I trimmed the edge of the vent mold and did a little repair work on it today. It was just a tiny area that needed to be built up a little. I'll be able to finish sanding the repair spot tomorrow. I also received some new supplies today (gel coat, etc) so I can hopefully make the finish part tomorrow.
While waiting for the repair to set, I took some time to start construction of the hood frame. The frame (covered with fiberglass) will make up the flat surface that the trunk seal will push against. Once built, I will cut the edge of the trunk down to the correct height. The hard part is that the frame needs to stay flat, yet the hood itself has wild angles on it. There will be a couple of areas where the frame will be more than an inch away from the hood itself. I'll need to make sure the hood is properly supported all around and tied to the flat frame.
I finished the basic hood framing. The replacement hood hinge should be delivered tomorrow, so hopefully I can get the trunk lip cut down and the frame attached to the hinges.
Small catastrophe. The gelcoat didn't set-up for some reason (I was using a clear gelcoat). Once the mold was removed from the part, much of the surface fiberglass fibers remained exposed. I should be able to save the part, but it'll take more effort to get a nice finish.
I finished welding the backside of the hood frame. I also had to deal with a small warpage, though not unexpected. This appears to have been a result of the plate that was welded on to support the hood latch. Once the frame is fiberglassed to the hood, I'll have to go back to and confirm the fit anyway.
I also drilled the necessary holes in the frame, and secured bonding fasteners to the hood (using 3M panel adhesive). Once the adhesive has properly cured, I'll bolt the frame to the hood and add shims to ensure the hood is properly lined up. At this point, the frame will get glassed to the hood.
Still working on the hood. Lots of work to be done there. I trimmed the edge of the fiberglass hood panel. All the panels came with a lip that is about 1" thick. Obviously regular body panels don't normally have any kind of a lip, so I'll need to emulate that as best as I can. I started by just cutting it down with the grinder, but eventually I'll use hand tools to get a nice edge. I had to trim the corner hood vent openings just a little so that so that the corners of the hood don't rub against the fenders as the hood is opened. I also added another cross beam to the hood framing. This one is specifically in place to raise the level of the hood near the windshield. Without it, the hood lays flush on the fiberglass panel below it, which obviously looks odd and would damage the paint there. The first pic shows the edge of the hood raised across the windshield line and the second pic shows the support beam in place to get it at the right level.
I finally got the hood frame glassed. I made the mistake of using that slow cure resin that I mentioned earlier. Big mistake. It would not saturate the mat at all, instead just ended up as one big air bubble. I switched to a different resin (still polyester), and was much happier with the usability. Much easier to wet the fiberglass, and it actually conformed to the surface properly.
I gave the hood a light layer of Bondo and have sanded most of it down. A little bit more work and it will have a nice finish.
However...it left me wondering...I wasn't planning on painting this anytime soon, but I wonder if I should prime & paint it to stop the Bondo from absorbing any moisture in the air? The downside is that I don't own a compressor or spray equipment at the moment. That would leave me with only being able to do a rattle-can application. I worry that this would be detrimental to the finish when I come paint it properly down the line. Anyone know what I should do at this point?
Slow progress...very very slow progress....another thin layer of Bondo, and lots of sanding. Getting much closer to where I want it, but there are still lots of little imperfections that need filling. I'll probably be at this for at least another week... ...all for something that few people will ever see.
Slow progress...very very slow progress....another thin layer of Bondo, and lots of sanding. Getting much closer to where I want it, but there are still lots of little imperfections that need filling. I'll probably be at this for at least another week... ...all for something that few people will ever see.
You do good work and have alot of patience. What music are you listening to while you work?
Also yes I hope this car comes to a show where I can see it
[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 01-22-2016).]
It's neat to see the progress on this. I hope we are all (forum and members) still here to see it finished some day .
I hope I'm still here to see it to!
quote
Originally posted by 2.5:
You do good work and have alot of patience. What music are you listening to while you work?
Also yes I hope this car comes to a show where I can see it
Thank you! Mostly nothing...but when I do put the tunes on, it's usually something metal.
I hope to get the quality to a point where I can bring it shows!!! Bodywork definitely takes me longer than many people. I get scared that it'll get sloppy if I don't slow myself down and take the extra time.
I gave the hood a light layer of Bondo and have sanded most of it down. A little bit more work and it will have a nice finish.
However...it left me wondering...I wasn't planning on painting this anytime soon, but I wonder if I should prime & paint it to stop the Bondo from absorbing any moisture in the air? The downside is that I don't own a compressor or spray equipment at the moment. That would leave me with only being able to do a rattle-can application. I worry that this would be detrimental to the finish when I come paint it properly down the line. Anyone know what I should do at this point?
Don't rattle can it, go get a cheap cup gun from harbor freight and go to a automotive store and get a quart of Mar-Hyde High build primer. Mix it with the hardener and reduce it with some acetone. Spray it on and don't sand it this will seal it till your ready to sand it later on. Plus will fill in all your pin holes in the mud. Farther down the road when your ready to sand it all dust some black spray bomb on it to give you a guide coat to see where you have sanded and what needs more. it will also make pin holes stick out and low spots. 30 bucks now will save you much more in the future trying to get crap enamel off from spray can.
Originally posted by jetsnvettes2000: Don't rattle can it, go get a cheap cup gun from harbor freight and go to a automotive store and get a quart of Mar-Hyde High build primer. Mix it with the hardener and reduce it with some acetone. Spray it on and don't sand it this will seal it till your ready to sand it later on. Plus will fill in all your pin holes in the mud. Farther down the road when your ready to sand it all dust some black spray bomb on it to give you a guide coat to see where you have sanded and what needs more. it will also make pin holes stick out and low spots. 30 bucks now will save you much more in the future trying to get crap enamel off from spray can.
"Cheap cup gun"....correct me if I'm wrong, but you're talking about an air sprayer and don't own a compressor at the moment. If I were going that route, I'd rather go all out and buy the full size compressor and all necessary spray equipment (...of course currently I don't have 220V in my garage, nor do I have the room for it until I do some major cleaning). Another choice is to use the Eastwood 2K system that comes in an aerosol can (2 internal compartments...single use once activated) which would probably come out to a similar cost to everything that you'd mentioned. I had this discussion in the General Fiero Chat section - How Long Before Bondo Needs to be Painted? plus some off line discussions. As metal is not a consideration here, it was agreed that either a cheap coat of rattle can spray or nothing at all would be the best option (the garage is weather protected and low humidity).
"Cheap cup gun"....correct me if I'm wrong, but you're talking about an air sprayer and don't own a compressor at the moment. If I were going that route, I'd rather go all out and buy the full size compressor and all necessary spray equipment (...of course currently I don't have 220V in my garage, nor do I have the room for it until I do some major cleaning). Another choice is to use the Eastwood 2K system that comes in an aerosol can (2 internal compartments...single use once activated) which would probably come out to a similar cost to everything that you'd mentioned. I had this discussion in the General Fiero Chat section - How Long Before Bondo Needs to be Painted? plus some off line discussions. As metal is not a consideration here, it was agreed that either a cheap coat of rattle can spray or nothing at all would be the best option (the garage is weather protected and low humidity).
you can roll it on too if you have no way to spray it. You will be sanding off 90 percent of it anyway so go for it! just make sure your using something with a catalyst. one other option is a prevale spray container, basically a aerosol sprayer with a glass jar that screws on you would have to reduce it a bit more with acetone but just spray more coats and will work out fine. any hardware store has them for about 5 bucks. Far as sealing the bondo I would do it as soon as possible with all the welding cutting and grinding and fiberglas your doing. "Mud" is porous and will take in contaminates like the sodium and silicates from the welding.
[This message has been edited by jetsnvettes2000 (edited 01-24-2016).]
Originally posted by jetsnvettes2000: you can roll it on too if you have no way to spray it. You will be sanding off 90 percent of it anyway so go for it! just make sure your using something with a catalyst. one other option is a prevale spray container, basically a aerosol sprayer with a glass jar that screws on you would have to reduce it a bit more with acetone but just spray more coats and will work out fine. any hardware store has them for about 5 bucks. Far as sealing the bondo I would do it as soon as possible with all the welding cutting and grinding and fiberglas your doing. "Mud" is porous and will take in contaminates like the sodium and silicates from the welding.
Good point about the contaminates from the welding. That is something I never considered. Having said that...it'll be a while before I do any more welding / cutting / grinding...I'm sure I'll be filling and sanding this hood for weeks to come...
It's been a week since I posted. Very little progress, but I finally got most of the imperfections out of the hood and got a little paint on it to protect it. The paint will all come off later when I'm ready to paint the whole car properly. I'll tackle any last imperfections then.
<jealous> ( With our weather, the only thing I got to do was hang new lights in the garage. Now I can see how much work I need to do.
Looks great, Neil. Just a thought as I was looking at your pic, Would plasti-dip have worked as a temporary seal, yet still peel off relatively easily?
<jealous> ( With our weather, the only thing I got to do was hang new lights in the garage. Now I can see how much work I need to do.
Looks great, Neil. Just a thought as I was looking at your pic, Would plasti-dip have worked as a temporary seal, yet still peel off relatively easily?
Bob
Thanks Bob. That's a good question!? I've never used plasti-dip. How fine would I have to sand to ensure it doesn't stick too much? Maybe someone has tried it.
Now that the hood is put aside for a while, I turned my attention back to some metalwork under the hood. The first thing to be done is to create a new structure that will protect the headlights. I removed the remains of the Fiero headlight protective shield (1st pic) and have started to fabricate my own to cover the larger area. The height of the plate needs to be low enough to account for the size of the headlight housing, but not interfere with the front vent grills. The large opening visible in the 2nd pic will be built up to funnel air up to the small side hood vents to ensure their isn't a pressure build up under the hood.
I have the passenger side headlight shielding completed now. The lower plate slopes forward and there is a drain slot on the forward edge. The rear inner corner vents up towards the rear (side) hood vent.
Got a little side tracked today. The tire pressure sensors that I've been waiting for (for almost two months!) finally showed up yesterday. My tires have been sitting at the tire place for more than a month waiting for me, so I finally got to take the rims in to get the tires installed.
Here's what the stock rims look like...
yuck...
Here's what the new rims/tires look like...
(of course this is with the car lowered so that there is the correct gap. The good news is that the rear tire lines up with the axle perfectly, so no body adjustments are required. The front tire is only about 1/4" off, which is will be easy to fix with a little adjustment to the front bumper. So I'm definitely happy with the alignment. Now that I have the rims/tires in place, I can make the measurements and order the widetrack suspension. The fronts will require a 4" width extension, and the rear will require a 3" width extension (per side, obviously). The front suspension will also require a drop of about 1 1/2", which isn't too bad. Now for the bad news....the rear requires a drop of 4" I'll call Arraut Motorsports tomorrow to discuss this with Richard.
As for those tiny brakes (10.75")...hmmm .....gotta go.... I'm guessing 13" as a minimum. There are a few options here, but I'll worry about them a bit later.
With your rear end needing a lowering of 4", how much ground clearance will you be left with for the floor pan and engine cradle etc.? When I did my 355 replica lowering, I ended up with about 3" ground clearance which was going to be a problem.... Might be worth a look under there to confirm.... You can move the strut tops outward with no real issues but your control arms will have a significant upward angle to them to get the car down 4".....
Cheers and keep up the great and entertaining work. Don
With your rear end needing a lowering of 4", how much ground clearance will you be left with for the floor pan and engine cradle etc.? When I did my 355 replica lowering, I ended up with about 3" ground clearance which was going to be a problem.... Might be worth a look under there to confirm.... You can move the strut tops outward with no real issues but your control arms will have a significant upward angle to them to get the car down 4".....
Cheers and keep up the great and entertaining work. Don
I'll have 5 inches of clearance all around, which is close to the stock Aventador. I will be actually raising the top of the strut mount (top of the tower) up by 2" and then using coilovers that have up to ~2.5" of adjustment (I'll only be adjusting them down about 1.5 - 2"). I've been very careful to make sure clearance isn't an issue anywhere under the car. The rear rims raise the back end by about 2".
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 02-05-2016).]
Looks good Neil. Did you think you left enough room in there for the OEM headlights or do you plan to make your own?
Yes...and maybe...lol. I'm still not sure about whether or not I'll be able to get the OEM headlights. Depends on the price and availability when I'm ready to tackle them. Probably a few years from now, so hopefully they are easier to get and cheaper than they are right now (right now, a used pair can easily cost $7K+ USD...that's over $10K CAD - Canadian dollars). I won't dismiss the option of creating my own headlights, but it'll be tough to duplicate OEM and make them look good. Of course, if I make them myself, that'll be a fraction of the price....
I am slowly moving my way from the front to the rear and replacing the areas of paneling that had been removed initially, such as the wheel wells. I'll also be closing up various areas to ensure everything has a finished look.
I secured the bottom part of the windshield frame (two brackets just back from the hood hinges) and started to fit the plates that will make up the forward part of the dash. The biggest issue that will need to be addressed is the cold air intake for the HVAC. As you can see in the pics, it is sitting in the middle of the dash...of course that needs to be bringing air in from outside the car. I plan on sealing the top of the intake opening and then cutting a new opening for the intake just to the side of the existing hole (on the driver's side forward of the console where it drops down). Then I'll create an air passage that will draw air in from just behind the brake master cylinder.
I took a look at the windshield wiper setup today. I wanted to get this figured out before I add anything else that would get in the way. Looks like I'll be able to use the Fiero setup, with some adjustments. The motor will be swapped over to the other side, the main linkage will be shortened and modified to fit around the windshield support, and lastly, I'll have to use much longer wiper blades. (...and of course it gets moved forward about 16"...) But, it'll still all fit and work, and save me trying to modify a setup from another car. I'll take pics once I get it put together.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 02-10-2016).]
I should be able to save the part, but it'll take more effort to get a nice finish. 
...all for something that few people will ever see. 
( With our weather, the only thing I got to do was hang new lights in the garage. Now I can see how much work I need to do. 
I'll call Arraut Motorsports tomorrow to discuss this with Richard.
