Mechie3's 818S

[Frank818]

Craig, could you plz tell me how to make the hood hinges great again? lolll

How are yours working? Or if you haven't installed them yet, what am I doing wrong?

If I keep the little bolt in the middle hole, it hits badly the rad frame.

2016-11-10 15.30.17_1.jpg2016-11-10 15.31.11_1.jpg


If I decide to swap holes to clear the frame, it then hits the nose insert way before being stopped by the bolt.

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I know your design was based on the new nose but am I missing parts assembled or something? Are the C arms supposed to be on the inside (towards middle of car) or facing outside (towards headlights)? I tried swapping the arms but I get the same result.

Do you remember who posted details of the installation of your hinges?

Tnx man!

[Mechie3]

The little bolt is only a stop for opening, not a stop for closing. The stop for closing is the hood itself. Once you attach the brackets and hood the arm shouldn't be able to swing that far shut. If it does, then adjust where the hood brackets attach to the arm to effectively raise the arms up to stop them from hitting on teh down swing.

[Frank818]

Tnx so much! I knew you'd know your own design. I've installed them. They have one small flaw but otherwise they are awesome and WELL worth the purchase!

[brian b 36]

craig do you have any of your bell cranks in stock thanks brian

[Mechie3]

Tnx so much! I knew you'd know your own design. I've installed them. They have one small flaw but otherwise they are awesome and WELL worth the purchase!

Flaw? It's a feature. hahaha

craig do you have any of your bell cranks in stock thanks brian

I have a couple. Let me verify they aren't spoken for. I'll have to do another group buy soon to replenish stock.


So...I uh....picked up another distraction this weekend. It's actually going to be replacing my current F500 autocross car. Flew to Minneapolis, took a taxi to a truck rental place, rented a truck, drove 40 mins NW, loaded up the car, then drove a little over 9 hours back home to Indy. To get the car up on the truck we had to put it on a boat trailer then ramp it up into the truck. We did put stacks of tires under the ramp so they wouldn't buckle and screws the ends into the trailer so they wouldn't slip.

[Hindsight]

Congrats on the new toy!

[Frank818]

I'm not sure the aero is great with that front end loll, but I'm sure it's an easy fix!

What are our plans? Ditch the 818 and revamp that thing? BTW what is it called?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Where do the 2 kids and wife sit?
Looks nice
Bob

[Rob T]

I am very impressed by the trailer loading skills. Wouldn't have worked too well at the plant.....from a safety leadership perspective. But in this case, all is well that ends well.

[Mechie3]

I'm not sure the aero is great with that front end loll, but I'm sure it's an easy fix!

What are our plans? Ditch the 818 and revamp that thing? BTW what is it called?

It came with two different nose cones. Plans are to ditch my existing F500 and replace it with this F600. I've had my F500 since 2010, so the 818 came after that. neither one replaced the other. Old car had an old suspension design with a rear swingarm. Came with a 440cc motor that I replaced with a newer 500cc motor. This new car has a modern 4 link rear suspension, aluminum front uprights, and a 600cc motor.

Where do the 2 kids and wife sit?
Looks nice
Bob

On the side pods.

I am very impressed by the trailer loading skills. Wouldn't have worked too well at the plant.....from a safety leadership perspective. But in this case, all is well that ends well.

After this pic we stacked tires under the center of the ramps and then used screws to fix the ramp to the trailer so they wouldn't slide.

[brian b 36]

craig did you get my paypal payment

[svanlare]

Nice new ride. Impressive creativity for solving the loading problem.

[Frank818]

Craig, are you stalled?

[Mechie3]

Craig, are you stalled?

For now. I've gotten out in the garage 3 times or so since October 13. One time was to clean, another was to get the winch mounted inside the box truck. The other was to take body panels off my F600 to bring them inside and remove all the stickers.

Work has been really busy too. We just launched our new product that I've worked on for the last 3.5 years.

http://biomek.beckman.com/

[DanielsDM]

Work has been really busy too. We just launched our new product that I've worked on for the last 3.5 years.

http://biomek.beckman.com/

Workstation looks nice. I worked for Hamilton Company 10 years ago making similar products, automated liquid handling machines. Fun stuff.

[Frank818]

Craig? You still here? Still launching a new product that is not an 818? 5 months for a launch is quite long. lolll


Besides, since you live in the most live free or die state (sorry New Hampshire) and you know everything about Indy 500 (you gotta! You're in IN!), is it true a snail can compete to the Indy 500?

[Mechie3]

Frank asked me to update. Eli turns 1 in 11 days. That means it's been almost a year since I've really worked on the car. Most of the summer was spent getting my box truck setup to haul my new (to me) F600, working on the F600, traveling for weddings to east coast and west coast and at home in the midwest, and taking down and rebuilding my pergola (carpenter bees got to it). Designed a handful of new parts for polaris slingshots, corvettes, and other random bits. Popped myself in the head with a wrench, got a concussion and stitches, went to the ER, and lost out on the year end Tovey cup. Ha!

Autocross season is done, one more fun event this sunday. Probably going to park the truck and F600 for a while. Found a source for some LED projector lights that look to be good replacements for the halogen Hellas. They should arrive in a few weeks and then I'll start up on the 818 again.

[Frank818]

Tnx Craig, 1 full year is a very long time but yet you still managed to get it plated LONG before me! loolllll

Keep us posted on those projectors once you get back on the 818.

And Happy BDay in advance!

[Mechie3]

Hey...uh.....is this mic on? check...check? Anyone? Let's see. What has happened since the last post:

Work is still busy
Bought a real CNC (Haas)
Son turned 3
Daughter turned 6 (today)
Had knee surgery
Wife had knee surgery
Launched a few new 0dB parts
Got distracted with lego cars and machining parts
Spend most of my time not doing 818 stuff
Started doing 818 stuff, then the schools all close so I'm WFH while watching kids because my wife works in a hospital and can't exactly WFH.

But... I restarted. I probably won't post here much since it takes too much time to upload photos, host them, come here, post, write, etc. Trying to use what time I do have to actually work on stuff. Check out my Zero Decibel facebook page where I post most of my updates. They're not terribly in depth and skip lots of things. Such is life with two jobs, two kids, and too many hobbies. Made a transition from a "this is going to look great" to "I'll be satisfied with a 5 footer, but even a 10 is better if it drives".

[AZPete]

Kudos to you for keeping up with 2 young kids and supporting your wife in her important healthcare challenges!

[Mechie3]

Let's see if I can just copy paste my FB updates here. Let me know if the pics show up. If they do, I'll continue to post here since I don't need to separately host the images. If they don't....well, I probably won't.

I guess this means I can add "familiar with fiberglass hand layup techniques and tools" to my resume? I probably did it in a way that will make some people cringe but... it seems to hold? Lol.

I had some louver fins from a rear louver panel I messed up. They were conveniently almost the same size as the wooden sticks so I cut them to length and replaced the wood sticks holding the two halves together. I taped over the gap on top of the the (former) top side inlets so it wouldn't leak and glassed the underside in a few strips. I couldn't get it all in one shot due to the location of the cleco's and not wanting to make them a permanent part of my cover. I plan to go back and put a small piece over the parts that weren't glassed the first time and then add a larger piece of cloth that covers the whole thing now that the clecos are out. I used some of the scrap pieces I had cut out to reinforce the area around the roll hoop cutouts a little. These parts are really thin with no vertical support and the gelcoat is cracked here. I'll add a larger piece later that extends a bit further.

Once that is done I'll tape up the bottom of the engine cover/trunk seam to prevent leaks there. I'll install it back on the car so it's held in the proper shape and glass the top in sections. When that cures I'll go back and glass the underside. Last step will be to fill everything with a resin/glass bubble/milled fiber mix.
While I think the idea of a trunk was a noble one, the engineer side of me can't help but think how much easier it would have been to eliminate the trunk. One less mold to make and maintain, one less part to stock, one less CAD file to manage, the engine cover would be simpler and easier to make (no need for the shelf at the rear end), no hinges to design, no complex interfaces between two body panels that, to be honest, are held to great tolerances. I think the coupe is a step up here in that the rear is one piece with a simple hatch. The coupe front end is definitely an improvement manufacturability wise over the original front end.

[Ajzride]

Pics look fine.

[Jetfuel]

That’s a cool idea...
Btw..how fast have you gone in the Porsche???

Jet

[Mechie3]

That’s a cool idea...
Btw..how fast have you gone in the Porsche???

Jet

Can't say it's my idea (combining the trunk and cover). Eric Treves who built one of the "non Beta builds" (it was a customer build after FFR, but before customers could get them, but FFR said they weren't beta builds...lol) did it. I should have done it years ago. Saved lots of headaches with things not lining up. I don't know of anyone who has done the side vents. I figure, if I have no clue what I'm doing with fiberglass, I might as well jump in head first and just become an expert one way or another.

I haven't gone in the Porsche yet. My legs are too long. I will hang onto the side while riding a skateboard while my kids drive. HAHA!

[Mechie3]

Got a little more done last night. Removed the clecos from the side inlets, put small patches of fiberglass over those holes so that when I put a large piece on it would have a flatter surface to start with. Covered it with one large section that curved up into the side wall to improve the rigidity in that section as there were lots of voids in the original fiberglass near the edge.

While it was upside down, I taped up the seam between the two parts so I could glass the top side. After the side vents dried I flipped it over and put two layers of glass down into the crack. I'll glass the back side later, but wanted gravity on my side when setting the initial position of these parts. After I glassed the top I decided to try my hand with resin, bubbles, and milled fibers. Probably made more sanding work for myself, but at least I got good coverage. HAHAHA Need to cover the other vent with filler and the seam between the parts. When that cures, I'll glass the back.

[Mechie3]

I've managed to get more done on my car in the last three nights/early mornings (1am always seems to arrive so soon these days) that I've done in the past 3 years. I still don't really know what I'm doing, but it seems to be working!

First, I snatched a pump from my wife's conditioner bottle. Shhhh (nah, she knows...it was almost empty anyways). Cleaned it off, let it soak all day, cleaned some more, soaked, cleaned....you get the idea. When it was finally pumping clean water with no residue I let it dry. The resin can is terrible to pour from. Looks worse than my three year old self feeding spaghetti. Now...pump, pump...nice and clean (and free).

Next, you might remember Bill's advice about the wax. I didn't take it. I'm not getting that deep into things. At least that's what I told myself. I should know by now I lie to myself all the time when it comes to cutting corners. In this case, I was trying to build up a corner, not cut it, because it was already cut (in more ways than one....oooooh!). Without the wax to make a mold I used multiple layers of tape with paint sticks as a gap setter (normally the wax would do this). I covered the engine with plastic in case anything leaked (it didn't!) and then covered the body with tape. I then put tape on the engine cover (sticky side up) and then put other layers on as needed to prevent it from sticking to the cover on the sides and top. I then taped this down to the side sails with sticks placed in between as needed. This way the side sails acted as the mold (in conjunction with the tape and spacers) and let me fill in the gaps nicely. The other benefit of this method is that the covers were in their desired position rather than being molded flat and force to conform later.

I got better with my mixing of milled fibers and glass bubbles and was able to get much thicker and voluminous (little pantene Pro-V conditioner bottle pump joke for you there) while also lighter (in weight) mixes. With the pump I even kept my hands clean. I filled in the entire crack and the driver side (former) vent. I'll probably trim some off the bottom later to reduce weight, but as a side benefit, the engine cover no longer sags in the middle. Good thing I have 5+ power/air sanding tools because there's certainly a bit of sanding to be done.

[Mechie3]

Twas a bright and dusty morning. Didn't even bothering showering before breakfast knowing I'd have to shower again later. Remember that big gloopy mess?! It was no match for die grinder, belt sander, and two palm sanders. A coupe low spots that weren't covered enough (mostly driver side vent) and some micro holes that will be filled in. The molding for fixing the side gaps worked out great. The sides are nice and straight and it fixed the offset between the engine cover and the trunk. After I sanded the top I turned it over, cut off the flange from the engine cover (see pic with part of the flange removed) and then used the die grinder to round the entire seam over. This cut off some weight and will let me lay a nice flat piece of cloth over this joint so it has more than homemade resin bodyfiller with a layer of cloth shoved in a joint to hold it together. Overall I'm happy with how it looks. It sits up against the rear bumper and side sails quite well and the area I had the gel coat crack filled in nicely.

Twas a bright and dusty morning. Didn't even bothering showering before breakfast knowing I'd have to shower again later. Remember that big gloopy mess?! It was no match for die grinder, belt sander, and two palm sanders. A couple low spots that weren't covered enough (mostly driver side vent) and some micro holes that will be filled in. The molding for fixing the side gaps worked out great. The sides are nice and straight and it fixed the offset between the engine cover and the trunk. After I sanded the top I turned it over, cut off the flange from the engine cover (see pic with part of the flange removed) and then used the die grinder to round the entire seam over. This cut off some weight and will let me lay a nice flat piece of cloth over this joint so it has more than homemade resin bodyfiller with a layer of cloth shoved in a joint to hold it together. Overall I'm happy with how it looks. It sits up against the rear bumper and side sails quite well and the area I had the gel coat crack and flake off is now fixed. Not bad for a noob.

[Frank818]

Man you're back! Can't believe you didn't post for 2.5 years on your thread!
Don't forget that F1 in your garage which is probably taking time too.

Hopefully you're here to stay this time, plz.

[Mechie3]

Man you're back! Can't believe you didn't post for 2.5 years on your thread!
Don't forget that F1 in your garage which is probably taking time too.

Hopefully you're here to stay this time, plz.

Well, I pretty much didn't do anything to the car for 2.5 years so........ lol. I actually moved the F600 so I could move the 818 out a little farther, be able to walk around both sides, have some work room, and not get it coated in dust. I hope I'm here to stay. Now that fiberglass isn't quite as much of a mystery to me and it's starting to look good, I'm excited about it again. Once the body is done I'll pull it off and go over the mechanical again. It's been soooo long that I think everything is good, but I'd had to have a wheel pop off while driving.

[Mechie3]

[Shawn818c]

Looks great Craig, glad to see you're motivated again. I need to get motivated to work on mine as well, so many other demands on free time. I don't even have mine to a full roller yet

[Mechie3]

Looks great Craig, glad to see you're motivated again. I need to get motivated to work on mine as well, so many other demands on free time. I don't even have mine to a full roller yet

The new motivator for me is 100% saying "screw paint free". I was going to plastidip it and do minimal/no body work. It felt like trying to assemble a puzzle with pieces that didn't match and trying over and over to get them to match. Once I mentally decided to make the puzzle pieces fit, I was motivated again. Bought all the fiberglass stuff, haven't looked back. My hood never fit well. Chop chop. Now it does. Trunk didn't fit. Chop chop...it fits now too. lol. Now that I can see progress I'm motivated again.

[Jetfuel]

Craig if you need an extra hand let me know...you know I’m but a few miles away

[Mechie3]

Aymert, will do. Most of the time I work on it is random and unplanned. Whenever the kids go to bed and I don't need to machine parts or box things up or just do nothing is when I work. lol.

Another day, another post! This time I had to be more conscious about noise because I didn't get outside until about 8:30. Stopped sanding around 9 so my neighbors wouldn't hate me. I'm happy with the way all the filler turned out (one caveat). I used a die grinder with a sanding drum to quickly take down large protustions of the filler then cleaned it up with two different grits of paper (I have two palm sanders, makes switching back and forth easy). The thinner filler worked pretty well and there are only a handful of micro pores now vs being all over before. For the nose, I had a crease in my tape mold on the underside that created an undercut that needs to be filled. I'll fix that when I bond the studs for the hood hinge on. I only went about 5" from the edge but would go about 8 if I were to do it again. I'm much more pleased with how it looks. The tilted nose always bothered me. Now the left and right sides are even and symmetric. Used a large hand sanding pad to finish it up a bit. Still need to sand the corners by hand to get a nice rounded edge.







[img][/img]

[longislandwrx]

welcome back! i'll have to check what new parts you've made so i can order them in case i ever take my car out of storage.

[Mechie3]

In storage as in "I'm not driving it right now" or storage as in "I parked it and I'm not done yet"?

[longislandwrx]

"I parked it and I'm not done yet"

current garage is full of lawn equipment and power wheels. the plan for the spring was to add a double car with loft to our single car... Covid put that on hold until we can shop some architects.

if we haven't broken ground by next year i'm just going to buy a temporary shed. it's been 3 years... i miss working on the car.

proud of you for getting back to it.

[Mechie3]

I'm proud of myself too! HAHAHAHA

it really was a shame it sat for 3 years, but life had other plans.

[Mechie3]

It's been one month and a day since I posted any progress on my own car. Between work, kids, and making parts to fill orders I haven't done anything... until last night! Sort of. I redesigned the base to my original hood hinge and machined a couple prototypes a couple weeks ago. I just never got the chance to install it. The original sheet metal base was always a compromise between cost and functionality. Now that I have my own CNC, I can make the parts how I always wanted. They're stronger, look better, more compact, and don't require rivnuts. Truth be told, it got tiring bending that many brackets! These are backwards compatible with existing hood hinges.
On to pictures! Try to ignore the mess of old rivetnut holes! Hardware isn't finalized, just used what I had on hand.

[Mechie3]

Pics aren't showing up for me right now, so hopefully they're still there. Had a few delays. Work got busy again, making parts got for zerodb got busy again, making parts for work at home got busy, I got appendicitis and had surgery to remove that, and the kid's school starts this week. All the good stuff!

I installed my hood hinge and made a how to here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RCp...ew?usp=sharing

Took all the body panels back off so I could finish the bodywork on those and fix some mechanicals. Got my gauges wired up, made a bracket to hold some distribution blocks so I can easily add or remove 12V, ground, and two switched 12V connections. Installed an R style windscreen as well.