Aj's 818S in Houston

[Ajzride]

Thanks Art, there must be an optical illusion playing havoc on me when looking at pics, since I don't have a coupe to look at.

Looking at this picture, it looks like the back of the window is about 1" from the back of the door, and the front of the window is about 4" from the windshield.

CoupeWindows.jpg

But looking at mine, I feel like the back of the window is lined up 1" from the back of the door, but my front is about 8" from the windshield.

AjsWindows.jpg

[AZPete]

Comparing the windshield angle of my roadster which I converted to a coupe, the angle looks about the same. Of course, the S windshield can be adjusted but the C windshield is fixed and the C includes a triangle at the A pillar. I know for sure that the glass is from a 2004 Toyota MR2 because I had to replace it.

[Ajzride]

Thanks Pete, your coupe picture helps some, I can see the white fiberglass that closes part of the gap, but also a black section, which might be rubber, but takes up some room outside the glass as well it looks like.

[Ajzride]

Is anyone else having issues accessing the forum? For about ten days now it has been down more than up for me. It wasn't really a problem, until this weekend when I was in the middle of trying to cut up my doors and couldn't get on to look at some pictures I had bookmarked. I've tried a couple of times today to post some updates, but it always goes offline again before I can get the pictures uploaded and posted.

[aquillen]

Not had a glitch, poke around in here about every day.

[Ajzride]

It appears to be an AT&T fiber issue, website loads quickly from my Verizon based phone (if I turn off the wifi).

With one window installed, I was able to use some more tape to further define the shape of the sail panel:


FrontAngle.jpg

RearAngle.jpg

I stretched some thin cloth across the tape and applied resin, then a layer of fiberglass mat. Now I will be using foam, plaster, and body filler to finish the plug.

[FFRWRX]

This is very cool!

[Ajzride]

Screen Shot 2020-10-04 at 10.22.43 AM.png


Test


Weird, I couldn't even post a comment earlier this morning. I'm still having lots of trouble with the forum, I think getting there from my phone one time was a fluke. Perhaps it is a regional server issue. Anyone else in the Southeast noticed any problems?

[Frank818]

I have had that issue on your screenshot earlier this summer. In my case there were 2-3 words in a specific sentence that when I was removing them I was able to post, but if I was adding them back, it was preventing me from posting. Those words were totally legit.

I contacted the Moderator (David Hodgkins) and sent him screenshots. I suggest you do the same, that way he will know I was not the only one and that there is "something" spooky about the forum.

[Ajzride]

Updates will probably be really slow as this process is very iterative and time consuming, does not lend itself well to a hoppin' thread. Made a new form from the thicker felt and then started laying on plaster to fill in low spots and smooth it out. Probably need 1 or 2 more coats of plaster before I'm ready to move onto the seal around the window.

FrontView.jpg

Backview.jpg

[Ajzride]

I've been trying to post this link since Sunday and the server wouldn't cooperate. Highly annoying.

[Frank818]

Double thumbs up on your wife starting the video!

[Ajzride]

My wife is camera shy, had to talk my girlfriend into making the intro.

[Frank818]

AJ, girlfriend aside, how difficult, compared to the rest of the build, would you rate that body work you're doing now? There seems to be quite a lot of stuff to create there.

[Ajzride]

Creating these panels that don't exist from scratch is certainly a whole new level compared to putting together the parts that are there, or even modifying the existing panels. It's getting easier as I learn what works for me and what doesn't, but it will easily double the build time by taking this on. Not only does it take a lot of extra hours, but there are times when I lose a whole day of work waiting on fiberglass to cure. Hopefully next weekend I"ll get to where the sail panel is ready for me to start working on the window mating surface.

[Frank818]

Oh yeah I remember that lost time waiting for the glass to cure! True, it takes quite some time and from scratch it really is a challenge when you're not a pro into it. I also much better understand the dust extraction system you built! Gotta build tools yourself to do the work you want to do... I know how you'll feel once everything is on the road, just wait for it, you'll see.
I mean, don't "wait" for it, but "work" for it. loll

[Ajzride]

Progress is really slow,

[Jetfuel]

AJ..check your PM

Jet

[Ajzride]

This weekend I got the lip to hold the weatherstripping against the window built. I used a piece of aluminum flat bar that I bent to match the curvature of my top, and then bolted it to the structure while I bonded it in place. The weather seal I have is a bulb type with a windlace attachment. I missed getting a few pictures, but basically I bolted the flat bar to the body with shims in-between to set the spacing, then I filled the gap with duraglass, once the filler set, I used fiberglass matting to securely attach the metal strip.


StriponBar.jpg

StripAttached.jpg

BaronTop.jpg

InitialAttachment.jpg

[Ajzride]

[Ajzride]

Very little progress worthy of a video or a post. Using sheetrock mud to help shape custom panels is way cheaper than using body filler, but it takes 8 hours to dry instead of 20 minutes. Since I have a lot of side projects for work, house, holidays, I'm using the mud. I did however get my radiator updated. I could never find one that fit like I wanted and had the inlet/outlet on the proper side so I was using crossover pipes in front of the battery, it was messy and had extra connections which I was concerned would leak eventually. My dad had a friend who can weld aluminum, so he swapped the inlet and outlet for me. Much cleaner now.

ModifiedRadiator.jpg

SimpliedPiping.jpg

[Ajzride]

Hurricane's, holiday's, decorating, house projects, waiting on gypsum and fiberglass to cure..... Progress has been really slow. I have two cruise sail panels and they are connected together. Hopefully the week between Christmas and New Years will see a whole lot of progress made.


Targa Skeleton Front.jpg

Targa Skeleton Driver.jpg

[Ajzride]

Holding spot for an image:

9FED6C88-DCC2-4DC9-A59F-C9CC11B1FBEE.png

[beeman]

Some of the measurements are to radii, so are not super precise, let me know if you need anything clarified. 1994 Del Sol.
A 54"
B 39.5"
C glass size 27.5 at side, 31 3/8 at windshield center
D 2 side windows, pics attached
E 25 3/4
F 41
G not kept
H not kept
I if you look at the rear of the del sol door, it curves up. window height is 17" at the center of the window from the bodywork with a 1"wipe/seal so 16" above the seal
J 47.5
K 22.5

PXL_20201226_170349731.jpg

PXL_20201226_170408813.jpg

[beeman]

Keeping the window heights on the GTM would have looked awful, so I 'chopped' the roof by bringing up the bodywork and the inner door card a few inches. Big pain but gives it a more exotic look.

PXL_20201226_171931534.jpg

[Ajzride]

Thanks so much, I’ll be home Tuesday and I’ll mock these measurements up on the 818 to see how it compares.

[Ajzride]

So to add some back story and explain what got thrown up over the holidays... I was re-reading beeman's build thread, and saw that he grafted the top, windshield, doors, and side windows from a del sol onto his GTM to fix the issues that the GTM has with door/glass fitment, and also to add a targa top.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...ss-on-my-build

This got me thinking that a similar approach could be a possible solution for me on the 818, and save me having to make so much stuff from scratch. Based on his measurements above, the Del Sol front windshield is almost an exact match for the 818, but the doors are about 5" too long, and the upper section is actually pretty square, meaning that is is almost the same width at the front windshield and the back glass. This looks pretty good on the GTM because the car itself is a lot longer and wider than an 818. I'm afraid on the 818 it will look very boxy if the back of the top doesn't taper in and follow the roll bar much closer. Right now with the direction I have been going, the top is almost 8 inches narrower in the back than at the front.

[Ajzride]

A realistic time frame for finishing the targa top is probably late summer or into next fall if I continue to dedicate my Friday's and Saturday's to the effort. I really didn't realize what I was biting off when I started this project. I'm learning a lot that will help me in my ultimate goal of a car with a 100% custom body, but I have to say that I think just making one piece is actually harder. If I were to be making a fully custom body I would choose a frame that either didn't have a lot of frame protrusions to interfere with my body, or one that I was comfortable modifying the frame on. With the 818 there are so many frame rails that stick out in places that you have to build around them, and you can't really do a lot of fabrication off of the car. You are constantly putting what you are working on back on the car to make sure it clears the frame. Also since I'm tying one panel into existing panels, I have to work to make sure it all lines up. With a custom body I could just cut the whole thing from a foam buck and lay glass over it, and then cut the panel parting lines wherever made sense. Anyway, here's a short update showing the small progress on the targa top.

[Ajzride]

3 Months of working on the Targa, and I felt like I was spinning my wheels. I was very happy with the drivers side, but the fiberglass skills and techniques to create symmetry on the passenger side were eluding me. I bit the bullet and hunkered down to research what it would take to get this into CAD so I could 3D print a skeleton to work off of ensuring symmetry. What I would up with was a convoluted process that probably was not the most efficient path, but was how I stumbled through it with given I have no training in this type of stuff.

I used GravitySketch running on an Occulus Quest 2 (virtual reality headset) to trace out the drivers side of the part I have been working on. This allowed me to ensure the dimensions were perfect and that all of the curves were accurate. Once I had a wire frame build in GravitySketch, I put some surfaces on it did some smoothing, then I exported the project as a mesh and imported it into Fusion360. You can't do much with a mesh in Fusion, but you can snap to it, so I was able to quickly build some 3D sketches around the mesh, patch the surfaces, and then thicken the surfaces to get solid bodies I could work with in Fusion. Added on the flanges for weather stripping and then mirrored it so that I have a full piece. Now I'm in the process of cutting it up in Fusion into pieces that will fit on the 3D printer, and then I have a solid week of printing to do before I can start gluing it together. I know there are a few areas that I will still have to tweak by hand with some body filler, but this should get me to about 90% point with good symmetry between both sides. While the printer is busy churning out parts, I think I am going to start work on covering the front end to a clamshell this weekend.

Front34Model.png

R34Model.png

[flynntuna]

I'm really enjoying your build. I'd like to incorporate some of the ideas you are using in your targa design on my car eventually. From what you have done so far I can see that it will look amazing. I wish I could put in 12 hrs a week like you are. I'm lucky right now to get 12hrs a month in��.

[Ajzride]

I'm on reduced hours due to economic impact of COVID. At some point things will pick back up and I'll be back to half a Saturday per week. Until then I'm going to keep plugging away. Digging through all the boxes looking for all the brackets to mount front fenders and nose today.


At the end of the this process I should have a mold for all of the Targa components, which I have no desire to keep in storage. Anyone who might be interested can start thinking about that.

[Ajzride]

While I have my 3D printer running around the clock pumping out a skeleton for the targa top, I decided to start on the front and get the clamshell going. Almost two years ago I got this thread started by starting to hack up my nose to change out the headlights, before realizing I couldn't do that without the nose and fenders and hood all put on the car. Well, that is making things a little more difficult now, because I'm missing a surface that would have been really good for bonding the nose to the hood on one side.

I looked closely at Art's thread where he did his clamshell, and while some of the concepts are the same, the old style nose is much more difficult to work with. The fenders, nose, and hood rarely ever touch, the headlight bucket is what holds almost all of it together. I can't even find my headlight buckets because I had no intention of using them and so I haven't kept track of them. While Art made an external frame to line his parts up, I thought it was going a better path forward on the old style nose to start bolting things to the frame with spacers to hold them exactly where I want them. I used various blocks of wood ranging from 1/4" plywood to 1"x6" pine blocks to get everything shimmed where I wanted it. Once I was pretty happy with where everything sat, I bolted the fender to the side pod and the nose to the frame and glassed the nose and fenders together. I let that set overnight and then I came out this morning and got the hood sitting where I like it, then bolts it on all four corners to the fenders and glassed that in. I also put a little glass between the hose and the hood on the passenger side where I had not yet hacked up the nose. Next week I'll take it off the car, flip it over, and start adding more layers from the backside for strength.

SidePodAlignment.jpg

FenderToNose.jpg

FenderToNoseWide.jpg

HoodToFenderFront.jpg

HoodToFenderBack.jpg

HoodWide.jpg

[aquillen]

You will probably love the clam. Working in there on anything and everything is so much easier.

[Ajzride]

Video on the 3D printing process:

[Ajzride]

I was able to trace out the front clip using the Oculus, then I made my first ever attempt at Sub-D modeling to give surfaces to the frame. It's pretty terrible, but it's a start. The blue lines are the wire frame I traced out and the red are the Sub-D surfaces I created.

nose_surfaces_hood_2021-02-02-13-02-29.png

if anyone wants the raw .obj files of the mesh PM me or send me an email. I hope to get the entire body traced out eventually.

[Ajzride]

I've decided to move forwards with the Accord lights I started this thread with. I had strongly considered swapping to Celica lights which look much more like the Gen-2 nose, but I think I really like the horizontal lights better. I'm going to set them back up inside the nose a little bit (think early 90's Camaro). I used the quick model from earlier to mock up all my changes before I started any more cutting.

nose_surfacescustom_v1_2021-02-02-16-02-581.png

nose_surfacescustom_v1_2021-02-02-16-02-58.png

[Ajzride]

Well after a few days of fighting with them, I've come to the conclusion that the Accord lights are too tall to fit and still allow me to make the modifications I want to make for the lower nose. The actual light area is fine, but the housing of the lights sticks out a ton on all sides and it just won't fit without either lowering them more than I want or making drastic changes to recurve the fender and accommodate them. I'm thinking of following Andrew's lead and using the Yamaha R1 headlights. I would set mine a little more inboard than he did:

nose_surfacescustom_yamaha_2021-02-04-20-04-24.png

nose_surfacescustom_yamaha_2021-02-04-20-04-25.png

[Ajzride]

Video on the clamshell and some 3D printing troubles:

[Ajzride]

It might look a little rough, but it's light years ahead of where I started when I was doing it with tape, glass, and plaster. All of the flanges and angles are already built, all the panels are straight and flat with no large dips, and everything is symmetrical. I just have to put a layer of glass, then filler, then sand it smooth. The strips of fiberglass that are on there now are strategic to strengthen it up enough that I can move it to the saw horses for further work.


Front34View.jpg

Rear34View.jpg

RearView.jpg

[Jkviper]

AJ, glad to see you are making progress on the body work. I like the look of the new shape.