saying you had done that. Makes lots of sense Brian. I didn't feel like going through the plaster drying routine again, so I just tightly placed the styrofoam and the taped the heck out of it all. But if I ever do another one, the broomstick trick will get a try.
Don
Hey don, they use the tape to tape around windows and doors so they wont get stucco on them, kinda like a heavy painters tape, and the stucco will not stick to it either
Ok, that makes sense.
Don
Don they say second times a charm. Its the 3rd or 4th time i warm the pondering chair up . But all in all some fine craftsmanship.
Thanks Bobby. Dan just got home and he stopped at the shop on the way. He said the tunnel is all cured and it looks good to him. FINALLY !! Now I can set the body aside, finish up some minor bracket welding, and off to the sandblasters. I've been trying to get there for the past 3 months but couldn't do anything til this darned floor was done.
I think it will be a real boost to see the frame and running gear painted. Things should start to move pretty fast then. ( I hope :rolleyes: )
Don
Are you going to be doing the vroooommm vroooommm .:3dSMILE: I bet the feeling is over welming getting closer to completion. It has me just in awe from the frame getting close here too.
Yeah Bobby, I'm getting pretty stoked. I'm shooting for the 4th of July to have this thing on the road. That gives me almost 90 days, so that should be reasonable, I hope. If not, it won't be the first deadline I've missed.:o :o
Since a lot of you were out coloring eggs today, I had to color something, so I colored my transmission. :D Gave it one more wipe down with prep sol, blew it off, and painted it. I bought a new gravity gun just like my old one, but decided to try the old one this one more time. I want to save the new one for stuff that shows, like the frame and suspension, and didn't want to toss the old one till I was sure it was worn out. Ended up it worked perfect, and I got absolutely no dirt or oil in todays paint.
I misted on one coat, then laid up 3 more medium/heavy coats, and it went as good as I could have hoped for. No runs, and the gloss and flake is pretty uniform. It is so much better than the paint job I did last week, and I am really glad I took the extra two days work to make it better. Now I won't have to throw a towel over the transmission when I post pictures of the frame and engine without the body on it. :D
Here are a couple of pictures of how it ended up.
Don
I also removed the taped up dummy transmission from the tunnel I fiberglassed yesterday, and it popped right out of the mold, thanks to the tape. The resin never got near the foam, so this is the method I will probably use for things like this in the future.
After I got all the foam and tape off the transmission I slipped it back in and held my breath.........but it had lots of room all the way around it, so I am finally done with that *%#%%$$## tunnel. :D The tunnel is no wider than it was, only a couple of inches higher.
Here are some shots of it.
Don
Now my projects can center around getting the frame ready to sandblast and paint, but first I have to make sure I have all the little mounting brackets that I need welded onto the frame. One that I had to make a decision on was the mount for the transmission cooler.
I finally decided to mount it right across the frame under the front of the oil pan and crank pulley. The engine sits very high, so this area is clear, and it will get good airflow right up front like this. It also sits no lower than the bottom of the frame, so it will not catch anything going down the road.
All I had to do was make up a simple little bracket for one side, and I will drill and tap the underside of the frame on the drivers side to bolt it on there. I had to shift it over to give me room for two 90 degree fittings there to plumb the lines into. This is a double pass cooler, so both the inlet and outlet are on one side.
Don
Don that color is sharp. You made a good choice when you bought it. The reflection is better then some factory paint jobs very glossy. I was wondering if i missed it somewhere what color you doing your frame in .
Thanks Bobby. The plan right now is to do the frame and body in the same color as the engine/trans. it's called Fusion Orange, a Hummer color. I am going back and forth on the suspension and interior. Probably will be off white, sort of beige-ish, or satin black. The white seems to be getting the nod for right now at least.
Once I shoot the frame it will be easier to make a decision, I think.
Don
Sounds like a good combo. Color combos can be a chore to make a decision i know. Well im sitting in the bleachers here and have my eyes open.
I've spent some time looking at paint schemes to help but dont want to mock someones colors but probably won't be able to help it some what since all colors have been used.
Don, that transmission is simply beautiful. Thank goodness the one in my coupe is not visible; it looks like junk compared to that. By the way, I really dig that color.
Thanks on both counts Jim. From what I have seen of your projects, you don't have too much to be sheepish about. BTW, I am so happy you are doing your thread.....I'm loving it, and so is everyone else too. Gets kind of addictive, huh?
Don
Today is April 10th, 2007, and it is my anniversary. Well, not MY anniversary, but rather the One Year Anniversary of when I started this thread. Yup, one year ago today I started this nonsense with this statement:
Project $ 3 K Is Underway
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I thought a safe, dependable hot rod could be built for $ 3000.00. It wouldn't have tons of chrome and flash, but would be a basic, get-in-and-drive rod, that would not be embarrassing to drive. I felt if I built it the way we used to, by using parts we could scrounge from swapmeets, and other sources, it was attainable.
The main reason I thought this project might be appropriate is that there are a large number of our members who are thinking about building their own rod, but don't know how to begin, or what car to build. That first car can be very confusing, and mind-boggling when you start adding up the costs and labor.
I knew going in that some of the information I was going to show would be a little boring and old hat to many of our members, but the intent was to put it out there for others that had never done this, or were in the middle of doing a similar build, and who might not be sure how to do certain aspects. But I got a very pleasant surprise because when the "Old Masters" among us would stop by to visit, their comments were always very upbeat and encouraging. They were also very kind, as have been all the comments along this journey.
At times some of you have flattered and at the same time embarrassed me with comments like "craftsmanlike" and similar words. I know very well what level of builder I am, and it falls short of those terms, I have seen some of the beautiful work the real "craftsmen" on here have posted, and my skills certainly are not in the same league as some of those. However, I thought that might be an advantage in this thread, because I wanted to convey to the folks just starting out in this hobby that any average backyard mechanic/builder like me can turn out a running/driving rod with limited resources.
Doing this thread has been one of the most fun things I have done with respect to putting any car together, and the humor, ribbing, and company you have all provided along the way has been very much appreciated and helpful. You have tolerated some of my little goof ups and false starts, and have never taken me to task on them. In fact, your kind comments and suggestions have helped shape the final outcome of the car and make it better than it would have been without your support.
The thread and this forum have become very much fun for me, and even though we have discussed every topic in it from cats, to kids, to who-knows-what, the thread hopefully has accomplished the goal of helping the novice builder realize his or her dream of doing a car on their own. The things all of you have brought to this thread have certainly enriched it. I am also thrilled to see more and more of you doing similar threads, and I can't wait until you guys post an update so I can read about how you are doing yours. It is always fun to peek into another builders garage and see how things are coming.
Where is the car now costwise? I have NO IDEA.:o That isn't a cop out, or being evasive, I just have lost track. For a while I was spending money like a drunken sailor, but even at that I would guess I am in for about $ 8000 -$10,000 right now. Probably more on the low side of that estimate. It is hard to tell, because I can tally up the big purchases, but I have made a lot of small Home Depot and hardware store purchases that are impossible to recall completely.
So, anyway, thank you to everyone who has contributed so much to this thread by your posts and your viewing of it. You have no idea how much fun you have made this past year for me. I have never met one of you, but still feel a very strong friendship and respect for all of you.
If I were Denny I would do one of those cakes with a candle, but I can't, so I will just do this stupid little guy. :LOL: :LOL:
Don
Don from what im learning $3000 could be in a rat rod put together and driven , Your build is still in a obtainable budget for first time builders like me . Lots of ideas have been molded for use (molded :LOL: ) . Keep up the good work .
Now as for back yard mechanic you have to have a chain hanging from a limb . I have one and use it with come along to raise riding mower straight up when needed.
Happy Anniversary get it to go vrrooommm soon .
Happy Anniversary!
I found out about your post late in the game. But I try to check in on your progress at least once a day. Went back and read all the previous pages too.
You're going to wind up with a really sharp ride. I haven't found any of the posts to be boring.
$3000 is hard to do AND have a nice car. It has been done, but not without some serious horse tradin'.
Your going to have to start another car when you get through with this one so we'll have something to follow every day. :LOL:
Mike
Thanks Bobby and Mike. Yep, another year older and deeper in debt. (Old Tennessee Ernie Ford song.......16tons) :D Kinda fitting though.
Strange you should mention another project after this one, because I already have it formulated in my head. I have a '30 Ford cowl in nice shape, and 4 nice Fordor doors, so I am going to build a roadster pickup like my Son has done, but not so fancy. I have been picking up all the cast off pieces from Dans '29, like his rebuilt '40 Ford brakes, '29 grille shell, steering arms, etc. I also have a second 394 Olds engine that was running when we pulled it out of my buddies '60 Olds to put a 455 in that car. I also got the transmission.
Combined with a bunch of '35 Ford wire wheels, headlights, wishbones, etc that I have squirrelled away, I am going to shoot once more for that magical $ 3K number. That build will stay true to it's purpose and feature lots of free and homemade parts, and wear a coat of rustoleum or similar paint.
Obviously, I am going to take a little breather once the T is running so I can hit some local cruises and shows, but I am already chomping at the bit to do the Model A. Oh yeah, and I still have to finish up my '39 Dodge pickup somewhere in there.
I think once I have a running/ driving street rod to putter around in again the next build will be less pressure to get er done on any time schedule. Right now it has been over 7 years since I have had one to drive, so it is time to end that drought. :D :D
Don
Heh, heh, doing the thread takes almost as much time as the work on the car, huh? It is fun, though. I have really enjoyed this thread and that is what inspired me to start mine. Keep up the good work.
When you get this baby on the road we need to have a "gathering" someplace so all of us Florida people can see, in person, the car we have watched come together on our computer screens.
I'd like that meeting, to get to finally meet some of you other members too. The east coast of Florida isn't all that far away, maybe we'll come to one of your cruises this Summer. Maybe hotroddaddy and some others can pop over too. That would be fun.
And, if worst comes to worst, there is always November and Turkey Run. The way you are moving ahead on your track car, you are going to be there in it for sure. :D
Don
Yeah im down with that, hopefully i will still have a car by then
Happy Anniversary Don. I get my "hotrod fix" every day by checking your posts. I am enjoying this thread a lot.---Brian
Dang, now I must go back and read the whole thread.
Is there a finished pic? what page?
Thats the purtiest tranny ive ever seen.
Don't know if the T will be ready that quick, but I've always got my coupe. I drove it to Indiana and back last summer, so it should get me to wherever we decide to meet.
Hotroddaddy is in Jacksonville, you're in Fort Myers; what is about halfway between? Kissimmee? Lakeland? just let us know when the T is ready. I'll probably be travelling in June again, but we'll work it out.
Hotroddaddy, are you selling your toys? What do you mean "still have a car"?