Hong Norrth $2009 build

wheels777 wrote: So...ahhh...what's George going to do? York isn't that far away.....

George as in "our" George? Nuthin. The "paint scheme" will become apparent in forthcoming pics. I'm excited about it.

Holy cow- how much longer do we have to wait for MORE PICTURES???

Great build. Not that I'm biased or anything....

Got something in mind to make it handle? Where are all the ITD guys- I thought a few of my fellow F employees are here who have raced them....

Are you going w/o windows? Arm restraints are not part of the budget.... Lexan is.

Eric

Holy cow- how much longer do we have to wait for MORE PICTURES???

Lunchtime I don't have 1nt4rw3bs (another time-murderer) at the house, so I couldn't post anything this weekend. Thanks for the kind words. Here's a teaser:

I love these preview posts. Thanks. Keep the pictures coming.

After the first two days of solid work, things slowed down a little. I'll spare the details, suffice it to say, life got in the way of my hong. So I'll stop doing the "Day 'x'" thing, and just post pics and brief descriptions.

Test fitting the cage. Wayne scored this cage for THIRTY BUCKS on craigslist last year. It's from a first or second gen. Civic. It's not a perfect fit, but it's surprisingly close. Basically the rear tubes just need to be lengthened about 4 inches:

Wayne figured out this cool little trick on the "A-hole" car back in the day - find a little rubber plug somewhere in the car, and use it to replace the door locks (every little bit counts!:)

More weight savings. Bumper cores are HEAVY...until you remove the center sections

You can see the remainder of the rear supports in the "teaser pic" from the last post.

More to come!

So at this point I guess some "theme" explanation is in order. In keeping with the rat rod thing, and because the roof line is so ridiculously high on these cars, it was deemed that a chop was in order. As serendipity would have it, the civic cage is about 8" shorter than the roof line...which is the exact amount we had planned on chopping it.

Unfortunately, there aren't a bunch of photos below of a chopped festiva yet. Waiting to find a spare roof at pull-a-part for sectioning purposes.

What we HAVE been able to do is work on getting the car looking as she should. I really really really wanted some sort of rust graphics on the car. Rust flames on drab green paint were discussed, but a bunch of sketches later, I just didn't think they looked right on the car.

So now the plan is more along the lines of "california lowrider" for the graphics.

And while rust looks E36 M3-hot on flat drab green, the flat green thing has been done already. Bare metal, however, hasn't.

Fortunately, one of our team-mates works for a paint supplier. Said paint supplier often THROWS AWAY paint and other 'stuff' once the shelf-life is up (this is how we scored the orange paint for the General Tso.)

Anywho - we got a big ass jug of environmentally friendly paint stripper that was destined for the dumpster.

Good: It was free, and doesn't tear your lungs up.

Not so good: Whether because it's expired, or because it's not as aggressive as the "melt your eyeballs and lungs and turn your balls into gravy" stuff, or a combination of the two, it's REALLY unpredictable.

Last weekend we did a test patch on the hood. It took 3-4 applications of the goop, lots of scraping, and about 8 hours to get the final result. While the stuff was doing its magic, Tom and I scrubbed the living dog snot out of the engine bay.

Pics:

No, it doesn't taste like tapioca pudding

Yes, it was 90 + degrees outside:

"Don't putcher lips on it!!!"

Beavis, your hong is filthy:

Harness pulled and bagged. SING ALONG, KIDS! "Clean up, clean up, mother berkeleying clean up!"

Several hours later... Not totally finished, but we were invited for booze, burgers, and hot dogs at Kevin's place. Almost quittin' time!:

Finishing up the hood:

We also removed the front fenders and layed an "overnight" coat on them.

As far as you know, I was not touching myself inappropriately with my non-camera-holding hand while taking these photos:

OK. So that last post took me an hour. GOTTA GO MAKE SOME MONEY!!!

poopshovel wrote: So at this point I guess some "theme" explanation is in order. In keeping with the rat rod thing, and because the roof line is so ridiculously high on these cars, it was deemed that a chop was in order. As serendipity would have it, the civic cage is about 8" shorter than the roof line...which is the exact amount we had planned on chopping it. Unfortunately, there aren't a bunch of photos below of a chopped festiva yet. Waiting to find a spare roof at pull-a-part for sectioning purposes.

That will be cool.

Is the roof really that complex a shape that you can't "stitch" together some other sheet and tubing? The outside looks dead simple, and it seems as if some decent square or round tubing would take the structure reasonably well.

The spare, of course, is much easier....

But I'm looking forward to this one.

E

Thanks alphadriver!

It was discussed, but yeah, when you really get to looking at the angles of the front and rear pillars, it's going to be a little complex (not super complex...but a little.) Basically, we'll need a section running front to back, a section running 'door-to-door' between the A and B pillars, and another section running 'door-to-door' between the B and C pillars.

Again, the idea of building something from scratch was discussed, but hopefulling using the existing pillars will look a little more "natural," and give us an all-important channel for the windows. Fortunately, Festivas are pretty plentiful up here. I honestly see at least one a day. Usually clean with an old dude driving.

Regarding the suspension, yeah, we've got some tricks up our sleeves. I finally stopped at an oil change place less than a mile down the street that's had an Aspire parked out front for YEARS. After a little negotiating, we settled at $150...though I'll probably try to get them down to $100 when I go pick it up. This will give us improved front and rear brakes, a rear sway bar, and (supposedly) the right spline count on the hubs.

We'll figure out the springs and struts as we go, but following the "everything fits everything" rule, the plan is to use some civic struts and springs, and mix and match upper and lower mounts as neccessary.

Regarding the Lexan, I've still got some "throw away" scratched scraps left; lifted from a local picture framing shop (no, not MY picture framing shop.) Probably not enough to do the windshield, but enough to do the three rears. Worst case, last time I bought a 4' X 8' sheet of 1/8" from Piedmont Plastics, I believe it was ~$100. Paying Home Depot prices is fo' suckaaaaazzzzzz!!!

Pretty cool. I still wish I could build a car like Cam's old Fastiva. Those Festiva's actually have a good amount of fender flare when lowered on 15s.

If you chop the A and C pillars in the area where the cross section doesn't change (if there is such an animal), then isn't all you are left with is sectioning the roof? Hiding the roof structure should be pretty easy, although, since both the front and rear are angled, you are going to need two roof sections cut out.

At least that's what I've seen in some of the hot rod books that do detailed chops.

leaving the front glass means that the NHRA tech is easier, right?

Eric ps- ALFA- acronym, not letter....

Another thought- isn't the bolt pattern the same as a Miata?

Say, a 13x7 Miata?

Just asking.

4x114.3

alfadriver wrote: If you chop the A and C pillars in the area where the cross section doesn't change (if there is such an animal), then isn't all you are left with is sectioning the roof? Hiding the roof structure should be pretty easy, although, since both the front and rear are angled, you are going to need two roof sections cut out. At least that's what I've seen in some of the hot rod books that do detailed chops. leaving the front glass means that the NHRA tech is easier, right? Eric ps- ALFA- acronym, not letter....

There's a B pillar too, i.e., not part of the door, that will have to be chopped. Maybe we're saying the same things, but in different ways.

Front glass as in windshield, or front glass as in doors? We've never run glass on the doors. Window net has passed tech thus far.

The Ass-pyre hubs will give us a 4 X 100 pattern, which will give us the ability to use the same Diamond wheels we've used for every challenge.

really? I was pretty sure they were 4x114.3. I'm actually 100% sure.

chapel wrote: really? I was pretty sure they were 4x114.3. I'm actually 100% sure.

Nope. Festivas are, but the Aspire is 4x100mm.

oh oh oh... I always confuse those two complete pieces of crap.

ALFAdriver said: Eric ps- ALFA- acronym, not letter....

PPS: Learn somethin' new every day! I thought it was A-L-P-H-A. At least I don't say RomeRo.

poopshovel wrote:

alfadriver wrote: If you chop the A and C pillars in the area where the cross section doesn't change (if there is such an animal), then isn't all you are left with is sectioning the roof? Hiding the roof structure should be pretty easy, although, since both the front and rear are angled, you are going to need two roof sections cut out. At least that's what I've seen in some of the hot rod books that do detailed chops. leaving the front glass means that the NHRA tech is easier, right? Eric ps- ALFA- acronym, not letter....

There's a B pillar too, i.e., not part of the door, that will have to be chopped. Maybe we're saying the same things, but in different ways. Front glass as in windshield, or front glass as in doors? We've never run glass on the doors. Window net has passed tech thus far. The Ass-pyre hubs will give us a 4 X 100 pattern, which will give us the ability to use the same Diamond wheels we've used for every challenge.

The B pillar is a straight drop- which is why I'm kind of ignoring it- tip it in a little, and it's a straight drop. The trick are the A and C pillars, since they are angled. Those are what's causing you to section the roof, making it longer.

Front= windshield. Forgot about the window net.

E-

poopshovel wrote:

wheels777 wrote: So...ahhh...what's George going to do? York isn't that far away.....

George as in "our" George? Nuthin. The "paint scheme" will become apparent in forthcoming pics. I'm excited about it.

Can't blame me for asking

wheels777 wrote:

poopshovel wrote:

wheels777 wrote: So...ahhh...what's George going to do? York isn't that far away.....

George as in "our" George? Nuthin. The "paint scheme" will become apparent in forthcoming pics. I'm excited about it.

Can't blame me for asking

Speaking of, I showed you mine...

poopshovel wrote:

wheels777 wrote:

poopshovel wrote:

wheels777 wrote: So...ahhh...what's George going to do? York isn't that far away.....

George as in "our" George? Nuthin. The "paint scheme" will become apparent in forthcoming pics. I'm excited about it.

Can't blame me for asking

Speaking of, I showed you mine...

Just wait. You'll E36 M3 yourself. I'm going to be so pissed if I can't make it this year, and things aren't looking good.

to poopshovel:

"reverse" mask the flames once the car is totally nekkid, then clear-coat the part you don't want rusty, then remove the masking and spray the un-cleared part with salt water.

voila! rust flames!

or do some research and see if there's various things you could put in your "flame paint" salt water to get different colors in the iron oxide...

AngryCorvair wrote: to poopshovel: "reverse" mask the flames once the car is totally nekkid, then clear-coat the part you don't want rusty, then remove the masking and spray the un-cleared part with salt water. voila! rust flames! or do some research and see if there's various things you could put in your "flame paint" salt water to get different colors in the iron oxide...

You could practically do that with tap water.

But salt water in a spray can would work great.

Then cover with another coat of flat clear.

Got the rust part under control. Ancient hong norr peeetcha frame-ah seek-ah-ret. Thanks for the advice, though!

Old hotrodders used to cut out the bottom channel from the windshields and slide the whole thing down into a recessed pocket so they could just leave the glass alone and not have to cut it. But 8'' on a Fiesta might start to hit important little things, like the steering column.

You could always use a grinder a grind some flames on.