SCFFR
06-27-2013, 04:49 AM
Have been making good progress since getting the body back from the painter. Rear end of the car is finished except for installing the license plate light which I have modified per Jeff Kleiner so the plate will clear the trunk handle. I did splurge for a halon fire extinguisher which I hope I will never have to use. I installed a Moroso heavy duty battery cut off switch which turn out to be extremely helpful whenever I wanted to connect the battery to test my wiring. I also built a partition that fits across the two rear roll bar sleeves. It helped to clean up the trunk and provides a bit of storage space.
Spent Sunday getting the windshield installed, adjusted and tightened down. I had gotten my MkIV base kit without any body cutouts so I had made the openings for the windshield post too wide such that the screw that holds the cover plate had nothing to grip. I fixed this during the body work phase so no harm, no foul. The windshield fit great (no gap between the rubber seal and the cowl) until I tightened the bolts holding the arms to the chassis (1/4" gap) which meant I was putting stress on the frame. I finally fixed this by putting some washers between the arms and chassis brackets. Since I had bent the arms to fit snug against the frame, I didn't think I would need any shims. Regardless, windshield is firmly in place and I didn't crack the glass. Wasn't really concerned about angle since I'm not using any type of top. I think the angle came out somewhere around 48 degrees but most importantly, sitting in the seat, I am looking through the middle of the windshield glass and not staring at the top of the frame.
With the windshield installed, I was able to work on the doors. Finished the passenger door today. I had spent tons of time working on the door gaps when I was test fitting the body. I think the work paid off since I am real pleased with the consistent gaps I now have. I had also taken the suggestion of a member and drilled two small holes in the hinges and into the doors once they were finally adjusted in the fitting phase. When I installed the door today, I took a couple short pieces of wire and pushed them in the holes and moved the door around until the wire went through the door. This got the door lined up within 95% of the final adjustment. Definitely worth the effort. Finally, put on the door panel (from Herb) which fit perfectly. As the pic shows, I had modified my door frame so I could use the whole latch assembly instead of discarding the plate per the manual.
Picked up the hood hinges and the panels that surround the radiator from the powder coater a few days ago. As you can see in the pics, I've located the inlets for the vents (from PaulProe) in the side panels. Since I'm also using the radiator shroud from Mark Reynolds, air going in the front will be directed either through the radiator or into the vents. The powder coater slightly messed up the top edge of the lower radiator panel (the hooks left some deep lines in the coating). He said he would do them again but that would mean another 150 mile round trip to pick it up so I decided to take them and would try to fix the problem. I took a piece of 1/8" x 1" flat aluminum stock and drilled it to match the panel. I then sanded it with 600, 1500 and 2500 grit paper and used some polishing compound and brightened it up. As it turns out, it really adds a little more strength to the panel so in the end, I'm happy with how it turned out.
Plan on getting the hood installed and adjusted this weekend if I can get wrangle a few helpers to hold it in place.
Ron
1917219173191741917519176
Spent Sunday getting the windshield installed, adjusted and tightened down. I had gotten my MkIV base kit without any body cutouts so I had made the openings for the windshield post too wide such that the screw that holds the cover plate had nothing to grip. I fixed this during the body work phase so no harm, no foul. The windshield fit great (no gap between the rubber seal and the cowl) until I tightened the bolts holding the arms to the chassis (1/4" gap) which meant I was putting stress on the frame. I finally fixed this by putting some washers between the arms and chassis brackets. Since I had bent the arms to fit snug against the frame, I didn't think I would need any shims. Regardless, windshield is firmly in place and I didn't crack the glass. Wasn't really concerned about angle since I'm not using any type of top. I think the angle came out somewhere around 48 degrees but most importantly, sitting in the seat, I am looking through the middle of the windshield glass and not staring at the top of the frame.
With the windshield installed, I was able to work on the doors. Finished the passenger door today. I had spent tons of time working on the door gaps when I was test fitting the body. I think the work paid off since I am real pleased with the consistent gaps I now have. I had also taken the suggestion of a member and drilled two small holes in the hinges and into the doors once they were finally adjusted in the fitting phase. When I installed the door today, I took a couple short pieces of wire and pushed them in the holes and moved the door around until the wire went through the door. This got the door lined up within 95% of the final adjustment. Definitely worth the effort. Finally, put on the door panel (from Herb) which fit perfectly. As the pic shows, I had modified my door frame so I could use the whole latch assembly instead of discarding the plate per the manual.
Picked up the hood hinges and the panels that surround the radiator from the powder coater a few days ago. As you can see in the pics, I've located the inlets for the vents (from PaulProe) in the side panels. Since I'm also using the radiator shroud from Mark Reynolds, air going in the front will be directed either through the radiator or into the vents. The powder coater slightly messed up the top edge of the lower radiator panel (the hooks left some deep lines in the coating). He said he would do them again but that would mean another 150 mile round trip to pick it up so I decided to take them and would try to fix the problem. I took a piece of 1/8" x 1" flat aluminum stock and drilled it to match the panel. I then sanded it with 600, 1500 and 2500 grit paper and used some polishing compound and brightened it up. As it turns out, it really adds a little more strength to the panel so in the end, I'm happy with how it turned out.
Plan on getting the hood installed and adjusted this weekend if I can get wrangle a few helpers to hold it in place.
Ron
1917219173191741917519176