This won’t be too much of an update because it’s been a busy week or two with other stuff. Most of the progress has been on some of the small details that take time but aren’t too interesting or photogenic. But did get some things done. Was able to get the final gaps on the doors. I’m very happy with how the doors turned out in general. Just the minor body work required on the rear bottom corners on both sides mentioned previously. They open and close perfectly. With that, the only body work left is final fitting on the hood and installing the hood catch and remote release. Just waiting for a warm day that aligns with my work schedule so I can do that final body work outside. With that done, I will be officially out of the body fitment business on this build. A pretty huge milestone and happy it's behind me.
With the doors fitted, I thought I would tackle the final fit up of the power windows. The main thing missing was how to deal with the inside bottom seal. This has been talked about in other build threads and even in a standalone thread. The outer window seal is one piece around the perimeter of a seal the manual calls cat head weatherstrip. Well, because that’s kind of what the profile looks like. The inner window seal is a different material called felted weatherstrip along the top and sides. But then another piece of the cat head weatherstrip along the bottom. All of this works OK, and the window slides up and down as it should. The problem is that it leaves a 1/4" or so gap between the seal and glass along the inside bottom. I know of at least one build where Factory Five provided new door skins with apparently less of a gap in the cutout. I was too far along, including already installing the inner steel frame, to consider that. For some months I’ve been looking for an alternative seal material that would close the gap. Without any luck. So decided to just go ahead and install the kit provided cat head weatherstrip and live with the gap. I know others have done that. It’s mainly cosmetic because the important sealing is on the outside obviously. Well turned out bad because the material I had left over was about one inch short between the two doors. The kit came with 17 feet, which is close but enough to do everything. Somewhere I must have wasted a little. So dug around in some on-hand boxes and found some trim I already had. Something like this:
https://www.mcmaster.com/24175K51/. Cut that to fit and it looked OK but of course with a gap. After a couple days, still didn’t feel like the right solution so back to McMaster. Found a larger version of the famous cat head weatherstrip.
https://www.mcmaster.com/12335A51/. Don’t know why I didn’t see that before. Even though yet another $50 purchase (minimum order is 10 feet) I decided to go for it. Arrived today and works well. The gap is closed. No matter the material, the installation requires a joint in the corners. Hard to make them look very nice. But not terrible. I’ll play with them a little more during final assembly after paint and maybe improve a little. But bottom line, this open issue that’s been bugging me for some time is now closed.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...3&d=1649212992
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...2&d=1649212992
While I was working on the doors, decided to locate and install mounting for the check straps. The manual says to use 3/16-inch rivets. Maybe OK. But these door are heavy (over 50 lbs each) so don’t feel too good about only rivets and especially in the fiberglass. I made up and bonded 3/4" by 4" plates with nutserts on the inside edges of the doors so will be held with 10-32 screws. Have similar parts for the inside attachment too. But can’t locate and install those yet. With the truck on the lift, the doors don’t open all the way.
Another thing I decided to do, borrowed from another build (
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...-Hot-Rod-Truck, lots of great ideas) was to make panels for inside the cab in front of the doors. Nothing too exotic. But covers up the open chassis and body area and just looks cleaner. Also covers up the wiper motor I have installed in that location on the passenger side. I had some aluminum on hand plus enough leftover carpet that I’ll use during final assembly. Looks like this right now.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...4&d=1649212992
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...5&d=1649212992
I’m in the 14th week of 12-14 weeks leadtime for my seats. So hoping to hear any day now that they’re done and ready for pickup. Getting close to where I need them to finalize the balance of details for the interior. Then I'll be ready to get serious about finding someone to paint this thing.
Off topic, but have mentioned a couple times in this build thread about replacing the broken windshield in the Coupe. Last week that was finally accomplished. Topped off by getting the Coupe out for the first time of the season and attending a cars and coffee last Saturday. Have I mentioned before how much I like that thing? Started immediately and ran and drove perfectly after its winter hibernation. I said a few words about the windshield repair in my Coupe build thread here:
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...l=1#post488197. Posted this picture in another thread, but couldn't help posting again. Followed this new Ford GT out of the cars and coffee. Fast company! Also note the clean and unbroken new windshield. :o
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds
