The transverse V6 was deep 6'd as soon as the SBC 350 was ready. That little change makes putting your foot into it a little more fun...at the expense of a much smaller trunk.

[This message has been edited by iNVisionPROTOTYPES (edited 04-15-2015).]

Exterior Design and Build


The turbos were created by first rolling the sheet metal...then planishing the material with a hammer and dolly to stretch it and give it the convex curve. To smooth out the highs and lows, the turbo was sanded with a long board to illuminate the highs ... followed by more hammer and dolly work.


This was created using a very primitive english wheel that I built using two truck bearings.










All the pieces for the fascia cutout and prepped. Each piece had the 5/16" edge/lip tipped over a custom shaped anvil with a hammer. It was truly a difficult task(at the time) to create a consistent edge that could be butt jointed with the next piece. You can also see how much more length was added to the hood not only by staggering it, but also by adding the piece at the rear. The pivots created to flip the hood forward were tucked in under the fascia(the yellow thing).


Flirting with a new feature out of cardboard to flow the front scoop into the headlights.


The DOM frame can just barely be made out ... inside the front scoop.


Creating the upper faux scoop for the front hood...something I'd now form out of one piece.


Hood all welded up and headlight surrounds being fitted.


At this stage I believe we were getting ready to finish bringing the bumper feature around the corner. Looking back...I can only remember all the hours of welding and hammer/dollie work...


Gapping the trunk lid with the body.


Here is the body just prior to the high build 2K primer stage. The signal lights still needed to be finished. Some of the welded joints where skim coated with MarGlass...a fiberglass reinforced body filler prior to primer. I'm sure some will dispute this, but speaking from experience nothing beats bondo or MarGlass adhering directly to metal when properly prepared.




Before skinning the doors some trick mirror brackets were developed to raise the mirrors over the turbos. They're held on with a single hidden fastener and conceal the wire for the power mirrors. From this picture you can see how the front door gap curve comes out into a horizontal plane. Days were spent to make it open WITHOUT binding. Moving that curve even 1/8" forward or back didn't allow the door to open.


P/S completed ... and matches the drivers side. Preparing to attach the flute feature to the turbo. Later a one-off marker light will be installed into this area.


Another perspective of the rear. Laying out for the flute feature on top of the turbo. Sitting on the roof is the interior ceiling liner... the only glass panel created for the car.


Backup light mounted as well as bumper feature created and finished. Learned the tuck shrinking procedure through some experimentation when creating the bumper corners...tho I didn't know what it was called back then. The rear deck has a placement for sequential signal lights. It's kinda hard to make out but some torch shrinking took place to rid the upper deck of some oil canning. Filler being applied to clean up the jams.




I'm applying the 3rd and final coat of red dyed high build. Yellowish(not dyed) was the first, then the purple(happened to turn out that way after using up some old bases), then the red.








Giving the arm a break...


Three coats of base were applied...after many many hours of blocking the 2k.








...followed by 4 liberal coats of clear to create that 'deep' paint job.

I do have to say that making the transition to the B/C paint system from the single stage urethanes had a fairly easy learning curve...applying the clear was a little tricky at first...Taking my time and just watching for that 'flash' resulted in non of those evil runs and sags. Saying that, I did take the paint finish to the next level after learning how to cut and polish the clearcoat.

[This message has been edited by iNVisionPROTOTYPES (edited 05-30-2011).]

Trim Work

All the trim started from 1"x2" solid aluminum stock.


Front Grill & Side Turbo Scoop Surrounds: The some of the 1"x2" aluminum stock was run though the table saw and ripped into 1"x0.25"x28"LG bars. These bars were then curved by hand(24" adjustable wrench and 2lb sledge) to the required shapes as illustrated with templates.








Side Flutes: 1"x2" aluminum stock was cut to the approximate lengths required. Short stubs were then welded onto the ends at right angles. These pieces were then clamped in the mill using a custom jig. Using a router bit, the excess material was trimmed away leaving a rough triangular shape.




Trim in various stages of completion.










Special clips to hold the centre caps in place.


------------------

[This message has been edited by iNVisionPROTOTYPES (edited 05-29-2011).]

Interior Design and Build


Starting to bend the main component of the dash in our 5 minute brake.


Simple tools...simple results.


Now for the more complex components...the driver surround. Template was created in the car.


Dad tipping the lead edge with a hammer and pedestal dollie.


Me taking over...


After tipping and creating the correct curvature the piece is located inside the car.


The cockpit is taking shape...




Too bad all this metal work was covered with upholstery.


Due to the time between going to school and coming back to the shop to work on the car on weekends I was always amazed at how fast the panels would corrode. In many places you see green, yellow,.. and yeah.. that rose colour... well they are primers/paints i would mix up and spray onto the metal to prevent rusting if I knew I would be away for an extended period of time. The only thing with that was that I would have to remove it later...very time consuming.


We didn't want any visible fasteners when mounting the panels. So they are fixed to the door in such a way that when you remove one screw, tilt the upper panel they unlock from each other. The grab bars are made from stainless steel oval tubing.


Making the ceiling mold.


This is the only fiberglass panel in the car!
------------------

[This message has been edited by iNVisionPROTOTYPES (edited 05-30-2011).]