Angelina: Build Story of my 4-wheeled Motorcycle

[cc2Arider]

Thanks Jesse! I may reach out to you about your spoiler design

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

After looking at my coolant overflow hose routing some more, I wanted to make it look more presentable

The surprise was that the overflow port from the filler neck was actually 1/16" NPT...kinda surprising how small it is...

So I got some fittings and tried them out. Here's what I decided on:
changed coolant overflow fittings.jpg

I was happy with the distance to the upper radiator hose, so I routed the new overflow hose right next to it and held it in place with a couple of zip-ties. I like this routing much better than before
new coolant overflow routing.jpg

The expansion/overflow tank's overflow hose got routed in front (and out of the way). Here, I zip-tied it to the unused sway bar bolt hole
new coolant overflow tank routing.jpg

Then, I put the "sight tube" back on the other side of the tank, and it is easier to see the level now...and the fittings are working well
changed sight tube fitting location.jpg

Lastly, to prepare for my flush-n-fill of the Evans waterless coolant, I added the warning stickers to the fill caps
Evans coolant warning stickers applied.jpg

And finally, since I can trust the Pro-Flo4 fuel pressure reading, I removed the mechanical fuel pressure gauge from the pressure regulator and plugged it with a fitting.
plugged gauge port on fuel pressure regulator.jpg

Until next post, Happy Building!

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

As a follow-up to an earlier post about checking the pedal ergonomics, I wanted to get some preliminary stuff out-of-the-way towards that goal. This weekend, I spent some time getting the Breeze inclined seat mount kit assembled...

The biggest stress was to NOT mess-up the seat upholstery by accidentally drilling thru it Measure and center carefully, then get some backing material in-place, and it goes pretty well per the instructions...

holes drilled into the FFR seat frames:
seat frames drilled for breeze mounts.jpg

bolted onto the inclined mounts:
seat frame bolted to Breeze incline mount.jpg

Then: install the fiber-board seat pan. This required more modification from the as-delivered materials.

Mod1: the pre-drilled holes did not line-up with my seat frame rails...so, I just flipped them around and located/drilled my own
seat basepan mod1.jpg

Mod2: then I couldn't get the seat bottom cushion re-installed on (to my liking) with the new seat pan in place, so I trimmed 1/2" off the front to make it stick out only 3" from the front-most frame tube. This allowed me to fit the bottom cushion better without fear of tearing something. It still seems "taught" enough for eventual stretching and relaxing of the upholstery, so all good!
seat basepan mod2.jpg

Note: the inclined mounts are not drilled/riveted for final installation -- this is just a sanity check of the "likely" position to check for overall ergonomics. I'll locate/rivet the inclined mounts after the body is on...

Since I'm just checking the ergonomics, here's a check to see how well I can get the controls aligned with the shoulder harness locations
confirming fit of Driver's seat.jpg

Feels pretty good!

Until next time, Happy Building!

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

Not much progress this week for me since I had more important affairs to attend to...but I did manage to take as much "slack" out of my Forte' hydraulic clutch system as possible (by adjusting the pushrod at the slave cylinder for 3/16" per recommendation from Mike) and then trimming my own clutch pedal stop to maximize the travel while keeping the overall ergonomics reasonable.

First picture though is the Wilwood clutch pedal pad trimmed down to give me more room laterally for my foot on the "dead" pedal that I'll be making soon
trimmed clutch pedal pad.jpg

Next picture is of my clutch pedal stop that I trimmed up a little to get me more overall clutch pedal travel
trimmed clutch pedal stop.jpg

Then, I maximized the effective "stroke" of the clutch pedal by backing out the adjuster at the top pivot point (pushrod adjuster) as I experimented with clutch engagement in 1st and reverse gears as the engine was running
This was the compromise height. I'd like it to be a bit lower, but this wasn't bad while "driving" the car in the garage...
adjusted clutch pedal.jpg

Here's another view of the overall arrangement
adjusted pedal arrangement.jpg

Now that the clutch pedal height is reasonably set, I hope to make my new "dead" pedal and mount it to the footbox panel...I'll try to do that this week

Until then, Happy Building!

Craig C

[Highplainsdakota]

Great work!

I have the Forte clutch slave cylinder set up as well and I'm at this part. How did you "test the slack" in the hydraulic system to 3/16"? Just get under the car and try manually move the clutch fork back and forth? Where are you measuring the 3/16" Thanks again

[cc2Arider]

Great work!

I have the Forte clutch slave cylinder set up as well and I'm at this part. How did you "test the slack" in the hydraulic system to 3/16"? Just get under the car and try manually move the clutch fork back and forth? Where are you measuring the 3/16" Thanks again

I called Mike on this exact topic because his slave cylinder has an anti-rattle spring inside. This serves the intended purpose...but more importantly to you & I, makes the measurement a little more challenging because you have to manually push back the piston/rod assembly back into the cylinder until it seats. It doesn't take much effort, but it has to be done. If your master cylinder piston is truly at-rest (seated) then you should be able to do this without having to crack the bleeder open. Then just find a reference point for your measurements and allow the anti-rattle spring to push the rod assembly towards the clutch pressure plate until it makes contact. That is your 3/16" goal.

Thanks for watching my thread! Hope this helps

Craig C

[RobHartley]

I called Mike on this exact topic because his slave cylinder has an anti-rattle spring inside. This serves the intended purpose...but more importantly to you & I, makes the measurement a little more challenging because you have to manually push back the piston/rod assembly back into the cylinder until it seats. It doesn't take much effort, but it has to be done. If your master cylinder piston is truly at-rest (seated) then you should be able to do this without having to crack the bleeder open. Then just find a reference point for your measurements and allow the anti-rattle spring to push the rod assembly towards the clutch pressure plate until it makes contact. That is your 3/16" goal.

Thanks for watching my thread! Hope this helps

Craig C

Thanks for this Craig, I am a ways away from this stage, but have book marked these clutch adjustment posts for later use and I have Mike Forte's hydraulic clutch as well

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

I've been "noodling" on my Dead Pedal design and mounting options for several weeks now. The things that worry me are:
1) making sure I can install/remove the pedal without having to remove the body
2) building it "solid" enough to not move or flex in normal driving
3) not adding hardware on the outer side of the Driver's footbox panel since I don't know right now how much room I have. Ideally, I'd like to use some riv-bolts...but they protrude about 3/8" on the "blind side"...I'm not sure there is that much gap to the body
4) making sure I think about adjustment since I'm just trial-fitting it in the garage and not actually driving the car yet...

Here's my initial plan: fasten with "very high strength" adhesive-backed stick-on 1/4-20 x 3/4" bolts, and drill multiple mounting holes in the Al 90deg stock to provide fore-aft adjustment. I'm gonna try with a piece of 2x4x1/8" Al 90deg angle stock. With a spacing between the bolts of 1.125", I'll get 7 distinct adjustment positions spanning 2.25" for 3/8" separated holes

dead pedal plan.jpg

Since my plan doesn't super-impose pedal mounting hardware with the existing rivet holes for my outer-panel "kickout" or "wedge", I finally rivetted the brackets. Here, I used 1/8" multi-grip SS since they "squish" so nicely. Looks good on the "blind" side, too

installed Driver's side outer footbox wedge brackets.jpg

Then, another mockup

dead pedal mockup with 4x2x0.125 Al 90 deg angle.jpg

I'm glad I tried the mockup again. I didn't notice the slight "twist" in the panel once those "wedge" brackets were in-place. This means I'll need to use some spacers to account for the panel twist, or try something else. I'll have to think on this some more...

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

Since I need a break from thinking about my Dead Pedal design, I thought I'd dig into something else on my mind lately: how to carpet the upper trunk sides without needing to get creative around the frame tubes

I originally planned to make some extra panels like the older FFR builds had...then just decided that it needed some foam "inserts" instead. This approach would also somewhat protect those existing side/front panels from damage if trunk items moved about under aggressive maneuvers...

I'm gonna try some film-covered polystyrene 3/4" thick foam pieces. I haven't figured out how to glue them yet, but contact cement is not an option for the sides since they need to be slid into place.

But first, I finally installed the cockpit back panel! I forgot how fast you need to work to final-rivet such a large panel before the silicone "skins" over...but no problems. I certainly made it more difficult since I used both black and silver silicone (black for frame contact / silver for panel-to-panel contact)

installed back cockpit panel.jpg

Here's some initial fitting of the front panel and the lower "triangle" pieces for the sides

mocking up foam cutouts for the spaces between frame tubes in the trunk panels.jpg

I'll test-glue some scrap with clear Silicone this afternoon...then destruct test tomorrow

Until next time, Happy Building!

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

I tested to breakage the clear silicone (when used as an EPS foam adhesive) and while it was OK, I wanted something a little stronger. I bought some EPS-specific spray adhesive by 3M, but got nervous about the chemicals in the shop air, so I decided to use that later...perhaps the bond between the carpet and the foam would still be a good choice. For now though, I decided to adhere the EPS foam to the upper trunk front & side panels with a urethane caulk-type adhesive, since I could take advantage of the tight fit within the spaces of the frame tubes to help hold it in-place, too.

With the plan in-place, here's how it went in:

prepped the panels(cleaned the panels and then caulked the cockpit back panel against the main cross frame tube)

trunk front panel prepped for foam.jpg

front foam installed

trunk front panel with foam.jpg

since the front foam is at an angle that might cause movement while the adhesive cures, here's a simple clamp to hold them in-place

simple clamp to hold trunk front panel foam into place while adhesive cures.jpg

Then cut-out and prepped the side panel foam pieces and glued them into place

upper trunk side panel foam pieces glued into place.jpg

This now gives me a simpler "canvas" to apply the trunk carpet Of course, I'll still need to put down some thermal/sound padding, but that can wait for another time...

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

Time for another mini-project: revisiting the bolt assembly design for the inner lap belts...

Some time ago, I posted about my design intention for the inner lap belt bolts. I didn't want to "pinch" the tunnel side panels into the belt mounting tabs, so I found some angled shims on the McMaster-Carr website. All was good until I decided to emulate Paul's seatbelt choice from his earlier builds. I liked that the Schroth belts had a "street" option which includes a visible red release button that an EMT could quickly figure out (in case I was in a wreck and incapacitated ). Seem to be nice quality pieces. They have the lap belts attached to their own bolt-bracket design, which unfortunately uses 7/16" bolt holes instead of 1/2".

This caused me to have to revisit my approach. I went back to McMaster-Carr and found some bronze bushings that were meant for 7/16" shafts. The outer diameter was 5/8" though...which meant I needed to "hog out" the transmission tunnel side panels...

Here's the tool setup I decided on (cordless drill with burr bit slightly larger than the shaft diameter)

plan for hogging out the inner lap belt mounting holes thru the trans side panels.jpg

I simply held the shaft as true as possible to the mounting tab hole and made sure the "burr" was cutting the panel and not the mounting tab. The result, a reasonably-finished hole that accepted the 5/8" diameter bronze bushing

Here's the "new" assembly

inner lap belt bolt assembly2.jpg

and here's what it looks like put together

inner lap belt bolt assembly.jpg

Essentially, the bushing holds the angled shims concentric with the panel hole and ultimately, to the mounting tab hole I'm pretty sure it is strong enough for the clamping load with the recommended 7/16" bolt torque values provided by Schroth...

Here's the assembly installed (cockpit view)

mounted inner lap belt bolt assembly1.jpg

and inside trans tunnel view

mounted inner lap belt bolt assembly2.jpg

That's all for me this weekend. I managed to get out on a Spring M/C ride for about an hour and returned refreshed!

Until next post, Happy Building

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

I thought enough about my Dead Pedal design and strategy to get moving on it again...

Instead of fastening to the side of the footbox panel where it "kicked out", I simply moved the mounting location more forward to take advantage of the extra room there for riv-nuts (so that there is no interference with the body mounting). I didn't move the fastener location that far, though -- just to the area closest to the kick-out panel bracket. This way I could take advantage of the strength that the 3D shape permits. The "angle" of this panel bracket worked out well for my ergonomics, too...almost like FFR knew what they designed it for ... silly me

Anyway, here's where I took advantage of the existing rivet locations

dead pedal bracket mounting strategy.jpg

and then this confirms that there is still clearance to the body (when installed)

confirming dead pedal rivnuts have clearance to body.jpg

Now, the not-so-good-news: I won't be able to unfasten the top-most bracket mounting screw (if I ever needed to do so after the footbox and body are installed). It is too close to the outer curved footbox frame tube...difficult to get a wrench in there. So...In order to accommodate different pedal heights, I'll just add spacers to the pedal "pad" screw locations

Here's a mockup

final dead pedal bracket design mocked up.jpg

This bracket, by itself, could have been "enough", but I wanted a "little extra", so I repurposed the Accel pedal pad and intend to make this a part of the design...I'll just have to get another one from Breeze

Here's the final bracket design. I'll get this powder-coated black

final design of dead pedal bracket.jpg

and then a final-check fit

final fitment check of dead pedal before powder coating.jpg

I'm pretty happy with the results, but I would've liked the ability to take it apart easier after final assembly...oh well...

Until next time,
Happy Building!

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

I just couldn't stand that my implementation of a Dead Pedal wasn't "serviceable"...so I finally had an epiphany! Change the fasteners...Duh

I chose serrated flange heads for the bracket to panel. Now I can get a small wrench in there even when the panel is riveted together

Then, I chose "stand-offs" so that I only have to loosen the Torx screws on the front-side of the pads to remove or adjust the installed height Side-benefit, the flat-head design on the back-side also allows for more room near the curved frame tube ...

See pictures below

dead pedal bracket fastener change.jpg dead pedal bracket fastener change2.jpg dead pedal bracket fastener change3.jpg

I'm REALLY happy how this turned out! And, I checked the ergonomics again...feels good

Until next time, Happy Building...

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

A quick order from Breeze and Mark hooked me up with another pedal pad. I have a "matched" set now

matched set - accel + dead pedal pads.jpg

All that's left in there is to get the brackets-n-things powder-coated and start on the thermal lining and carpet install...although I may start in the trunk area initially since it is easily accessible and I'm sure to make some mistakes

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

I got motivated to finally cut out the hole for the shifter in the trans top panel after reading a recent post by Brew...

Here's the rough cut

rough cut-out of trans tunnel top panel.jpg

followed by a confirmation measurement of the trim ring location so that I could mark/drill the holes for that

aligning shifter trim ring holes into trans top panel.jpg

then I added the low-profile riv-nuts and oval head fasteners to lock it into place

shifter trim ring fastened into place.jpg

which allowed me to get a final outline to trim up the hole better for the final upholstery work...which will occur later

final trimming of trans top panel to match shifter trim ring.jpg

The trans tunnel top panel will be covered in one piece of foam-backed leather. If I'm feeling "frisky", I might consider adding a French seam along the sides with red thread...but that decision is much later. The shifter and hand brake will get their own leather "boots" sewn together longitudinally and fastened under the trim ring

It's slowly coming together!

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

Very early in my build, I got inspired by creative minds on this very Forum. One inspiration was a way to access the transmission, driveshaft, and hand brake cables from the top-side. Another was to "hide" the fasteners for the trans top panel ... not really that important, but I thought it was a nice touch...so I came up with my own design

First, I needed a way to get to the driveshaft and hand-brake cables-n-things, so I made the back-angled piece to be pivoting along the back panel.

Here's the back angled panel fastener strategy

rear trans tunnel fastener strategy2.jpg

This allowed me to fasten the rear-part of the trans top panel to that small pivoting panel...which meant I still needed a way to fasten the front-part of the trans top panel. The key for me was deciding that I wanted a center console. This permitted a mechanism to hold the front part of the top panel down without any obvious fasteners at work -- I just need to do a good job fitting the foam-backed leather properly. It will be a friction fit up front

top trans tunnel panel fastener strategy.jpg

Here's how it is all supposed to work. I tried it with the Driver's seat in-place anyway

Step1: move the shifter and handbrake levers back for more room to maneuver...

removing trans top panel1.jpg

Step2: unfasten the rear hinged panel and lift out-of-the-way

removing trans top panel2.jpg

Step3: slide back the top panel and then rotate to clear the center console (without removing the handbrake or shifter)

removing trans top panel3.jpg

Step4: lift up and out

I hope this inspires you to add your own creative/useful touches to your builds...Until next time, Happy Building!

Craig C

[PMD24]

Really nice work Craig. Like the way you tied the trim ring on the tunnel to what you did with the dash.

Pat

[cc2Arider]

Really nice work Craig. Like the way you tied the trim ring on the tunnel to what you did with the dash.

Pat

Thanks Pat for the kind words and encouragement

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

After getting some parts ready for the Powder Coater, I didn't get much else "significant" done on my build this weekend

"Slow-n-steady" progress being made, though. This post shows some miscellaneous upholstery prep that most of you have done...

First up: adding self-adhesive thermal padding to my drop trunk

installed drop trunk thermal pads.jpg

Then, I focused on the trans tunnel top panel...with top and bottom prepped

Bottom-side got an aluminized fiberglass self-adhesive pad

installed trans tunnel top panel thermal pad.jpg

Top-side got a self-adhesive 1/8" thick closed-cell foam pad

installed trans tunnel top panel foam pad2.jpg

and lastly, I ran out of time, but did manage to start on a template for the upper trunk floor

making template for upper trunk floor thermal pad.jpg

I'm hoping I can use this for both the thermal pad and the carpeting

Until next time, Happy Building!

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

This past weekend I spent prepping to wrap my console panel with leather...

First up, prepping the console metal and 1/16" thick closed-cell foam for Weldwood "landau top" spray adhesive, then adhering them together

first layer of foam on console.jpg

Then trimming out the shape before the second layer of foam goes on

trimmed first layer of foam on console.jpg

next, prepping for the second layer of adhesive and foam

prep for gluing second layer of foam on console.jpg

then, I trimmed up the second layer of foam to get ready for the leather itself

second layer of foam trimmed on console.jpg

and finally glued the leather to the outside of the console

glued leather onto outside of console.jpg

Next post: part 2

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

I follow-up in this second post about wrapping my center console with upholstery leather...

Now the hard part -- purposefully trimming the edges to wrap around all the mounting flanges

This was the way I chose to do it...you may choose a different way...

I made a template of 45 deg and 60deg flange corners to work out the geometry and feel comfortable knowing why I needed to cut the profile properly...then I simply folded the leather over the flanges to get the actual first-level of angles involved

starting on the console flange leather trimming.jpg

Here's the first flange trimmed

first console flange trimmed for wrapping.jpg

then a second example of the prep needed for trimming the leather for another flange

another example of trimming prep needed for console flange leather.jpg

then spending the rest of the afternoon repeating this process, I got done trimming the whole thing Whew -- that was a lot of work!!

console leather trimmed to glue to all the flanges.jpg

the whole thing kinda looks like a sea urchin with all the spikes and protuberances

Hopefully, it will be worth it in the fitment and gluing that I'll do this coming week (in part 3)...then I'll have to make a pattern for the inside layer and repeat the process...it won't be as complicated, though!

Until next time,

Happy Building!

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

This Weekend I spent working on my Console leather some more. I chose to work on gluing the leather onto the mounting flange inside surfaces in pairs so that I could control what I was doing better. I also used a big-box-store small container of Weldwood with a built-in brush for each of the flanges instead of spraying the glue. This meant it took me the better part of the Weekend to finish...details, details!

Here's a picture of the flanges wrapped on the inside with leather

console leather inside flange detail.jpg

Then I made sure the leather covering all the screw holes was reamed out, and checked the fit onto the car again -- tight fit, but still fits

confirming upholstered console still fits.jpg

I'll still need to wrap the inside of the Console with leather (which means cutting, folding, and gluing the material back behind the panel opening first) and eventually condition it...but that'll wait for next Weekend (when the adhesive fully cures...I hope)

Craig C

[cc2Arider]

Hey Y'All,

While I was literally waiting for glue to dry, I worked on finishing up the thermal pad installation in the trunk. I chose to only cover the floor...and I wanted to practice my technique on the large or awkward pieces, too, before working in the Cockpit.

Anyway, here's my template for a really large piece for the upper trunk floor...really only critical to locate the roll bar areas, but the overall piece is trapezoidal-shaped...so there's that.

upper trunk floor pattern made.jpg

Then after deliberating on how to wrangle such a large piece in without it shifting or bunching, installed

upper trunk floor thermal pad installed.jpg

I attempted to split the adhesive backing down the centerline and adhere the middle part...smoothing out towards the sides. Then I folded the back vertical edge down.

Lastly, I fitted several smaller pieces for the lower trunk floor and covered the flat and outside edge seams with aluminized tape. Here it is finished

thermal padding installed onto trunk floor.jpg

Until next time, Happy Building!

Craig C