Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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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. 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. Sure hope so. If not, I have a couple of spare Craftsman wrenches laying around.....................

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.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Footroom? You want footroom? Try a channelled '34 with a 700/R4.

Yep, I can see where that might be a little tight too. Looks great though.


Don

Originally Posted by Ken Thurm

It really looks good, good thing you are not a quitter, I have to believe you are really glad this part is almost over.

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.


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.

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.