Blooze Own: An F355 Six Speed N* Build Thread (Page 109/126)
355Fiero JUL 14, 07:26 PM
exoticse;

I think you are going to have to do a similar process to the widebodies..... Add a piece to the outside of the existing fender. When I did the cutting and pasting, I had some seriously messed up body lines that needed straightening so I cut a line around the wheel wells and pushed everything down to line up and out somewhat and then fiberglassed the gaps closed. I ended up still needing to put a fair amount of body filler into the areas above the wheel wells as they still went down more than they went out so there were voids to fill. Hence the decision to donate my panels to Blooz and Yarmouth Fiero to use a bucks for their molds.

Blooz and Yarmouth will need to take some templates of the shape and curves from one side and make sure the other side is the same or close and do a bit of grinding and filling to get them really close.

You might be better off to add new fender pieces over top versus the cutting and pasting that I did.

Cheers
Don

Edit: Hey look at that. First time I have had a new page on Pennock's..... (It's the little things that make it fun....... ;o) )

[This message has been edited by 355Fiero (edited 07-14-2014).]

Sage JUL 14, 08:02 PM
Don, you OWN the page!LOL

Lovin the progress Dave.

I'll have to go back through AGAIN, as I don't remember seeing any info on how/when you did the B pillars to end up with them the way they are in your most recent pics, although I do remember seeing and making note that they were done that way.

It looks like you are planning on using the MR2 back glass. I'm planning the same thing on my 308, and am still pondering on whether to cut out the factory B pillars as it looks like you did or not. Another idea that occurred to me was to put a "slice" in toward the back, then move, re-shape and reinforce to accommodate the shape of the new window as opposed to adding a "C" pillars behind the B.

I don't see why it wouldn't be alright to do what it looks like you've done and remove the wide section of the B pillar seeing how any structural integrity is essentially going to be "put back" by doing the C pillar, which is basically just the B moved to a new location, especially if it extends to what's left of the original B, and goes all the way across and repeats on the other side. Thoughts anybody? Am also thinking if done "right" the roof could be very slightly lowered at the back, to more closely resemble the roof line on a 308 also.

I have looked at how Archie and crew did the 246 Dino they worked on, but so far, it looks like the placement of the curved glass is going to be in a different location than it was on that body. From what I can tell from pictures of the 308, the center section of glass angles in toward the front of the car at the bottom, just slightly, but in, none-the-less.

Don't want to sidetrack this thread, so if any of this is too much off course, say the word and I'll delete it. I'm sure you've got a plan on how to do your back glass, as you've already started making changes, that's what caught my attention and made me raise the question, but like I said, if it's too far off track, we'll drop it.


HAGO!
Bloozberry JUL 14, 09:15 PM
Sage, those C pillars are what the previous owner used to brace the rear edge of the roof after he'd cut through most of the B pillar. I've left them in there for now but I'm planning to go the same route as Archie's gang did on that 246, ie fab a metal rear window frame, then one for each rear quarter glass, and then attach them all together and enclose the area with more sheet metal that will fit under the sail panels. In the pics above, my MR2 rear glass is just sitting there for inspiration.

Exoticse: Don sent me a whole hockey-sock full of photos depicting how he did the body mods but I looked through them all and couldn't find any showing the rear fender changes in progress. I do agree with Don that it won't be the same process for your stock bodied car. Remember, the reason Don's mods weren't specifically to widen the fenders, but rather to lower the tops of the arches. If you used the same process, your wheel arch would not only widen but drop quite a bit given the steep slope of the stock fenders. You'd really need tack-on fender flares that were then melded back into the stock body like the IMSA bodies, or an integral wide-body approach like Archie's kit.
Sage JUL 14, 09:56 PM
Thanks BB.

I did know that the glass in your pics is just sitting there, and that what is there is not what you plan to end up with.

I guess what I was wondering, you also answered by saying you plan to fab frames for the quarter glass and rear glass, then attach them all together and fill in between. I actually considered cutting this section off an MR2 and grafting it on, but don't really like that idea.....

There is usually more than one way to do most everything, but there's also some methods that work better than others, so I guess I'm curious to see how you plan to go about it, as I'm sure it won't be an exact duplicate of what Archie did, though based on the same procedure.

Keep posting the updates, and I'll stay tuned!


HAGO!
Yarmouth Fiero JUL 15, 07:17 AM
That looks great Blooz. I am very excited about how it is all coming together. It looks even better on your chassis than it did on my chassis last summer. I was in Halifax yesterday for meetings and drove right by your place yesterday afternoon on the way home but was torn about stopping in unannounced. I now regret driving by without stopping to say hi. It was almost exactly when you made your post yesterday. Next time !!!!!!!!

Edit: for poor grammer

[This message has been edited by Yarmouth Fiero (edited 07-15-2014).]

Bloozberry JUL 15, 08:40 AM
Graham, never pass by without stopping in.
Bloozberry JUL 16, 11:29 AM
As I mentioned earlier, having the rear quarters mocked up on the frame presented me with the opportunity to take measurements for work down the road. The first thing I decided to tackle was the rear steel bumper bar placement. With it set up the way it currently is, there is no room for the stock bumper bar, let alone any of the honeycomb energy absorption material. When I first removed the rear quarters that had been permanently installed by the previous owner, I was quite surprised to see the two bare lower frame rail horns without any cross member bumper bar between them. Nor was any in a separate package either.

Luckily I have an '85 parts car that I could steal the rear bumper bar from and take some measurements to get some idea where to start. Obviously I won't be using the '85's bumper bar due to its condition, but fabricating a new one using similar properties should be relatively easy once I know what mods are needed.



The rust bug has all but turned this bumper bar back into the iron ore it came from.



Nevertheless, I was able to get some good measurements off of it and add it to my frame drawings for reference. Next up was to get an accurate profile of the rear fascia to know how much room existed between it and the hidden chassis behind it. I used a small profile gauge and a level to trace the approximate shape of the rear fascia. It wasn't large enough to do it all in one shot but by being careful to hold the gauge perfectly vertical, and by making a bunch of overlapping reference marks, I managed.



After each impression, I traced the profile section onto a large piece of cardboard, then cut out the template and test fitted it to the actual car to make any final adjustments:



Once the shape was about as good as it could get using this method, I then used the data points to draw the fascia's profile electronically and add it to my chassis drawing. It became painfully obvious why the PO had removed the bumper bar altogether once all the pieces of the puzzle were laid out. Here's how much interference there would be without modifications (the blue shaded pieces are the honeycomb structure):



Even without the honeycomb material you can see that the rear fascia and the bumper bar want to occupy the same space. So now I have some decisions to make. Either I:

1. keep the stock style bumper bar and recess it only to the extent necessary to get the metal bar to clear the fiberglass fascia (50mm) like this:



2. keep the stock style bumper bar and recess it far enough (90mm) to retain most of the honeycomb material like this:



Or some other option I haven't thought of yet. I realize ditching the honeycomb material would make my life easier in the short term, but then again it may come back to haunt me during my provincial certification inspection. I know they've been picky about bumper modifications so the more stock it looks, the better off I'll likely be. Chances are they won't notice a large recess as much as they'd notice some custom fangled bumper bar. Opinions?
ccfiero350 JUL 16, 12:32 PM
I have a similar issue with my imsa rear bumper. I was thinking of using a vac bag of poly balls and resin to make a new plastic insert to fill the space between the glass skin and metal under-garments.

You can buy kits to make racing seat inserts that custom fit your butt to your aluminum racing seat. Or you can make your own from a beanbag and a suitable urethane mold compounds.

------------------
yellow 88 GT, not stock
white 88 notchie, 4 banger

Yarmouth Fiero JUL 16, 12:53 PM
HI Blooz, I am thinking the last option might be the most suitable. For my car, I was expecting to remove the entire trunk structure anyway and open it all up for exhaust, engine and such. I would have removed it by now but I thought it best to wait and see exactly what you are seeing on your chassis.

In plan view is the transverse curvature of the rear fascia going to cause more problems with interference at the ends of the stock bumper?

[This message has been edited by Yarmouth Fiero (edited 07-16-2014).]

Will JUL 16, 12:59 PM

quote
Originally posted by Bloozberry:
Once the shape was about as good as it could get using this method, I then used the data points to draw the fascia's profile electronically and add it to my chassis drawing. It became painfully obvious why the PO had removed the bumper bar altogether once all the pieces of the puzzle were laid out. Here's how much interference there would be without modifications (the blue shaded pieces are the honeycomb structure):



Or some other option I haven't thought of yet. I realize ditching the honeycomb material would make my life easier in the short term, but then again it may come back to haunt me during my provincial certification inspection. I know they've been picky about bumper modifications so the more stock it looks, the better off I'll likely be. Chances are they won't notice a large recess as much as they'd notice some custom fangled bumper bar. Opinions?



Reprofile the impact beam to use the stock mounts while still fitting under the bumper. Instead of two ridges use one, or fabricate a beam with the ridges moved up (could also tie in to the upper frame rails for additional strength).