THAT'S MY STORY AND I'M STICKING TO IT

No this is not my car, but just a vision of what might someday be.




I have observed that for those who have taken on a project like building a car, frequently things happen that derail the work for a while.  Some lose their job or become ill.  Others move to a new home or lose their space to build.  Life happens to all of us and it seems that I am no exception.
In my case it was a triple whammy.  The first is here:

Yes, a motorcycle happened to me.

Next I was infected with the fly fishing virus.  Experts say it may be terminal.



And if all that wasn't bad enough, last February we sold our home and moved into this:



And so in the last year and a half, I have met several hundred delightful little fish, and Brenda and I have had to visit nearly 20 states plus Canada, putting over 22k miles on the bike and motorhome.  Who can build with all that going on?

Ok, finished with excuses.
Some progress has been made.

After engine start it was time to fit the body to the chassis.   I think the body went on 15-20 times for trimming and testing before it was right.  The body fastens at the rear through the taillights.



Then it was the hood.
Here it is suspended in place so it could be marked for cutting.





























































The driver's door was next.  What looked like a 3 or 4 hour task, turned into 20.


The door frame fit and adjusted until it latched correctly.  Or so I thought.



Finally here is the door mounted to the frame.   Probably took 100 times fitting, cutting, refitting, adjusting............



The gaps around the door are close enough for now.  They will get a final trim during paint prep.



With what I learned from this door there's hope the passenger door will take half the time.  So that's it for now.  My goal now is to make sure the next update doesn't take a year and a half.

TOOK ITS FIRST BREATH TODAY

This will be a short but (believe me) sweet update.

This morning with only 6 small items on the pre startup checklist I went to work and by noon the engine fired up.  What I should have done on the first start was carefully monitor the oil pressure, running the engine until it was fully lubricated.  Instead I was so amazed that it worked I just shut it off and walked away.  In subsequent startings, all of the gauges, dash lights, and turn signals were tested.  They all worked too.  No one more amazed than me.

March/April Update

Okay so it doesn't look like the engine will be starting this month but there is some progress to report.

I was not happy with the dash endcaps.  They left large gaps exposing the framework of the car.  Since I want the interior to be a step up from race car standards, this had to be changed.

Before:

 After:

This will all be covered with a carbon fiber-looking vinyl, as you will see below.
The gaps will also be filled with some rubber edge moldings 

Next was the center console of the dash.  After fitting, trimming and mounting, I cut out the openings for switches and heater controls.

Here it is with the vinyl covering. 

The blank area on the lower right face of the console is reserved for a backup camera screen.  This car was not designed with rear visibility as a high priority.
Also notice the center tunnel cover is mounted in place and there is a shifter!

(Two weeks later.)
And now let's move into the April portion of this blog update.
 The dash instruments are installed and almost completely wired.  I need a right turn indicator light before I can finish up the dash wiring.

The 2 buttons on the left are for the turn signals.  Push a button and the turn signal will blink for a set time and turn off.

It's not the neatly organized wiring job I had in mind but the connections are soldered and heat shrink-wrapped so they should be durable.

Now to another challenge.  The crankshaft vent on the left side head has no place to connect to the intake.  The factory air intake box has a fitting molded in to connect to but since I'm using a polished aluminum air intake, a new solution was called for.  So over to the machine shop to make a new fitting.  The plastic one below was cut out of the factory air box.

I cut a hole in the rubber adapter with my die grinder.  Not perfectly round but it's rubber and flexed to fit.

Installed with a little silicone.

And here is the finished product.  I heated the hose and bent it to fit in the new location.

The checklist for engine startup is getting very short!  But I'm not saying when it will happen because the elements will combine again against me.

February Update

Made quite a bit of progress this month starting with making a battery tray and mounting it into the car.

The kit calls for the battery to be placed under the floor of the trunk area but I like it up front better.  The front of the car could use a little more of the weight plus it is mounted much lower where I put it.

First step was to machine a cross bar to fit between the frame rails.

Next I took a piece of 5/8 aluminum plate that was laying around the shop and made the battery tray.

Here you can see the rear clamp holding the battery firmly onto the tray.

Easy to access, very secure, and the weight better placed.

That was a bit of work but it saved me from having to fabricate an access panel in the floor of the trunk area.   Speaking of which the trunk floor and sides are riveted in place!

Next I mounted the computer over the passenger footbox.  I'm not entirely pleased with this location but my choices were limited by the heater/AC unit which is located just above and behind it.
Going with a modern computer controlled engine means a couple hundred times more wire.

Another first for me was learning how to make braided steel fuel lines.

Center of the photo is the fuel pressure regulator located right behind the engine.

It's getting crowded in there.  My original vision of a clean uncluttered engine bay is fading.

And we now have a radiator!

So here is how it looks at the moment.

A long way to go but it is looking more like a car all the time.

Goal for March is engine startup.

JANUARY 2015 UPDATE

After a long time without much getting done, I might be on a roll again.

I think I'll just show a bunch of pictures this time with some explanations as needed.

Installing the heater/AC unit, I discovered that it interfered with the firewall so some more sheet metal work was called for.  Here is the firewall cut out in the offending area.

Next step was to make a poster board pattern.

Plenty of clearance!

Trace it onto the aluminum plate.

Cut it out on the shear.

Bend

Installed!

Now on to wiring.

 Fuse panel above the drivers feet.

The rear wiring for lights, fuel pump and fuel level is in place.

 Had to fabricate a bracket to hold the fuel filter. Top left of photo. 

 DASHBOARD!

Its really exciting to work on stuff that really shows progress.

Cutting holes for the heating/AC vents.

So nice to have a CNC mill next door.

Drilling rivet holes for tabs to attach the top dash cover.

Temporarily mounted in place.  Ready to cover and mount the instruments.

LONG OVERDUE PROGRESS REPORT

It has been 3 months since I recorded the progress on the car due to the fact that the summer has kept me hopping with other things.  However progress has been made, so here are a few of the high points:

This engine is much wider than the chassis was designed for and a few changes had to be made.

On test fitting the engine the valve cover was hitting the passenger footbox.

Cutting the interfering section out.

 I picked up this little sheet metal shear/brake/roll off of craigslist and it works great.

New piece cut bent and fitted.

The inside section of the driver side footbox had to be redesigned and new pieces fabricated.

Lots of room?

Actually it is better than it looks.  Nearly 1/2" of clearance.

I will have to modify the oil dipstick just a bit to make it easier to get in and out.

 The drive by wire throttle was installed by fabricating a bracket that mounts it much higher than the cable throttle used by older engines.

Another potential problem I found was the original mount bushings for the steering rack put the rubber boots so near the frame uprights that they rubbed and surely would be eventually damaged.  I turned some Delrin plastic replacements that moved the rack out about an 1/8" and down about 1/4"

and now the BIG news!

The engine and transmission are installed.

Easy with a forklift.

One of the nagging questions has been whether the headers made by Stainless Steel Headers Inc. would fit.  They were designed to work for the roadster and had never been tried in a coupe.

Well they just fit fine!  The headers in the picture are not the ones I will install but were sent to me for test fitting purposes.  Tomorrow I will send these back and they can start on my set.  My headers will merge into a 3" pipe instead of exiting with the 4 pipes the roadster uses.