King's MK4 Coyote Build

[2bking]

I finished up the console today. Sometimes things just don't go right as it took longer than I thought. I broke three #4-40 taps and two of them are imbedded forever in the console. I used some scrap 7075 aluminum plate for the top rim and it turned out difficult to drill and tap. This is the first time I actually did anything by hand on this alloy; all my other experiences were on the mill and lathe. To complicate things more, the shaft in my battery drill was bent slightly probably due to a trip to the floor at some time. At first I was thinking the drill bit wasn't straight and the taps also but when the third tap broke, a close inspection reveled the slightly bent shaft. Luckily, the bad holes are in areas that are covered up so no one knows but me and now you.

I chose to put a layer of felt under the leather to give it a softer feel so the green material in the pictures is the felt. I used the contact cement to attach both the felt and leather and it is easy to use by applying a coat to both parts and letting them dry for about 10 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of application. I used leather purchased in 12"X24" pieces and the grain and thickness varied between the pieces. I bought 4 pieces and they varied from glove soft to a medium stiff. The stiffer piece was also the thicker one and I used that one for the lid of the console. A close inspection will reveal the differences in texture of the pieces seen on the console.
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[2bking]

While cleaning out some of the shelves, I found a box of lights I purchased some time back that I had forgotten about.
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I wanted to try to mount them in the oil cooler hole but didn't have any real plan on how to do it, hence they were somewhat forgotten about. I spent a few hours deciding on several designs and came up with a rather simple mounting scheme and design. I had purchased some 3/8" stainless fuel line but didn't use it but it looked like it would work as grill tube in my design. I bent up some aluminum and cut holes for the lights. I used some 5/16" aluminum rod for the inserts for mounting the tubing and drilled and tapped it for #8 screws. The parts are shown here.
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I fiberglassed in some mounting perches on either side of the oil cooler opening and used the 3M panel adhesive to attach the perforated base studs. Two screws will attach the light assembly.
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I polished the stainless fuel line, powder coated the sheet metal black, and assembled the parts. The following pictures are the assembly and it mounted in the oil cooler opening.
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Its been very hot here in Texas the last few weeks and I'm trying to find other things to do instead of the body work. I want to do the as much of the sanding and cutting outside rather than have to deal with the dust inside the shop. The high daily temperatures have dropped below 100 so I'm planning on early morning work outside in the next few days.

[WIS89]

King-

Your great work is continuing! If I see your car, I will be sure to look for those taps! ;-o)

I like the lights in the oil cooler opening. They complement the car nicely. I continue to admire your work!

Regards,

Steve

[2bking]

King-

Your great work is continuing! If I see your car, I will be sure to look for those taps! ;-o)

I like the lights in the oil cooler opening. They complement the car nicely. I continue to admire your work!

Regards,

Steve

Thanks Steve

I have another small update. I have the body grommets from Finish Line for use where the front and rear bolts protrude for mounting the bumpers/quick jacks. The rear grommets require a round hole so there's nothing to post about them. The front ones require an oval hole and the locating dimensions are not obvious. Since I have a tilt front, the bumper bolts don't mount to the front frame ends like the traditional way. My front bumper is semi cosmetic but can handle some frontal impact due to the heads of the mounting bolts bearing against the front frame ends. Side impacts may have some fiberglass crunching results but that was a trade-off for the tilt front decision. I want the front bumper to look like a normal installation hence the grommets. The grommets didn't come with instructions on hole size or measuring so I cut slowly and fitted often. When I got the first one to fit and was center the on the bumper bolt I made a templet for marking the other three. This is new to me but I'm sure others have figured as this out before. I don't remember seeing anything in the many posts I have read so I'll show what I did. As it turns out the hole is centered on the bolt on the front body surface so the templet is symmetrical. I used a Dremel with a spiral cutting tool to make the holes; it's in one of the pictures.

The top hole is the one carefully cut and the bottom was the first hole cut using my templet. The grommet is installed to verify correct placement.
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This is the templet and the Dremel tool used to cut the openings.
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These pictures show the templet being used to mark the other holes on the right side.
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Now that I have the holes cut I don't have any use for the templet. Anyone want it?

[dallas_]

Looking good King!

[carlewms]

King,

Really like the running light set up ... very sharp looking.

Thanks for posting.

Carl

[2bking]

Thanks Carl. Once I figured out the construction, it was somewhat simple to make.

Just an update but not much is happening except a lot of dust on the floor and getting bigger arms from sanding. There are plenty of body finishing threads so I'm not going to document the steps here. I have read a lot of them and have gleaned much of what I'm doing from there. The forums are very helpful. I did quite a bit of body work in my 20s but the products and tools have changed since then so some of the techniques are new to me. I purchased the Rage Gold filler and it is very similar to the Bondo I used back then but is easier to sand. I bought most of my tools and materials from Eastwood. The flexible sanding blocks are very helpful and I like the adhesive backed sand paper they use. In my past experience the sand paper loaded up and had to be changed often but either the materials or paper have changed because the sandpaper seems to last a long time. I'm going to have a lot left over.

The seams were quite easy to sand and fill so that turns out to be the easiest part. Trimming the fender flares and adding the rolled edge was time consuming. Mostly because of the difficulty of getting a consistent edge thickness and contour. I used the 3M Marine HSRF around the edges and it is much more difficult to sand. I had to make a tool to apply the HSRF and once I perfected it and the way to use it, the job went much quicker. But now I'm working on the underside of the tilt front and it is taking a lot of work. I sprayed it with the featherfill thinking it would hide most of the imperfections. It didn't so I'm doing it the hard way by hand sanding and adding the Rage Gold as necessary. I think I could hide a full gallon of Rage under there but I decided smooth was good enough and am letting the contours be however they sand out. Otherwise I would be adding 10 pounds of filler to the weight of the hood. I think I have a couple of weeks of body prep left before the color will be applied. The manual says 40 hours of body work is all that is required. I guess if I could work as fast as Jeff Miller does in the videos, 40 hours would work.

Here are some pictures of the progress.

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[DaleG]

King, I'm impressed! Body work really intimidates me.

[dallas_]

The manual says 40 hours of body work is all that is required.

I don't think the manual says anything about a tilt front though.

[Jeff Kleiner]

...The manual says 40 hours of body work is all that is required...

Except the manual doesn't actually define body work or what that statement really means---it ain't the same as "ready for paint"

Carry on King!

Jeff

[2bking]

I'm still working on the body. You don't know what you don't know until you don't know something. I think that statement means I'm confused when it come to the process of transforming the nice red shiny gelcoat into a different color. I've cruised the forums to find answers and reached out to some. I have to give many thanks to Jeff Kleiner for helping me with my many dumb questions. This isn't my first rodeo when it come to painting a car and my skills may be a little rusty. I don't know much of the new paint lingo. I looked like a fish out of water when I went to the paint store with a color number for a tri-color paint. The first serious question from the man behind the counter with 30 years of painting experience was, "have you painted a car before?" He seemed torn between loading down the freshman with all the books in the book store and getting me exactly what I needed but after a little cobra talk and telling him about the kit he soften up. He explained the pitfalls in the tri-coat painting and loaded me up with 2 gallons of paint, a quart of stripe color, 5 quarts of clear coat, free stirring sticks, and free paint filters. When I factor in all the sandpaper, sanding blocks, body filler, feather fill, K2 primer, and a few miscellaneous items, I'll have about $1,400 invested in the supplies. But it doesn't stop there because I still have about $150 worth of cut and buff products to buy that doesn't include a buffing machine. That's another $75. I'm over running my $1,000 dollar paint budget!

I decided to start on the underside of the hood and complete it so I could reassemble the body on the chassis. I get to practice my painting skills there and see how the ghost stripe will look before committing to the outer body surfaces. The underside of the body is very rough and has numerous lumps and runs/puddles of resin. The fiberglass reinforcement layers over the seams makes humps that can't be ground down without weakening the body structure. A lot of the area over the tires will be covered with bed liner so I'm not concerned with the surfaces there. The other areas that are visible with the front tilted open are what I am concentrating on. I've used 3/4 gallon of body filler (most of it sanded away) and it is looking very good. As the major flaws are smoothed out the minor ones become major ones and another round of filler get applied. I had to make a judgement call as to when to quit filling and sanding and start painting. I started painting it today. Below are some progress pictures with the last having two coats of base color. I have some runs that need attention before spraying another coat. This is very thin paint that I'm getting used to.

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[sbak]

That hood underside is looking good.Congrats on tackling your own body work. Working on the FFR body, I suspect, would be the same as a fiberglass boat. I raced sailboats for about 30 years and while we were only concerned with the part below the waterline, getting the fiberglass filled and really smooth is a process. Then would spray it with a 2-part barrier coat, sand off most of it.. spray more on, sand off that and repeat this about 4 times. At least you don't have to worry about dealing with any blisters in the gelcoat on a new car body or sanding something 25 feet long.

[carlewms]

King,

Looking good ... As soon as I get the start and go kart ... body is next.

Carl

[2bking]

That hood underside is looking good. Congrats on tackling your own body work......Then would spray it with a 2-part barrier coat, sand off most of it.. spray more on, sand off that and repeat this about 4 times. At least you don't have to worry about dealing with any blisters in the gelcoat on a new car body or sanding something 25 feet long.

Thanks sbak! Yep, the dust on the floor is expensive stuff. But your imperfections get hidden underwater where only the fish get to see.

Carl, are you going to do your own body work?

[RRussellTx]

King,

I just read the entire build thread from the beginning and it's very impressive! You are definitely building it with 'all the options'! I'll need to come check it out sometime since you are so close by.

[carlewms]

King,

I am giving it serious thought. I do at least want to do as much of the preparation as possible to both learn and get er done.

Carl

[2bking]

Just another update on the body work. Here is a picture of the under side of the hood before the clear coat. The room reflections make it look like the paint is different shades but it really is nice and even and really popped when the clear was applied. I experimented with the stripe and decided I wanted it darker than the body color on the top side.
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I think the hard part is behind me, sanding that is. The paint color is Ford RZ Candy Red which is a tri-coat paint meaning there is a base coat that has the glitter, a mid-coat that is a see through that gives the paint depth, and then the clear coat that provides the protection and shine. The base coat has no shine and the mid-coat has a little and the color doesn't come alive until the clear is applied. I've gotten the base coat done and am in the process of masking the stripes. I'm going with ghost stripes which will be done by varying the mid-coat thickness. I'm thinking the painting will be finished later this week. Here are a few pictures of the body in primer and reddish base coat. Next layer is the mid-coat which is a see through red. Then the clear coat and I'm done painting.
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[DaleG]

Can't wait to see the finished paint job!

[sbak]

Very nice.. like how you're doing it yourself.. nice color too!

[WIS89]

King-

I love that color! I am really looking forward to seeing you finish her up.

Awesome build thread!

Regards,

Steve

[2bking]

Thanks everyone for the accolades. Today the painting is done! "Dallas" says that the body work was the most enjoyable part of his build. I can sense some of what he is referring to but it was a lot of labor and mess. I have a couple of mistakes, one in the body work and one in spraying but only I know where they are. I think when I'm done with the cut and buff they will be unnoticed. For this novice and his first time painting with a tri-color paint, I think it turned out very nice. I was worried about color variance and planned the spraying pattern so the overlaps were in curved areas and that seemed to work out very well. The stripes are really ghost like, they are there but not very noticeable.

I'm not sure how the painters get to the bottom edges of the body but I solved the problem by hoisting the body buck up about three feet. It allowed me to get below and get good coverage on the lower edges and inside the wheel wells. And the spray gun didn't stir up dust from the floor. I needed to paint all areas at the same time so I made a rotisserie for the trunk lid. It allowed me to paint the top and bottom sides without having to wait for the paint to dry. It was built in about 30 minutes using a bumper from a tractor, some square tubing and a little welding. It's pretty crude but worked well.

Here are some pictures of the stripe masking and the finished product.
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[Jeff Kleiner]

Ya' done good my friend

Jeff

[wrenchhead]

King,
Impressive build thread and I love the color.

Yigal

[Q7S6R8]

King,
I live in Austin. I'd like to fly up in my plane and check out your build. I am thinking about a build like yours. Seems like a huge time commitment.
Ed

[DaleG]

Man! Gotta love the look without the hood opening; so clean.

[2bking]

King,
I live in Austin. I'd like to fly up in my plane and check out your build. I am thinking about a build like yours. Seems like a huge time commitment.
Ed

Hi ED, I see you have one post so I don't think you can use the private messages yet but if you can, PM me. I'll give you the almost done tour.

[dallas_]

Looks fantastic King!! You done good.

Almost to the finish line now.

[DaleG]

Looks fantastic King!! You done good.

Now THAT is an understatement!

[carlewms]

King,

Simply amazing job. Could you amplify on how you did the ghosting?

Congratulations!

[2bking]

King,

Simply amazing job. Could you amplify on how you did the ghosting?

Congratulations!

Actually I got help from the forum on the method I used. Originally, I was thinking a different shade of the mid-coat but in some exchanges with Jeff Kleiner, he suggested varying the mid-coat thickness (number of coats) which would not have any color compatibility issues that might be present with a different shade. The bottom side of the hood has a two coat difference with the stripe being a lighter color. I wanted a little less contrast on the top side and decided I wanted the stripe to be a darker shade from the rest of the body. So the top side has one coat difference and the masking wasn't any harder than the underside of the hood. I made the stripe on the underside of the trunk lid match the underside of the hood. The first coat of the mid-color was applied to the stripe on the top side and masked from the stripe area on the bottom of the trunk lid. After the first coat the masking was removed and three more coats of mid-coat were applied to all surfaces.

[WIS89]

King-

The ghost stripes look terrific! Very subtle effect, but stunning result.

More pics man, more pics!!! ;-o)

Great work.

Regards,

Steve

[gunkk]

Very nice work. Great choice of color!

[2bking]

I'm finishing up some small details, one of which is a splash shield to cover the opening into the side of the body at the front of the rear wheel well. This is a picture looking into that opening where the aluminum covering the bottom of the door opening is visible.
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I made a part out of cardboard to get the curves dialed in and used it as a templet to cut the real parts. The left and right sides are very close to the same contours so I was able the use the templet for both sides. I like to be able to remove the parts that may interfere with the body removal if that time ever comes again so I use nutserts in the place of rivets to attach the parts. I've discovered the Truck Bed Liner in a spray can is much more durable than the undercoating so I am using it now for the black panels under the car. I sprayed the parts and baked the coating at about 200 F to get a faster turn around. I used some left over bulb seal on the edge where it contacts the body to get a good seal. These are pictures of the bare part and installed.
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I have a few more parts to make to cover some body openings around the foot boxes and the car is about finished. I think the last items are the roll bars that are at the chrome platter now and won't be ready until mid December. I will try to register it next week but it being a short week will probably mean a slip into the next.

[carlewms]

King,

Thanks for sharing ... I like that nice finishing touch.

Carl

[cgundermann]

Nicely done!

[rcflash]

looks awesome

[2bking]

This build is coming to an end in a few weeks. This post is a catch up of some of the details I have been during the last few weeks while doing the final assembly and adding the accessories. Before I installed the body, I carefully measured the body contour around the foot boxes in plane with the firewall so I could cut a foam seal to block any air from the engine compartment from getting into the passenger space. I used some black 1 1/2" thick closed cell foam that is used in the refrigeration industry for sealing around cooling coils. I cut it about a 1/2" larger than the space between the body and foot box so it will get compressed when the body goes on. Since I have a tilt front, I only have to deal with half the body and it is easy to pull the sides out to slide it down over the door hinges and other protrusions (foam). The foam crosses right below the rear of the windshield slots and was easy to force out of the way when the windshield was inserted thus maintaining a seal from lower body lip to firewall bulb seal. I glued the foam to the foot boxes using a weather strip contact cement. Weldwood contact cement would have probably worked but I went with what industry uses for this foam.
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When I placed the windshield and did the final torque on the side frame screws, two wouldn't torque down and stripped the threads. My first reaction was to pull the brass strips and replace them with the stainless ones offered by Breeze. But on closer inspection the screws only caught half a thread and weren't long enough to utilize all the thread in the brass strip. So I flipped the brass strip and put it back in the slot and replaced all the screws with button head stainless ones that were a bit longer. The little longer screws won't be an issue as far as causing a windshield crack because there is a metal barrier behind these screws so they can't touch the glass in the windshield. All the screw torqued down with a solid feel. Here is a picture of extracting the brass strip. A flip front has its advantages.
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Its not completely assembled but here are a few in progress photos. I have the FFR premium top by Rod Tops (very impressed with the attention to detail and quality) and installed it to figure out how it played with the rearview mirror and sun shield.
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[Jeff Kleiner]

Bravo! Well done King

Jeff

[chopthebass]

Looks great! Some creative fabrication there.

[DaleG]

Gobsmacked!