Thread: Starting to look like a car.

Tweet

Great looking car Jack, like the video all of it, but it was to short. Hope you get to take longer trips next time LOL
Brad

I was contemplating leaving the hood totally off. The hood sides fit so badly, I threw them away. To attach the sides, Gibbon had totally FUBARed the support bars. Holes were drilled by hand, and were clean through when they should have been blind tapped. Whomever drilled the holes had one leg shorter than the other. All the holes were at an angle. On top of that, the aluminum bar stock looked like something taken off the rack at Home Depot.

Rather than throw away $380 in hinge hardware, I decided to try to save it. I filled all the unneeded holes with JB Weld. Then I painted the supports body color. I polished the latching mechanism and the stainless operating rods and pins. I think it will work out OK.

The last problem with the hood relates to the accuracy (HA!) of the body mold. The Soffseal hood lacing I got with the weatherstripping kit is way too thin to keep the rear of the hood flush with the body. The standard rope-style stuff is close, although I don't like the looks of it. If you're asking why I didn't do something about it until now, welcome to the club. I'm asking myself - except I wasn't going to try to build up the cowl. I've had enough grief with this body without going to that extreme. I think a thin shim laminated under the hood will do the trick. We'll see.

The second picture is the suicide door safety latch I decided to install. The bearclaw latches are great, but I just didn't need an airbrake on this car. They came from Carolina Customs, and work really well. They would have been much easier to install on a steel car, but luckily, the glass in the doors wasn't a foot thick.

The last picture shows what happens when you knock one of the aforesaid saftey latches off the kitchen counter onto a bare foot.

I'm still waiting for the DMV inspector . . . 42 Days and counting. I left a phone message for him last Wednesday, but he never called back. The governator assured me that I wouldn't have to sit for months waiting, but he's not many dates short of being a fibber. The good news is that they cashed my checks, and he apparently has the VIN and title in hand. He just needs to verify on-site.

Oh, and nevermind the headers. They're getting a ceramic coat this winter.

Looks like that piece is about a "foot" long.

Coupe looks great, and seems to move pretty spritely too. For all the misgivings you had about the body issues, it sure did come out nice.

Don

I FINALLY have a VIN! A DMV enforcement officer came by my house at 0515 this morning with a VIN plate. The time was his idea, not mine, but I'm up then anyhow, and was so glad to make progress that I would have done it at 0200.

The law says he has to attach it to the car. It's not fun to watch someone drill holes in your car, then drive rivets in witih a hammer - especially when he doesn't use a center punch or take care to hold the drill perpendicular to the door jamb. They use expanding rivets, so he had to bang the *#&$% out of them to get them to seat in a rather thick layer of fiberglass. It seemed to work out, though.

Unfortunately, the ENFORCEMENT OFFICER doesn't know the law. He told me it would be titled as a 2007. The law clearly says:

The model year of vehicles constructed or assembled by multiple manufacturers or assemblers shall be the model year of which the vehicle is a replica.

We'll see.

Now that it's legal you can give it to me.
Brad

My earlier photos were kind of "posed." I didn't have the hood fully installed, and some of the glass wasn't installed. But . . . here it is, ready for the road - well, it will be, when the dang title gets here from Richmond, and I can pick up some plates.

Interior upholstery and new hood sides have to wait until this winter. I'm not wasting the rest of the summer with the car in the shop. It's drivin' time.

Looks great Jack. It's surprising to hear how they have to attach the vin plate themselves. I thought it would just come in an envelope and you would do it.

I would be flinching too, watching some non-car person cutting into my ride.


Don

You go Jack! Get out there and enjoy turning heads and putting some miles on her. Congratulations!

Pat

one of the nicest rides i,ve seen.you should be proud,hope my nova looks as good when i,m done

Your car is so sweet .. I have to kids and a dog I give ya for it... The dog is good at pulling sleds and the kids well there go for putting on wrestling shows .

Today, I decided to do a little upholstery in the trunk. Because Gibbon's support woodwork was so hosed up, I had to make some mounting strips from 1-1/2 x 1/2 poplar. That took me a couple of days. I could have made it pretty, but the only function is to hold the upholstery panels, so it is what it is.




Next, I cut a piece of 5/8" MDF for the floor and dropped it in. It's not a tight fit because it still has to go through the trunk opening. Besides, the upholstery panels will cover any gaps.




I find that upholstery panels are useful for other stuff while they're sitting around - like checking the fan on my spray gun . . . or painting brackets.

With the floor in, I spent a lot of time cutting cardboard patterns and ended up with this - panels cut from 3/16" plywood.



I bought some vinyl from Hancock fabrics and some 1/2" foam, and used the panels to mark the foam. I cut it about 3/16 oversize so it would wrap around the edges of the panel.

Should work out great, Jack!!!! Now when it's done and you hunt down Kyle you can haul away his broken body in an upholstered trunk!!!!

This is the foam panel cut to shape. I glued it to the panel using a foam contact cement that Hancock had also. Hint: Get everything positioned. When it touches, it's stuck! Why did I write "GLUE" on it? Because I'm known to glue the wrong side.



After that, I overlaid the vinyl over the foam and stapled it in place from the back. I'm no Gabe, so I didn't really care how it looked on the back. Besides, this is the first time I've done this in years, and I was inventing as it went along.



The holes are there because I'm considering button-tufting it.

Here's the first piece installed.

That is one sweet looking car.

The title is on record, insurance application went out yesterday FedEX, and I should be able to pick up plates on Friday. The interior isn't finished, but I'm driving it. Does that make it a ratrod?

YouTube coming up later.