First, my exhaust. Like I said, the system is shifted to the right about 2 to 2 1/2 inches with the new (but) N/A rear exhaust manifold.
The muffler is supposed to be closer to the structure of the car
And the U pipe is supposed to shift to the left.
quote
Originally posted by mr_corean:
Sounds good. Do you think the manifolds are different because of the donor being different or the NA to SC?
I'm not sure, I went on Rockauto and according to them, they're both the same part number. I plan on having on my welding buddy shrink the upper 3" pipe and suck it back center.
My alternator didn't have an inline fuse so I put one in. It's got a 100 amp fuse. That's 2 guage wire going all the way to the battery. The Starter has it's own cable!
Here's my coolant tube repair. It's not pretty but it works. And it only cost about $25 to fix!
Up top, it's all there but there's a mess of wires. I will tidy it up as I go along. I will be putting a heat shield over the muffler and under the heat shield. I'll figure that out soon.
My battery is in the original position. A future project will be to invest in an Archie forward battery try. He's in town so why not? I just want it to get it roadworthy first!
The last bit of wiring is the connection of the cruise control. I need to take fully remove the bracket off the rear bulkhead from the old cruise control system. I also have to find the module in the passenger compartment, I haven't pulled the carpet back enough yet!!!
quote
Originally posted by RCR:
Always a great feeling hearing it run for the first time. Congrats.
Sorry that I haven't posted lately, after I got the car running, things slowed down; kids, school, work, family..... But I've been off the last three weeks and got a lot done. And here's some gee whiz stuff too
Like for instance, my buddy Mr_corean gave me the old exhaust manifolds off of his '04 3800 NA because mine were cracked. I put the front one on, no problem but the back one was different. In fact, it shifted my whole exhaust system to the passenger side about 1 1/4 inches! Instead of remaking my whole exhaust system, I had the old manifold's cracks repaired and installed onto the car. From there I was able to build my exhaust brackets. They come off the new trunk floor and are suspended by a rubber mount. The whole exhaust system is wrapped in thermal fabric.
Brakes: I replaced the rubber hoses and pads. Whilst replacing the rear pads, I had issues with the calipers compressing; researched the forums and found out how to do it and got the passenger one done. I went to the driver's side and tried to do it but ended up bursting a seal because it puked oil out the back end. I attempted to rebuild the caliper but couldn't get the dust shield on. So I bought a rebuilt caliper on eBay and the sent me a passenger's side. I ended up, for safety's sake replacing that one too. I bled the system with a hand vacuum pump. The parking brake wasn't working when I bought the car and tried to put it back together thinking that the calipers might have been to blame. Turns out the cable from the passenger compartment to the distributor is not moving. The lever won't actuate it and I can't even pull it out with a pair of pliers. I'll deal with this later.
Clutch: I replaced the slave cylinder; just because. The casing was old and pitted and I worried that it would fail. My 8 year old son tried helping me bleed the system. It's still soft.
I took the car off of jacks and tried firing it up; it didn't. Troubleshot it down to the clutch safety switch and that wiring was shady; somebody cut the one of the wires and crimped it back together. I bypassed the system and now it runs like a champ. Grabbed my son, gave him my cameraphone and took it for a spin!
My kid talks over the majority of it but it's proof that it moves! FrankenFiero Moves!
Things I have to deal with now: The parking brake Bleed the brakes (again) Bleed the clutch (again) The tachometer is hit or miss. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't The water temp gauge pegs and is inaccurate. I've completed the wiring on the motor and looking through the forums, I need to do something behind the dash? The oil pressure reads about 80 psi. I think I have to replace the sending unit. The wires going to the transmission sit under the exhaust manifold. I need to protect them. I have plenty of heat wrap. The coolant hose going from the engine to the driver tube will rub up against the old heat shield. I need to protect it. My coolant line going to the heater core angles above the manifold. I need to trim it down to even it out. The backlights on the console do not work. My fuel sending unit isn't right. The gauge shows empty right now. I parked it on an angle and it the gauge came back to life. I did disassemble the parts in the gas tank to clean them up; I may have installed the resister upside down? If not, I fount one on Ebay for $23 shipped.
AC lines, I found a place on the internet that sells all the parts, including a beadlock adapter for the pressure sensor.
I'll add photos soon; I'm on vacation right now and time is hard to find. Thanks again for looking!
Got some work done on my final leg of vacation: Brakes are bled and tight! Clutch is bled and tight! I think that the Tach is fixed; it came to a consistent life when I tightened the connection between the ICM and Main harness
I figured out how to mount my ECM. It's mounted in the rear console itself; I've fabricated a bracket. It's an aftermarket console, I think; it had an open cubby area that I cut out and the ECM now sits there. My wiring harness is a little long so I can pull the console and remove with ease. Eventually, I'm going to close off the front with an upholstered plate, carbon plate, or a flux capacitor?
The hole in the firewall is being sealed up with a plate riveted over the hole. It's designed to be easily removed so that can easily remove the harness if needed. I will use a high temp sealant around the wires to hold them in place. My console was also not secured down; this may be a good place to do so; I've got to figure that one out.
Here's the new floor for the trunk. It's made of 1/8" aluminum with a piece of aluminum extrusion underneath giving it rigidity. It also holds the exhaust in place but flexes with rubber mounts.
Finally, my (potentially) huge problem that I came across. When a previous owner installed the aero components he either didn't install some bolts or the something underneath is cracked; this created a bulge in the leading edge; immediately behind the sunroof. I will be pulling the headliner this weekend to investigate and am anticipating some cracked out bolt holes. - Is this area supposed to be glued down as well? - Is this accessible from the inside of the car? - Any suggestions on what to do?
Thanks again guys.
[This message has been edited by solman105 (edited 07-10-2015).]
I had a bunch of stuff here but it was all about my PIP not working. Now that I got it working, this wasn't needed but I cannot delete the post.
More tomorrow; I hope to this weekend pull the headliner and find some missing fasteners. I've also found a couple of photos of other's rear clips and the tabs don't look to be anywhere near the bulge in my clip.
Has anyone seen someone bond fiberglass down from the crew compartment to the rear clip? This will be a permanent fix; I do not plan on ripping the car apart. I'll add some photos of what I'm talking about.
Speaking of the nose..... I'm thinking that I may build one in the distant future that'll resemble an Aventador.
Photos of my ideas to come.
[This message has been edited by solman105 (edited 07-10-2015).]
Today. I pulled the headliner down; it turned to dust. I'll need a new one when I do the interior. What I found underneath didn't help my bulge issue. All of the bolts are in place and tight.
The yellow line here is the corner of the leading edge. Above the yellow line is the top of the skin; below, is the actual leading edge. I can push it back into position with a little effort with my thumb.
So, has anybody had this issue? Is it one of the things that I just have to let it go and press on?
My idea is to fill the seam with glass fibers and a resin slurry, cure and then it'll be seamless. I'm also going to overlay three layers of fiberglass cloth as reinforcement that will keep the back clip down. I also have some carbon fiber; I may do one ply (layer) of that in lieu of a layer of two of glass. Once cured, I'll sand and bondo smooth and HOPEFULLY, it won't flex too much and crack. The right resin for this will need to be a SMC type of resin; I found some on Ebay for $100.
The green line is the bulge; the yellow will be my repair. I think my repair will extend from the trailing edge of the sun roof and go about 2" over the rear clip. It may go further back.
A/C lines: I know they're hard to find, but I did find a beadlock splice piece with a M10 threaded pressure sensor fitting installed at www.autoacfittings.com. Unfortunately, they do not have any in stock and the manufacturer doesn't plan on fabricating for another 3 months! Darned the luck. They have a good deal on hose and other fittings.
Thanks for looking guys, again, if you have any ideas for that bulge besides the way that I'm going, please by all means, chime in,
Has anyone had success with glassing over the seam between the top edge of the rear clip and the back edge of the top of the crew compartment?
My plan is one of two ideas:
Idea 1: - ill seam with a mixture of chopped glass fiber and resin; let cure - sand flush with the skins. - apply 2-3 layers of fiberglass mat to connect the clip to the crew compartment roof. - finish sand, bondo and paint
I know that this will eliminate the possibility of removing the rear clip. I don't ever want to take it off. I've also been told that this area is prone to flexing and with such a permanent repair, this will be prone to cracking.
Plan #2 - use the car as a mold and make a strap that will bond to the crew compartment and extend approximately 1 inch over the rear clip. Use 2-4 layers. Cure - remove from car, remove mold materials; bond to the crew compartment only. - prime area on rear clip where overlay will cover; apply layer of RTV on area to keep moisture out in the future. - allow to cure, finish sand, bondo
This will eliminate stiffness and allow the area to flex and though harder, a possibility to remove the rear clip if needed.
I've started a couple of projects and slowly chugging on. My first project to show is an experiment with the taillights. The clear plastic on the left side was cracked in three places so I removed it.
I then used some posterboard to create a crude mold and filled it with some foam - in - a - can.
The first can I used was a year old and subjected to the Las Vegas heat in my garage; it didn't rise and cure the way I wanted it to. I went out and bought another can and filled it to where I wanted it.
I took the posterboard off and found a huge gap; filled it up.
My next step is to trim the foam to size, shape, route out circles for lights and LED bars, glass and paint. It'll be interesting.
After a lot of thought, I've turned to my other project; the gap on my roof. I've decided to fill in the seam between the roof and rear clip.
The resin I used is an SMC compatible compound; I'll be using fiberglass mat and cloth. I found this on eBay for about $30 a quart.
My first step was to remove the paint from both sides and then used the battery to force the clip into place.
I mixed the resin per the instructions on the can; big mistake. The hardener required is 4% of the resin; I've been mixing 50 grams of resin at a time so I'll need 2 grams of hardner. Unfortunately, this gives me about 5 minutes of worklife; not enough! Pretty sure the 100 degree heat out here didn't help the cause either. Layer 1 and 2 will be fiberglass mat
Unfortunately, it left me with air pockets and poor adhesion so I then reduced it to one gram of hardner and got it where I'd like it to be. Layer 2 went on in 5 segments all overlapping each other and I think I have a better fit.
My final layer will be a single strip of cloth; I'll then sand it down and bondo smooth, then check that off the list.
I didn't feel comfortable with how the sail panels sat in the car; they were recessed and the seam was filled in with an extortionate amount of bondo. I'm not sure if the previous owner was going to glass over it or not. Regardless, it looked like garbage. So, I set off to remove the sail panel and come up with an idea to see what I can do.
I started off with the driver's side and with a dremel tool and sander. I soon got frustrated with that because it was taking forever, my sanding tools were getting clogged. Out came the hammer, chisel, and a screwdriver. I carefully started removing the bondo; in some places, it was about 1/2 inch thick! Not the best application for this. It was rubbery and dirty. Not to mention, it was bonded to the paint so it came off relatively easy.
In my humble opinion, like I said earlier, bondo is not the best to fill in a large void; it holds no structural value whatsoever. The previous owner did; had he just painted over everything, thinks like these cracks would have shown up. I understand why he/she did it though; these panels do not fill the gap of the origional sail panel. there's in places that 1/2 gap. Plus, they didn't fit flush with the rest of the car. What he should have done was first shimmed the sail panels flush the rear clip and then used a chopped glass/resin compound to fill the voids, sanded to fit the rear clip and then a couple of overlays to tie it all together. I think that will be my plan.
My next step is to refurbish the panels and the wells they sit in. I may at this time also cut the sail panels to accomodate windows.
I decided to glass in my sail panels; The panels themselves are trimmed differently so the symmetry would be off. Glassing them in eliminates this problem and I don't plan on taking the car apart if something bad should happen; I'd rather take the power plant out and part the rest out.
So here's the plan. First I'm going to fill the sail panel gap on the rear clip in; I want to keep it light and easy to work with. I have turned to expanding foam in a can for this.
With an orbital sander with 80 grit paper, I trimmed it down flush with the rear clip
I then took my panel and placed it into position, made some alignment marks, and then traced out my panel. Out came the dremel tool and notched an area out for the panel to fit in.
A close up. It's not pretty but it'll work.
When the panels are repaired and ready for initial installation, I'll glue them into position, glass and bondo. The panels are cracked at the bottom edge of the scoop; it's weakest point. I'm going to also cut out areas on the scoop for a window to ease the blind spot problem. The leading edge of the panel was sealed with a clear RTV, I'll follow suit but with black.
The quarter windows are officially glassed in and bondo work is being done as we speak.
My first step in all of this was to get the sail windows where I want them to be. Cargo Straps work extremely well. Shim where necessary and then apply small strips of glass to tie both parts together. Once cured, you can remove the straps and finish adding your first layer.
Tech Tip: Make sure your overlapping edges of the cured material are smooth, you don't want any air pockets
Note the different colors of my first layer. My kid broke my scale and I "wung it" a bit." Unfortunately, because of this, come cured faster than others.
Sand your layer smooth. Apply second layer. I didn't follow my tech tip on one of the edges and had a monster air pocket. Sand Smooth, apply more glass, cure and blend into existing material.
Once again, sand smooth and add more if you think it's too weak. I think what I had was adequate so I'm ready to add bodyfiller.
It was early this morning and I had cranial flatulence and completely forgot how to apply body filler efficiently. I figured it out on my last couple of cups. With the weather conditions here, I can only work 1 oz at a time before it cures beyond workable conditions. I will definitely need a second layer.
During the Las Vegas Tech day on September 19th, I noticed three cracks on my rear clip and repaired these as well. Because they're a clean crack, I was able to pin the crack (stop drill,) make a groove and then add a couple of overlays. I assume that they came from when a previous owner installed the fastback clip and won't take a considerable load in the future.
Always wear tight weaved clothing when working with glass. It's itchy and nasty. Take a cold shower when you're done so your pores won't open up and absorb the dust. I wear a full faced respirator when sanding.
Now for something completely different: My Captain is leaving our unit and I'm in charge of his going away present. Our aircraft have a tendency to crash so parts are abundant. This is a piece of an MQ-1 Predator Drone propeller spinner cone and will be mounted on a piece of stained oak.
[This message has been edited by solman105 (edited 09-27-2015).]
Great stuff foam didn't work as planned in the tail lights. Getting it even is next to impossible with the tooling that I have. Here's how I came to the conclusion:
The molds helped me to keep the basic shape allowing it to fit into its cavity. I then tried to cut the face even but no luck.
The Driver curve gap looks decent but I don't think I can replicate the passenger
I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to fix it before I call it a failure. I think that I'll use some shaped foam and go from there. I'll look into that this weekend and hopefully I'll have some in my R & D budget to figure it out!
Here's my next project.
I'm going to (try to) make some side scoop panels that will bolt into the modified quarter panels. I'm also going to integrate an oil cooler and the air box. I have the idea in my head, now to apply it and hopefully not fail!!!!
What are you thinking about using for the shaped foam?
I haven't a clue. I did talk to the guys at PISA and I can get some premade panels down there. Getting the surfaces flat I think is my biggest problem. I do not have the tooling here to do it.
I could make rubber molds; maybe later though. The rubber is wicked expensive!
With that, I turned my focus from the tail lights to the quarter panel scoops. My (overall) goal is to fabricate scoop that is the air intake box on the driver's side and an oil cooler box on the other. I can unbolt them for maintenance. The OEM panels will be "hollowed out and hold the boxes in place.
I first started by covering the panels with a release film and added 4 layers of glass and epoxy resin. I'm using West Systems 105/205 resin and hardener. It gives plenty of work time. It cures in about 4-6 hrs. Bonding panels together will probably be done with a polyester resin because it cures in minutes.
Once cured, I removed new panel off of the old one and it came out pretty good.
That dark mark is the old intake; I covered it with carboard and tape. It did create a flatspot but this can be fixed with a body filler later.
I trimmed the panel so that there is plenty of room on all sides for cutting later.
I mocked up my cutout. I'd like them to be a little different than everyone else's
And now it's cut out. I trimmed most of one but jacked up the radius. Extended it out a tiny bit on both sides for continuity. Next weekend I plan on finishing the initial sanding and start prefabricating panels for the actual scoops and going from there!
So, after I cut the original quarter panel out, I went ahead and mocked it up on the car to see what it'd look like; it's not too bad! I did realize that I will run into an issue later on and that is the fact that I can't access the fastener underneath the bonded in sail panel. I'm not sure as to what I'll do to rectify the situation; relocate the hole and put a rivet in or drill a hole in the sail panel for access and find a rubber plug. I'll figure that one out at a later time.
Here's a quick view of my "lab." My failed taillight project has become a drill bit collector. I'll get around to digging out all of the foam and try something else.
Took the quarter panel back inside and made myself some fiberglass "flatstock" where I pressed 2 plies (layers) of mat glass into resin. I used my kitchen floor's flat surface and a cookie sheet with 10 pounds of weight to keep the pressure on it. That will help squeeze out any unnecessary resin making it lighter and stronger. (The strength in a fiberglass matrix is in the glass, not the resin!)
Once I had my flatstock, I traced out my parts, cut, and sanded. I'm only mocking up stuff for now, so I used a few beads of hot glue to put the upper and lower walls into place. If this looks good, I'll remove them, clean them up scuff sand them and bond together with fiberglass.
Here are the top panels; they're still in flatstock form. The piece of posterboard above in the center was my template. I did alter my idea a few times to get it right as you can see. My kids are getting ready for bed so no more powertool playtime for me tonight. I'll cut them out and mock them out tomorrow. With them being 2 plies thick, I worry about them flexing when driving. I have a plan or two for that; stay tuned!
Sorry that I've not posted recently, but I've not had a lot to post about. I'm about halfway done with prepping for paint; I've been fixing as I go along.
I strongly recommend not plastic welding in replacing chipped out plastic. It does not work. I'm not sure if it's operator error but nothing stuck. What I did use was JB Weld, it seems to work well. I've flexed the panel after bonding and cleaning up and it looks to be a success. I've also found cracks in the blue door skin and in the passenger fender; the epoxy seems to be working I have two or three more cracks (one on the rear bumper and one or two on the front bumper) to fix up. I'll post pictures when I'm doing it.
I took her out to get some fresh air and spray off the dust. I still have my "experimental" tail light in. I'm planning on buying a set of Pisa tail lights.
Here's my parts; they're almost done. I've probably got about 3 more hours on this pile of stuff and I'll be ready for paint
There's some glasswork on the body that I missed. I'll church it up on the holiday break.
My Mrs. is claiming back her side of the garage so my real estate is a little bit reduced at the moment. Come spring time, I'll get it back for the paint booth and assembly. Talk about a deal; keep your eyes on Craigslist. I found a 60 gallon air compressor for $60 and the previous owner stated that it would overheat after the initial fill up. I picked it up and did some research; it turns out that the start capacitor was shot; picked up a replacement for $11. The pressure switch looked old and missing parts so ebay helped me out with one for $15. Works like a champ now. It'll hopefully be enough to push my HVLP.
Happy new year everyone! So here's the air compressor that I found on Craig's website, it was $60 and the previous owner stated that it wouldn't shut off and the motor would overheat. The tank and compressor pump alone, I thought, would be worth twice that so I bought it. Upon further research, I got the motor fixed by replacing the start capacitor and replaced the pressure shut off switch. So, I'm about $80 invested into it and have a perfectly working air compressor that will push just about anything I need it to; including my paint gun.
Sometimes, taking a chance on something does pay out.
I just learned how to resize my pictures in paint to meet PIP's max limitations. The simple things keep me happy Anyway, back to the car. I bought this car with a hood scoop already built in; the previous owner did a good job, but sitting at the yard for a prolonged period of time caused the reinforcement bar along the trailing edge to come away from the skin. I didn't want to remove and replace, so instead I used a syringe to inject resin between the two disbonded parts and clamped them together. We do this on our aircraft with disbonded skins from honeycomb structure. When cured, I'll sand smooth and apply body filler as needed; good as new!
This weekend I'll be fitting my front fascia to the car; the car came in with a formula nose and now I have a GT. I also have to fabricate brackets to hold the bottom of it on. I'll also be prepping the rear fascia for paint; it's original paint job is all spidered out. The hood needs more attention as well as the rear decklid.
Wow! $60? Ok...I'm jealous! That is one of my next big purchases, but it'll have to wait since I know I won't be able to get one without paying a fortune! Congratulations!
Wow! $60? Ok...I'm jealous! That is one of my next big purchases, but it'll have to wait since I know I won't be able to get one without paying a fortune! Congratulations!
Look on that list that Craig provides, that's where I found mine! If you find one with "motor problems," chances are it's one of those capacitors. Less than $20 will get you the one you need and off you go!
My car leaves rubber!!!
In all honesty, it had some help, I had just finished spraying it down and accidentally rolled it into the drainage channel at the bottom of my driveway.
These are the paint racks that I'm building. There will be three in total, one for the decklid, one for the hood, and the other is for all the items taht are going black. the ones for the decklid and hood measure 6 foot by 6 foot, whilst the black rack is 6 foot tall and 7 foot wide. The black rack will hold the quarter panel inserts, the decklid vents, the front air dam, Tail light assembly, and rocker panels. One of the risers in my spoiler is toast; Someone before me tried to fix it with super glue. Didn't work so well. In the end, my car may not have it after all.
I still haven't removed the foam out of that tail light.
Here's my lab, everything's a mess but it everything has been sanded down with 80 grit paper. My task for February is get everything sanded with 180 grit and build the paint booth. I'll be painting the last week in March where the ambient air temperature should be over 70 degrees.
I'll put back together whatever I can that week but I'm hosting an assembly day on the 2nd of April. If you can spare some time, lease come and join!
I have just about all the body sanded down with 80 grit paper. My venture this weekend will start getting it sanded with 180 grit. Until then, I decided to take out the windshield. It's cracked so I thought that I'd get ahead of the ball. I'm going to order a new one Saturday (a new one is $80 at the local glass shop.) I have two tubes of windhsield adhesive ready to go as well. It'll go in on April 2nd, hopefully the guys at assembly day will have more experience on this than me! I assume it's just glue and stick.
I didn't have piano wire; I did have a pick axe. Breaking it felt good and calming but it made a mess.
Most of the glass off the car. There's some still in the sealant but I can get that when I remove it. In order to get the edges out, I used a hammer and a putty knife. When I remove the sealant, I should just need a box cutter.
I'll also pick up the paint booth materials this weekend. Assembly of that should be next week's project!
There are/were some rubber spacer blocks at the bottom of the windshield, I hope you saved them. Also make sure you have the old/new molding, as it goes in the same time as the new windshield.
[This message has been edited by sardonyx247 (edited 02-12-2016).]
There are/were some rubber spacer blocks at the bottom of the windshield, I hope you saved them. Also make sure you have the old/new molding, as it goes in the same time as the new windshield.
Yessir, I found 2 of them. There were two of them, one in each corner. How many are there supposed to be? I would assume three? There was a gigantic glob of glue in the center of the glass.
Tomorrow I paint!!!! Everything is sanded and ready to go. I'll do a final wash of everything right after I get the kids to the dentist, clean my garage, and line my paint booth tonight. I hope to be slinging paint by 0700 tomorrow. If I'm able to do that, I can probably get the clear coat done by midnight. We'll see.
Here's an old photo of my paint booth. I was talking to a friend of mine and he told me that I should paint metallic the way the panels sit on the car. My hood and decklid were vertical in this photo so I re-evaluated my situation and they now sit on an apparatus over the car with enough room to paint the top of the car. Everything going green will sit theyway that it's supposed to, the black will hang any way that I see fit.
More pictures tonight, I was just excited that the PIP worked
After a ton of planning and preparation, I used this week to paint the car. It didn't come with drama though. First, my air compressor died about halfway through the first coat of primer. The pump siezed up. I was eventually going to upgrade it but now it's on the priority list. I found a V-Twin online and I'll throw that on. Fortunately, my neighbor had a 20 gallon setup and boy, was it a trooper! The second incident was in the second coat of primer where the apparatus holding up the decklid and hood fell on top of the car body. I panicked like crazy; fortunately, my wife was there to help me get it back in the air. Other than that, real estate made the process slow as I had to move things around. Plus, I'm 6'4 and dodging suspended parts like a ninja took a strain on my back and knees.
So here's how it went.
Here's my setup before I talked to some friends who have some experience in painting metallic. I planned to have the hood and decklid on racks, the bumpers vertical, the chin scoop over the front end of the car. My friend's advice was to paint the car parts as they hang on the car, completely messing up my whole plan. The reasoning behind the change was to ensure the flake didn't flow in different ways once the car was it was assembled. Made sense to me so the change was made!
The booth with everything hung. I called it a night and woke up early the next morning, finished the wall and masked the car.
The apparatus holding up the hood and decklid. Ready for paint. I first slung a coat of adhesion promoter
It took me three hours to get to this point. 3 coats of primer.
I wet sanded everything down and the slung 3 coats of green. I thought it came out alright. After about midnight, I called it a night and let it sit for 8 hours.
I spent 7 hours the next morning sanding and taping everything off for black. I also found a run on the left quarter panel so I sanded them out and slung another layer of green on it and went to get my black shaken. Once I got back, I took the wet panel out of the booth and slung the black. It was a good time because everything green was out of the way, and I was able to put the bumpers in a vertical position which in the long run did save some real estate.
I didn't want a solid green side of the car now that my sail panels are bonded in; it's just too much green. So, I marked off 2 inches off of the scoop and masked it off and made some of my own. I should have marked the top edge of the black parallel with the edge of the clip. I didn't really notice it until I took all the masking off. Hopefully nobody (else) notices until I repaint it. (many years on down the road)
I got done with 3 coats of clear coat at about 7pm last night. My exhaust fan filter was completely clogged, my respirator filters were spent. I like the color combination. I can't wait to get it out in the sun. Next week, I'll start putting it back together.
Some things I learned:
Change your exhaust filter after applying each part of the paint system (primer, topcoat(s), clear coat) Make sure your apparatuses are secure or you will scream and cry like a little girl as it comes crashing down Stretch.........it'll help with flexibility. Overspray goes everywhere. Be tactical about where you place everything and the sequence on how you paint it. I worked from the back of the garage forward as best as I could.
Thanks for reading, Assembly will be slow next week until Assembly Day !!!!
Thanks! I was worried about the metallic flake looking on this car. I worried that it'd look like 1970's vinyl or something like that.
quote
Originally posted by pcgold:
Wow, what a difference.
Thanks! I can't wait to see it together More photos of just that coming soon
I did have issues with the paint job. First, there are overspray and runs within the clear coat. I expected it as my booth filtration system was on its last legs towards the end of the painting process. Plus, I don't think the lack of real estate helped. Second, black overspray hit one of the door panels and I didn't notice it in time. Third, I do have dry spots in the black on the front bumper and the front air dam. I can hit those with a brush and nobody would notice. Fourth, I'm not totally satasfied with the top edge of my black sail panel area, both sides. They run 2 inches parallel with the side scoop. I'm not sure if it would look better if it were parallel with the top edge of the clip edge. Thoughts?
My plan is to fix everything Columbus Day weekend. I'll shoot green and black, I intend at the moment to re-clear the car. Until then, I'm going to scrape the runs and hit the overspray with 1500-2000 grit paper and see what happens; it may lessen my workload and make me reconsider the clear coat. I'm not going to tear the car down again, I think I can get it looking great assembled.
Today, I put the front fenders on, the quarters, and the bumpers. That's the good part
The front bumper is only being held in with the 7 top screws at the moment, once I put it on sticks and take the wheels off, I'll go ahead and bolt everything else down. There's a front air dam that needs attaching as well.
The quarters are being held on with zip ties. The holes are all blown out, especially the lower ones. I will have to figure that one out before I move forward. I also have a gap problem with the driver's door. It seems that it's too far back and as it sits now, there's no way that I could put a skin in there and have clearance. Plus, I think the door hinge itself needs to be bushed. When you open it, it droops down.
Hopefully, I can push the door forward when bushed, and the quarter back and get the desired gap.
The color is awesome. I love it. I was worried that it was going to look like a metallic booger because of the grey primer but it looks good. I have some issues that do need resolving when it comes to the finish, overspray, dry spots, clear coat redo, etc, but they can be resolved when the weather cools down or if i can get my hands on a paint booth. I won't need to tear my car down again, all this can be done with most of the parts on the car.
I, for the life of me, cannot find the nuts that hold down the hood hinge and prop bar
I do have a question or two if anybody can help?
To bush the hinge, what drill bit is usually used? What sized nuts are needed for the hinges for the hood and prop bar? How much adjustment are in the doors?
Hopefully, I'll have these issues resolved by assembly day (free beer, pizza and soda for helping {sorry for the plug}) and I can get the car looking more like a car rather than half a car and half a metal frame. Stay tuned, I'll have pictures.
I've installed the headlight covers onto the hood; the hood is back on the car. When I installed the fascia, I had put washers underneath the screws; big mistake. I have chipped the hood. Doh! I'll fix it when I do a touch up paint.
Like I said, the hood is on the car. I am having problems with adjusting the headlight covers. For instance, when I turn the lights on, the driver side will pop up; no problem. However, the passenger side will get stuck halfway. I'll open the hood, check the gaps, see how much play there is, adjust as necessary, and close the hood. The passenger will work great and then the driver side will get stuck. I've adjusted them about 6 times, it's like groundhog day.
Are there any tips of the trade to adjusting these?
Also, I've removed the dogbone from the car; I'm going to replace the rubber in it, it's shot. However, I think it's a first generation dogbone and the new bushings won't fit. I plan on grinding it round, is this allowed? I'm eventually going to get a Rodney adjustable, but I've got the parts on hand to complete what I have.
After my headlight fiasco and dogbone dilemma are dealt with, I'm going to hopefully get the windshield in. After that I'l put the rockers on, the front chin panel, get under the car and tidy up and insulate the wiring harnesses and AC lines. I've also got to drop the tank and flip the fuel level resistor. I have less than 3 gallons in the tank and the gauge says full. My goal is to be sitting at the DMV July 5th with hopes of registering it. Unfortunately, at this moment in time, the car is not my priority; I'm one class away from my bachelor's degree in Homeland Security. It's only taken me 19 years to get it! Once I have a diploma in hand, this should go quickly.
Thanks for reading and please chime in if you have any tips!
My car didn't come with its dogbone so I had picked one out of the yard. When I hosted the tech day back in September, one of the guys pointed out that my motor had an excessive amount of movement in revving. Since my motor mount and transmission mounts are brand new, I decided to start with my dogbone; the rubber was shot and the steel part of the bushing was pulling out of the rubber. I ordered some poly bushings and I thought I would just have to cut a flange off and it'd slide right out. Turns out that the inside has an hourglass shape and I dug the rubber out. Out came the rotary file and I machined the inside smooth.
Some before and after shots
My next objective is to get the windshield into place. I want to get that done before I put the car back on stands to finish the body install, put in the E-brake, insulate the wiring harnesses and AC lines. After that, I'll finish the engine bay and maybe take it to the smog shop to get inspected.
Hi guys Slow progress; I'm getting close but life has directed my attention towards other things and Project FrankenFiero has slowed down. I had hoped to drive it the first weekend in July, that'll be pushed out to the first weekend in February. I have to go to England for a wedding later this year and all of my spendable cash is going towards that for now. Also, I'm wrapping up my bachelor's degree so that's a higher priority. I'm also beginning to get my house ready for sale; granted, we'll put it on the market in about 18 months, but I want to make sure things are ready...
With all this, I have been making some progress. With the exception of the tail light panel and the nose chin, all the panels are on the car. I'm biased, but I love the color combination. Unfortunately, there are some holes to fill; the old ground effects on the quarter panels and door skins didn't look right on the car with the rocker panels so I've kept them off. I'll fill the holes with plastic rivets for now; later on down the line I'll buy quarter panel scoops and properly fill in the holes on the door, or get new door skins. That will be on the next respray (whenever that happens!!!!)
Today, I put the windows up. I wanted to see how much of a gap that I had between the glass and the sail panels; and I have plenty!
Here are my issues. 1. The motors are WEAK. This could be a combination of things. I don't have switches for the doors yet and was running the motors off a battery with a 20 amp fuse. Looking back at my manual, there's a 30 amp fuse in line. That will come later on in the year when I hardwire the door systems into place. Also, the door motors look rusty and most likely require replacement.
2. The tint that I put on the driver's window is trashed. Something scraped it on it's way up. Here are some pictures, does anybody have any ideas what would have caused it? I haven't gone to investigate it yet. Nonetheless, I'll have to redo it.
3. The passenger door window doesn't feel like it's in right. Closing the door requires a lot of effort and the window doesn't seem to fit right in the seals. My felt pads are brand new and do are the dew wipes, the felt pads aren't tightened down yet. I was hoping to get the glass up, close the door, and tighten them down.
Finally, here's the tail light panel and the LEDs going in it. It came off Nate's car (mr_corean). The outer ones are going to be amber turn signals, the red halos will be always on and the brakes will be in the center. I need to make a bracket for the nutplates to hold the lights onto the panel. My reverse lights will be lower on the bumper; the previous owner made cuts into the existing holes and they're uneven. So, I've made some aluminum panels to cover them up and I have some 1 1/4 LED lights for a temporary fix. When/if I go to repaint the car, I may fabricate something better.
I've also rerouted my alternator power wire and starter wire. They looked untidy and I also noticed that the inline fuse between the alternator and battery had failed; it turned out that the fuse was a 100 amp and most likely blew out when the alternator was throwing 105 at it. So, I put a 120 amp fuse in and we'll see how that works out.
Next on the docket will be to start wiring the cruise control in and mounting the box. I've also got to bypass the door light switches, the driver's is broken. Good times, good times.
If I remember correctly all the door stuff like that are 2 wire jobs so you can either wire them together or just cut and cap the ends. Whichever works to get the result you want.
If I remember correctly all the door stuff like that are 2 wire jobs so you can either wire them together or just cut and cap the ends. Whichever works to get the result you want.
Thanks for the tip! I did some research and found replacements on rock auto. They're under $2 a piece. I'll pick them up after our vacation and replace them both.
Autozone has them for $4. I may just get them there as the shipping would make it cost effective.
Turns out that the tint on both piecs of glass are shot; they're both torn in the same spot. On top of that, the motors are dead as well. I got the driver side down but the passenger side is stuck. The glass doesn't look right either, it sticks straight up rather than at an angle and contour with the car. I think that I'll be taking the door skins down again and troubleshooting that (again) and also re-tinting the windows after vacation.
Still some slow moving but moving nonetheless. Last weekend, I got the car off the stands and took the kids for a spin around the block. Unfortunately, it ran rough and threw me a P0341 code (camshaft position sensor.) I don't remember diconnecting the sensor when I tidied up the wires and I'm pretty sure my ground is still connected, Once I have the back end of the car in the air, I'll go ahead and see if my wires are good and/or replace the sensor.
The front end of the car is up in the air, I've been working on putting on the fiberglass chin scoop. Since it had a formula nose and now it has the GT nose, I had to make a panel that connects the radiator to the scoop. I also have to build some bracketry that connects the back corners of the fascia and chin scoop to the rest of the car. I am missing about 2 inches of metal in the vertical position. I'll post pictures soon.
Some photos of the FrankenFiero getting some fresh air. The rear fascia is only being held in with a screwdriver, that's why it looks odd.
I love that color. Later on in life, I'll have to redo it. I do have a lot of imperfections in the body work and paint job but it looks good until you get up on the car.
My car now has daytime running lights. Once I pull it out of the garage and at dusk, I'll take some photos.
I do have an issue though, if you guys could help out it'd be greatly appreciated. Let me set it up first: I have no lightbulbs in the side markers I have no lightbulbs in the license plate lights The dome light is out of the car My brake lights work (L, R, Center) My turn signals light up when activated. They stay on because I'm missing a lightbulb in each circuit. My hzards work I have no voltage going to any tail light. My fuse is still in one piece so that's not the problem. Before I tore the car apart for paint, I'm pretty sure they worked. I also think I had the light bulbs in. Here are my questions, if you could please help: 1. If I were to replace all the bulbs in the circuit, would they work?
Hat tip to Haynes, I intrepret their wiring diagram here as they each independently receive power from one source instead of being daisy chained
2. I read in one thread from a long time ago that the tail lights were on the same circuit as the dome light; is this true? Not to mention, I can't find that thread anymore!
3. Why are there 3 wires going to the blinkers? I have 4 inch LEDs going in soon, which ones would I need for it?
Here's what's in store this week:
First I need to get my head back into the school game. I have one paper to get done in the next 17 days and I've got my bachelor's degree. I'm burnt out
Second, finish up the tail light panel and wiring.
Third, finish up the daytime running light project.
Fourth, secure the chin spoiler and front fascia better
5th, diagnose the camshaft position sensor
Thanks guys in advance for any advice you can send this way.
I've been slowly working on the car; though I've got a long way to go, it's, I think, looking good!!!!
Starting off.....these are failed projects. I cut my quarter panels out to make fiberglass panels with scoops in them. My intent was to bond boxes into them which would have held an intercooler on one side and an oil cooler in the other. Tragic failure, wish I didn't do it. I'll reattack that before the next respray and body panel change.
Next we have the attempt of fiberglassing a new tail light cover. I had filled in the cavity of the housing with foam, routing holes in it for 4 inch LEDs. Couldn't get the contour right, epic fail. The light housing themselves are in good condition, if anybody wants them, let me know in the next 9 hours, I'll pull them out of the trash. You'll have to dig the foam out of them! Local pickup only
Now with my issues. If anybody can has any expertise on these items, please feel free to chime in. It would be greatly appreciated.
The passenger window, I think is off the track. If you can see the alignment, I think it looks out of whack. The motor, was extremely slow to respond and now it won't move. I think it's dead. Something is also scratching the inside of both windows towards the bottom rear corner as it tore the tint out. I have to remove the windows to retint, what are the obvious things to look for?
The other issue that I'm having is that the blinkers are not working right. The front, front side marker, and rear ones stay lit and don't blink; the rear sidemarker doesnt light up. I've checked the power of the light and there's nothing on either side. What would cause this?
I have 4" LED lights in the back now for blinkers. What I did was, on both sides, connect the old bulb wiring together so both power sources work each light. One bulb had two power wires so I combined those in as well. I would assume that those would have been the hazard power. Also, in the new wiring, I've put in the resistors to help stop the crazy blinking. Eventually, I have to tear the back end apart because I forgot to run a wire to a relay and I have to repaint the tail light panel; I got JB Weld on it and didn't notice until it was cured.
My third issue is that I have no idea which windshield wiper arm goes on the passenger side and driver side. I forgot to tag it, can anybody tell me which way to go?
Please, if anybody has any tips, man I'd be totally appreciative and thank you in advance.
I'm just about done with the body, there are a few more things that I have to get, side markers, trim, badges; little things. Due to unforseen curcumstances, I had to reset my goal to have it on the road and that will be around the first week of February. So, until then, here's a little tour.
I finished my tail light panel, it's from Mr. Corean. Like I said, it's got 4 inch LEDs for lights now, the outside ones are my amber turn signals whilst the inner lights are my tail and brake lights. The outer halo is always hot and I took that power from the old PONTIAC lighting. The reverse lights were relocated to those lower openings, the previous owner chopped those areas up pretty good so I made some panels to go over them. I plan on getting some dark reflective tape and that's where it will go. There's also a wire coming from this to the front of the car, that runs the green/white LED daytime running lights. I have no light bulbs in the other PONTIAC bulbs, would this cause the issue with my side marker blinkers?
My decklid area. I painted the inside cavity black; I was hoping to break up all the green. I like how it turned out
Here's my son, Mason looking trying to look tough and all.
The passenger side.
Finally, like I said, I put daytime running lights in the front nose clip. They're wired to a relay that works with a toggle switch inside the passenger compartment. In normal operation, the green ones light up; if a cop gets mad, I can fli the switch and the white ones turn on. It'll also work in the back with another relay that controls the license plate lights. I did find a problem with the headlight switch, it wasn't sending power to the tail lights. I'll need to get another one before I can show this off.
Thanks for reading and if you can help me with my issues, please feel free to chime in
Can't help with most of your issues, but I do have a spare headlight switch you can have if you want it.
Usually when the blinkers wont flash at all, it's due to one of the bulbs being burned out. However, with LED bulbs being in the circuit, it may change things. Sometimes, LED bulbs require an Electronic Flasher in place of the stock Flasher solenoid.
------------------ '87 GT in process, including GA / Seville brakes, Poly Suspension, '95 3800 Series 1 SC ( 225 hp ) 4t60e.
Anyway, back to the car. I bought this car with a hood scoop already built in; the previous owner did a good job, but sitting at the yard for a prolonged period of time caused the reinforcement bar along the trailing edge to come away from the skin. I didn't want to remove and replace, so instead I used a syringe to inject resin between the two disbonded parts and clamped them together. We do this on our aircraft with disbonded skins from honeycomb structure. When cured, I'll sand smooth and apply body filler as needed; good as new!
Ok...I'm jealous! That is one of my next big purchases, but it'll have to wait since I know I won't be able to get one without paying a fortune! Congratulations!
