If you are thinking of wiping it down I would only use something that won't add extra work later to remove before paint. Something like a por-15 metal prep or phosphuric acid will give you some protection from rust in case the weather isn't great at the event without a lot of effort.
The very consistent updates are great to follow, hopefully you can keep up with them but it's pretty understandable if they slip as the deadline approaches. Good luck!
In reply to adam525i :
I'm able to do them during work break time so I imagine they will keep up. But I have just abandoned videos at this point for right now. I had been at least filming but not editing but at this point I'm not even filming. It's just takes any amount of time and I can't spare it right now.
adam525i said:If you are thinking of wiping it down I would only use something that won't add extra work later to remove before paint. Something like a por-15 metal prep or phosphuric acid will give you some protection from rust in case the weather isn't great at the event without a lot of effort.
The very consistent updates are great to follow, hopefully you can keep up with them but it's pretty understandable if they slip as the deadline approaches. Good luck!
Fully agree with the idea of a coating that protects and doesn't add more time for removal.
I spent entirely to much time making these top corner pieces out of 18 Ga last night. Total material was $1.33 and between these and a few other tiny things I spent 2 hrs.
nocones said:I spent entirely to much time making these top corner pieces out of 18 Ga last night. Total material was $1.33 and between these and a few other tiny things I spent 2 hrs.
Details like that are what separate the great from the merely good.
I took Friday off and got quite a bit done.
I finished off the corner supports for the firewall
I then flipped the chassis over to work on the floors. I added some tabs on the chassis to support the front part of the underfloor (Which will get added after the challenge). These tabs just give me a place to bolt whatever it is I end up making without welding directly on the aluminum. Eventually the floors will be removed again when the chassis is painted. That will probably be after the aero kit is built and the car is ready to be taken appart only for paint before the 2022 challenge.
In order to make drilling the holes easier I added masking tape to the sides of the chassis and marked where a ruler would be when it is aligned. This way I didn't have to measure or mark the panel from the underside and remove it.
One other tip I put clico's in at all the corners and then just used the ruler to mark spacing. I ended up using 3" rivet spacing for all the rivets with minimal adjustments.
I then had a helper to put the rivets in. The air riveter is pretty great. I recomend it highly.
He was excited to finish, He put almost all the rivets in.
One additional thing I did was before riveting I overhung the panel by about 1/4" and then bent it very slightly. This keeps the edges tight against the chassis after the rivets are installed.
With the floor on the chassis taper is very apparent. It goes from a width of 42" at the back to 18.5 at the very front.
The last thing I did was add corner finish panels at the shoulders of the seats and welded in the seat side parts.
So that was 8 hours of work with a few other things done here an there. The floors where expensive, total added today was $27.95 for all the metal added.
Fridays off spent in the garage are the bestest!
TIL, folded sheet metal welded to the chassis in irregular corners can be both a gusset and a simple(r) attachment point for aluminum panels.
OMG I got the door hinges done.. and Suicide doors on an LMP type car is going to be INSANE..
They tip up so they will avoid the rear fenders.
Also I remember how we discussed how I shouldn't paint the chassis.. and how I agreed we shouldn't paint the chassis.. But painting part of the chassis is okay right?
I really didn't want to have the seats be all rusty so I took a bit of time and prep and painted the seat area. I think it is goign to be worth it. The color is International Harvester White, and it's the planned eventual color for the chassis.
Door hinges were $1.34 of steel and 4-1/4" Rod Ends @ $2.99 each for a total today of $13.30.
In reply to nocones :
Those doors are batE36 M3 crazy, you're a madman!
More and more fantastic daily!
Awesome awesome awesome!
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to nocones :
Those doors are batE36 M3 crazy, you're a madman!
In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :
How have I never heard this before? Oh yeah, besides here, YouTube & FB I basically live in a media vacuum..
In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :
You have given me a new idea for how the car should be painted.....VERY COLORFULLY!
Latent psychedelic with a pinch of SoCal low rider themes...just goofin' .....the hinges rock!!!!
I wish I had the time to do any kind of themed paint.. a nice paisley would be awesome.
That said progress was made. Door latches are hard. Particularly when you have $0 you want to spend on them and you have no space for a traditional door latch orientation because you cut the bottom of the door off because you channeled 10" vertically out of the car and need to run sidepods for air intakes..
Enter more MG midget parts. My Hoard of spare stock MG midget parts (and let's be honest other questionably useful car parts) is quite dense. In it is the original door latches from the MG. As a true roadster and with doors that are completely useless for access it did not receive real 2 step safety latches. It has basically a patio gate latch because the doors are basically just finish panels, opening them is silly and for nothing. So it's stock door latches where put in a box along with OEM lever shocks and 7 other boxes of stuff that WILL NEVER EVER END UP BACK ON THE MG SO WHY ARE YOU KEEPING IT YOU MORON.
Anyway the LMP360 doors are different. They will actually open for access and need to have safety catches to prevent unintentional opening since they are suicide doors and I don't want them opening on track. But again because half the door is missing I can't just put the MG latch vertical in the door. The only way I could make it fit was to hack it all up in half and mount it horizontally.
I didn't want the stricker plate to be mounted to the chassis since I'm currently planning to have the entire body lift off like an RC10GT. If it was on the chassis you would have to open the doors and they would flop and twitch whenever you lifted the body and that would be undesirable. So I added some conduit tubes that run under the door opening but still clear the chassis. I then welded the striker plate into the tube and the original rusty door pillar. The tubes will run all the way to the hood and trunk to reinforce the bottom of the body when it's off the car and eventually I will build reciever saddles that this tube lands on to ensure the body lines up correctly.
For the catch I cut a sheet of 18ga and welded if across the bottom of the original door frame. what's left of the catch bolts oon using the 2 of the original screws with captive nuts For handles right now I am super simple. The outside will be a red painted bolt attached to the catch release lever you simply push. The interior is a pull strap made out of a 1' piece of woven lawn chair repair cloth that I bought years ago for a failed recumbent bike project. Assuming this product is still available I'm just going to use whatever the list price is today for it as I dont have receipts. A slot was cut in the door for the strap to run through and the metal bent in slightly to give a smooth surface to pull on. Overall it works pretty good. I will likely make lots of adjustments and clean up the install post challenge (add more reinforcement and just clean it up) but for now it is done.
+4.5 hrs total, +$7.50 for 14' of 1/2" conduit. Still need to account for the MG latches and the Lawn chair fabric.
I assure you all of this sucked because it is all low tolerance stuff with moving parts but I pressed on and got it done.
Last night I got the Passenger door latch done and welded the nose back on the car.
This car is made out of paper and welding the skin is not easy. The welds are . . Not great and need to be worked with a hammer and planished and I'm certain I will need some filler. A Retropower repair this is not.
#nofiller
Given the condition of the rest of the body it's not a terribly out of place repair. It's also amazing how stiff the front became once the nose was welded back together.
With the body back off the chassis it's time to start assembly of the car.. for real with bolt torquing and everything.
+4 Hrs, +$0.74 of 20 Ga sheet.
After about 15 minutes with a flap disc and hammer and dolly and got it pretty decent. A thinish layer of filler should have it looking adequate for whenever painting occurs.
Love to see the pace picking up. This thing is gonna be amazing.
Also in other news my Decals arrived in the mail.
GRM thinks I'm ready to apply them..
they were doing you a solid... so you had an idea of how big of a coroplast "barge board" to attach on the sides of the car to affix the stickers to
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
That actually gives me an idea for a new rule proposition: if the body of your Challenge car isn't big enough to fit the event decals onto, you're allowed to add extra panels as needed for their application without any budget hit. Of course there's no chance any competitors would find a way to use those "free" panels aerodynamically. ;-)
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
Is the material of the free panels challengers choice?
In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :
That's my thought!
The kids wanted to help so we prepped A-arms for paint and got them painted. I know it's not required but the kids wanted to do something to help so we did.
I also got the transmission pan cover fabricated. The aluminum of the pan machined very nice, and a wire wheel recovered the finish on the back good enough. I LOVE that it has that distinct recognizable pattern of being cookware that will confuse everyone who isn't a GRM value enthusiast.
I may have taken effort of ensure that you can still read the Faberware label. They are basically a race car part manufacturer now. I should update their Wiki page.
+2.5 HRs
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