A Bit More Progress

I was going to leave the door in the car to make line up easier. Guess I'll cut it out. I have the braces in so it may not move!

 

I guess it depends on the stiffness of your body's sides and floor. Keeping it all bolted to the frame and the braces should be enough.

I always intended to have large doors. So throughout the build I did things to make the floor, trans and drive shaft tunnels as rigid as possible.

Like a Jeep body.

 

I added these ribs to fill the space and give 3 more attachment points. They're glass covered oak with long 7/8"long 5/16" T nuts epoxied in.






The 5 mounting holes in hinges are oversized.

3/8" weld nuts are counterbored and tacked in this mounting plates. They have 1/2" of threads and a good 1/8" adjustment with the body bolts.

These mounting plates along with with a bit more will attach to the door skins.

 

As usual, your work is outstanding. You are a master at what you do. Your pictures inspire a lot of us. Keep them coming.

 

Are the countersunk holes to allow the resin to impregnate and bond to the glass?

 

Yes, whether I'm using body filler or an epoxy to bond steel to glass I put hour glass shapes in by countersinking both sides.

Each hole acts like a mechanical fastener.

Just some added assurance.

 

I was wondering, looking at the picture, what good the CS holes would be from that one side. Now I know they are CS from both sides it all makes sense.

 

I thought so, it makes sense. That was an advantage of the uni strut, it bonded well. Good work!

 

I let it squeeze through and grind it off.

 

I've tried a lot of them. Some cure too soft and others too hard.

I can vouch for this though. Sold through eBay seller polymerproducts. They have a choice of 3 different viscosities.

I usually buy the medium or thick viscosity.

 

I added some "ears" to the mounting plates.






And got the plates bonded to the skins. Then glassed over the ears and up against the sides of the plates.



Laying out where the bear claw latches will go. It really helps being able to nestle the door skins back into the molds to work on them.



I like to get the mechanical stuff solidly mounted and working first. Then bring the glass work up to it. Once the doors are operational, I'll make the jambs.

 

I have a few questions Choppinczech, that I hope you don't mind answering. When you use epoxy to bond something, do you use epoxy for the follow-up layers of glass too or do you use glass resin? I have about a one foot round hole in a fiberglass panel I want to patch,I want to scarf it and use epoxy on the first layer to get a good bond, should I use epoxy for the rest of the layers or can I use fiberglass resin? I picked up some graphite base coating that's made to be used on snowplows, manure spreaders etc... I was wondering if I could use it to spray a plug that I want to make a mold of , of coarse I'll wax it and PVA it .

 

I would use either all epoxy or polyester for that. Epoxy is great because it has double the working time.

I wouldn't use the graphite stuff.

Waxed foil tape on a backing would be enough.



Does this make sense?

 

Yes it does, just had to ask. I figured the graphite coating to be extra insurance. You should write a tech article on glassing (or a book) Thanks, Steve

 

I've been going over your build again and just notice something in all the pictures of the body. Not only are you very talented but you must have the cleanest hands around. If my car was off white color like yours you would see all kinds of finger prints every where. Today I was polishing some of the parts and my hands were gray from the aluminum. I had it on my face, ears, nose and well we'll leave it at that. I enjoy watching your build. keep the pictures coming. Maybe you have a scrub room like the ER.

 

One of the cool things about FeatherFill is that you can wipe it down with acetone to keep it fresh. I do cover the car when working with steel.

This weekend I got the latches in place and started the strikes. I really like how these large bear claw latches pop the doors open.

It's already operating well even without the jambs. The finished jambs will add a lot more rigidity.



What a ton of work. But it'll be worth it.

 

Still working on my doors.











Now that they're working well mechanically, it's time for all the glass work. The jambs, the rest of the door structure and door panels.




Here I'm using the door skins and molds to make the beginnings of the body jambs. 1/8" material (the door gap) set at 90° to the shape. These will be laid up this weekend, then be fitted and attached to the openings.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention.

I've got a White Performance 383 roller coming!

Should be here in a couple more weeks.

 

Excellent, been waiting for your next update. Really like the door handles, very professional and will work like a dream.
If this car doesn't feature in a magazine there's something wrong with the media world.

I am already wondering what 'touches' you will do on the engine......