IowaBen's MK4 #9018 Build

[IowaBen]

Time to start a build thread. Picked up my complete kit in January, but had to let it sit for a bit. Pulled the body off last week and removed aluminum panels. Ready to start adding parts this weekend!

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[Straversi]

Congratulations and welcome. Your helpers look pretty excited. With boys that age your build will probably have a few starts and stops but you are in for some great experiences. Let me guess, black with gold stripes? Hawkeye colors?

-Steve

[GoDadGo]

You're Going To Have A Ton Of Fun Building Your Car With With Your Boys!

Just don't get frustrated if they don't share your enthusiasm all of the time.

Steve

[BCrouse]

I'll be following along. I received my complete kit in July but haven't got a good start yet, Hopefully in the next couple weeks.
Sounds like you should have plenty of little helpers, enjoy the build! Where in Iowa are you? I'm in Oskaloosa.

Bob

[JRL16]

Welcome to the fun. Enjoy the adventure.

[Jazzman]

I am amazed that you could wait 8 months to remove the body and aluminum panels! I hope you have a world of fun. I envy you and your boys doing this project together. You, and they, will never forget it!! We will all enjoy the journey with you. I will look forward to reading your thread!

[Vspeeds]

Looks like you're going to have a fun build with your family. Congratulations on starting.

[IowaBen]

Congratulations and welcome. Your helpers look pretty excited. With boys that age your build will probably have a few starts and stops but you are in for some great experiences. Let me guess, black with gold stripes? Hawkeye colors?

-Steve

Can't go wrong with Hawkeye colors. Haven't landed on a color - could pretty much be talked into anything at this point, and I'm dreading it a little (1st world problems). I'll probably just defer to the wife ... probably.

[srobinsonx2]

Very cool. Good to see your boys involved.

Where are you in Iowa? I lived in Iowa for about 3 years. I was in Charles City, just east of Mason City. I am now back down south. Took me a couple of years to thaw out but I am all warmed up now ;)

Good luck and I will be following along.

[IowaBen]

I'll be following along. I received my complete kit in July but haven't got a good start yet, Hopefully in the next couple weeks.
Sounds like you should have plenty of little helpers, enjoy the build! Where in Iowa are you? I'm in Oskaloosa.

Bob

I'm in Muscatine - glad to hear there is another build in process close by. Several complete and a few in process in the Quad Cities - glad there are some close incase I need to scout something out, though I'm sure all the info I need is on this forum.

[IowaBen]

Catching up on progress from the last couple weeks:

Boys helped pull off the doors and trunk lid. Realized at this point that I will be able to build this car without lifting a tool.
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Daughter helping with the body buck
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The body is off!
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Given that I expect this to be a long term project, I wanted to get the body up out of the way to keep the workspace less claustrophobic. Added shelves for parts and the aluminum panels. Probably could have hung it from the ceiling, but I'm glad I don't have to wonder every time I open the garage door whether I'm going to find that the body had fallen - that would be my luck :/
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[IowaBen]

Removing aluminum panels with my 2 boys plus a nephew. This is what you get when you've explained "lefty loosey" way too many times:
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Down to the frame. Time to start adding parts!
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[IowaBen]

Dad working on laying out the first few panels. Just holding in place with clecos for now. Will wait to rivet as long as possible.
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I guess some sort of amendment to the rules of shotgun have been worked out with his brother
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Attached the f-panels
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So, "issues" encountered to this point:

1) The f-panels were installed at factory five with sheet metal screws. I marked where the parts overlap the frame for rivet placement. I noticed that the upper/diagonal tube was only half overlapped by the f-panel - not leaving much room for a rivet to be installed without being very close to the edge. I needed to slide the f-panels forward about 1/4" or more to get the front edge of the f-panel flush with the diagonal tube. In doing so, the top corner of the f-panel now overlapped a weld seam, and that corner of the f-panel would have a bump out in it. I ended up just trimming the f-panel so it was short of the weld seam. Hoping that shift doesn't somehow come back to burn me somehow.

2) I'm planning to sharkhide any panel not exposed to the road, and undercoat/bedliner the exposed panels. Of course the F-panels are a combination. The basic undercoating spray I got gave me the impression that it was going to be thick and rubbery. I expected coating before riveting would be problematic. I posted a separate question, and ended up with the overall plan to use brush on undercoating after the parts are installed. However, I had a spare can of spray on bedliner that I wanted to try for just these panels (knowing I'll still undercoat over them later). Long story short, it was a bit of a fiasco with armature hour trials and errors (overspray getting on my sharkhided side for example). I installed the panel after I got the finish of both sides complete after plenty of rework. I dinged the panel with my rivet gun almost immediately, and I'm glad I'm not going that route. That said, I'm sure there are right ways to do it, and I now know that any painting will be left to someone who knows what they are doing:)

[Papa]

Looking good! Do yourself a favor and remove the panhard bar frame mount as well, so you don't do what I did when I installed my rear end under the cross brace. :o

[IowaBen]

Worked on the front suspension here and there over labor day weekend.

Several minor headaches encountered. Had big plans to crank through the front end suspension, but got hung up on spacing for the lower control arms as well as several hardware issues -damaged threads on a few critical items to keep thing moving forward (of course). Also a few tool shortages. Did find that Autozone has the tools needed for the hub nut though.

Anyways, one issue being trying to get the last upper control arm bolt torqued down. Had a hard time getting a wrench on the nut, and ended up grinding down one of my old wrenches to get better engagement. That ended up working.
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After all said and done, I got the PS complete. Will need to go through and tighten everything down now. On the DS, I thought I just need a replacement castle nut to finish that side off, but found that there is a hole in the lower ball joint boot that I'll need to figure out how do deal with first.
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Glad to have some parts on the car. Has gone a bit slower than expected (as I try to get a feel for things, and make sure I don't screw anything up) with a few more hassles than I would have expected for what I'm sure are the more straight forward pieces. But, we are getting through them, and I'm still really enjoying it.

I have appreciated being able to read up on a few things to look out for on the forum so I don't have to repeat at least some of the challenges, although at the same time I know I'll look back at some of my questions I've had already and roll my eyes at myself.

Onward - one part at a time.

[IowaBen]

Looking good! Do yourself a favor and remove the panhard bar frame mount as well, so you don't do what I did when I installed my rear end under the cross brace. :o

Thanks! Starting to lay out parts for the rear end as the next area to work on. I'll be sure to do that first.

[manycars]

Looks like you are making great progress! Thanks for sharing your build.

[GKindle]

Looks like you are making great progress. Thanks for sharing this Build Thread. I am scheduled to pick my kit up at the factory on Sept. 16. I am looking forward to getting started.

[WIS89]

Ben-

Off to a good start. Cool to see the kids getting involved in helping out. I like the go-fast hair cuts on the boys -- at least that's what we called them in my house!

Don't worry about the few hiccups you have encountered. We all have them at some point in the build, and most can be resolved with a bit of effort. Sometimes, just a bit of time away to rethink the problem can help. Of course, there are some awesome folks here on the forum to help. I have always been amazed at just how terrific the folks here are, and how great they are at helping folks move past their challenges!

Good luck moving forward. I look forward to watching your progress!

Regards,

Steve

[Yama-Bro]

Looking good, man! How did you get the body up on top your buck? Multiple ladders?

[IowaBen]

Looking good, man! How did you get the body up on top your buck? Multiple ladders?

Built the body buck per the manual. Added 2' 4x4 posts in each corner. Put the body on the buck.

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Then, the plan was to use one person per post to lift the car, and another to place a 5' 4x4 under each post (with tie brackets). We ended up lifting the car up, then angling the car at about a 45 degree angle to attach the 2 rear posts, and then raised the front end to add those posts. Shelving and bracing added after moved into position. Pretty sturdy now, and I'm glad to have the shelving.

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[IowaBen]

Waiting on a few parts issues (found ball joint boot had a tear in it; had 3 RH and 1 LH rod end instead of 2 of each), so work has been a little scattered.

Started to prep the rear end. Picked up a refurbished rear end with disc brakes from Forte's when I picked up my kit.

Needed to be painted. Forgot to get a "before" pic, so below was a mid paint pic. Used POR15 black paint.

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Here is the painted version with the brackets attached. After painting I figured out that I probably should have cut off the unused shock mounts, so I did that and will touch up the paint. I also have an alternate diff cover (aluminum that is finned and has drain/fill ports) that I'll use instead of the chrome one.

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Primary issue I encountered was the fit of the bracket for the upper link to the axle shaft. The inside radius of the welded assembly did not match the outer radius of the axle shaft, and there would definitely be no tightening it down to snug it up. So, I took to the angle grinder to open up the bracket and get the fit closer. Below is a before picture of the gap.
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Lastly, I stumbled upon some video showing a guy using a syringe to fill in some etching with paint. Since I will probably just use sharkhide on these control arms, I decided to give it a try here. A little time killer for one evening this week.
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Hoping some parts show up and I can wrap up what I've started this weekend.

Oh, also on my list to verify what I need to consider doing for potential brake upgrades. Will be scouring the forum as I get the impression there is room for improvement when using what the kit provides. Want to figure out what plan B is before I get to far, partially so I can decide whether to get it out of the way now.

-Ben

[wareaglescott]

That syringe paint method looks sharp! Never would have thought of that. Did you thin the paint at all?

[IowaBen]

That syringe paint method looks sharp! Never would have thought of that. Did you thin the paint at all?

No, but that would have helped