MKIII #5369 "Refresh" Thread - A bat spit shine!

[David Hodgkins]

continued...



The finished piece:





Today I'm going to try and make the glove box, using the templates from the TROJAN build. I hope it works on a MKIII!

I ALSO want to engine turn the upper fan shroud AND the nose shroud! I doubt I'll get through it all but here's hoping!

[WIS89]

Dave-

Like everything else, it's looking great! I admire your skills and tenacity.

I appreciate the updates as well, and am jealous of your progress.

Thanks for sharing your hard work, and cool vision.

Regards,

Steve

[David Hodgkins]

Thanks Steve!

As far as updates go, this one is kinda lame.

I spent yesterday making up templates and mocking up the glove box. I was then able to cut out 2 of the 3 pieces on the band saw and will do the 3rd tonight. I had to make some modifications because my wiring loom follows the upper cowl hoop. It's too big to squeeze in behind the glove box. I also had to move the auxiliary fuse panel in my I-squared system. It will now sit on the firewall, not the dash filler panel.

So not a lot of "progress" yesterday, certainly not as much as I needed. I HAVE to finish the box tonight so I can take it and the dash filler panel to the powdercoat place tomorrow. I don't know if I'll get to the engine turning tonight, but not getting to it will put me even further behind!

I'm seriously worried about whether it will be put back together in time for next Saturday.


Maybe I can turn the BBQ into a build party?? (not)

[David Hodgkins]

I forgot to add...

I sent out all of the gauges to speedhut to have them brought up to snuff, as described earlier. I just got an email from them saying that they are delayed because every gauge has to be rebuilt. Probably to add the red sweep light I imagine.

There is now the possibility that they won't be back in time for the HB show...

[David Hodgkins]

I'm making progress, but feel deeper in the hole with each passing day.

Last night was spent finishing the fabrication of the glove box and mocking it up. I didn't get back to polishing as I had hoped. The glove box ended up being a bit too tall, and I had to make more adjustments to the cutouts to accomodate the wiring harness, but I did finish it. It'll be going to the powder coat place today. They are local to me and have good turn-around times so the hope is that I'll get the pieces back tomorrow.









This hinged bottom dash panel makes up the floor of the glove box and will be powder coated as well...

[Carlos C]

Hey David:

Are those home-made hinges on the glovebox door, or did you purchase them somewhere? How are they attached on both sides? Thanks.

Carlos

[WIS89]

Dave-

What is the badge looking thing attached under the dash in front of the shift lever?

It looks like a squadron insignia or similar. It's hard to tell from the picture. Thanks!

Regards,

Steve

[David Hodgkins]

Hey David:

Are those home-made hinges on the glovebox door, or did you purchase them somewhere? How are they attached on both sides? Thanks.

Carlos

Those are from McMaster-Carr. I can look up the ID if you are interested. I roughed up the mounting surfaces of the hinges and dash, and then mounted them with some JB Weld.

Dave-

What is the badge looking thing attached under the dash in front of the shift lever?

It looks like a squadron insignia or similar. It's hard to tell from the picture. Thanks!

Regards,

Steve

It's a fake-out. Just some pseudo patch I found somewhere. I figure if some dumb idiot (non military) saw it they might think twice about messing with the car. It's totally fake so I figure it's not a stolen valor type of thing...


I'm in deep doo-doo. I'm spending the whole weekend working on the house. I don't think there's any way I'll make the show now...

[David Hodgkins]

I spoke with Speedhut gauges on Friday. They ran into a problem. My original gauge had a built in fuel level on the LED screen and for some weird reason they can't put the GPS AND fuel level in at the same time. They have another gauge that has two sweep arms - one for speed, one for fuel - but it's not a reverse speedo(!) I decided that the GPS and fuel level are MUST HAVE'S so I bit the bullet and ordered the non-reverse speedo. It looks like this one:



It won't ship until Monday. I paid for overnight shipping, but that's just another in a too-long line of "stuff" to do...

[Carlos C]

Those are from McMaster-Carr. I can look up the ID if you are interested. I roughed up the mounting surfaces of the hinges and dash, and then mounted them with some JB Weld.

That'd be great, if it's not too much trouble and they seem to be working great for you. Thanks!

Carlos

[ehansen007]

Yeah, I had my speedo upgraded to GPS when I went with the S-10 tailshaft. I love the fact that I put it in and it just started working. GPS is the best for these cars.

[David Hodgkins]

Erik I especially like how the GPS is integrated into the speedo itself. My car has always been GPS, but it was an external system that had to be calibrated. Hopefully this system will be more accurate with recording to the odometer than my last one was.

Regarding the thrash to get ready for HB, well, I gave it the ol' college try anyway...

I spent a TON of time on the car last week in an attempt to get it ready. I even took a few days off to try and get her ready. I didn't make it. For a few moments I considered taking the chassis to the show but the rear break line needed to be bled. The clutch line needed to be attached to the frame and bled. The coil was still in need of new wire ends. There were several small electrical issues. In short, I'd have to push the chassis up and on to the trailer. I just didn't have it in me, what with my big pre-cruise BBQ taking up that last Friday, and the general depression that was settling in...

But enough of the negativity. Let get on to what has been done between the 24th and last night, 5/3...

The upper fan shroud received a final polish and then was engine turned. I laid out the stripes a little differently, marking the inner edge of the pinstripe first and then adding the 1/2" to the outer edge. I was then able to turn the outer part of the piece and then just peel off the single piece of tape to expose the area that would receive the pin stripe. This little change allowed for less re-taping and speeded up the layout of the pin stripe. Here are a series of pics showing what I mean:















continued

[David Hodgkins]

continued...

This piece came out extremely clean and even. As a matter of fact, this piece and the cubby wall that follows were both "perfect", in that each section turned only used a single abrasion disk each, and I really dialed in the consistency, producing nice, even swirls. These pieces are clearly the best I've done so far:





I polished the trunk and coated it with sharkhide, and then mounted the cubby wall:











continued...

[David Hodgkins]

After that I covered the f-panels and front splash guards with sharkhide and coated the backs with rubberized bedliner spray:





I also covered the firewall with sharkhide:



...and mounted it. I originally mounted this thing with 1/8" rivets, so I drilled the holes out to a proper 3/16" before mounting it the final time. As you can see in this shot, I also wrapped the now-single wire loom. So much cleaner now!:



I also hand-polished the passenger footbox and coated it with sharkhide as well:



...and mounted the wiper motor, after cleaning up and sharkhiding the mount:



When I was putting the car together originally, I nicked one of the harness wires and then used a clamp-on connector to repair the wire. It pulled apart during deconstruction so I used my handy little tool to free the plug connector and replaced the whole wire:

[David Hodgkins]

...then I was able to start mounting the dash. Here's the new speedo, with GPS and integrated fuel indicator sweep:



Frank Maslowski came over on thursday and helped me out by mounting the f-panels and splash guards. As you can tell from this shot, there were still some electrical connections to tend to:



...and this is the last (blurry) shot before HB. Close, but not good enough:



continued...

[pavieSD]

Dave keep at it! It's going to look fantastic once you freshen up all the little things. Plus you'll be able to advertise this as a well sorted, twice reviewed sort of build, so should have lots and lots of trouble free miles for the next guy. On that front, I unfortunately wasn't able to make it up this year, as my battery and starter both crapped out. I'm waiting on parts to get delivered this week, so hopefully my car will be back on the road this weekend. Cheers.

Mark

[GoDadGo]

The time taken to do all of this crazy polishing and turning is insane!
Bravo From Those Of Us Who Are Less Dedicated!
Fantastic Work & Attention To The Little Details!

[David Hodgkins]

Thanks guys. I have more to update you on but I'm off to the shop now to make more progress.

Bleeding a few lines, and then doublechecking to see if anything got forgotten before I mount the body!

[rmiller64]

David, My sister In-law loved the Kids portrait in the Formal living room at your place last weekend. My brother and I thought the Guardsman Blue Wimbledon White Cobra hood sitting against the Formal Living room wall was pretty cool also! Lol

Thank you again for having us in your home. Had a great time

[David Hodgkins]

David, My sister In-law loved the Kids portrait in the Formal living room at your place last weekend. My brother and I thought the Guardsman Blue Wimbledon White Cobra hood sitting against the Formal Living room wall was pretty cool also! Lol

Thank you again for having us in your home. Had a great time

You are very welcome. It was great having you over!

re: the hood... That's me, always keeping it classy. I thought a big car part in the living room was a nice touch.

The wife... not so much.

[David Hodgkins]

The HB show was an awesome event. I had a sad feeling when I went back to the shop on Monday; I should have taken the chassis to the show. Oh well...

Getting back to the refresh, I took the vent tubes out of the splash guards to add a protective guard to the opening that I forgot to tell Frank about when he assembled them. You can tell from the following shot that I could hav added more width to the holes. The tubing fits fine as it is, but I has to bend a bit. It's not a big deal, but worth noting for the next build...:



I then moved back to the dash, which still had a few loose wires for the new speedo and gauge lighting harness to set up. I also needed to install the glove compartment for the last time. Also - and this was important to me - I wanted to rearrange the I-Squared electronics so that they are hanging off the firewall instead of resting on the floor of the dash panel I created. I was able to carefully move the switch box, the 2 heavy gauge fuses and the auxiliary fuse panel onto the back of the firewall without too much trouble. I also relocated the computer to the space behind the glove box:





After playing with the spacing, I added some more industrial velcro to the firewall and "permanently" mounted the gear, and then I installed the glove box walls. I installed the inner side wall and back wall as one unit:



...and the added the outer side wall:



Then I added some bulb seal to the back and outer side wall:



As a result of the rearranging of the electronics, the dash floor is now completely devoid of any gear. This is how it should have been originally. The black powdercoat gives it a nice finished look:



continued...

[David Hodgkins]

Here's a pic of the floor in the "up" position, forming the completed glove box:



I'd like to add a small side note here. WIS89 asked about an embroidered piece I had under the dash. I said it was probably a faux military insignia but I did some research and it turns out it's an patch from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369 (HMLA-369).



You can read about them here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMLA-369

Since this is an actual military patch I've removed it from the car. I'm proud, and respectful of our brave men and women in uniform and as a "civi" I would never wear or show anything military that I didn't earn. I'm gong to mount a small fire extinguisher in it's place.

Moving on, I hooked up the gauge lights and tested them. I found out at this point the speedhut had neglected to add the lights for the sweep needles! grrr! The needles will be hard to see at night with this arrangement so I might have to pull them out - AGAIN - and send them back to speedhut. I'm going to call them today to work on the details.

Another small project I needed to do was to add the pull for the driver's foot box vent. I created the mounting bracket previously and so I was a simple matter of mounting the bracket, cutting the pull to length and then mounting the pull to the blast gate. Here are some pics of the result(sorry about the rotation):

Open position



continued...

Closed position

[David Hodgkins]

At this point I now have a working dash:



...which brings us to last night's exercise, bleeding the rear brake and hydraulic clutch lines:



Not much to show there. Just attached a vacuum suction tool to the lines and sucked the air out, and then used the ol' "push and hold" pedal technique to purge the last bubbles from the lines.

That brings us up to date. Tonight I plan to go-cart the chassis to check to clutch and brakes, and then I'll be working on spraying the under-body and rear wheel wells with rubberized paint.

I'm still debating adding power steering. I might even post a poll for community opinion on adding it to a car to be sold and if that one option justifies raising the price of the car by $1000 to at least cover the cost...

[David Hodgkins]

I called speedhut yesterday and I'm working out the gauge needle issue. Also, the LED screen isn't backlit so I can't read it in low light. Examples below:





Didn't get too much done yesterday, but I did remove the roll bar grommets to polish and sharkhide, and also started taping off the body so that I can spray undercoating on it this weekend.

I need the following items, and I'll be working to procure or get updates on the following today:

• Header / Side pipe spacers
• 14 x 12 diamond plate for driver's footbox. The carpet is trashed and I think the plate will be easier to maintain going forward. Gonna try to find it in black. Or maybe carpet and placemats? Still deciding...
• additional aluminum harness grometts. I only have 2?
• Look into chrome platers in the area for my full length rollbar.
• Power steering items (thanks for the input)
• Roll Bar Pins

[pavieSD]

If you can take the gauges apart, you can buy fluorescent red model safety paint from craft stores, and paint your needles. Then they should have enough "reflectiveness" to work with your current light situation in low light settings.

Mark

[David Hodgkins]

If you can take the gauges apart, you can buy fluorescent red model safety paint from craft stores, and paint your needles. Then they should have enough "reflectiveness" to work with your current light situation in low light settings.

Mark

Good idea mark, but I paid for the upgrade and I'd rather "see the light". I have a feeling they are going to tell me to pull all the gauges and ship them back...

BTW we missed you last weekend!

[David Hodgkins]

Last weekend was all about undercoating the body. Prepping took a long time, but with paint it's all about the prep. I ended up using a combination of light plastic and paper "dropcloths" from home depot to mask off the body openings. Oh, and a ton of tape! You may be asking why I'm bothering to do this. It's because with the polished surfaces, I've always been able to see the underside of the body/ in the trunk, cockpit, and even the engine compartment. Most folks don't have to worry about this, so in most cases this step might not be needed. But there are definitely areas that should be painted on the underbody, like the inside of the wheel wells and on the sides of the body visible from the engine bay, like behind the vents. Jeff miller who painted my body, did the basic areas under the body but this car really needed everything covered. So that's what I did. Well, not EVERYTHING. I didn't paint under the dash. I was almost outa paint anyway...

Here's the masking off.





I hated that you could see this under-body from the reflection of the cubby floor. Especially from certain angles...





Ahhh, much better...

[David Hodgkins]

Here's an angle you can see standing in front of the car, if you don't have the oil cooler or screened opening. No more raw fiberglass...



I'm going to mask off and paint the inner rear wheel wells and then this portion of the refresh will be done.

[pavieSD]

Thanks Dave. I was bummed I couldn't make it. The good news is that I got my new starter and installed with minimal issues, and the car starts right up better then when I bought it. While I had it up on jack stands I noticed I had a pretty big oil leak on the passenger valve cover, so now I'm addressing that, plus my seized/galled collector bolts on the 4 into 4 side-pipe that we talked about. Once I have those two issues resolved, I should be back on the road.

Mark

[David Hodgkins]

Thanks Dave. I was bummed I couldn't make it. The good news is that I got my new starter and installed with minimal issues, and the car starts right up better then when I bought it. While I had it up on jack stands I noticed I had a pretty big oil leak on the passenger valve cover, so now I'm addressing that, plus my seized/galled collector bolts on the 4 into 4 side-pipe that we talked about. Once I have those two issues resolved, I should be back on the road.

Mark

Anytime you make it back up my way the shop is yours for add'l inspections. Have the lift makes everything so much easier!

[David Hodgkins]

I think I replaced the last of the "permo" clecos on the build last night. The rear brake hardline-to-softline clips were never done, because the clips themselves were raw steel. I FINALLY POR-15'd them and riveted them to the frame. That's four 3/16" clecos that have been on the car for close to 10 years.

I also started masking off the rear to spray undercoat on:



I already did the front splash panels and f-panels when they were off the car and the wheel well just looks better blacked out.

I have a question about Roll Bar Pins. I went to West marine and looked at a few different types. The kind with the 2 balls sticking out at the end look like they work but the hole drilled will have to be the EXACT size needed, unless you get at least a 1/4" pin. and they want $15 each for those! I also saw a different type, which I like better:



They didn't have any with a 2" reach though. If you are using pins, what type do you use? Do you have a suggestion where I can find what I need?

EDIT: Is this all I need?
http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-qu...-pins/=12clygo
or this?
http://www.mcmaster.com/#linch-pins/=12clzkp

[David Hodgkins]

That'd be great, if it's not too much trouble and they seem to be working great for you. Thanks!

Carlos

I FINALLY took the time to find these door hinges again for you Carlos! Sorry! I'll need to measure so you can match the exact ones, but here they are on McMaster-Carr:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/108/2793/=ohq187

[pavieSD]

Anytime you make it back up my way the shop is yours for add'l inspections. Have the lift makes everything so much easier!

Thanks Dave. I'll hit you up on that once things slow down for you. For now, I managed to get 6 of the 8 bolts out. The last two were unfortunately nylock stainless nuts that had welded themselves to the screws after the plastic melted out. I had to cut them off with a dremel, which in that tight space was no fun but it's done now. Glad I got it done so now I can put proper bolts in with anti seize and I'll never have a problem swapping out pipes in the future.

[WIS89]

Dave-

I just read your post from several days ago concerning the Marine Helicopter Attack Squadron, and wanted to share some thoughts with you. First, thanks for letting me know what the patch was, I think it is pretty cool looking.

Secondly, I would like you to reconsider removing it. Just because you are a civilian, doesn't mean you can't display a squadron patch. It is a great way to honor that squadron, or any of the individuals who served in that squadron over the years. This isn't a "stolen valor" issue, and I don't think many would take offense at you honoring the service of others. There might be a few folks that might have an issue, but I don't see if that way. I think there are a number of things that you can do to ensure that people interpret it as a salute to those that served, rather than anything else.

Of course the choice is yours. I just don't want you to feel that it must be removed since you did not serve. I simply don't see it that way. I hope others will agree with me. If you wish to discuss it more privately, feel free to shout at me.

On to other issues, and a question. I really like the undercoating, and am planning the same (similar) to mine. Would you recommend applying the undercoat before or after painting the body? I can see the pros and cons of each approach, and thought I would ask!

The car is looking great, and I like the improvements you are making. While I hate to see you sell it, someone is going to get a very, very fine roadster! Keep up the great work!

Regards,

Steve

[David Hodgkins]

Dave-

I just read your post from several days ago concerning the Marine Helicopter Attack Squadron, and wanted to share some thoughts with you. First, thanks for letting me know what the patch was, I think it is pretty cool looking.

Secondly, I would like you to reconsider removing it. Just because you are a civilian, doesn't mean you can't display a squadron patch. It is a great way to honor that squadron, or any of the individuals who served in that squadron over the years. This isn't a "stolen valor" issue, and I don't think many would take offense at you honoring the service of others. There might be a few folks that might have an issue, but I don't see if that way. I think there are a number of things that you can do to ensure that people interpret it as a salute to those that served, rather than anything else.

Of course the choice is yours. I just don't want you to feel that it must be removed since you did not serve. I simply don't see it that way. I hope others will agree with me. If you wish to discuss it more privately, feel free to shout at me.

On to other issues, and a question. I really like the undercoating, and am planning the same (similar) to mine. Would you recommend applying the undercoat before or after painting the body? I can see the pros and cons of each approach, and thought I would ask!

The car is looking great, and I like the improvements you are making. While I hate to see you sell it, someone is going to get a very, very fine roadster! Keep up the great work!

Regards,

Steve

Steve,

Thanks for insight regarding the patch. Being a civie I only know you don't go around in uniform pretending you were in the service, or wear any insignia you didn't earn. The patch will stay with me and the car gets the extinguisher. I'll put the patch on something in the shop.

Regarding undercoating the body. I really don't know. My first inclination would be to do it first, so any overspray you get you just sand away as part of the upper body prep. I had to be ultra careful about applying it on a finished body; the tape-off had to be PERFECT.

[Carlos C]

David:

Thanks for the info. As far as the pins go, as a retired Coast Guardsman, I feel qualified to weigh in on the subject. Either choice will work, but the pin with the quick release needs to be used in an orifice with a diameter that specifically matches the pin. Otherwise, the pin will not stay in place. A pin with a locking ring or another locking mechanism - such as with your second choice - the orifice diameter is not as critical.

Usually, the West Marine website has more options than you'd find in their stores. Also try Grainger. They have clevis pins which could work for you.
https://www.grainger.com/category/cl...ecatalog/N-8ly

Of course, you could always go with a ring or hitch pin.
https://www.grainger.com/category/hi...ecatalog/N-8m2

Good luck.

Carlos

[David Hodgkins]

Thanks Carlos. I'll surf around tomorrow and make a decision.

I did get to work on the car for just a little while tonight, And I found out that the gauge needle lights issue was - ahem - a user error issue. I can't believe I didn't catch it before. When the speedhut tech told me that the white wire coming out of the gauges was the needle and LED screen power it hit me. I had gathered all of those leads into a block but I could see in my mind that it wasn't attached to power! The gauge light lead comes out of the harness right next to the block but I had hooked it up to the inverter for the gauge background lighting only. I cut that connection and fed the power lead and the inverter lead to the block with all the white wires..:



...and everything started working correctly. These gauge needles had NEVER worked correctly and it was a simple oversight. I'm such a doofus.

[David Hodgkins]

Progress continued last night...

I finished masking off both sides of the rear of the car and shot it with undercoating:















Now the rear wheel wells match the front. It's a small detail, and realistically won't be noticed by the vast majority of people but the black should make it so that your eyes are not drawn to the wheel wells in pics and in person.

[David Hodgkins]

More progress to report since my last posting;

I checked the rear end axle bolt torque on each side and they are still seated at 250 ft/lbs. It's worth noting that the pin bolts on the Trigo snouts were manufactored by Kirkham. As a matter of fact they are the 1st set produced, after I sent David Kirkham the snouts to use as prototypes. If you do your research into Trigo pins you'll appreciate this mod. They were really pricey considering they are essentially fancy lug nuts, and last I heard Kirkham no longer offers them. The thing is though, they fit the snout hole geometry perfectly:








I also have started polishing up the side pipes. I left the driver's side on but will probably pull it off. The passenger came off today so I can insert the spacers needed to perfectly position it. I've got a pic of the product(s) by Breeze below. It's a WIP...:







Current state of the passenger pipe, before removal:

[David Hodgkins]

Skipped another day yesterday; still recovering from my daughter's 21st birthday celebration.

Here's the stuff I'm using to polish up the side pipes. Works pretty good!





Pics of the finished pipe later today...