25th MKIV #9772 Build NOR*CAL: color reveal!

[toadster]

Nice progress Todd! Also keep an eye on your ball on the handle, had one fall off and had to purchase a couple threaded balls from McMaster. Never a good day when you loose one of your balls

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...l=1#post471538

awesome tip Travis - always good to keep the balls in check

[toadster]

Got an update

IMG_2331.jpeg

[Jeff Kleiner]

Got an update

Unfortunately my friend Ken is beyond frustrated. He has a whole building full of gray (primered) cars at his new shop and PG&E has him swinging in the wind because they say they can't do the power upgrade necessary so that he can use his paint booths until the end of May...at the earliest

Jeff

[Nigel Allen]

Unfortunately my friend Ken is beyond frustrated. He has a whole building full of gray (primered) cars at his new shop and PG&E has him swinging in the wind because they say they can't do the power upgrade necessary so that he can use his paint booths until the end of May...at the earliest

Jeff

Get in a rental generator and bulk tank. It will hurt a bit, but cheaper than having a body shop crew standing around with little to do.
If the supply upgrade work was adequately scheduled with the power company and they failed to meet the date, send them the rental bill.
Thats has worked for me.

Best of luck

Nige

[Jeff Kleiner]

Get in a rental generator and bulk tank. It will hurt a bit, but cheaper than having a body shop crew standing around with little to do.
If the supply upgrade work was adequately scheduled with the power company and they failed to meet the date, send them the rental bill.
Thats has worked for me.

Best of luck

Nige

Ken and I chatted yesterday and that's exactly what he's had to resort to doing Nigel. Big generator and electrician are coming today. The service upgrade order was put in with the utility months ago but I'd say that it's still not likely that he'll be able to strongarm PG&E to cover any part of the costs.

Jeff

[toadster]

I hear you guys, Ken is really frustrated but he's been really good to me storing the body for so long, and moving it between his old site and new one.
I can't say enough, Ken is awesome and really glad he's really close by - we even ran into him and his wife a few weekends ago doing some wine tasting

fortunately we found a few more projects to do prior to him spraying the car - bonus points if you see one of them in my update pic above

Thanks guys for tracking with me - it's been a journey, can't wait to get this thing done!!

[toadster]

one more thing to finalize and take up to Ken - he has a generator now and has been spraying some panels, etc to dial in the booth - very exciting!

The defrosters are something I was on the fence about, but as usual - someone on the forums convinced me to pry open the wallet again, it's almost silly now - but I got the NorthRaceCars plenum for the defrosters since there's no space to mount the regular defrosters.

from their website: https://northracecars.com/heat_ac.html

One of the problems with FFR cars and the heater on the passenger side is getting defrost while getting heat to both sides of the passenger compartment. So, if you are tired of all the hoses behind your dash why not run only one hose for your defrost. With this set up run one hose from the defroster to the plenum to get both vents with one hose, then run the other defrost duct to the driver and if the passenger gets cold turn on the heat and have all three. Bond on or use the demist vent screws to hold in place. No holes pre cut, put the tubing where you want it and install one defrost duct. Custom curved to fit the FFR car and fit between the dash and the firewall. Plenum is great for Air Conditioned cars with too much tubing already behind the dash

here's the 2" hole for the defroster feed, of course I went off center


two more custom 3D parts needed to be printed, we will be setting the 2" hole in the center of the plenum and feed with a 2.5" tee
I wasn't able to find any 90 degree tees with a reducer, at least not under $130, so these $2 3D printed PETG parts will have to do

tee that will go on the main feed line to the driver side vents


hard to see on this test print but my son made up for the off-center with the flush edge on the plenum


final print for the plenum part - now to epoxy in place and find some time to get it up to Ken


This is how it will all go together - pretty sure it will all fit once we trim the hoses to size


of course with this setup, and laminar air flow, we will be dependent a bit on back-pressure in the system to blow up to those vents, I can close off the 4 cockpit vents to force air up to the defrosters, but IMHO there will be VERY rare cases where this will be needed - I just wanted a more complete system because it will be near impossible to do this later on

so close now!

[Jeff Kleiner]

I've used that plenum before...well actually parts of it because the passenger side conflicted with the heater box and wouldn't let the body sit down fully so I had to cut it up and reshape the RH side. It should be test fitted with the body and chassis together before bonding it onto the body otherwise you're kind of playing Russian Roulette.

Jeff

[toadster]

I've used that plenum before...well actually parts of it because the passenger side conflicted with the heater box and wouldn't let the body sit down fully so I had to cut it up and reshape the RH side. It should be test fitted with the body and chassis together before bonding it onto the body otherwise you're kind of playing Russian Roulette.

Jeff

yep, Ken is going to do another fit with the plenum before bonding it together - I may have to move some bits on top of the A/C evaporator but hopefully will squeeze in there

[toadster]

taking the plenum up to Ken this afternoon, just to show the finished setup epoxied into place - all hoses fit great! just needs ziptied to secure on the barbs

[toadster]

it's been a magical week! here come the pics!

to give some background - here's the details of the paint

main color: San Marino Blau (B51) - BMW cars (and some Porsche)
stripe color: Crystal Laurite Silver (977) - related car: Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
pinstripe color: GM Cashmere (15U) - not so sexy a related car, but matches the bronze frame

[toadster]

next up the silver gets laid down... yes, single broad stripe, not the usual double stripe look...

[toadster]

this next part threw me a bit, Ken sprayed the bronze for pinstripes - and I wondered how they'd turn out, I shared these pics with several folks and they were like - I thought you said the car was going to be blue!?

[toadster]

ok now the fun part, masking the stripes... I started to 'get it' on how he was doing this now! oh the mind of a painter!

[toadster]

Ken in action - love that he sent this over!!

https://youtube.com/shorts/Ca2oEFtrD...-ezTpM_DwPKiTS

[toadster]

here's a shot of the blue, and how the pins came out! (before clear)

[toadster]

now the awesome clear over it all... I'm still in awe

[toadster]

a few pics sent to me today from one of the local guys who was visiting Ken...

[Fman]

WOW! that turned out amazing, looking forward to seeing it soon! Ken Pike really does one fantastic job on these cars... a true master at his craft.

[BradC]

Congrats Todd! You've had quite the ride with the build. Can't wait to see it all together.

[egchewy79]

Awesome combo!

[JohnK]

Congratulations Todd! That looks amazing!