The 'Savage' build thread

[K3LAG]

It's been quite some time since I posted an update. We have been working on various miscellaneous things, but most of our time has been on the headlights.

I have been working on my design for the front of the center console I will build. One of the things I am installing in the center console is a ham radio. Ham Radio Outlet had a sale on Kenwood TM-D710G radios that I could pass up so I removed my older 710 from the Jeep and installed the 710G in it's place. The older 710 will go in the 818. I wasn't liking the idea of the display head stick out of the dash or center console so I wanted to find a way to mount it more flush. I designed and 3D printed a 'socket' that when flush mounted with the face of the console will only show the front 1/4" or so, plus the knobs, of the face plate. Here is one of the prototypes of the mount:

IMG_1109.jpg

I want to print the final version in ABS instead of PLA so it will withstand the heat in the car better so I've been working on some upgrades to my printer to make it perform better with ABS. You will all have to wait to see the center console when it's done to see the final result.

I posted an update to the thread I started over in the body subforum and here is most of the same information:

After two months of fiddling, fitting, refitting and changing a part or two, plus a week in Ireland, I finally have the headlights fitting to my satisfaction.

My initial problem was definitely the shape of the top of the fender above where the light mounting tab is. That point was too low and wouldn't allow the light and fender to fit because of the lack of clearance. After sharing a bunch of pictures with FFR and having a few phone discussions with Vinny, FFR decided that the best course of action was to make me a new fender. We picked up the new fender at the open house (sort of, but that's another story)

Once we got the new fender, we started fitting the passenger side over again. The new fender had the same clearance problem that the first one did. In fact it might have been a bit worse. However, since the fender was just out of the mold a few days, we were able to use a bit of heat and clamps to get the fender into the shape it needed to be and we ended up with about the same amount of clearance above the mounting tab on each side and had pretty good gaps around the lights.

We weren't able to get the inside corner of the fender down as close to the front bumper as we wanted, but the application of some more clamps and heat, plus a few adjustments and we ended up in a happy place. Here are some pictures:

IMG_0978.jpgIMG_0977.jpgIMG_0976.jpg

A few tricks we learned along the way:

1. It's important to get the light far enough outward so that the 'tip' of the fender clears it to get the gap as small as possible. You may also need to clearance the back of the fender tip if it is thick there.

2. If you can't get the 'tip' where you want it double check your fitting of the two bolts where the fender meets the nose at the wheel well. We removed those two bolts and adjusted the 'tip' to where we wanted it. Then we discovered that if we adjusted the bolt locations for the fender to nose connection by just a little it improved the fit of the 'tip' quite a bit.

3. Also, you can make slight adjustments in the position of the light by loosening the bolt in the top bracket of the light and moving it around a little since the hole is a good bit bigger than the bolt.

4. Wait to drill the bottom hole that attaches the light to the bucket until after you are happy with everything else. Small errors in the location of this bolt can significantly effect the fit of the light.

Now that is all is fitted. We have no need for any trim at the top of the lights and a fairly small gap at the bottom. The bottom gap varies from close to 0 to 3/16 at the worst. The headlights aren't wired yet, but I'll let you all know how the aim looks once I get to that point.

Larry

[K3LAG]

I got a bit of work done last night.

Charcoal canister installed:

IMG_0980.jpg

And, front lights wired:

IMG_0981.jpg IMG_0982.jpg

Larry

[Frank818]

Nice blue color!
Oh, that's the tape making them look blue. Sorry. loll

[K3LAG]

Nice blue color!
Oh, that's the tape making them look blue. Sorry. loll

I thought about taking the tape off, but we have re-taped them about 3 times and I didn't feel like doing it again.

Larry

[K3LAG]

Another month has gone by and we have made a fair bit of progress. We now have all the body panels fitting to my satisfaction. We agonized over how to get the hood to fit and how much trimming it seemed like we were going to have to do for quite a while. I decided to try spacing the the fenders up a little and that made all the difference in the world. I put a 3/8" tall delrin spacer between the rear fender mount and the fender. With that done, the tips of the hood only needed minor trimming.

Here is how the corners ended up. The drivers side fender had a hunk of gel coat pop off the corner so we will have to fix that.

IMG_0992.jpg IMG_0993.jpg

I wasn't happy with how the hazard switch sticks out so much the way FFR recommends installing it so I 3D printed a mount for it and am installing that in the dash.

Photo on 9-5-15 at 8.41 PM.jpg IMG_1113.jpg

I still need to do a little final clean up work to finish this, but I'm pretty happy with it. I'm glad I have the older fiberglass dash, this stuff would be a lot harder with one of the newer plastic dashes.

We have begun installing the aluminum splash guards and working down our punch list of things to do. I had hoped we would have the car registered before the weather turns cool, but I don't think we will make it. I was hoping to shake it down for a few weeks before we took the body back off for painting over the winter. We'll have it ready for the spring though.

Also, I picked up some parts from the powder coater today. I decided to change the mesh on the vent openings to something that would let more air through and look a bit more unique. The frames had been previously powder coated with the mesh FFR provided but when I decided to switch to the different mesh I needed to get it coated to match. I also had my hood hinges coated at the same time.

IMG_0997.jpg IMG_0998.jpg IMG_0999.jpg

It feels like we are in the home stretch, but we still have a lot of details to work on.

Larry

[K3LAG]

Oh yeah, Dave finished most of the Dynamat in the interior as well. We still have to decide if we are going to do the tunnel or not. We probably will.

IMG_0163.jpg

Larry

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Oh yeah, Dave finished most of the Dynamat in the interior as well. We still have to decide if we are going to do the tunnel or not. We probably will.
Larry

Hi Larry,
The Dynamat looks great. They are a local company for me. I am using some dynamat and some of their thermal barrier on my firewalls.

My car has 1/4" of standing water under the seats right now, as I got caught out in the rain yesterday. I am going to add a 3/8" hole in each corner of my floor aluminum.
Bob

[K3LAG]

Hi Larry,
My car has 1/4" of standing water under the seats right now, as I got caught out in the rain yesterday. I am going to add a 3/8" hole in each corner of my floor aluminum.
Bob

I was considering doing something like that as well. I must have pulled the drain plugs in my Wrangler at least once or twice a summer. I might consider making them a little larger and sticking a rubber plug in them.

Larry

[RM1SepEx]

What color PC is that? I'm using RAL2008 IIRC

[K3LAG]

It is RAL 2008. OZ confirmed for me that RAL 2008 is the color they use on their Alleggerita HLT wheels which I am using. Parts in that color so far are:

Intake manifold
Cam covers
Alternator
Coolant expansion tank
Door aluminum and handles
All the vents
Front hinges (I may do the rears some day)
Hella horn grills

and to be painted to match: Dashboard, mirrors, rear spoiler and trim around wipers.

The splitter and side skirts will not get painted as they are the newer carbon pieces and I figure they'll just get chipped up anyway. The spoiler is the original fiberglass one and needs to be painted.

Larry

[Westview]

I really love your paint scheme Larry! If I didn't live so close, I would probably copy it.

[K3LAG]

I really love your paint scheme Larry! If I didn't live so close, I would probably copy it.

Thanks. Are you making much progress on yours?

We'll have to have you over some time soon. We have learned so many things that we can show you that should make your life easier.

Larry

[Westview]

Originally I figure it would take me 2 or 3 years to build my car. At this rate I may not live long enough to see if finished. Right now I'm getting ready to see if my air compressor is up to the task of sand blasting my brake calipers.

[K3LAG]

It's been a productive few weeks. The body is essentially completely installed now. All that is left to do is cut the openings for the vents and install the quick latches for the trunk. All that will be left will be body work and paint on the body.

The windshield frame is being painted and we should get it back from the shop this week.

We have installed a lot of the front aluminum and the rest is ready to be installed.

Tonight we finished the hood install. We used Mechie's hinges. Ignore the black tape. It's just left over from holding the hood in place while the epoxy set up for the stud plates.

IMG_1013.jpg IMG_1014.jpg IMG_1015.jpg

One extra step we did was to fill the area the hinges attached to the hood. I didn't really like how the flat hinges sat on the curved hood. Without doing some filling it put all the stress on the four small areas that the stud plates are attached too. Also if you over tighten the nuts you take a chance of deforming the shape of the hood a little or popping the stud plates off the fiberglass. I mixed a batch of thick epoxy using West Systems 105 with 404 High Density filler. I put a good size pile of epoxy on the hood under the hinge then bolted the hinges into place. I put tape on the hinges to keep the epoxy from coming through all the holes. Once the epoxy was cured we cleaned up the edges and reinstalled the brackets. Now the brackets contact the hood over a much larger area and the forces aren't all on those 4 points. Here is a picture of one of the brackets in place.

IMG_1016.jpg

Larry

[Frank818]

The gaps on your body are an absolute perfection. I just don't know what to say other than having my jaw opened to the floor.

Do you have pix of the moments you preped the epoxy, with tape and filling it? I'd really like to see that!

[K3LAG]

Frank,

I don't have any pictures of that. That much mass of epoxy with the filler in a relatively small cup cooks off pretty fast so I didn't have time to mess around.

I just took some blue painters tape and covered the bottom of the brackets so the epoxy wouldn't ooze through the holes or stick to the brackets. Then I dropped a big dollop of epoxy on the hood roughly between the two studs and put the bracket in place and put the nuts on. Then I shoveled some more epoxy under the edges of the bracket to fill it as much as possible. The epoxy and filler is mixed to about the consistency of peanut butter so once you get it where you want it, it doesn't flow on it's own. Then I just took a plastic stick with a rounded edge and smoothed the edges a bit so it would look good.

Once the epoxy was set up, but not cured, we took the brackets off. Once fully cured we cleaned up the rough edges, where the epoxy flowed around the brackets a bit, with a die grinder before final assembly.

It's a similar technique to what I use to bed rifle stocks except when I'm bedding rifles I don't take anything apart until it is fully cured. I also use a different kind of epoxy for that, usually Marine-Tex gray.

IMG_0214.jpg

Larry

[K3LAG]

Picked up my dash top from the upholstery shop last night.

IMG_1020.jpg IMG_1021.jpg

Larry

[Canadian818]

Picked up my dash top from the upholstery shop last night.

IMG_1020.jpg IMG_1021.jpg

Larry

Wow! That looks fantastic!

[Frank818]

Where on Earth did you get something as awesome as that dash?

[K3LAG]

Where on Earth did you get something as awesome as that dash?

The early dashes are two parts and made from fiberglass. When the two parts are assembled, they look basically the same as the current plastic/padded dash. But since it's two parts it's a lot easier to have some fun with it. The top portion is covered as shown and the bottom part will be painted the same orange as the rest of the trim on the car.

The downside to the fiberglass dash is that it needs more work to make it look good before it can be installed.

Larry

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Larry
what are the 2 knobs on the end of the dash.
Looks Good
Bob

[K3LAG]

Larry
what are the 2 knobs on the end of the dash.
Looks Good
Bob

They are the tweeters for the component speakers. The Low/Mid drivers are mounted in the kick panels just in front of the doors. You can see the hole for the left one in this picture just to the left of the clutch pedal.

IMG_0967.jpg

Larry

[K3LAG]

We are working through lots of miscellaneous jobs now. It got a bit more orange today!

IMG_1026.jpg

Larry

[svanlare]

Given I've settled on Orange as well, watching your build closely :-) Those panels are great, I assume powder coated like the rest or your orange parts.

[Frank818]

We are working through lots of miscellaneous jobs now. It got a bit more orange today!

IMG_1026.jpg

Larry

Cool!! That looks just like my KTM superbike colors!

[K3LAG]

Given I've settled on Orange as well, watching your build closely :-) Those panels are great, I assume powder coated like the rest or your orange parts.

Yes, all of the metal orange parts are powder coated. The mirrors, dash, rear spoiler, and hood/wiper trim piece will be painted the same orange to match. Eventually the body will be painted Cream White.

Larry

[K3LAG]

Tonight we painted the dash and other non-metal parts that match the powder coated parts. We got the paint from lowvolumepowder.com and it perfectly matches the RAL-2008 powder used on the metal trim parts.

IMG_1034.jpg IMG_1035.jpg

Larry

[AZPete]

Nice. The holes in your spoiler are for LED lights? Can you show how you are putting them in?

[K3LAG]

Yes they are for LED's. I'm using this Velleman LED strip: LDB1-HS3018AR

ldb1_hs3018ar.jpg IMG_0070.jpg IMG_0016.jpg

Larry

[AZPete]

Great idea for 3rd brake light. Thanks, Larry.

[K3LAG]

Great idea for 3rd brake light. Thanks, Larry.

The hardest part is getting the 18 holes drilled with just the right spacing.

Larry

[RM1SepEx]

Tonight we painted the dash and other non-metal parts that match the powder coated parts. We got the paint from lowvolumepowders.com and it perfectly matches the RAL-2008 powder used on the metal trim parts.

IMG_1034.jpg IMG_1035.jpg

Larry

www.lowvolumepowder.com no S on powder Larry

[K3LAG]

www.lowvolumepowder.com no S on powder Larry

Oops, thanks. I knew that, just typed it wrong for some reason. Fixed now.

Larry

[AZPete]

Thanks for the warning. I'll make a steel template with the holes spaced exactly on a drill press to avoid screwing up fiberglass.

[Frank818]

Very nice orange!

[svanlare]

very much looking forward to seeing this together!

[K3LAG]

Thanks for the warning. I'll make a steel template with the holes spaced exactly on a drill press to avoid screwing up fiberglass.

Make the holes a little oversized to account for the paint thickness if you are painting your spoiler. Normally I forget that kind of stuff but I remembered in this case. I can't remember how big I made them. I think I found a bit that made a hole that the LEDs fit snuggly into and then went one or two letter sized drills bigger. I drilled those holes a LONG time ago.

Larry

[K3LAG]

We have been poking away at our list. Not a whole lot to show as most of it is not obviously visible stuff.

However, I did wire the under dash lights today:

IMG_1050.jpg

Plan is to install the carpet and a lot of the interior over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Larry

[K3LAG]

Interior is shaping up nice.

IMG_1063.jpg

I think we have a good chance of finishing everything except bodywork and paint by the end of the calendar year.

Larry

[K3LAG]

We didn't get done by the end of December. Looks like it will take us a few more weeks. We are working through a list of odd jobs to get done before it can go to body work and paint. In the mean time, here is a picture of the prototype of the front plate for my center console. I've made a couple of changes since this one, but I'm waiting for my new 3D printer to come so I can print it as one piece.

IMG_1072.jpg

Larry