Dan's Build

Finally stopped raining for a few hours a got old red out for a shift test. I can say I found the shifter 90% easier to find first, so Im declaring victory. I could play with the heim a bit, but it’s not worth it so for those who want to explore the original shifter, take a look at the two things I did.

Next on the docket is back to perfecting my tuning knowledge. I’m intrigued by the different answers I get to the same question from various sources.
 

Joel K

Supporter
Finally stopped raining for a few hours a got old red out for a shift test. I can say I found the shifter 90% easier to find first, so Im declaring victory. I could play with the heim a bit, but it’s not worth it so for those who want to explore the original shifter, take a look at the two things I did.

Next on the docket is back to perfecting my tuning knowledge. I’m intrigued by the different answers I get to the same question from various sources.

Congrats on your progress Dan, glad to see it was not a major trans issue. Keep up the good work!
 
Congrats Dan, bet you're stoked! Interested to hear about how it goes with learning tuning, think you've inspired me to get the cable and tinker a little in the future.
 
Del

I must admit that even with the assist of a tuning course coupled with support from the school house, there are an unbelievable number of interdependencies that continue to be a puzzle. I keep reviewing the books and then investigate the tune file in conjunction with the recorded run file to see the actual impacts of recommended changes.

I was surprised at the few number of tables actually manipulated in a tune suggested by the school, versus the number of tables and values changed by each of the 3 tunes I originally paid to have done. Trying to understand why one tuners thoughts differed from another suggests to me there is more than one way to skin this cat. I can see the eventuality of self learning tunes (AI) perhaps becoming very common place soon.

Guess I’ll just keep plugging along at my own pace and perhaps one day I’ll have a major break thru.........
 
I see a lot of great new ideas by this latest group of builders. If only I had the advantage of seeing your ideas before I completed mine.

Anyway, I want to share with you some issues I have discovered in the fiberglass body. I spent hours sanding, blocking, and prepping the car for paint. Now I know fiberglass is somewhat flexible, but gel coat is less forgiving. When the gel coat cracks, you will find spider cracks in your paint. I thought for sure I had reinforced all the potential areas for cracks, but I missed one that is so obvious I'm not sure how it got passed me.

As you work on the engine bonnet, pay close attention to the tail section that the sits on the two pins of the main body. Its very thin and needs additional support. The tail actually sits (mine anyway) on the two "ridges" of the pins so a lot of stress hits those two points. Well it flexes there and caused some spider cracks. I am too anal to let it be, so I added additional support to this area so the flexing is reinforced over a larger area. Now you may have a better idea on how to do this, aka foam, more glass etc, but however you do it, it needs it. I added aluminum gussets and thickened the glass a bit.

I also got some spider cracks in the curve that heads upward toward the gas cap filler in that curve next to the door. I wanted to use some aluminum reinforcement but spacing there to the main body in so tight, I couldn't so I added a few more layers of glass. Probably won't work long term but I had to do something.

The body lacks the same precision of the frame and CNC'd parts so pay close attention to things like air pockets and areas that are just too thin. If you plan to paint, it will pay dividends now to fix the glass and gel. If your wrapping, probably not as big an issue.

Just sharing with you what I've discovered after nearly a year and a whopping 500 miles (no I don't drive it much, but nearly 1500 trailer miles...so give me some credit).

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May I ask what undercoat did you use for your nose/tail? I have that on my to do list, find something more of solid black to apply over what's on there. Only for appearance when they are opened, seems some what easy to do as well.

I do have a random suggestion for yours, maybe paint the rotor hats so they blend in with the gloss black wheels? I was shocked how well they blend in after some paint on mine.
 
I used a product called RAPTOR. It’s a Bedliner material, easily applies with brush or spray. What I really like about it is you can have a paint shop color match it to whatever color you want. I matched my red and applied it in areas such as the front wheel wells for impact protection. You really have to look hard to even notice. You should check it out.

I never noticed the hats until your suggestion. Thanks.
 
I used a product called RAPTOR. It’s a Bedliner material, easily applies with brush or spray. What I really like about it is you can have a paint shop color match it to whatever color you want. I matched my red and applied it in areas such as the front wheel wells for impact protection. You really have to look hard to even notice. You should check it out.

I never noticed the hats until your suggestion. Thanks.

Oh wow, the fender fender wells are color matched with it! That's a heck of an idea too. Thanks, I know what I'll be doing soon here in the future!

Sorry, once I noticed it bugged me. But other of removing them, they are very easy to tape and paint.
 
Looks great Dan - epoxy floors? I’m in the process of working on my garage as well - well, I’m paying a pro to do the heavy lifting this time around. Poor guy’s been mudding the last 2 days and still has at least 1 more to go before he can texture.
 

Joel K

Supporter
Nice digs Dan, how far away have you moved? If I ever get to travel again on business I‘d like to visit and see your finished car.
 
It was a great car show to support our community first responders. The car won best in show honors. Actually met two people who actually knew what it was. It was a Ferrari, Bugatti, McClaren, Lamborghini.

Hot day but fun to get out for a change. Thanks Cam.
 
Necessity is the mother of invention. I wanted hinges for the nose, so I finally just built my own.

In the process of mounting, it was critical to ensure the hinges were truly parallel and perpendicular to allow unrestricted hinge operation. We needed to ensure perfect shimming to the fiberglass body. Rather than spend a ton of time measuring and finding precise shims to fit, we took sandwich bags and put panel bond inside the bag. We then placed the filled bag between the hinge mounts and the body ensuring precise alignment and put some pressure to allow a nominal amount of panel bond to fill the space we wanted to create a perfect shim. See the picture of the four black goofy looking things. Once trimmed and mounted, they disappeared from sight.

For now the hinges are polished billet. They may get powder coated later if I decide I don't like the look.

This may work for other applications as well.
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Joel K

Supporter
Very nice work Dan, at some point if you could share a template I would really appreciate since I’d like to make something similar.
 
Warning: To the builders planning to paint, investigate the tops of your doors, just below the window where the door handle are. Mine were very very thin and early blocking failed. I had to go back in (yes after painting, too wavy) and add additional stiffening and yes, repaint the doors. I added two rows of half round molding then covered with fiberglass. It really strengthened that part of the door. Wish I had thought of it the first time.

Here is the new hinges in full operation. I tried in vain to use an adjustable hood prop, but not being able to see under the hood with it down, I was unable to locate the correct hole mount locations. I gave up and have mounted an adjustable hood prop inside the compartment to hold the hood up. I don't frequent this area often anyway. My rationale to not pursing mounted props.

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