Fluge's Build Thread

[xlr8or]

Looks great Marc. Can't wait to see it all come together.

[John Dol]

Car looks great Marc. I still like the blue and white paint scheme a lot. When I see these cars painted it has me re thinking my paint scheme.

John

[Fluge]

Thanks guys...I am pretty excited at this point. Working around other obligations to get this done so progress is a little slow.

The car looks great in many colour schemes. I took the easy way out by picking Guardsman Blue. Sometimes I think I should have tried something different.

[loeffler1]

Fluge

You done right by her in Gaurdsman Blue. I had the same problem agonizing over what color to choose and went with Gaurdsman Blue. Now everytime I'm out in the shop putting the coupe back together I look at the color and am so glad I went with it especially when I roll -er- drive the coupe out in the sunlight and that color just glows..

[CJBergquist]

Hey Marc...you are really rolling along...great progress and it looks great...another vote for Guardsman Blue...

[Fluge]

Thanks Chris and Bill

No regrets...Body looks great. Doing the headliner today and the body goes on for the last time on the weekend.

I'll put up some pictures then.

Marc

[exwestracer]

Slow on the updates...been pretty busy with all sorts of things.

Haven't checked in awhile. Car is looking great, Marc! I saw this picture and at first I'm going "WHAT did he do with those headers???" LOL that is some SHINY aluminum (or stainless?)!

[Fluge]

Baby Steps on this coupe...Body and doors went on this weekend. Hood to follow. Really happy with the body and doors. Glass hatch needs another set of hands. I may try a different rubber seal. Anyone have any ideas?

Still so many little things to sort out and do...one step at a time I guess.

[jkrueger]

car looks great!

[John Dol]

Marc,

That looks like a color picture out of Carrols garage! looks awesome.

John

[QSL]

excellent! bet you cant stop staring at it!

[loeffler1]

Fluge

I used Steele Rubber Products Part #83-0139-73 for the glass hatch weather strip. I used the longer rubber side to the inside. This seal is taller than the FFR supplied seal. The peel n stick is on the side rather than on the bottom. Worked great on mine. With glass hatch closed the seal left a slight rubber edge all around the glass. I tested the seal with a piece of card stock slid in under the glass all around the perimeter and it wouldn't slip all the way through so the seal should be tight. They sell it in 10' lengths at $36.10 each plus shipping at $10.75. You'll need 2 lengths. Might be able to use the rest someplace else. I've sealed the doors with FFR seal but can't figure what to use at the front seam. Stuck there for the moment.

[Fluge]

Thanks Bill. It looks like it would work well.

Marc

[Fluge]

Still picking away at things...got the hood on last week...just need some fine tuning and adjustment. Going down my list...

Marc

[Fluge]

Hello

Still working on the car...Looking more and more like a complete Coupe. There are still many things left to do. I have to give some thought to how to do the interior carpet...but at least I have something nice to look at when I just stand around.

Marc

[jkrueger]

It looks great!

[xlr8or]

Great looking car.

[MRSQSL]

Wow! That is a beautiful car!!

[Garry Bopp]

Marc,

You are building a great coupe ... and almost done. Looks wonderful ... I am jealous!

Garry

[Fluge]

Thanks for the kind words guys (and Julie). This has been quite the journey so far. I am very pleased with what I have been able to do.

[xlr8or]

You should be proud. You've done a beautiful job building it.

[Fluge]

After some back and forth decisions between the bullet and BRE mirrors I finally decided to go with BRE. I seem to be short on time to work on the car...anyone else have that problem? If I am not driving it by the summer (of this year!) I will be disappointed. Looks great in the garage though.

[CJBergquist]

Really looking good. Looks to me like you could drive it now...who needs windows????

[John Dol]

Marc,

Your list is getting shorter!! There's many things on this car you can't see in the pictures.

John

[loeffler1]

Marc

Absolutely gorgeous!!! It also looks like you have a shop to die for!!! Tell me about how you fastened the rear upper splash panels to the nose. I'm at that stage right now. Matter of fact made the first pattern of the left side upper rear. I'm making the pattern in three pieces and taping the pieces together and tracing them on aluminum. The FFR pieces were too small in height. I thought of some "L" shaped brackets glued or fiberglassed to the nose with a slight loop to clear the push on seal.

Thanks

[Fluge]

Hi Bill

Thanks for the comments.

The upper splash guard or wheel well was installed exactly how you describe it. I epoxied aluminum tabs bent at 90 degrees (using 2 bends to offset it enough to make room for the rubber bulb seal). I drilled holes in the base of the tab so that the epoxy would be pushed through to add strength. Because my under hood is also finished for paint we covered to base of the tab with HSRF to smooth it out. I used three tabs on each side (driver and passenger).

I did have to trim the aluminum a little but otherwise I got them to fit well.

I recently saw another thread discussing this issue. There were some pictures showing the tabs glassed in. The two pieces took a lot of fiddling and an extra set of hands would have been great.

Hope this helps.

As for my garage...thanks, it has come a long way from what I started with.

Marc

[Fluge]

I'm still working on a few things but a spring graduation is definitely in the air.

I dropped off my wheels for powdercoating today. There is still a fair amount to do but it will be driveable by the time the road salt get's washed away. I hate the thought of covering up the interior aluminum. I like the look as it sits but I could use a layer of sound deadening.







Marc

[Rodster]

Fluge -
Tell me about your lift - I am considering one of those for my small 2-car garage - thanks.

Your Coupe is looking awesome - thanks for posting pictures and captions - it helps us who are still in the build stages......

-wayne-

[Fluge]

Hi Wayne

The lift you see there is a rotary lift. I bought it 10 years ago. Great lift with no issues. I use the 110v motor is and takes about 1 minute to go all the way up. Going up and down requires your full attention and the slower 110v gives you more reaction time if something isn't right. It has a ladder frame brake system which I really like. I think the lift is one of the best things I ever did. I made reinforced steel trays on which I can put bottle jacks to get the car up on floor jacks. Takes me less than 10 minutes to do that. You can get lifts with very different dimensions so it's really what you can fit into your garage. I recommend bolting down the posts once you are sure where you want it. Try it unbolted for a few weeks and make final adjustments before bolting it down. I also bolted the ramps down on the runways so that they wouldn't tilt when the lift is up. This allows me to drive the SUV under the lift. This lift has seen a lot of up and down action. I have another lift which is lighter duty and is used for car storage only.

Not sure what else you want to know...happy to address specifics.

Marc

[QSL]

car is looking amazing!!! congrats!

[Mikey6speed]

I just finished reading this thread for the first time. What happened to the pictures and what happened to the finish? It just abruptly ends in March.

[Fluge]

Oooops! I reorganized my photobucket albums and it erased all the links.

Car was on the road in April-May. Almost 2000 miles so far.

[loeffler1]

Hey Marc, You're a slacker!!! LOL. Only 2,000 miles?? Put mine on the road 6/27/2014 and have accumulated 6,300 miles. Last road drive was 12/05/2014 until snow hit us. Actually could have driven it this Friday the 19th due to temps in the high 30's (heater works good), but I was sick. There have been a couple of rains so no salt on the road. I think it probably is in the garage for the duration now.
By the way I love that rookie stripe on front, wish I had thought of it. I also noticed the alternator and AC compressor positions are swapped from what mine are. What brackets did you use?

[Fluge]

Hi Bill

I decided to use the March pulley kit. I did have to switch to an electric fuel pump but it does clean up the engine bay.

I have been tempted to take it out of hibernation a few times myself. I still have a few things to finish up on it but been too busy...maybe once the Christmas rush is over.

Marc

[John Dol]

Marc,

On the hood I see you put the little bumpers back in. When I visited you only had the weather stripping in place because the bumpers did not support the hood properly.
Where you not happy with the result of only the weather stripping?

Thanks,

John

[Fluge]

Hi John

It comes down to tweaking the fit. The bulb seal isn't thick enough in some areas so I built it up with the bumpers. I may try replacing what I have with a thicker seal.

Marc

[Mikey6speed]

thanks for the final pix. You've built a beautiful car and must be real proud. Any chance of getting the earlier pix back on here?

[mjazzka]

thanks for the final pix. You've built a beautiful car and must be real proud. Any chance of getting the earlier pix back on here?

I thought about this too, so I checked out his photobucket and found http://s561.photobucket.com/user/DDO...?sort=2&page=1

Of course you don't know which pictures go with which posts, but it is still great stuff!