Smoking Joe #986

[Smoking Joe]

Start date 4-1-15 I'll start off by saying I'm young 78 year old (79 next month) going on 50. I work on the on the hot rod project 6 hours a day 6 day a week. After receiving the kit I was very disappointed with the fit and finish with the body and all other fiber glass parts. I Just wanted to send the it all back to FFR, but like my wife said Buck Up and just do it.
I have spent over a full year (I know I'm old and slow but not that slow just a perfectionist, I say when it's perfect it's good enough) on fitting the hood, side panels, doors & trunk to fit the body in order to get a 6 mil. gap all the way around every thing, all this would not be possible with out Tim Wittakers, KVC parts, Trunk Gas Strut kit w/Curved Steel Bars, Trunk Deck Panel Adjuster, Precision Delrin Bushing.
I set the hard top and the body and realized that the hard top must have a after though and could not be made to look like it belonged there (after seeing other builds I still believe I'm right) so I sold it and the hard top & power window to a guy in Canada.
Finishing, I used almost two gal. body filler (bondo) ,block sanded, applied two (2) coats of feather fill, block sanded, applied two coats of 2K urethane primer, sanded with 400, applied four (4) base coat, four coats clear polyurethane, color sanded with 1000, applied a thin base coat, and four (4) more clear polyurethane, color sanded with 2000, 3000, 5000 and buffed to a mirror finish. The paint finish looks so deep like you could reach in and touch it.
The base coat is PPG Deltron 2000 DBC the color is Rosso Corsa (Farrari red) code 322. The clear is PPG high solids polyurethane DUC 2002. I have about $5000.00 body finishing products.
Well try to post more on the engine, transmission, and chaise later

[Bob-STL]

Okay Joe, you caught my attention.

Let's see some pictures.

Bob

[AC Bill]

Yeah the body, and paint work part of the build, is certainly not for everyone. The bodies for all the models FFR makes, could be better...

Kudo's for hanging in there and finishing it yourself. Look forward to seeing it.

[JimLev]

Well, I certainly wasn't ready to read how poor fit this kit is.
DaveS53 has a link in my build thread that referenced Tim Wittakers suggestions and Some info on what was needed to make the body sit properly on the frame.
Body work is the one part I hate doing.
Good choice on the PPG Deltron 2000 DBC, that's what I used on my other car.

[Smoking Joe]

Sorry guys no pic's at this time as the body and parts are off the chasis and in storage I'll post pic's upon reassembly

[Smoking Joe]

With the 4L70E transmission I wanted to take advantage of the computer control manual shift mode. I contacted Lokar about their Sport Mode Shifter which was designed for the 6L80E transmission. I offered to be a beta test for the 4L70E transmission. They sent me the Sport Mode Shifter for the 6L80E. I had to make new mount brackets for shift linkage, adjust the shift travel indexing. After a few mod's the new Sport Mode Shifter for the 4L70E should be available by end of January
Pro & Con depending what you want. the shifter only has dents for P,R,N OD (4), D (3).
Con's
1. The 4L70E has no out put to tell what gear you are in and either does the Sport Mode Shifter. Lokar and Dakota Digital both make add on gear position indicator.
2. When in manual mode the transmission stays in what ever gear you are in until the you bump shift to a deferent gear. What this means when you come to a stop you must bump shift down to first gear or you well take off the gear you stopped in just like a standard manual transmission. The manual mode shifter in my Cadillac SRX well automatically shift down to first when you stop.
Must use caution when down shifting or you can over rev the engine just like a standard manual transmission.
The cost is more than a B&M ratchet shifter especially when you add in the extra cost of the gear position indicator ($200)
Pro's
Manual mode can only be selected when in OD (4). The bump up/down shift are fast
I do not use the 4L70E A/B shift select patterns I see no need with the manual shift mode

[first time builder]

I recognize your hard work my only thing is that with 50 yrs of experience doing paint work I disagree with putting more base over clear. If anything I would do is color sand(blocked)down to 2000 and then apply more clear. To me that is just like putting a second paint job on and it eventually will fail. It is like when people say they have 5 or 6 coats of wax on a car and they use a cleaner wax. Nope only one, because the cleaner removes the prior wax. Putting base over clear then more clear only gives you the coats of clear last applied.
Maybe Da Bat can comment,.

[DaveS53]

I agree with first time builder about the paint. Base coat is never reapplied after clear coat, unless it's part of a repair process. A single thin base coat could result in a blotchy look. If you were to see flaws that need to be corrected, right after base coat, you could stop the paint job there, make repairs, then apply more base coat, then clear coat.


About the A/B mode on the trans. There is a purpose for it, even if you plan to use the electronic manual control mode. The B program makes the shifts quicker and more positive for high performance use. If you're just cruising around town, the firm shift is really noticeable between 1st and 2nd gear. I find it too jerky for every day use, so I leave the switch in A mode, most of the time. I don't find any need for a gear indicator. If I was racing someone I'd know what gear I was in. For normal driving, I put the trans in D and let it do it's thing until I get to a road where I plan to drive 50 mph or greater. Then I put it in OD and leave it. The trans control works like most modern cars - it shifts to a high gear that keeps the engine running at a very low speed, most of the time. It will stay in 4th clear down to 40 mph, maybe 1200 rpm.