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Thread: Matt's Gen2 65 Coupe Build Thread

  1. #121
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    Wheel Well Aluminum

    The wheel well aluminum was one of those tasks I wasn't really looking forward to doing. It looked like it would be hard to get both halves of the aluminum to line up properly when on the hood and frame. I also didn't really like the way it was supposed to mount to the hood with rivets on either end and nothing in the middle. I thought some supports to the hood would work better.

    First up was figuring out how it was going to fit. Starting with the passenger side, I took a couple pieces of scrap wood and sandwiched the aluminum between the two to set the gap. I left about 1" gap thinking I was have the bulb sealer on both sides to fill the gap.



    I clamped the edge and went to see how it would line up. Basically, I was trying to get the lower section mounted to the frame in the correct location.


    You can see the flexible brake line on the inside of the 1" tube worked out well. The line looped right under the aluminum.


    Once I was fairly happy with the location, I drilled the lower part and attached to the frame. I cut about 3" off the front of the lower part so it would sit flush on the 1" tube. Also, had the top of the piece sit above the 1" frame which now protects the AC hoses.


    After this piece was in, I put the wood back on and marked on the hood where the top piece lined up.


    Now the same with the driver side.




    Marked the hood where the driver's side fit as well.

    -Matt

  2. #122
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    Wheel Well Hood

    I probably should have put this picture in the previous post, but I knew it would take me a few posts to document it all. Here are the markings on the hood where I was planning on putting the mounts.



    I took the hood off and was trying to decide where and how many mounts to put. I first thought 4 on each side in the positions below. You can kind of see them in black marker:


    I made up my 8 mounts out of 1-1/2" aluminum angle. I drilled some large holes in the middle so the fiberglass would have a little more to bite.


    With the hood flat, I glassed in the mounts that gravity could help hold in place. You can see I changed my mind from the previous markings so the mounts would be on 2 of the 3 sides of the aluminum. I was thinking if I tried to put a mount on all 3 sides and didn't get it perfect, it would be harder to adjust when fitting the aluminum. With just 2 sides, I'll have more leeway to make the adjustments.


    Then flipped it on the side and got the ones on the sides of the hood. It helps to have gravity working for you instead of against you......


    I also put some tabs around the vent area to hold the mesh and (you'll like this one Chris, thanks for the idea) maybe an exhaust fan at some point to vent the heat under the hood.

  3. #123
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    Wheel Well Hood cont.

    All the mounts in.


    With all that done it was time to tape it off and paint on the bed liner.


    After two coats.


    All done and tape removed.


    Looks like it'll take me another post to get to installing the aluminum.....

    -Matt

  4. #124
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    More Wheel Well

    Ok, this should be the last post on the front wheel wells.....

    I put the aluminum back in and lined up the bottom the best I could with a gap for the bulb seal. Then started drilling the holes and cleco'd it on.


    The bottom fit together pretty well. I ended up using the side bulb seal on the bottom.


    Next I traced a constant gap of about <3/4" inch where the edge of the aluminum meets the hood.


    Then trimmed the excess off and put the bulb seal around the top.


    Showing the bottom with the side bulb seal.

  5. #125
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    More Wheel Well cont.

    Repeat for the driver's side.


    The driver's side aluminum had larger >3/4" gaps in places, but still trimmed the rest that was <3/4".


    With the bulb seal on there was a little gap in some places, oh well. I could probably not push the bulb seal fully on in those places or someday get some thicker seal.


    Both on


    Still need to paint them with bed liner before I finally mount them with rivets.

    -Matt

  6. #126
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    Radiator Aluminum

    With the hood back on and in the final position, I could finally fit the aluminum behind the radiator.

    First was to tape it in place. Ignore my blue tape where I'm trying to figure out how wide I want my stripes....


    Then marked the side where the "wings" would go.


    I ended up putting a second small piece of aluminum on the side where it attaches to the frame to stiffen it up a bit and better hold everything in place. Added the bulb seal.




    Passenger side


    On the bottom I tied it to the frame with some aluminum angle and rivets.




    -Matt

  7. #127
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    Horns and Front Wiring

    Mounted the front horns and finished up the wiring up in front.

    I made a little bracket out of aluminum and put the horns up front.
    Passenger side:


    Driver side:


    Here's the wiring for the front headlights


    I drilled a hole through the fiberglass and threaded the wires through the hole.


    Driver's side, before the wire conduit


    It worked!


    It doesn't look like much work when finished, but the floor tells a different story.........


    -Matt

  8. #128
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    Nose Side Locator

    For the past month or two, I kept meaning on putting the nose side locator brackets on the hood. The problem was, I couldn't find them. Then last week when I was testing out the fog lights, I finally found them in the box with the fog lights. I must have put them there many months back when first putting the hood on.

    Since I added fiberglass to the lip, it wasn't flat on the top side of the lip. Fortunately, the pontoon was not flat as well where it meets the hood.


    I ground off some of the fiberglass so the plat would sit flat on the lip.


    Now the bracket fits flat and at about the same angle as the pontoon.


    Drilled the center hole.


    Counter sunk the screws in the fiberglass.


    Added the acorn nut on the pontoon.


    It works.


    -Matt

  9. #129
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    Russ Thomson's Rear Quarter Windows

    I bought Russ Thompson's rear quarter windows kit a few years back, even before I picked up the kit from FFR. I was finally at the stage in the build to put them on.

    Starting with the passenger side, the first thing was to mount the bracket. I lined it up with the side window to have the least amount of bracket showing from the outside.


    It went together pretty quickly with the exception of trying to drill the holes into the stainless steel bracket. Once that was done I could mount them on.


    Here's a view from the inside.


    Opened:


    Repeat for the driver's side




    I'm in process of powder coating the bracket black to match the window frame. Once the car painting is done, I'll remove the protective cover on the lexan and add some bulb seal around the edges.

    -Matt

  10. #130
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    Side Mirrors

    I used the side mirror that came with the kit for the driver's side and bought another one for the passenger side. Had to put the seat back in my car and see what I could see. I started with the passenger side and angled the whole mirror instead of keeping the base straight and moving the mirror part in the cup. Tried my best to position it to where I could see part of the fender. The mirrors are pretty small and may not be able to see anything when driving.

    I wanted to drill the holes before paint in case I really screwed something up.


    Mounted


    Driver's side. Screwed up the first time as I didn't have it positioned correctly and had to drill a second hole. What I should have done the first time was to drill the first hole, then mount it, then swivel it to when I want it. Then trace the bottom and drill the second hole.


    Side


    From back.


    Both on. Looking from the front you can see the passenger side is angled in more, but in my opinion this looks better than having the mirror part (which adjusts) not in the center of the cup. I really need to decide on the stripe/width spacing soon and get ride of that blue tape on the hood....


    -Matt

  11. #131
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    Body Mounts

    When I first started the build and up until a few month ago, it was never clear to me exactly where the body mounted to the frame. I knew the tail lights served as a mounting point, but not sure of all the other places. Now that I've made it this far in the build, I'll post the other spots where I put mounts.

    Rear tail lights:


    Made a spacer out of spare fiberglass:


    Bottom sides behind the mufflers:


    Struts for rear glass hatch:


    Made a piece of aluminum for a spacer on the bottom of the windshield:


    Bolted it through:


    Door strikers

  12. #132
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    Body Mounts cont.

    Top of windshield. Again had to make a spacer.


    From inside:


    Top of rear hatch:


    There you have it. Those are all the points where the body attaches to the frame on my car.

    -Matt

  13. #133
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    Rear Wheel Well

    Next up on the list was the rear wheel well aluminum splash guard. I was hoping that these would be easier than the front. These pieces required just a little trimming to fit properly with the bulb seal.

    Drilled the holes into the frame and it lined up really well.


    I left about 1/2" gap with the aluminum to the body. Then added the bulb seal to fill it up.


    Instead of riveting through the body to attach the bottom of the guard to the body, I decided to add a mount. Here I ground the bed liner off:


    Made up some more aluminum mount pieces from some angle


    Then glassed them in


    I left about 1/2" gap and coated them with bed liner

  14. #134
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    Rear Wheel Well cont.

    Cleaned up and coated the aluminum panels with bed liner as well. Had to make some notches in the aluminum for my rear speaker wires.


    Added the bulb seal


    Test fit them again.


    From under the car.


    Once the car is back from paint, I'll permanently install them.

    -Matt

  15. #135
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    Misc

    Have a few miscellaneous pictures of things that I've done.

    First is that I trimmed the body fiberglass on the inside of the window frames so the fiberglass wouldn't show from the outside.


    You can see what I needed to trim.


    I also fit the aluminum on the inside under the doors. I decided to cut it into two pieces. That why I can carpet over the bottom piece of aluminum. Then have the top piece fit over it and hide the edge of the carpet. We'll see if it works out that way when I get to the carpet.
    Showing where I made the cut:


    Installing the bottom piece:


    Repeat for the driver's side:


    Showing where the top piece will sit after paint and carpet:

  16. #136
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    Misc cont.

    Playing around a bit more with the stripes. Here's 7.5" wide with 1.25" space at the front going to 8" wide


    Here's 8" wide with 1.25" space at the front going to 8.5" wide.


    Here's 8.5" wide with 1.25" space at the front going to 9" wide


    Finally a picture outside with the body on.


    -Matt

  17. #137
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    Off to Paint

    Today was the day to send the car off to paint. Got up and hitched the trailer to the truck and then it started to rain. After waiting a couple of hours and checking the radar, the rain cleared. With the help of my Dad and two oldest nephews, we loaded it up. I had driven the car up on the trailer before, but this was the first time with the body on. Just lined everything up and gave it a shot. I quickly found out with wet tires and wet ramps, you need to go for it. No going slow up the ramp. Got the car up and we strapped it down.









    Off we went. After the 1.5 hour drive we arrived. Backed the car off and parked it in the lot.


    Now it's waiting time.......

    -Matt

  18. #138
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    Primer

    My Dad and I took a trip down to the painter's shop to check out the progress. I was very happy to see the progress. Since I didn't do any of the work, I can't say whether it was hard or not and I can't complain about the dust or heat. Here are the pictures to show how it sits today:







    The rear spoiler came out great.



  19. #139
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    Primer cont.







    Here's a sneak peek at the color. It's Rallye Green from a 1969 Camaro. I can't wait to see it on the car.


    -Matt

  20. #140
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    Paint

    Got a text from my painter...........









    -Matt

  21. #141
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    Paint Done

    My Dad and I hitched up the trailer and we drove out to Western MA to pickup the car. The weather was perfect and everything went well. I'm really happy with the color and how everything turned out.

    Here are the pictures to prove it:











  22. #142
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    Paint Done cont.

    Made it home:






    For the white stripes, the painter said he used the same stripe color that would have been on the 1969 rallye green camero. It came out great.

    -Matt

  23. #143
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    Gas Cap On

    Well after 2 months off from working on the coupe while getting painted, I'm back at it. It's a little strange installing things for the last time. It seems like the previous 6 months were test fitting something, then taking it off and putting it back in a box (ex. gas cap, mirrors, head/tail/fog lights, splash guards, etc.). I also was reminded how long it takes to do the simplest thing.

    Here are the pictures of the final gas cap install. I had done all the fitting a long time back.









    -Matt

  24. #144
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    Headlights and Front Camera

    Continuing on this the final installation of things, next up was the front headlights. Since I'd done all the trial fitting before paint, these went in fairly quickly. I just needed to file a bit of the paint away as I made the holes tight before paint. The only thing I didn't do was to put the screw to hold the trim ring for the headlight. There was no room to easily do this, so I'm just skipping this as the trim ring snapped in and seems to be pretty tight. We'll see if it ever pops off while driving.

    Once the headlights were in, the running/directional lights went in quick as well. I had already pre-made the connections for those, so just needed to put some flex tubing around them and route the wires.

    Next up were the fog lights. These were a little trickier to install and tighten up, but I was able to finally get a wrench in there to make it tight.

    Lastly, I installed the front camera, temp sensor for the review mirror and routed the wires for those and the fog lights. I had previously glassed in some tabs and used them to hold the wires from flopping around.












  25. #145
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    Headlights and Front Camera cont.



    Camera and temp sensor close up.


    View from the mirror. Better watch out for the jack....


    Lights work!!!


    -Matt

  26. #146
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    Tail and Backup Lights

    Installed the tail lights. Top are the brake (high)/running (low) lights, middle are the turn signals (high)/running (low) lights and bottom are the reverse lights.

    My fingers are in pain from getting the lenses and the trim rings on the back lights. The lense goes on first and that sets in the rubber, then the trim ring goes on over and that sets in the rubber. It reminded me of putting a tire on a bicycle. You have to work your way around and then at some point its all on. I didn't want to use any tools and scratch things up, so my thumbs paid the price trying to peal the rubber around the glass and trim.







    -Matt

  27. #147
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    Door Latches and Mirrors

    I noticed my door latches seemed to be kind of hard to open. I thought that some of it could be related to the cable from the latch to the handle. I never liked that the cable housing was too long and really bowed up inside the door. So I took off the door skin and went about shortening the cable. I found that if I put a set of vise grips on the plastic end near the handle, I could unscrew it from the cable housing. Then I pulled out the cable and ended up cutting off about 3". This made a much better fit inside the door when on.
    The latches were still kind of hard to open even manually moving it. I realized they were dry and I hadn't put any grease on them. I used a bunch of white lithium grease and worked that in all the moving parts of the latch. Now everything was much smoother and so easy to open.

    Here's a picture showing the plastic end that I unscrewed from the cable before cutting the housing.


    With the doors back on and working much better, I had a chance to put the mirrors back on.










    -Matt

  28. #148
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    AC Vents

    Since I'm going with a 2 piece removable dash, I was always concerned on how I was going to attach the defrost vents to the top piece and still be able to install/remove the top dash. Fortunately, I didn't trim any of the fiberglass on the bottom near where the windshield was going to go. If I mount the vents to the fiberglass, then they can be permanently mounted and the top dash can theoretically be installed/removed without being connected to the vent hoses.

    I marked up the locations and drilled/dremeled the holes and slots.




    Next I started laying out the hoses and the room quickly disappears.....


    To cover up the slots and provide a more finished look, I purchased a set of covers. These are the Vintage Air VTA-49161-LHA defrost louvers. I spray painted the screws black to match and installed them.

  29. #149
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    AC Vents cont.

    For the AC, I previously installed two vents in the dash, one on the driver's side and one on the passenger's side. I connected these up to two of the 3 oval connections on the unit. For the two heat connections (closest to the firewall), I needed to make some mounts. I was going to install them under the dash and be able to shoot the heat towards the floor. Made these out of aluminum.


    Installed the passenger side under the AC vent here:




    And the driver's side to the right of the steering wheel here:


    I taped up the unused middle oval AC output and connected everything up.




    I sure hope the heater/AC works, because I never tested it before installing it.....

    -Matt

  30. #150
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    Third Brake Light and Backup Camera

    Installed the third brake light on the back of the rear spoiler. I bought a Partsam Red 15" Waterproof 11 LED Light (Model #132286) with Dimensions:15.5" x 1.25" x 0.5" It was the thinnest one I could find at only 0.5" thick.

    I had previously purchased a different one a year or two back. When I went to look at it again, it seemed really big, had some scrapes on it and the plastic housing didn't look great. You can see the new one on the TOP below:


    Always a little nerve racking drilling holes in the finished body.....


    Installed.


    And it works.....


    Also installed the backup camera. It's hard to even notice it and sits nicely under the lip of the body.


    -Matt

  31. #151
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    Wheel Well

    Put the rear wheel well aluminum on for the final time. I had test fit and painted these with bedliner before sending the car off to paint.



    One rivet in the bottom to tie in the body.


    Driver's side before:


    After

  32. #152
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    Wheel Well cont.

    Also finished putting on the front




    Added a small strip of seal on the hood where it meets the pontoon.


    Closed:


    A couple shots of the whole car as it stands now:




    -Matt

  33. #153
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    Door Straps

    Next up was putting on the door straps to keep the doors from opening too wide. First I dyed the straps with Fiebings Leather Dye Black.

    Here is the before picture:


    Here is the after picture. Also dyed the seat belts.


    I then drilled and tapped into the frame putting it as high as possible on the frame and about 1/2" from the outside. I installed it high to keep it in the middle of the door and away from bumping into ones knees when close. Then opened the door to see where to mount on the door. I ended up putting the holes a little over an inch from the corner of the door.


    On the inside of the door I cut a piece of aluminum about 3"x7" to spread the load on the door skin.


    Then installed it shown with door open.


    Here is shown with door closed.

  34. #154
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    Door Straps cont.

    Repeat for driver's side. Shown open:


    Driver's side closed.


    I also installed the seal around the rear glass hatch. I used one side of the double D seal that came with the kit.


    I tightened up the latch a little so the glass will close tight.


    Note: I later changed out this seal with something thicker as the window would rattle when going over a bump.

    -Matt

  35. #155
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    Radio / Transmission Tunnel

    I'm still making progress on finishing up a bunch of things.
    First up is the radio in the center console. I had cut up and made this piece a long time back and finally have gotten to the point where I can install it. It's very tight with the radio, heater controls along with the heater hoses and control valve, but it looks like everything will just fit.







    With the aluminum cover on:

  36. #156
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    Radio / Transmission Tunnel cont.

    I cut up the tunnel cover so I can remove it if necessary. I added insulation to both sides.




    I drilled and tapped for screws to hold it on.




    Covered the cover with the carbon fiber wrap to match the dash.


    -Matt

  37. #157
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    Front Speakers and Rear License Plate

    I haven't permanently installed the front speakers yet, but did drill the holes and do a test fit. I was pretty lucky as the speakers just exactly fit in the door indentation. These are Infinity Reference 5002ix 5-1/4" speakers.





    I also drilled the holes for the rear license plate. I decided to center it vertically between the brake and backup lights. Used some tape as a guide.


    For the license plate light, I decided to use Miniature LED License Plate Bolts. I purchased MAL-S-WW2: Warm White with Silver Housing from superbrightleds. Here's with the plate installed and led mounting lights on.


    Hopefully the question marks will become a real plate someday.

    -Matt

  38. #158
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    Top Dash

    I had cut the dash a long time ago and made a two piece dash. This has been great as I could install all the gauges, switches, etc. and could still work on everything behind it. Since I cut it, I needed to come up with a new piece for the top of the dash and find a way to attach it. I decided to us a piece of wood from the back of my TV console that I cut up years ago. It's 3/16" thick and can easily be cut and sanded into shape. I mocked up the size with cardboard and then cut the wood.

    I fit it under the fiberglass up front and cut some notches to go around the defrost vents. Like I mentioned previously, I was happy that I could fit the defrost vents in the fiberglass. That way I could permanently connect them and not have to worry about how to attach them to the top of the dash.






    Next up was to cover the dash with vinyl. I had picked up two marine vinyl sheets off the internet as it was hard to tell what it looked like on the computer. I figured I'd then pick which one I liked the best. Fortunately, I did like one better than the other. One was thin and glossy and the other thicker and matte. Since this is for the dash and I didn't want reflections, I went with the thicker matte vinyl.

    Now it was time for arts and crafts. Traced it and cut it out.


    Then I used some Permatex Body Shop Heavy Duty Headliner & Carpet Adhesive Part Number: 27828, that I bought to attach my headliner. I hoped this would work. We'll see how well it holds. I took my heat gun and lightly heated the vinyl to get rid of any wrinkles. Sprayed on the adhesive with a couple of coats, waited until it became tacky and then pressed it to the wood.

  39. #159
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    Top Dash cont.

    Then test fit it in the car. I was going back and forth about how to attach it, but decided it fits tight enough that I'm just going to put Velcro where it meets the bottom dash to hold it in place.






    -Matt

  40. #160
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    Headliner

    Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda..... I think it would have been easier to install the headliner when I had the body upside down, but I didn't. I think it was because I didn't want it to get dirty during body prep. If I didn't install it, I probably should have traced it out. But I didn't, so here's how I installed the headliner. I bought some black headliner instead of the light color that came with the kit.

    I put the headliner on top of the car and traced where I needed to cut. I wanted to get the front curve correct. I taped it upside down and marked it up.






    I then cut it out and went to test fit it to the roof. The roll bar helped hold it up some.


    I taped the front section, then sprayed a bunch of headliner adhesive to the roof and headliner. I waited a few minutes then started smoothing it on.


    It went on pretty well. The difficult part was the edges that were above the roll bars. It started sticking and bunching up a bit. I just kept pulling (ripping) it apart and then smoothing it out. For the most part it came out pretty well. The part you can see looks good. The parts near the roll bars not so much. It's one of those things that if you aren't looking for it, you won't see it. I'm happy to be done with this step.




    -Matt

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