Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Don,

- back to hot rods . . . .

Nice job on the tunnel. I had to do a bit of work like that myself. If I had it to do over again, I would have sawed out the Gibbon tunnel on my '34 and built one of my own. It certainly would have been better than theirs.

I remember that you were having problems with not enough clearance for the cooling lines, or something like that. Sometimes something that starts off a such a little job ends up being a big one.

Bob, I made that same comment yesterday as we were a few hours into bending over and applying glass...........steel has some advantages. Everybody thinks fiberglass is this model car that you just whip into shape in a weekend and you are ready to go. Anyone who has done one will tell you there is lots of work to get it the way you want it, and Jack is a perfect example........he was putting in long hours getting his right.

The other thing about doing fiberglassing is that you have to keep moving and can't stop. If you take a break the resin isn't waiting for anyone, and it starts kicking on you. Dan and I both were moving like 90 year olds when we got done last night (don't feel much different this morning ) because for a solid 3 hours we were bent over the car and no matter how the muscles ached, we had to keep going. But that part is done now and some Aleve will take care of the hurts.

You also asked about what gets done to the surface now. Once I remove the mold I will sand it and lay up one more layer of glass on the inside, over the entire floor. This is simply to waterproof it. That will be it. The padding and carpet will go down right over that.

BTW Jack, I bet trains are another hobby that can suck up some money. I know a guy who converted a big room in his house to a train room, and it has this elaborate layout and glass cases built into the walls to hold the rarer ones. Hobby's can be expensive no matter what they are, I guess.

Don

The tunnel looks great!! Very nice work.

Mike

Don even i have a spare pack of Advil around . Getting up and down off floor is a kick . Well i will say you and Dan did some fine work . The tunnel looks perfect in shape and size for the T .


Jack great article in water falls in this one . Ok as Jack said all Hot Rod

Thanks guys, no question, this is one huge tunnel, but when I decided to put this T low I created some issues. Sharing the cockpit with the turbo 350 is one of them.

Don

Don i noticed the bell on the auto's are very large as to a stick shift. This is because of size of converter i guess. I'm seeing possibly a smaller hump in the A with the stick . Did it work out like that on the 27 for you the same way .

Looking good Don---Henry---speaking of trains---When I was a kid, about 1955, Canadian National Railways still ran steam locomotives thru a nearby village, Detlor, which was about 3 miles from where I lived. The old stationmaster, Herman Shneider lived in the station, which at that time had the station office in the front part, and the stationmasters living quarters in the back half. when CNR closed the station, old Herman boutht it from them, and continued to live there with his wife. Herman was a real model train nut, and he converted the 3 rooms which used to be for station business into a giant model train set. I can remember going to his house when I was about 11 years old, and being fascinated by his trains----he had everything built to scale, and there were "tunnels" cut thru the walls---the trains would exit out of the room you were in, ans you could hear it whistle at the crossings in the other rooms. It was like magic to a young boy. I don't remember now if Hermans trains were electric or steam, or a combination of both. Sadly, the station burned down when iwas about 15, and Hermans trains as well.---Brian

Hi Don, was just sitting here looking back at the progress of your project and it got me to thinking about building in general.

If we knew EXACTLY what we were going to do when we start a project.....taking out all the time for figuring out deatils and the mis-steps when something that sounds like a good idea doesn't pan out we would likely be able to built these in about 2/3 the time it usually takes us and likely save 10-15% of the cost of the project.

One of the things that really makes this thread so good is watching the thought process of working around/thru problems. I guess that is maybe a big part of what makes a "real hot rodder" (whatever that is ), not building cookie cutter cars......the challenge of building something different than the last time and trying new things.

I'm really looking forwad to see what happens next.

Thanks alot guys. You're right Mike, there are always some "oops" along the way in building a car. Usually though it is some stronger term than oops.

Bob, yes the stick bellhousing seems to drop down quicker and the box itself is generally smaller than the automatics. If I could have gone with the original 3 speed I wanted I would have had more foot room, but just not enough for that third pedal. You asked about the '27 hump. It ended up being just a very small one about 3 inches high at the front and tapering back to nothing because the car sat at pretty normal height, so the tranny was under the floor pretty much. I only had to build the tunnel to cover the top edge of the bellhousing and a little of the top of the transmission. On that one I just laid up some thick posterboard, coated it with resin to give it some firmness, and laid up glass over the top of that. Much easier than this thing.

Don

Don thats what i was thinking . I'm not seeing much of a hump here . I did set the engine back a bit but where the floor drops at a angle not much trans in the way .

From your pictures it looks like all will tuck under the floor pretty well, with maybe just a hump near the firewall.......you lucky dog.


I have to say something here about the suggestions all of you made with respect to how to do the mold for the tunnel. They were all excellent, and I have to thank Supa Roosta, Ken Thurm, Brian, Jim, and all the others for the ideas.

It turns out the best solution for me was a combination of all of the ideas. The foam provided an easy to carve base, and the plaster was a great topping for it. The tape we used to protect the plaster was another good item, as I found out today when I stripped out the mold from the tunnel.

I didn't know what to expect today when I got to the shop, but was really happy to see that the fiberglass had cured into a better tunnel than I hoped for. It was really very smooth, and flowed into the car nicely. But I got the best surprise when I started digging out the mold, because it came out much easier than I hoped it would.

The foam was very easy to break up and dig out, and the plaster was so thick that it was still soft in most places. Once the foam was gone, the goo that was left just came right out with a putty knife, leaving only the red tape stuck to the fiberglass. When I started to pull the tape off, it came right off of the fiberglass, as if the resin just sat on top of it. I have no idea what that stucco tape is, but it is evidently too slippery for resin to bite in.

I had the whole mold removed in about an hour, and the underside is actually smoother than the topside, because of being laid against smooth tape. I slid the transmission back in, and found one area where I screwed up, but not too badly. There is a little interferance right where the top of the tranny enters the tunnel, but this is an easy fix, and I will modify that tomorrow. When I flip the body I will cut away and round the excess plywood so that is flairs right into the underside so the glass I put there makes a nice transition. I may even use some Tiger Hair filler under it to mold it in.

Overall, I am very pleased with the results, and the tunnel is extremely strong. Here are some pictures of the foam and putty coming out, and also the finished underside.

Don

Don thats looks neat. Suprised myself that the resin didnt stick to the tape. I think you should do it again . 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.

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.