Casey Family Build Thread (coupe)

[MRSQSL]

You guys are all amazing. Thank you! Mike went to McFadden-Dale yesterday and brought home 3/4 caps. They don't fit. Too fat. Argh! He thinks we can cut slits or something to make it work. I'm positive the manual said 3/4 but Mike muttered something about od and id so I'm guessing they had both and he picked the wrong one, but I didn't ask. He's like a magician sometimes and can make just about anything work or at least that's how it appears to me. Nim not worried. The fuel tank was a nightmare on Scoopy so I was fully expecting this one to be a jerk face too. Thought I'd get further than the cap things before it gave me a hard time but apparently not.

[frankeeski]

When I talked to Mike yesterday Julie, I told him that your caps are most likely lying on the floor at the powder coating shop. Those caps come preinstalled from FFR, at least mine did. I use those type of caps all of the time for 3/4" tubing and usually pick them up at Lowes. I believe you will find them there. Hope you have better luck this weekend.

[Presto51]

Happy late Anniversary to you and Mike!
Doug

X2 on the anniversary for you two.

BTW How many happy years does that make it for you all

Ron

[MRSQSL]

I'm going to try to get to Lowes today for the caps. Had my 20 year high school reunion last night and visited with some friends during the day. Didn't get anything done but had a good time.

Mike and I met in high school. We've been together for 22 years...married for 16. I think he's willing to put up with me for another two years but when I hit 40, he's trading me in for a newer version (or so he claims).

[cobrajj]

Julie, here's a link to plastic finishing plugs with dimensions that may help. http://www.mcmaster.com/#plastic-fin...-plugs/=smhzlk

[MRSQSL]

Week 70:

Success! Well, kind of. I went to Lowe's and found the plugs. They only had two though. I raced home and shoved them in. Perfect fit! Now I need to find another Lowe's. That was the bulk of my car success for the weekend. Mike informed me this morning that he ordered a four post lift though. He swears it is so I can get lots and lots of work done quickly on my car. I don't buy it, but at least he'll want to spend time in the garage again.

Nothing exciting to report other than going to my first high school reunion. I missed the ten year, but decided I was absolutely, definitely, without a doubt going to the 20 year. I had an excellent time, but I'm pretty sure I look old. I was shocked at how old other people looked and therefore concluded they must feel the same when they gaze upon me. How quickly time flies. Someone commented we are a very good looking graduating class still and I would agree. I only wish more people had attended. It was a good turnout, but out of several hundred of us that left the school that year, only fifty or so ventured back. Anyway, that's it for my news this week. I've given up saying I'll get anything done the following week because it seems to jinx things. I will definitely try to get to another Lowe's so at the very minimum I can plug the other two holes and begin fuel tank installation. Maybe the lift will have arrived shortly after and we can pull the engine and then get back to the serious work at hand. I SOOOOOOO want to drive my Coupey!!!!!!

[Big Blocker]

Belated but well wished . . . Happy Anni you guys!!
Now put down the Champagne and get to work - no more excuses - it's gunna be August soon and you won't want to go out in the garage at all (unless of course Mike did "climate control" it for you).

Doc

[MRSQSL]

Thanks for the anniversary wishes.

I'm not avoiding work on the car (intentionally). Mike got the lift today and is bringing it home tomorrow. Installation day is Friday which I find terrifying. I have already made it clear I have zero interest in helping. I'll make sandwiches and fetch drinks, but that's it. I hope once the lift is ready for use, he will feel more inspired to spend time in the garage. Plus I need to get the other two plugs from Lowes.

No climate control and it's already hot. It has been just below 100 for a whole lotta days. I don't like summer. Wah.

[QSL]

Steve Hard at work in the garage!

[QSL]

Sorry for being off the grid for so long guys. We are finally getting to the point where we should start making some more progress. Here are a few teaser shots until Julie gets a moment to post!

[Presto51]

Very, Very Nice Indeed

Ron

[68GT500MAN]

Mike, Details on the 4-post lift please, how high is your garage ceiling?
Thanks,
Doug

[QSL]

My ceiling is 110". I purchased the 8,000 lift from Greg Smith. I was pleased with their service and fast shipping. I also purchased the sliding jack and I am VERY glad I did. It rocks! Assembly was easy, however very heavy. The ramps are unbelievably heavy. It took 6 of us 6hrs to do it all including lunch. Plus it was wicked hot out.

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/At...rage-Pro-8-000


The quality of the lift is great and it really does not cramp up my garage really at all. When its down, its almost like its not even there. I am a happy camper!!!

I still need to lift the garage door. But that can wait.

[MRSQSL]

Week 71:

It's a good thing we had an extra day off this week. The lift looked like a handful and a half. I had made it perfectly clear from the beginning that I wanted NOTHING to do with that project. Heavy things are scary things and I dislike being scared (unless I'm reading a good book). I would not recommend anyone build a lift without at least 3 or 4 other strong, healthy men. I am actually very impressed by the thing. I still stare at it out of the corner of my eye to see if it's going to suddenly collapse, but it might be pretty darn safe. The most shocking thing is that the garage feels BIGGER now instead of smaller. For the record, we are not storing the cars in a stacked configuration. Mike drove Scoopy under just to make sure both vehicles could fit at the same time (on the off chance they mate and unexpectedly produce a GT40). I have no explanation as to why the garage feels larger and I'm definitely not complaining.

The first task (once the lift was built, installed and tested) was the fuel tank. We had gone to Lowe's and fetched the last of the stupid little 3/4" plugs. I shoved them in and smacked at them with a mallet. The next step was to dump all the fuel related components around until I found the rubber things the manual (using Scoopy's manual for this portion) demanded. Like I've said multiple times...I remember the fuel tank being impossible in the Cobra. I had little hope of doing anything by myself. When I was able to shove and mush and get the bulk of the gasket-like jobber in the hole, I shrieked with delight. I did request Mike check it out just to make sure I hadn't made a mistake. I'm sure he adjusted somehow because it looked better when he handed the tank back. I also had to push a smaller version into another hole and I was beside myself with joy when I did it 100% by myself. Feeling overly confident, I decided to move on to the fuel pick up. I wasn't entirely certain how to get it in properly, but apparently it didn't matter because Mike informed me I was going to have to "hit it hard with a hammer" so I should wait until I mounted the tank so I could get better leverage. Ummmmm...this sounds terrifying.

The instructions say you need to jack up the tank so you have free hands to tackle the nasty bolts that hate me. I was a little nervous about using the jack Mike had bought for the lift, but quickly realized this was the greatest thing since Oreo cookies...well maybe sliced bread. The jack worked flawlessly and it was a piece of cake (or sliced bread) to operate. My only complaints are that the lift puts the car at just the right level so that I have to duck a smidge if I stand under the drivetrain yet still reach high above my head to fiddle with the gas tank mounts. It isn't the lift's fault, but I didn't realize how much of an upward workout it was going to be. The major complaining comes from the tank though. Stupid bolts weren't long enough, but we knew that going in and Mike had gotten me a variety pack of sizes. I found two that worked, but each is a different length. I hope that won't be a problem. Anyway, note to future builders: In order to get the strap up near the bolt area on the passenger side, it must pass the round bar diagonally crossing the area. This is impossible. The solution was to go around to the very back of the car and unbolt the strap out there and then run back under the car and loosely attach the strap where it needs to go. Then you can run back out and scream obscenities as you attempt to reattach the strap to the correct position at the very rear of the car. It took several tools, a husband and some shaking muscles before it submitted. Once the tank was in, I smiled at Mike. Job well done. He turned to me and said "good job mocking it up". I considered dropping the lift on him. Mocking it up? Mocking it up?! NOOOOOOOO! He laughed. I will never remove that tank again unless it is absolutely necessary. I mean, there is NO other option.

The next day I attempted to finish off the tank by putting in the filler neck and bracket, fuel pick up unit and weird other metal unit. Unfortunately, Mike had to do the bulk of it. He left me to smack it with a hammer until the little edges slid around and locked in. I'd say it was fun, but I hit so many things other than the tool I was trying to smack. I hit fingers, thumbs, metal bars, absolutely nothing but air...

So, the gas tank is fully installed (I think) and Mike has begun work on the front brakes. I don't know what he's doing since I thought they were mostly done. At least progress is being made again and the lift is really nice. I hate to admit it, but I think we should've gotten it sooner. Mike claims we need to raise the garage door, but I truly don't think we do. I'm not going to argue though. If he wants to tackle the job, who am I to complain?

[rguillen04]

MR and MRS QSL, I just want to thank you and congratulate you on a great build!! Its been really fun reading about both your builds and I have to say, your attention to detail is great. I'm still saving up for my coupe, and when I order it, I just hope I can do a half-as-good job as you guys are doing. Cant wait to see your finished coupey

[MRSQSL]

How nice of you! It makes me smile when I hear nice comments like these. You will have a blast building your coupe even though I totally understand now why a straight jacket is involved. Can't wait to start reading your build threads when the time comes.

[rguillen04]

It might be in a few years, but I will have my coupe!! And probably the only one in Mexico at that.

[MRSQSL]

Mexico? Wow!!! I imagine shipping internationally is slightly more difficult. Too bad you aren't ready right now since FF is having that nice 50% sale again on options.

[rguillen04]

Im thinking that when the awesome day finally comes I will ship to Texas, and from there import it into Mexico. I've been reading your posts for the last couple of months and I'm anxious to see when I'll be able to afford it. Got married 5 months ago so my first order of business is buying a house, afterwards comes the Coupe!! I know I'm a stranger, but my wife has family in San Diego, and when we go visit them it would be a pleasure to drive up to meet your family, Scoopy and Coupey. YOu do such a great job with the build thread that everyone feels a part of your family.

[MRSQSL]

You are more than welcome to come visit when you are up this way. San Diego is not far from us at all. In fact, our daughter will be going to college down that way in the fall (buttcrack of summer really). Just shoot one of us a PM when you have an idea when and we'll work out the details.

Oh and congrats on the marriage!!

[rguillen04]

Thank you, and Happy Anniversary to you as well!!

[QSL]

Does not look like a lot of progress, however a huge monkey is off my back now and it feels good. Julie will comment shortly...

[MRSQSL]

Week 72:

I'm not sure if there will be any pictures. I haven't brought the camera down nor have I charged it, so any recent pictures have been taken on our phones. I don't recall seeing anyone snap pictures this time around. Not too much has changed visually anyway, so I guess that's okay.

We worked on the car Saturday morning while it was still "cool" (in the 80's). Mike wanted to fix the front brakes (we never actually got them dialed in before HB). I know what you are thinking. Why is Mike working on brakes? Well, I was ready to throw things when we had tried to get the spacing correct months and months ago and at the end of the evening he told me not to worry about it and he'd fix them. I'm not sure how I reacted outwardly, but a giant mental hug was issued. While Mike raised the car to a good height for him and began the process, I grabbed the manual to see which piece of aluminum should be drilled next. Since we still haven't pulled the engine and trans, aluminum work is about all I can do at the moment which is fine with me since I am mostly capable of doing so without gobs of help. U-joint cover was the winning piece so off I waddled to find it in the mass of boxes/parts. I checked the inventory list and discovered it was not one of the things attached to the frame upon delivery so it should be found in box 6. There are two box 6's. I dove into the first one only to discover it only held large pieces which clearly were not U-joint covers. I managed to wiggle the big box off onto the floor and pawed through the second box. Do I have to tell you where I found the missing part? It was at the very bottom. I repackaged the entire contents and danced back to the car on the lift. Hmmmmm...how was I to install this little doodad when the car was higher than me? I couldn't ask Mike to lower the lift since his back was bothering him and it wouldn't help if he had to bend (plus he was doing me a tremendous favor with the brake work). Sigh. I reached up and grabbed the side impact bars and heaved myself up onto the edge of the ramp (or whatever you call it). I slithered into the car (both seats were inside making it extra difficult) and proceeded to fiddle with the cover. It only took a few seconds of drilling before I realized I was in trouble. No matter how or where I placed the metal, it didn't fit closely enough to the bars for me to drill and eventually rivet. Why does my car hate me?

I climbed off the lift (for the fifth or sixth time because I wasn't organized enough to get everything I needed the first time) and whined to Mike I needed a consult. It took him less than 5 seconds to solve my problem. All I needed to do was lower it a smidge more than I had attempted to. I drilled and clecoed.

I climbed back off the lift and fetched the trans tunnel rear corner pieces. Which goes where? I shifted and flipped and ogled and pondered. I was pretty sure I had them correctly on their respective sides, but neither wanted to fit properly. "Miiiiiiiiike", I shrieked. "Consult" Poor guy. I announced it was not physically possible to get either one in so I didn't know what we were going to do. Five seconds later he had them mocked up and told me just to smack the edge with a mallet until it went down low enough. I got the mallet and smacked. I smacked all sorts of things and from all sorts of angles. I only made it worse. "Miiiiiiiiike!" He came back and smashed the mallet onto the poor, helpless aluminum and walked away. Oh. "Miiiiiiike!" I'm fairly certain he was beyond annoyed at this point, but he had to be patient since he agreed to marry me for better or for worse. "Where am I going to drill? This side doesn't skish up against that side." He pointed and walked away. I drilled, but the entire time I announced I thought he was wrong. He wasn't wrong.

I tried to repeat the other side with less help, but that darn metal was even more stubborn and disrespectful. Mike had to hold it while I drilled. So in the end I got the U-joint cover and two corners in. I would've put the rear wall on, but we put those side impact bars in just the right spot so the edges of the flat aluminum hit the round bars and will need to be persuaded gently to conform. I didn't have the heart to beg Mike to do the grinding and I certainly wasn't going to destroy such a large piece of aluminum by doing it alone.

Mike fixed my front brakes completely. Turns out the brake pedal was hitting the cross bar, thus keeping the brakes from totally releasing. He made some minor adjustment and the problem was solved (also had to reshim things). He started on the rear brakes Sunday, but we agreed to let a friend borrow the lift to change a motor mount so we didn't work on the car until the hot afternoon. Wait, "WE" didn't work on the car Sunday. Mike did. I watched soccer and entertained the friend while Mike slaved away, claiming I couldn't be useful until he ground down the sides of my cockpit wall. Thank you Mike!!!!!

If I can just persuade Mike to do some grinding, I should be able to keep myself fully occupied (and without many consults) drilling all the millions of holes on that rear piece next weekend. Fingers crossed.

[68GT500MAN]

Your new lift is becoming quite the tool of choice. Working on the brakes while standing is something I only dream about, until next year when I purchase the same lift for my garage.
Doug

[MRSQSL]

The lift is great unless two people are trying to work and are different heights. That's the only real issue we've run across so far. I can honestly say I wish we had gotten one sooner. I have pretty much completely lost that slightly panicky feeling of being under the car wondering if I could turn my head this way or that if the car fell off the jack stands and if I'd survive. I don't worry that the car is going to fall off the lift and I'm not even all that worried anymore that the lift is going to suddenly collapse. I still prefer to be on top of the lift rather than under it, but I guess now I know it'll be certain death if it collapses so it takes the mystery away. That was kind of morbid. Sorry. Truly, it feels much safer and when we looked up four post lift failures on the internet, we really couldn't find anything so that was comforting.

[QSL]

Doug, you will love the lift. I am soooooo pleased with it. I love working on the cars again. It makes everything so easy. Its like having your car on the kitchen table.

[SoCalMike]

Mike, I don't think she is going to let you put that lift in the kitchen above the island.

[Rodster]

Working at different heights - ha ha. Have Julie stand on a box to reach. Kidding. Have Mike stoop down to reach. Kidding again. Now I need one of those lifts!

The lift is great unless two people are trying to work and are different heights. That's the only real issue we've run across so far. I can honestly say I wish we had gotten one sooner. I have pretty much completely lost that slightly panicky feeling of being under the car wondering if I could turn my head this way or that if the car fell off the jack stands and if I'd survive. I don't worry that the car is going to fall off the lift and I'm not even all that worried anymore that the lift is going to suddenly collapse. I still prefer to be on top of the lift rather than under it, but I guess now I know it'll be certain death if it collapses so it takes the mystery away. That was kind of morbid. Sorry. Truly, it feels much safer and when we looked up four post lift failures on the internet, we really couldn't find anything so that was comforting.

[QSL]

again, the lift kicks *** and highly recommend. for maintenance its going to be killer. I have not had a chance to get the roadster on it. but I can't wait as I have a couple things that need to be done.

I think julie would let me put it in the kitchen, she is that awesome!!!

[MRSQSL]

It WOULD make it easier to reach things on the top shelves. Hmmmmm...

[68GT500MAN]

That is good thinking Julie, then you could put the boxes on the ramps and have the kids lower you and the box down. NOO more ladders!
Doug

[MRSQSL]

Week 73:

I'm almost positive there are no pictures this week and trust me when I say you don't want any. We knew we wouldn't really get to work on the car Saturday. We were at one of the shops where we work for several hours and then the kids were gone so we had "date night" (planned to go out, but realized we are old and tired and stayed home with dinner and a movie instead). Sunday was going to be the big working on the car day. The first step was to go to Home Depot and get a battery powered ratchet. I wasn't thrilled about it, but Mike said he "needed" the tool for my brakes, so whatever. Who am I to argue? One little impulse buy ended up costing us the rest of the day. The extra item we bought (wifi sprinkler timer doohickey) was faulty so after several failed attempts and time on the phone with technical support, we went back to HD and exchanged it. That one didn't work either and tech support said they'd mail us a good part, but Mike has the patience of a toddler so we went to a different HD and finally got one that worked. We still had several hours where we could've worked on the car, but Mike decided to mount the thing and discovered our water pipes are not copper, but some sort of plastic (PEX?) and a drill bit can go through them easily if you don't know they're there (it was a really stupid place for the main water line anyway). Water squirted across the garage. At first I stared in absolute shock, but then came to my senses and screamed "what can I do?". Mike was already trying to turn off the water, but you know how smoothly things go when time is of the essence. I ran to the offending leak and (having watched too many cartoons as a child) shoved my finger over the hole, announcing I stopped it. Not so much. Apparently the water got angry and made an extra hole in the drywall and hit me in the face with plenty of added force which now caused the water to Bellagio Fountain its way across the garage, smacking directly into the garage door opener, diverting the stream onto my poor naked Coupey and splattering all over the inventory sheets mounted on the cabinets. Mike got the water turned off and the drying process began. To make a long story short, a plumber was called but he didn't have a "sharkbite" nor did he think he could make anything work on a Sunday evening so he left with the promise to come back the following day and charge 5x the amount we were originally quoted. I'm proud to say that Mike is handy and decided a trip to Home Depot would probably be in order. This was our fourth visit for the day, but who's counting, right? We got there just as they announced the store was closing in 15 minutes. I did not expect a "sharkbite" to look like it did, but we bought one and raced home. Mike did a bunch of measuring and calculating and cutting and mushing and water was restored to the house. I'm not sure if this is really the right way to fix a damaged water line, but it seems to be holding up and the plumber was fine with it when I called to cancel and told him what we'd done. Mike feels terrible about the whole ordeal, but I say it could've happened to anyone. First, who knew our water lines weren't copper? Two, why would the builder stick one in such a stupid spot? (I left out the part where the water accidentally got turned on and we had a repeat of the Bellagio Fountain and I had a chance to wipe down my car one extra time.) Needless to say, Coupey didn't get any attention other than the two drying sessions. The garage door opener is toast, but that's okay since we were going to take it down anyway once the garage door lift thing was done. Sigh. Anyway, I learned a lot about plumbing so that's a plus. Hopefully next weekend will go a little more smoothly.

[frankeeski]

After talking to Mike both last night and tonight, I'm convinced. The "Sharkbite" ROCKS! Continue building.

[MRSQSL]

I'm relieved you think it was an okay way to fix it. Oh and the garage door opener works now that it has dried out. Yay!

[CraigS]

I am kind of disappointed. No pictures and I was expecting a repair involving some rubber hose and a couple of hose clamps, ha, ha. I haven't used one but I understand that the sharkbite system is really quite good so I would consider it a permanent repair. I bet coupey had some dust on it that you guys were not noticing so actually the two wet dry sessions were good things. Coupey is now a little cleaner!

[MRSQSL]

Coupey is spotless. Water was everywhere with puddles in the seats and floorboards. It completely coated the car. Who knew that much water could fly free that quickly? Mike had to do some drilling on the same wall last night. I was torn between hiding in a corner in fetal position and throwing things over the car to protect it from a third shower. Fortunately no more water lines were injured. Scoopy had some water spots from the previous episodes though. Mike cleaned them all up. Scoopy had a cover on when it happened but apparently some water got through. Things could've been a lot worse, but I wouldn't recommend piercing water lines just for the fun of it. Makes the weekend feel a lot shorter.

[Carlos C]

Uff... I absolutely hate that kind of weekend.

Carlos

[xlr8or]

Julie I had that happen a couple of years ago. During our remodel I was installing some cabinets in the laundry room and when I was putting the last screw for the lower cabinet I heard a sudden hissing...The self tapping cabinet screw went right through the copper pipe.. Pulled the screw out and sure enough water followed.
Worst part was the valve outside the house was stuck and wouldn't shut off so it ran for about 10 minutes. Then I had to tear out the drywall I had just re-textured and painted.

[QSL]

Yay! I feel better.

[xlr8or]

Thanks for enjoying my misery. Oh did I mention it was on my birthday? The night before Thanksgiving, with about 20 people coming over for turkey... Yeah it was a fun day.