Casey Family Build Thread (coupe)

[CraigS]

Hey Julie, they make replica GT40s too!!!

[MRSQSL]

Oh I know. Mike has been trying to figure out how to fit one in the garage for several years now. In fact, I think that was the very first kit car we talked about buying. That had to have been at least 16 years ago. I don't see how we could ever afford one or have a place for it, but I'd be lying if I said I though that would stop us. I've seen the look in Mike's eyes. Someday it will happen. We might be 90 and using walkers. For the record, I will NOT be doing the safety wire on that one either.

[68GT500MAN]

I do not like to do safety wires either, but they are a necessary evil. My solution was to find a fellow builder who actually takes pride in his work, great guy to work with, too bad he moved overseas or I would recommend him (he loves FFR's). I too want a full size GT40 replica some day, for now I have to enjoy my 1/10 scale Exoto.
Doug

[MRSQSL]

I was smart enough to marry a fellow builder who takes pride in his work. Yay me! Wait, yay Mike! I'm excited to hear I'm not the only one that dislikes the safety wire. I figured I was alone in my suffering. I feel better now. Thank you!

[BFFofMRSQSL]

Jules, while reading your Week 42 adventures, my eyes skipped a line and I read " Normal...annoyed...rage-bolts" (as opposed to rage-engulfed). I like rage-bolts better.

[NukeMMC]

I was smart enough to marry a fellow builder who takes pride in his work. Yay me! Wait, yay Mike! I'm excited to hear I'm not the only one that dislikes the safety wire. I figured I was alone in my suffering. I feel better now. Thank you!

Next time, demand a Saf-T-Cable kit.

[MRSQSL]

Why didn't anyone tell me about that thing before?! I neeeeeed that system.

[NukeMMC]

We used them in the nuke subs. I just thought of it when reading your post. They are pretty handy. They aren't super-expensive, like most mil-spec stuff, but at $1 per .032" x 12" cable, they aren't cheap.

I really don't mind spending your and Mike's Christmas money for you, though!

[MRSQSL]

Submarine? You have my attention. I have always wanted to do two things. 1) ride in a tank. 2) ride in a submarine. Well, maybe the sub doesn't have to move. I just want to go inside one. I'll bet it's nothing like what I picture in my head. Do people get seasick in a sub? I wouldn't think so. Seems like it would be smooth underwater not all bouncy like on top of the ocean. I get car sick if I can't see out. Maybe I should stay out of moving subs after all.

[NukeMMC]

The USS Dolphin and a Soviet-era diesel sup can be toured in San Diego. There is also a Soviet diesel sub (B-427) in Long Beach next to the Queen Mary.
If you go to the FFR Open House again, I highly recommend a jaunt down I95 to Groton, CT to the Nautilus Submarine Museum. Tour that boat and the museum and you might get an inkling into about 1/50th of what we did or can do ;-). Besides, Fox woods is about 1/2 hour away and makes a nice overnight escape. $ $

[BFFofMRSQSL]

Or, you know, the submarine ride at Disneyland...

[MRSQSL]

Or, you know, the submarine ride at Disneyland...

LOL!!!!!!

We toured the aircraft carrier in San Diego. I really liked that. It took hours and we didn't even see the entire ship. Those things are huge!!!!! I don't suppose they'll let me take the USS Dolphin out for a test drive, huh? I've never been to the Queen Mary and I had no idea there was a sub in Long Beach. Thanks for the info. I need to work on the car, but I'm hoping to report back about amazing submarine tours sometime soon.

[loeffler1]

NukeMMC - tell me more about your nuclear submarine adventures. I was a piping designer at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from 1958 to 1971. Did sea trials off the coast of Africa. Worked on the Thresher, unfortunately. I'm also thinking there is an attack submarine 593 class still preserved in Washington state, I think either the 605 0r the 606, I'm not sure. Are you familiar with Sherwood Forest!
Julie - if you ever get back east you can tour the AGSS569 USS Albacore which is in Portsmouth, NH landlocked as a museum piece.

[MRSQSL]

Look at you people all full of submarine knowledge. Yes, tell us more about your submarine adventures. Now I have to add New Hampshire and Washington to my list of places to visit.

[NukeMMC]

Reverted to PMs. This is Coupey's thread, doggonnit!

[MRSQSL]

Week 43:

Saturday morning was cold. Okay, so to you back easterly peeps, 60 isn't cold. To us SoCal wimps, 60 freezing and way too cold to be tinkering in the garage. We tried. Really. In fact, when I walked into the garage, Mike was on the phone with Frank speaking car-ese. Unfortunately, Mike opened the garage door since he had to do some grinding. Brrrr. When I told him it would be almost 80 on Christmas, he looked up the forecast (never believes a word that comes out of my mouth) and discovered it would be 10 degrees warmer Sunday. Didn't have to twist my arm to go back in the house. Oh and the little bit of work I did forced yet another call to Gordon Levy. I'm pretty sure the poor guy is going to change his number soon to avoid our calls. Wilwood must've made a boo boo. I woke up that morning knowing exactly what needed to be done. Step 1: Get dressed, brush teeth, etc. Step 2: Enter garage and place rotor hat on rotor and threadlock and torque so Mike can do safety wires. I accomplished step 1 somewhat easily. Step 2 created some issues. Mike was on the phone so I couldn't immediately explain my problem. Waiting, waiting. La, la, la. As soon as he hung up, I pounced. The rotor hat doesn't fit. I was half shrieking. He looked at me with the same look he gave when I said the weather was going to be warm on Christmas. No, really. They don't fit. He forced me to show him. The bolt pattern is way off. I may not know much, but I knew I was right about this. Gordon is talking to Wilwood to see what needs to be done. With that task stalled and the freezing chill, we decided to call it a day.

Sunday was slightly more productive, although it didn't start out that way. Step 1: Same as the day before. Step 2: IRS. Again, Mike was on the phone (his dad this time). I knew I needed the stuff from box 11, but box 11 was actually two boxes according to the inventory sheets. I searched high and low, but could only find one box. I decided that would have to suffice and I proceeded to unload all the heavier boxes and make my way down to the correct one. Huff puff. Several minutes later I had the box open and realized this couldn't possibly be the only box. The control arms weren't in it. Wah. Okay. I can do this. Searched some more and eventually realized I hadn't looked high enough. The second box 11 was waaaaaay up near the ceiling in a different section of the garage. Oh yeah. We took that one to get powder coated. Duh. I was still waiting for Mike to get off the phone so I could moan and whine that the box was too high and his big, sexy, strong, manly self would have to get it for me. Talk, talk, talk. Sigh. I gave up and got the ladder off the side yard. I set it up (straddling the transmission) and proceeded to climb. I pokedly shoved at the box. Too heavy. Look at Mike. He was chatting away. Fine. I decided to take out each individual item until the box became light enough for me to move. I managed to pull down the door frames and a few door parts, but that really wasn't what I needed. Box was still too heavy. Fine. I flonked my wrist over the edge of the cardboard, but couldn't reach anything else. I tried to go up a step, but there were no steps left, only the platform saying don't stand on this. Waiting, waiting. Still talking, talking. Fine. (Safety police stop reading) I stood on the flat evil part of the ladder and after several minutes of struggling, retrieved all the rear suspension parts. Yay me!

According to the manual, all I had to do next was screw those heim joint looking things into the control arms. Easy peasy. I inserted and turned. Grinding halt. I unturned and uninserted. Grindy. I poked my little eyeball into the hole and discovered it was filthy in there (arm dirt, not eyeball dirt). I stuffed my gloved finger into the threaded area. Filthy. I blew in, stuff flew out. Hack, sniffle, sneeze. I stuck the joint back in and tried to turn it again. Grinding halt. Sigh. I tried every threaded hole in the arms, but all were clogged with icky. Mike finally got off the phone, so I stomped over (pouting) to announce that the car hates me and the ends won't screw in. Same look as before. He ended up using some little round tool for the dremel (after breaking a wire brush for gun cleaning). All ends were eventually inserted. Yay! I didn't want to actually apply the control arms to the chassis yet as I was afraid it would hamper my ability to successfully install the pumpkin. My arms aren't as long as I'd like them to be sometimes. Mike agreed and said he'd help me maneuver the center section. He told me to get the bolts for it. Bolts? What bolts? Yup, no bolts in the base kit and I hadn't known to buy any. Brilliant Mike had realized bushings were needed and had purchased those somewhat recently. Man, he's smart. The missing bolts required a trip to the store and of course going to the store makes us hungry so we had to stop for lunch.

Several hours wasted, we returned and installed the pumpkin. Women, this is impossible to do without a man. I'm not being sexist, I'm being honest. Those things are so freaking heavy. I kid you not. There was no way I was going to be able to do anything other than pretend I was helping. In fact, I called Aly out to help. I probably should have had her boyfriend come out, but I kinda forgot he was there. I was a little more concerned with not crushing Mike. He laid on his back and hefted the thing over his head and into the frame (with a bit of help from Alyssa and a lot of squealing sounds from me). Definitely take the cover off before you attempt this. We had read enough to know beforehand and I'm guessing all the previous people were correct. Also note that the rear bolt holes need to be drilled out and the frame tabs need to be crow barred apart more to allow the cover to slide in. All in all it was pretty painless, but then I wasn't the one laying on the floor hefting a billion pounds over my head.

Pretty much every step of the day gave me some sort of an issue and I was pretty frustrated. Once I got the control arms on and the pumpkin in, I was impressed and actually excited to do more. The next step is shocks, though, and my fingers remember the trauma from last time. They weren't quite ready to start on that next task. It was getting late, so I decided to stop there.

Mike spent the day helping me and when he was finally able to leave me alone for short periods of time, he ground down more of the intake. I think he has all the grinding done and is ready for cleanup and assembly. He is working on a new tool for torqueing down the intake. He has taken a socket and is mauling it on the lathe until it's too hot to touch and looks nothing like the original. I keep hearing noises from that section that can't possibly be good. I'm a little scared to see what kind of Frankenstein monster he's created. Whatever works. I just feel bad for the socket. I know it never envisioned itself enduring the torture it has already suffered.

We have tomorrow and Wednesday off and may take Thursday as well. I'm hoping to work on the car, but I know the next two days are going to be filled with cleaning and cooking and entertaining. I think we are going to try to go shooting Thursday, but maybe we can squish in a couple hours in the garage. I suspect the bulk of the work will happen on the weekend and/or the next week as we have a day or two off and we are too old to actually successfully stay up until midnight. Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

[frankeeski]

I'm exhausted just reading that. Whew!

[NukeMMC]

I think we are going to try to go shooting Thursday, but maybe we can squish in a couple hours in the garage. I suspect the bulk of the work will happen on the weekend and/or the next week as we have a day or two off and we are too old to actually successfully stay up until midnight. Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

I just remembered about you guys having a 1919. I just sold half a dozen 400rd cans of USGI M2 ball ammo. Would have made you guys a good deal on it.

And you folks have NO (zero, zip, nada) room to call yourselves old. Wait until the grandkids come.

Merry Christmas to all ... and to all a good ride!!!

[MRSQSL]

Can you please tell my knees I'm not old? I just squatted down to switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer and was afraid I needed to call the kids to help me back up.

I forgot to mention a couple things.
1) I've said this before, but I'll say it again. Women out there. If your man says he needs a tool. He really, really needs it. Don't say no. When we went to Lowe's, I was ready to buy anything and everything that would make any job even a fraction of a bit easier. It's kind of like when we say we need another shade of nail polish. Maybe "need" is a strong word. I mean, we could get the job done with any of the other colors we have, but to achieve the best possible outcome, we "need" that shade. Men "need" that tool (and women "need that shade").
2) I painted my nails, was feeling festive. I took a picture, but I doubt Mike will post it. Actually, it was two pictures because each hand is painted differently and I couldn't hold the camera in my teeth.
3) Be thankful I left out the part where I put the shims in the control arm bolt/heim contraption. If I could've cursed like a sailor, my neighbors would've been blushing something fierce.

[68GT500MAN]

Merry Christmas to you, Mike and family. I agree about being a California wimp and NOT working out in the "cold" garage!
Doug

[tcoon]

Hi Julie, always great to read your commentary. Yes those differentials are heavy! I do mine alone but use a combination of floor jack and/or lift (cheery picker) to move it around the shop. Sounds like progress is steady on the coupe. Keep up the good work! Merry Christmas to both of you.

[QSL]

finally here are a couple pics. sorry guys that i have been so slow and not around much, but light is at the end of the tunnel here!!! Merry christmas!!!

[Garry Bopp]

Thanks for the update and pictures. I always check this thread for the latest fun and fury! Merry Christmas and Happy coupe-building New Year.

Garry

[MRSQSL]

Merry Christmas everyone!

[NukeMMC]

If it isn't too late, it looks like you folks are manually twisting your safety wire. I can loan you my set of wire-twisting pliers (McMaster Carr 5296A62) to finish off the rotors.

[MRSQSL]

I appreciate the offer, but Mike swears it is therapeutic for him. He honestly has no trouble with safety wire and is demented enough to ENJOY it.

[tirod]

60 is cold? I just R&R'd the motor in my daily driver, started in 50 degree weather outside, finished up in the garage where it was a toasty 45 - and grateful for it. It had snowed, the high was 16. If you are really working on it, you keep warm. ; )

Thanks for the pics, I hadn't considered the cover on the IRS, needed to see that.

Merry Christmas!

[MRSQSL]

Week 44:

It's hard to believe that by week 44 of the Scoopy build, we were nearly done with the car. I'm thinking Coupey is going to take an extra week or two.

We had a couple of days off for Christmas, but weren't able to get in the garage other than to show the cars off to the visiting family. I didn't work on the car until yesterday and that was only for an hour or so. I was in the garage longer, but our ex neighbor stopped by to chat. All I managed to do was build the rear shocks and install them. I wouldn't even say it was "install". I'd call it "mocked up". I think Mike was proud of me though. I did it virtually by myself. Aly helped with removing the snap ring. I can get them on, but off is a nightmare. The powder coat was keeping the bolts from fitting and I had to dremel them out (Mike came along after and made them even better). The other issue was washer drama. Mike was a little grumpy I only used one on each shock bolt, but that's what the manual called for and what FF gave us in the kit. I glared back at him. I don't know who won since it is just in the mock up stage and we didn't have any extra washers laying around. Anyway, I couldn't get the bottom bolt in all the way because the washer would hit the frame and stop all progress. I showed Mike and he very thoughtfully ground down the washer for me. I don't know if it's because he loves me or because he wants to eat and is afraid I'll lose fingers and won't be able to cook if I do the grinding.

If Mike posts pictures, safety police look away. I realize my shoes were not appropriate for garage work, but I didn't go in and change and I still have all my toes. I'll go back to boots and such in the future, but the heels actually made some of the tasks easier. I tried to convince Mike he should borrow them and see if he liked working with them, but he didn't look amused.

I know Christmas isn't about material things, but I would like to share some of the car related gifts. Mike had sent my mini coupe away to be worked on and he priority shipped it back so I could open it Christmas morning and see the progress. What a great husband!! I love it!!!!!! The intake is looking amazing and the disc brakes are perfect. I kept staring. I'm really looking forward to seeing it completed (hopefully in the near future). The guy that's doing the work is back east and he is just the nicest guy. Super talented too. Another great car related goody was a Simpson sweatshirt. We couldn't make it to the Simpson sale, but Mike asked PedalMasher to grab one for me. I was really surprised to see the background on the writing was pink instead of red. Wooohoooooo!!!!! I love it. Thank you!!!!!!! Oh and he bought me a tool bag to keep in Coupey once it's on the road. The tools and bag are purple!!!!!!!!! My favorite color!!!!!!

Anyway, so I have to work tomorrow (month end AND year end), but I have Wednesday off and plan to spend some quality time with Coupey. Mike is a busy bee, so I don't know when or if he'll post pictures. He and Steve have been working on another father son project lately which makes me really happy (unless I need help and have to wait in line for Super Mike). I'll nag at him though (bet he's really looking forward to coming home now).

Happy New Year!!!!!

[68GT500MAN]

Happy New Year to you Mike and your family. You are making progress, a little at a time. As motovation, it would be nice to see it as a roller (or go-cart) in April at HB (I promise you a prime parking spot for coupy and Scooby.

[MRSQSL]

As tempting as a prime spot sounds, I get icky butterflies thinking about renting a trailer and loading it up and then driving that far. We'll have to see how things look as April approaches. I'd love to have Coupey there, but maybe someone could invent a "beam me up" sort of contraption.

[CraigS]

Merry Christmas, happy New Year, and congrats on your progress. But,... can you talk to your son about where not to point a gun please?

[Movieman]

NukeMMC - tell me more about your nuclear submarine adventures. I was a piping designer at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from 1958 to 1971. Did sea trials off the coast of Africa. Worked on the Thresher, unfortunately. I'm also thinking there is an attack submarine 593 class still preserved in Washington state, I think either the 605 0r the 606, I'm not sure. Are you familiar with Sherwood Forest!
Julie - if you ever get back east you can tour the AGSS569 USS Albacore which is in Portsmouth, NH landlocked as a museum piece.

OT: years ago I'm talking to one of my customers and he's telling me he was in the Navy and then mentions the Thresher.
I do a huh, didn't that go down and he says yes.
He got apendicitis two days before they sailed and was in the hospital when he heard what happenned..

[MRSQSL]

I thought it would be best to do a middle of the week update since we had today off and got some work done. I was up before everyone else and decided to head out to the garage. I assumed I'd have issues, but I knew I had several avenues available for progress. I decided I'd start by screwing the heim joint thing into the upper control arms. One went in without issue. The other, not so much. Apparently Mike didn't dremel that one out with all the others. No big deal. I'll just switch over and install the CV axles. I remember seeing them a few months back and I recall they were super heavy. I searched and searched before deciding they must be up in a box by the ceiling. I'm NOT climbing on a ladder to get them down. That didn't leave many options. Fortunately, Mike came out about then (shocked to find me in the garage). I pulled out the ladder for him and together we made short work of getting the CV box down and all the other boxes back up. Talk about heavy. Yikes!

I pulled an axle out and shoved it in the pumpkin per the manual. Imagine my surprise when it fell back out. It didn't crash to the floor, just scared the bejoobies out of me. Note to self for other side: push axle ALL the way in. The spindle was next. Wait...the pic makes it look like there should be bushings in all the little ends. Off to find Mike who was hiding out front trying to get his own work done (grinding on the intake still). He said the bushings are in a box in the pantry (car pantry, not kitchen pantry). Searching, searching, nothing. I ask again. Same response. I search some more and eventually fine this mystical, magical box. Inside I find lots of little round black things and some gold metal things and a bunch of little squeeze packets of white greasy stuff. Wait, I have to assemble stuff? I frantically searched through the box for directions. None. Crap. I was able to mentally discern which black piece went where and was mighty proud of myself for that. It seemed impossible, though, to get the rubbery things shoved into the spindle holes. Mike's solutions didn't work either. Internet to the rescue. A little Googling showed the use of a C clamp. Don't waste your time. It didn't work. The eventual solution was to put them in the little press we have (a bigger one would've been better) and squish the poo out of them until they sploosh in the hole and out the other side. I'm not a fan of this technology and I think somehow they should've made it easier.

At this point, I'd hit my head on the car at least twice, I was hot, irritable and very, very sticky from that grease stuff. Sadly, the trauma was only just beginning. The next step was to somehow squish the metal rods into the rubber openings. Sounds easy, right? Not really. I didn't notice that two of the six were larger and was on the floor (nearing tantrum status) because the darn rod wasn't even close to fitting in the slot. Mike immediately spotted the problem when he came for a consult and I felt pretty dumb. The rubber mallet was able to smack the things most of the way in, but not enough. Mike told me just to hit them harder. Ummmmm...not only am I hitting as hard as I can, but my aim isn't trustworthy and I really didn't want to add bruises to my list of injuries and I especially didn't want to inflict pain on any innocent bystanders. He grabbed the thing and WHAM! One hit and it was in. Show off.

It was finally time to shove the spindle on the CV axle and make some visible progress. Several hours had passed by now and I could tell Mike was getting tired of having to stop helping Steve and come help me (they are still working on a project together). I tried more stuff alone, but honestly the car takes a lot more muscle than I can muster. I'm not lying or faking. I truly believe men have NO clue how strong they are in comparison to women. The things you can do so easily are muscle poppingly difficult for us (if not impossible). Anyway, so the spindles didn't want to fit in the tabs on the lower control arms. Mike was able to discern the problem was the metal center things we just whacked in weren't perfectly flush. I tried to smack. Nope. He smacked. Instant gratification. Jerk. (meant in a loving way - mostly)

It took some doing, but the spindles finally submitted and are now perched in their new home in the chassis. The upper control arm was a problem. The spacers FF gives you to place on each side of the heim joint are too big. Mike taught me how to lathe them down. It was the least scary thing I did all day. I forgot to mention that I had to use this horribly terrifying wire spinning grinder thing to clean up the spindle bolts and nuts. It wasn't nearly as bad as it seemed to be when I watched him demonstrate the first one. I went upstairs and changed my shirt (super hot wearing black in the sun) and actually said goodbye to the dogs in case the wire grinder mangled me beyond recognition. Mike stayed close until he was sure I had the hang of it.

Okay, so with the upper control arms ready to be mounted, I had to slide the spacers in. Stupid things kept falling to the floor (far from where I was) and then the nut fell. I hit my head a few more times, but finally success. The bottom didn't hook in too easily, but it was nothing a mallet and a little help from Alyssa couldn't fix.

I started on the other side, but Mike didn't have a chance to dremel out the upper, so I could only shove the CV thing in and get the bottom of the spindle hooked in. My back hurt and it was getting dark and Mike was busy, so I cleaned up my mess and came in here to update. I'd like to finish that little chore this weekend. I'm not sure what to do after that though. We are waiting on the Wilwood replacement parts, so the rear brakes are stalled. Maybe I can mount the front ones. Maybe.

[frankeeski]

I'm not sure what to do after that though.

You could start with a nice breakfast with some like minded people on Saturday.
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...January-4-2014

[68GT500MAN]

Those shims are a pain in the ***! I spent many hours with Andy Savagieo under Karen's coupe on our backs with the cold rain pouring down getting the control arms back in so that the car could go out for practice in the morning. After the third time I knew what tool Andy would need and we got lucky. Hang in there, you are a real trouper.
Doug

[QSL]

Merry Christmas, happy New Year, and congrats on your progress. But,... can you talk to your son about where not to point a gun please?

I know it slightly looks like it in the picture, however it was not aimed near Alyssa. Steve is a gun safety nut. This is our gun cleaning station and this was right after a cleaning and he just assembled the gun and was giving it a final wipe down as any 12yr old should be doing

[QSL]

I think it would be cool to bring both cars to HB. Might be an option!

[68GT500MAN]

Mike, I totally agree.
Doug

[QSL]

Pics of Julies Mini Coupe! Functional V8 with custom stack system. This car is still very much a work in progress.

[QSL]

Pics of us working and some progress, even a couple of Steve and I working on his new project he scored for christmas!!!

sorry for the delays guys!!!