Wyoming GTM Underway

[jamesfr58]

Had to really work this week and did not make it down to the shop until Saturday afternoon, but I did get a few things done. Have been working on the main body now in the body buck. So, got back to repairing the crack on the passenger’s side where the door opening sits on the frame. Took a while and had to fiberglass upside down again but got some of those glass beads and can make it thick enough not to run all over me. Here it is completed, I also learned a trick from my friend who has a body shop. The gray sealer is thin but when you spray it on the repair it lets you know right away if you have any pin holes or missed area. Much easier to see the defects and it is really light so sands off easily.

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Got the area in the hatch flange done where I sanded through it to get the hatch to fit.

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And fit the drivers side fuel cap and flange. Had to and it down some and build up a couple of places to get it so sit nice, only one more to go!

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[Edgeman]

Just have a look at my page on the fuel caps. You actually need a backing plate from the bottom ring or they will separate. The one I had separate was just silver soldered together. These are actually aircraft caps, I believe. You also have the newer style of caps.
https://edgemansgtm.weebly.com/rear-...ody-stuff.html

[jamesfr58]

Edgeman

Your advice is sound for sure, by the time I got the cap to lay down on the body by removing some fiberglass in some places and building up in others the area where the cap bolt on was thinner than I would have liked so I am planning on making a aluminum backing ring for the installation. On another note, the fuel caps that they sent with my kit appear to be made from solid aluminum bars stock so there are no welds, but since you mentioned it I will double check them again.

Have had to work all this week and had medical procedure done end of last week so have not been back down to the shop but will get a chance this weekend so I will make sure I check them

[jamesfr58]

Edgeman

Here are a few pictures of the fuel cap, it looks to be machined out of one piece. If any know if it is not please let me know. Will make backing plate as mentioned above.

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[jamesfr58]

Been looking for a place to put my LED backup light and did not want to cut any more holes in the back of the car. So after looking at it for a while I came up with this idea to mount them on one of the blades on the diffuser vents in the rear of the car. It came out pretty good, checked them in the dark and will be able to see just fine. They are about 3/4 of the way hidden but still shine on through....

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[KGTM]

I do not understand how the rear diffuser works with some much of it cut, I thought the whole idea is to create down suction and help with smooth hi to low pressure, this was one reason I did not put fans or cuts there., otherwise might as well not bother expect for looks as it is a pain in the ... to removed every time you need to do any thing from under the car.

[jamesfr58]

Finished the wire harness for the back-up lights and have both LEC lights mounted in position on the diffuser. After building the harness that will stay with the diffuser hooked them up to insure they were working. Will put weather proof connector to attach them to the power and ground. Painting the aluminum parts on the diffuser now and this piece will be finished until final assembly.

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The diffuser is designed to let hot air out of engine compartment, the low pressure area will suck air out of the compartment as it spill over the diffuser when it starts to increase in pressure downstream of the diffuser. The blades of the lovers still give you the same amount of surface area in the sections where the louvers are. The diffuser should still work as designed and my diffuser is attached via 1/4-20 stainless screws and threaded inserts mounted to the body after adding aluminum backer in fiberglass for the threaded inserts, so removing take little time at all.

[jamesfr58]

Oh forgot to mention the cutout shown on the flat part of the diffuser is where the rear tie down is welded to the frame. Tie downs were furnished by Shane at VRaptor, almost forgot they were there and would have been hard to tie the car down with it covered up!!

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I do not understand how the rear diffuser works with some much of it cut, I thought the whole idea is to create down suction and help with smooth hi to low pressure, this was one reason I did not put fans or cuts there., otherwise might as well not bother expect for looks as it is a pain in the ... to removed every time you need to do any thing from under the car.

In reality, for the diffuser to work to make usable downforce, it would have to be a smooth transition and much shallower angle to the bottom surface of the car. It is neither one of those things, but it still an area of low pressure that can at least be used to pull air thru the engine bay. On a street car like this, I'm guessing that adding the diffuser louvers to the diffuser is basically a choice of giving up 10 pounds of downforce in order to lower engine bay temps by 100 degrees.

[jamesfr58]

Finally got a change to get back down to the shop this weekend (work let up a bit finally) and started putting the car together and take it for a test run since it is summer here now. First thing was to but electrical system back in place so here are a few pictures of the different system working.

Engine Bay and Front-End LED Lighting, can change color and motion if desired.

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Cockpit Lighting, can also change color if desired.

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Cockpit gauge lighting for switches

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Cockpit with engine start ready to engage on my RFID system. The larger switch on the right that is no lighted up is the button for the E-Brake system, it lights up when engaging and disengaging and is red in color.

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I will need to check clutch one more time and bleed if needed and re-install the drivers side seat and I should be ready to take it for a spin…..

[beeman]

Looks awesome, James. I really like your LCD screen in the center console, you incorporated that well.

[jamesfr58]

Got out to the shop yesterday afternoon and doing some final mechanical work to clean up wiring and put the last bitts on the car, test the functionality and get it ready for a test run. Weather is great up here in Wyoming so no better time than now. All wiring in and complete now, here is the nose of the car complete with install wiper motor and new wire pulled in for driving lights that will come on with ignition.

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Here is a short video of the wiper motor in the different functions all working as it should.



Had to take the heat gun and heat up the neck on the washer bottle to bend it way from the aluminum separating the radiator and electronic compartment. It was right up against the wall but now has plenty of clearance. Below is a before and after picture, heated it up and held in place until if cooled.

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Spent some time adjusting the wheels both back and front to get them somewhere close to the final alignment or at least enough to drive it and will schedule a full alignment once it is road tested.

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[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Just a note on the wiper motor. That whole mechanism that makes up the wiper pivot....when you apply resistance to that (like the wiper blade dragging across the windshield), it changes the length and geometry and park position.....so be careful when making your adjustments to the length of the rod that connects the wiper motor to the pivot that is attached to the body at the bottom of the windshield. I always do this "by hand" to make sure that the motor isn't going to destroy anything when you turn it on. It helps to have 2 people on this. Attach the rod linkage to the wiper motor and hold it out in the clear where it can't run into anything. Now have a helper turn the wipers on while you hold the rod, trying to resist the motor from turning. This will "cam out" that wiper pivot to it's "running length" and once that happens, have the helper cut power to the wipers.....not just turn them off, but cut power to them. If you just turn the wipers off, the cam will return to the park position. Now that the cam is locked in the "running length" position, you can connect the other end to the wiper arm and rotate the motor by hand while watching your wiper arm motion and linkage angles and get the correct adjustment on your overall rod length. You want to make sure that the rod never comes close to getting in a straight line with the wiper arm linkage. If that linkage goes "past center", then your wiper arm will end up going round and round instead of back and forth....which would destroy your windshield, cowl, hood, etc.

Once you are satisfied with that adjustment, disconnect the linkage from the wiper arm and have your helper turn the wipers back on and hold resistance on the rod while the helper turns the wipers off so they can return to the park position. Now you can manually disengage the linkage from park just by rotating it a bit by hand. Now hook the rod back up to your wiper arm and push it back to the park position and make sure that the rod/linkage doesn't all bind up on itself underneath the body. I know that all sounds confusing, but if you don't do that, you could easily do thousands of dollars of damage when you turn the wipers on if you don't have them adjusted right.

[jamesfr58]

Shane

Thanks for the write up on setting the wiper motor it is greatly appreciated since they say nothing in the manual or anywhere else that I know of on how to set the park and insure the wiper does not attempt to make a full circle scraping across the hood. To reinforce the importance of this forum and the information being shared this is a good example for everyone of the knowledge that can be gleaned and utilized by the builders on this forum for experienced builders as yourself. Again thanks....

Also though I would post a picture of my two shop companions as it is hare to get them both together. I posted a picture of our Golder Retriever before but here they are both together chilling out in front of my shop cooler on a hot Wyoming day....

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[jamesfr58]

Put the last item in the nose under the hood that I had not yet installed. I do have an inReserve in the car but since I always like a backup, I installed an onboard 2amp charger/maintainer. I have these installed in my Polaris General and another off-road vehicle and they have come in very handy several time when we are on extended trips. So, the plan was to install on in this car as well. Got it installed today so here is how I have them installed in the other vehicles as well, so I only need to hook up extension cord to ensure the battery stays charge or to charge it if too low and don’t have to drag a charger around in my trailer.

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[Shoeless]

That's a pretty trick little battery charger you got there. I can imagine on the long winters with the cars sitting, this comes in very handy. I have a large one on my boat that runs 4 big batteries and keeps me good year round when the boat sits over the winter.

I second the input from Shane. I literally have a separate word doc with an index table up front that has all my build notes in it for sections I haven't got to yet. Any time Shane gives us feedback like this, it goes right in my build notes word doc for future reference.

[jamesfr58]

The company that makes the charger also make several versions that charge at different amperages. The are sealed and pretty much weather proof, the one on my side by side gets water inside the hood all the time and keeps on working. Not sure they would work underwater but bet they would for a while. I have on on my pontoon boat that charges 2 batteries separately one on the motor and one on the trolling motor keeps them up in the winter and recharges the trolling motor when using on the lake. I really like these chargers and they are not really expensive as some but not like some of the cheap ones. I get them on Amazon since everything I get almost always has to be shipped into my little town.

[jamesfr58]

Made some carbon fiber backing rings for the fuel filler cap assembly. Once I got the caps fitted to the body the fiberglass is thinner so made some backing rings as suggested Edgeman and I agree they are needed to keep fiberglass from cracking in this area.

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[jamesfr58]

Starting to make all the small little bits that it takes to finish a car. Started working on a custom shift boot that would work with the modified center tunnel section. First thing I did was knock my sewing machine out of adjustment so spent a few hours going through it and resetting the clearances and timing. But got through that and made the shift boot, still need to figure out exactly how to mount all of it but have an idea.

Here are the patterns made for my square hole on the center console.

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Got is sewed up and fit into the shifter cover temporary.

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This is the shifter cover and boot sitting in place, will attach the boot to the cover and install as one piece.

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[KGTM]

Boy, this look great. need to you to finish my Dash.

Note about the wiper video, these is some action missing from the end of the part mode, no sure how to explain it, but it does some funky move before it stops that I do not see in you video.

Mostafa

[jamesfr58]

Shift boot installed but not fastened at the top yet, will have to remove it again later to finish installing the remain dash parts, but you can see how it looks setting in the car now. Thought about machining a **** gate, and still might but for now going with the boot.

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[Shoeless]

That looks amazing James!!! BTW my billet buttons came in the mail the other day from AUS and they are awesome.

[rev2xs]

Got out to the shop yesterday afternoon and doing some final mechanical work to clean up wiring and put the last bitts on the car, test the functionality and get it ready for a test run. Weather is great up here in Wyoming so no better time than now. All wiring in and complete now, here is the nose of the car complete with install wiper motor and new wire pulled in for driving lights that will come on with ignition.

IMG_0857.jpg

Here is a short video of the wiper motor in the different functions all working as it should.



Had to take the heat gun and heat up the neck on the washer bottle to bend it way from the aluminum separating the radiator and electronic compartment. It was right up against the wall but now has plenty of clearance. Below is a before and after picture, heated it up and held in place until if cooled.

IMG_0334.jpg IMG_0855.jpg

Spent some time adjusting the wheels both back and front to get them somewhere close to the final alignment or at least enough to drive it and will schedule a full alignment once it is road tested.

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Apologies if i have missed this earlier in the thread, but what are the brake lines you are using?

[jamesfr58]

rev2xs,

I am using steel brake line tubing that I slid a spring sleeve over the tubing made to protect the lines from wear it they get up again anything. It is just an added precaution, and there is no sleeve where they run down the tunnel only where they are exposed.

[jamesfr58]

My short story for today:

Well, you know how we say we are done with a specific part of the car, right up until we discover we still have part to mount or parts we just forgot about. I only thought I was done with the hood section before putting it back onto the frame, guess what, I was wrong again…… I still needed to find and mount front laser shifters (2 ea.) and radar detector (1 ea.) for the Escort 9500ci system and incorporate them into the hood. I was working on the back laser shifter to finish wiring and locate it before I put the body back on and the light bulb went off in my little pea brain, damn forgot to put the equipment up front that needed to incorporate into the hood. So back to the drawing board, locating a location and designing mounts for each piece.

So, here is the mounting system I came up with to incorporate them into he grill supplied by Shane at VRaptor and locating the mount for the radar detector. And a test fit into the grill.

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Once I knew they would fit and look good tucked up into the grill I remounted the grill in the nose to insure everything would clear and they looked like I envisioned them. You can see the mount for the radar detector I am still working on. It will be tucked up into the top section of the nose and will work behind the fiberglass and will be out of sight.

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Well, that all folks for this chapter of finally got that done, oh dang forgot something I needed or want to do, so stay tuned for the next chapter of I lost my mind again.....

[jamesfr58]

Finished the install on the laser shifters in the grill and mounted the radar detector under the hood. Here is how they came out, and also figure out how to mount the grill using machine screws so it will be removable if needed once on the car.

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Getting ready to go to the lake for 10 days, taking pontoon boat and just get away for a while. So just working a small thing on my punch list and getting ready to head out later this week with friends and family to play in the sun since we have not been anywhere since the whole COVID thing started.

[jamesfr58]

Well back from the lake and getting ready to finish checking everything I can on the GTM prior to taking out for a drive. Had to post this and know it is a little off topic, but lake trip was adventure. I bumped into the wife while backing the truck (her truck with a topper) and bumped into the wife. It knocked her down and broke her arm in three places. Spent 3 days in urgent care and orthopedic doctor’s office taking care of the arm issue. I told her she need to work on sticking the landing better, she did not think that was the issue but insisted it was my driving. Could not see her she was standing in the only blind spot at the corner of the topper. Anyway, all good and headed home to pick up where I left off.

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Then we had a summer winter storm, the temperatures dropped from 106 F to 36 F in a little over 24 hours and it snowed in some places up here in Wyoming got up to 12” of snow but all will be gone as we will be back up in the high 70 to 80 degrees range by end of week. So we need to forget last week altogether and start over this week………

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I think I can sum up your whole post for you with a number:

2020

[Shoeless]

Shane sums it up perfectly.

Personally, I'm trying to get my GTM ready to fire up the engine by Christmas, but if I actually get to that milestone point I may push it to Jan 1, 2021

[beeman]

James- hope your wife recovers quickly.

[jamesfr58]

Thanks for the words of wisdom and I think I will go along with Shane and can agree 2020 says it all !!

Had follow up x-ray today and everything still looking good so should avoid surgery and just a cast for another 7 weeks....

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Shane sums it up perfectly.

Personally, I'm trying to get my GTM ready to fire up the engine by Christmas, but if I actually get to that milestone point I may push it to Jan 1, 2021

By then you may have converted it to look like something from Mad Max.....

[Shoeless]

By then you may have converted it to look like something from Mad Max.....

HAHA hell yea.

James,

Glad to hear x-rays went well and no surgery.

[jamesfr58]

Well, thought I would stop by and see what’s been going on, need a break from my added duties as cook, house cleaner running domestic errands since the unfortunate accident that put my wife in a very large cast (guess it was my doing so should not complain) and she cant lift any weight, cant twist of even a bottle cap and other than that is doing good and it looks like we may avoid surgery. They are going to remove the large cast next Friday this week and put a short arm for who knows how long but she will be at least able to do some things.

And I figured out how much it cost if you run over your wife with her truck! ……. Got to get ride of the instrument of destruction and get a new one…. So, she got a new Jeep Gladiator (her choice) I only get to pay the bill.

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And helping with the grandkids, they are a hand full and she cannot pick them up.

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Hope to get back to the shop sometime this week and pick up where I left off a few weeks ago. Wanted to drop in and get caught up on what happing in the GTM build world since I have been out of the loop for a few weeks. Got that ball valve off the cooling system vent and got my needle valve mounted and run down to the bottom of the car. Have done just a few little items but I do have a question for anyone who has a better method of bleeding the clutch slave cylinder on my G996 transmission.

I have bled it five time I think, and it is still really soft but at least it is starting to work, I can get it into gear with the engine running but the wheels start turning immediately. I have been using a power bleeder and not sure I am getting all the air out of the line.

So, I am open to suggestions or any better way to insure I am getting all the air out of the line and the slave cylinder working as it is designed to do. Hope someone out there has better idea………

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I bought a cheap oil can....you know, the old metal cans with the pump lever to dispense oil? Fill oil can with brake fluid. Suck most of the brake fluid out of your clutch reservoir so it doesn't overflow. Remove the slave cylinder from the trans and orient the slave so that the banjo bolt (or however the clutch line/ braided hose is connected to the slave) as the highest point. Use a piece of small rubber hose to connect your oil can to the slave bleeder. Open up the bleeder and start pumping. Have a helper watch the MC to make sure it does not overflow and also tell you when the bubbles start coming up and when they stop coming up. Pump until the bubbles stop coming up in the MC reservoir and then pump some more....until you pump a bunch of fluid in with no bubbles coming out. Now leave the bleeder open on the slave, disconnect the oil can hose from the bleeder screw and tip the slave up so the bleeder is the highest point. If there was still air in the slave that didn't get out thru the banjo bolt, it should go to the top and gravity bleed out of the slave.....let it gravity bleed for a few seconds to make sure no air bubbles come out and then tighten the bleeder screw. That should do it. You can't disconnect and start over or you're going to just pump new air into the slave....this all has to happen in one shot or you'll have to start all over....so make sure you fill your oil can completely with brake fluid and have a large enough oil can that you don't run out.

[Presto51]

Well, thought I would stop by and see what’s been going on, need a break from my added duties as cook, house cleaner running domestic errands since the unfortunate accident that put my wife in a very large cast (guess it was my doing so should not complain) and she cant lift any weight, cant twist of even a bottle cap and other than that is doing good and it looks like we may avoid surgery. They are going to remove the large cast next Friday this week and put a short arm for who knows how long but she will be at least able to do some things.

And I figured out how much it cost if you run over your wife with her truck! ……. Got to get ride of the instrument of destruction and get a new one…. So, she got a new Jeep Gladiator (her choice) I only get to pay the bill.

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And helping with the grandkids, they are a hand full and she cannot pick them up.

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Hope to get back to the shop sometime this week and pick up where I left off a few weeks ago

Well look at this way, your wife now has the man slave that she always wanted

Hope she gets well fast

Ron

[jamesfr58]

Presto51,

You are right about that, the only good thing is I know tis won't last forever....I hope !!

[jamesfr58]

Shane

Thanks for the procedure you outlined above, I will give this method a try and since you have done many of these I would bet it works. All I knew for sure was the method I was using was not working. Again thanks for all your help and assistance to our GTM forum and builders group....

[RR46]

Re bleeding, if you tried bleeding five times already and Shane's method doesn't work don't underestimate the possibility of component failure. I fought a Pcar with the same type of transaxle over and over until I decided a long shot to replace the master which fixed the issue immediately. No sign or reason for any failure it just wouldn't bleed right. That master was not made by Wilwood though but the car manufacturer.

Super trick idea with the small lightweight onboard charger.

While you have the body off, advise: Pay as much or more attention to noise insulation as you do on the visual appearance, interior etc. My GTM was done with focus on fun track days where earplugs and helmet take care of noise, but for the occasional coffee or lunch drives I wish I'd have put more serious rather than casual effort into sound deadening before it was buttoned up. Can still work on it, it's just harder now.

[KGTM]

Did you removed air from master before installation? if using upper port then is really hard to remove air from it if not removed in advance of installation.

or block the port and make sure master is good and no air.

Even with power bleeder it help me to push the paddle few time although is is supposedly not needed.

Mostafa