Casey Family Build Thread (coupe)

[QSL]

lol, its just a part sitting there. it needs to be mounted on the passenger side under the dash. But since the body was on, he could not get a drill in there very well. So that's our homework... to install it.

[MRSQSL]

NICE - Is that your center console exhaust? :}

Hee, hee. I knew I should've moved it before I took the picture. I was too excited. In fact, I was so thrilled when I saw the trailer pull up, I raced outside and forgot to put my shoes on. D'oh!

[QSL]

came home excited to see coupie again!! Also Julie got a surprise in UPS. Ohhhh yea!!

Oh and a nice shot of stock dash VS new dash...

[jetsbaby]

Very nice. Can't wait to see that dash when it is all done..Going to wrap it in leather? So If you are not going to use the stock dash I know a certain person that would be interested in it and maybe some other coupe parts that you won't be using during your build..Wink..wink.. hint ..hint..Dave.

P.S I got the jigs and today cut the stock bars out in prep for the SIB bars.. I could only work for an hour since it was only 108 today!

[QSL]

we are not sure the finish yet. Right now we are thinking a satin black textured powdercoat on the top and a charchoal grey lower that would be the same color as the frame. But we are still a long way away.

The old dash is certainly up for grabs as we wont need it

Glad the jigs made it. They really make the job a LOT easier. The hard part for us was getting the angle right on the backs where they meet the rectangle tubing. Thats at a few different angles. Took a long time to get that fit just right!

good luck!

[QSL]

yesterday was a real cool day for us. We did a small car show with a friend in the morning and then went to California speedway to watch Karen and Tom race! Got some nice inspiration. First time we saw toms car in person and WOW, its a really amazing machine with a lot of trick goodies on it! With all the sun and excitement, I was tuckered out at 5 By the time we got home, I had a couple slices of pizza and a few beers and fell asleep on the sofa.

[montyals]

You've taken coupe building to a whole other standard of excellence. Your dash is the best I've seen! Love the raw metal look. If you could finish it off like that that would look pretty nice. Love the Ferrari, European look! The side curtains...a great touch! That's what the originals should have looked like.

[jkrueger]

yesterday was a real cool day for us. We did a small car show with a friend in the morning and then went to California speedway to watch Karen and Tom race! Got some nice inspiration. First time we saw toms car in person and WOW, its a really amazing machine with a lot of trick goodies on it! With all the sun and excitement, I was tuckered out at 5 By the time we got home, I had a couple slices of pizza and a few beers and fell asleep on the sofa.

That last picture is awesome!

JC

[Rworthy]

I, too, think that dash is an excellent improvement to your coupe.

Looks like there was definitely some track fun this weekend.

Ron

[68GT500MAN]

It was great getting to spend some time talking to Mike and Julie at the track Saturday. You were fed and asleep before I got to Bakersfield!
Doug

[QSL]

lol, Yea, your a maniac!!! Glad you could make it down and we could meet, even though it was just briefly.

[MRSQSL]

Week 23:

I laid on the floor. I sat in a chair. I sat on the sofa. I laid on the sofa. I sat in the Coupe. I read the entire build manual from beginning to end. I stood on a ladder. I climbed back down. I laid on the floor. I sat in a chair with my feet propped on the Coupe. I laid on the floor. This was my Sunday in the garage. Honestly, it's probably not much different than any other garage day for me except that I was alone most of the time. Unfortunately, we were having wifi issues again or still (not sure which). The plan was to work on Coupey and we started out full speed ahead, but then Mike got side tracked by the wifi and the garage was open, so I had to babysit the garage. Yawn.

The only accomplishments were small. Still, I'm proud because at least we did SOMETHING. Mike welded in tabs for my window net. I'm a little afraid the net is going to block too much of my vision and I won't be able to see to change lanes. I guess we'll have to wait and see. If that's the case, I'll keep it down while I drive and throw it up when stopped for long periods of time. The tab welding thing didn't go as smoothly as planned. There is a little grabby thing you have to weld onto the bar itself so that you can actuate the disengage function. It has to weld right next to an aluminum thing which ended up essentially evaporating. Mike solved the problem and it looks great, but not a fun chore and it took much longer than expected. Safety police should stop reading now. I had the job of sitting in the car and holding the rod while he tack welded in the tabs. I had gloves on and work boots and my hair was in braids and safety glasses installed. I figured I was good. Mike slammed down the trigger and wham. Sparks flew. He got one in his shoe which made me giggle just a little since he did a funky jiggle dance. Snicker, snicker. He cooled off and hit the trigger again. I closed my eyes and squished as far away as possible. "I'm on fire!!!!!!!" I shrieked. He guffawed and told me I was completely fine. A spark must've landed on my shirt. Learned my lesson. I moved waaaaaaay away from the welding area and held the rod long distance for all future welds. For the record, I was never on fire and there was a fire extinguisher nearby for safety and it only stung for a few seconds with no lasting damage.

I removed the trunk aluminum. Okay, Aly, Mike and I removed the trunk aluminum. I suspect we will need to cut that big flat piece into smaller pieces if we ever want to reinstall it. The initial plan was to start welding in the cross bars for the trunk area, but then the wifi thing happened (still having problems as I type this but my computer is connected directly to the thingymajigger, so I can work even though everyone else is suffering). With the trunk aluminum removed, my job was to temporarily install the fuel tank to make sure nothing would interfere and see if there was room for a dropped trunk area. The gas tank was on a little shelf thing waaaaaay up by the ceiling. I climbed a ladder, but discovered almost immediately that I'm still afraid of heights and the gas tank box is too heavy for me to easily move. If I could somehow manage to super strength myself and get it lowered, it could potentially fall and knock the TV off the wall or tip the other way and crash into the engine on the stand and knock the stacks harshly onto the concrete. Ponder, ponder, ponder. Yeah. I decided to wait for Mike to come back out. This required more laying on the floor, sitting in the chair, etc. I read enough of the coupe manual to know that I wouldn't be able to use the straps to install the tank because the body was still on and there was no way that was going to work out. Once Mike returned, we were able to wedge the tank up into the car. This lead to a lot of standing and staring. 1) Put the cross bars in, but no drop trunk. 2) Put drop trunk in, but no cross bars. 3) Cut out lots of bars that are probably super important and put in the cross bars AND the drop trunk, but a smaller and more to the left trunk which would be big enough to hold a tool bag which is what I really want. It'd be nice to have a compartment for necessary stuff rather than being able to see it strewn around the back hatch area. I decided I could sadly give up my cross bars for the necessary trunk storage, but Mike agreed that we both want the bars so we'll have to find a way to make it work. Yay. My hero!!!!! By this time, though, it was around 5:00 and I was tired and hungry and hot. It felt as if the swamp cooler wasn't working as well as usual especially since it was only like 90 outside. It wasn't until I went over to turn it off and move the giant contraption so Mike could pull Scoopy back in that I realized whoever turned it on put it on max vent instead of max cool. D'oh!!!!!!!

Saturday was a lot of fun. Most of the story is roadster related, so I'll update that thread next. After the car show that morning, we ventured out to Fontana to watch Tom and Karen race their coupes. What nice people!!!!! Lots of roadster people were there as well and it was fun to see everyone hanging out, working on the cars, etc. This was the first time we had met Tom. What a super, wonderful, amazingly nice guy and he didn't seem to mind we were taking up space in his pit and shooting lots of pics of his car while he was trying to fix stuff to get it back on the track. Both cars had issues with overheating and gauges. We only got to see one "race", but there is nothing like seeing two Coupes side by side on the track. How many people can say they've seen that recently? I actually remembered to bring my camera, battery and memory card, so I was able to get some pics. We were invited to hang out afterwords, but Mike and I hadn't eaten and it was late and the kids were home alone. Sadly we left. Thanks to Karen and Tom for letting us hover and to everyone else for being so nice.

[Rodster]

I like the message from Peter Brock - awesome. And dinner with Russ!

So, just saying - what about a steering wheel like this one - to match the details on your toggle switches? That would make the awesome dash look even more awesomer!

Something like this, from a similar car in my past:

sucp_0912_07_z 1961_chevy_impala_ss_clone steering_wheel.jpg

(Picture from http://www.superchevy.com/features/i.../photo_06.html

[tcoon]

Many thanks to Julie and Mike for making the trek to Fontana this weekend! You have no idea how valued the support from the FFR community is. We always love having fans and it's great to hear your ideas and suggestions as we work through the challenges of making these street cars live under the stress of racing conditions. Keep up the great work on your new coupe!

[exwestracer]

I like the message from Peter Brock - awesome. And dinner with Russ!

So, just saying - what about a steering wheel like this one - to match the details on your toggle switches? That would make the awesome dash look even more awesomer!

Something like this, from a similar car in my past:

sucp_0912_07_z 1961_chevy_impala_ss_clone steering_wheel.jpg

(Picture from http://www.superchevy.com/features/i.../photo_06.html

Just FYI, the early 70's MGs had a beautiful 3 spoke wheel with a bolt on hub and thick rim. Looks a lot like an early Corvette wheel but much smaller. I'm modifying one for the coupe I'm working on now.

[MRSQSL]

Week 24:

Time sure flies. It's already been like 6 months and we haven't done diddly squat. Sigh. I am still determined to do this in 2 years. Just need to hurry up and do stuff.

This update will be short and sweet. We went camping. It was a great trip, but not really good for getting the car done. Mike swears he is going to do some work on it this weekend. Hopefully powder coat will follow shortly and then I can bedazzle you all with my technical and mechanical (in)ability. Also want to say thanks to Frank who apparently stopped by over the weekend to visit. Sorry we weren't home, but please don't let that stop you from coming back again.

Wow, too short for an update. I'll have to throw in something else...fishing. We took the kids out on the lake. Steve caught a fish almost immediately, but the darn thing got away. Mike spent the rest of the morning cursing the fish. The little creature actually fought enough to break Steve's pole! I didn't even know that was possible. After two hours, Aly had caught one, Steve had caught one and I had caught one (Mike wasn't fishing). Not one of those fish made it out of the water and into our boat. Time for new fishing poles I think. Either we kept catching the Loch Ness Monster or we were using really old substandard equipment. Considering one or both of the rods may possibly have been mine when I was an adorable little child, I'm leaning towards the substandard explanation. Now I want fish for dinner tonight...mmmmmmm fish.

[CraigS]

They have fish at the grocery store! ha, ha. And it will only take about 2 hours out of coupe work to go to the store and cook the fish AND eat it! This will sound pretty weird coming from a guy who left the house at 630AM Sunday to hang around a macadam parking lot until 2PM just to get 4 minutes of autocrossing in but... you have WAY more patience than I do if you enjoy fishing.

[MRSQSL]

They have fish at the grocery store! ha, ha. And it will only take about 2 hours out of coupe work to go to the store and cook the fish AND eat it! This will sound pretty weird coming from a guy who left the house at 630AM Sunday to hang around a macadam parking lot until 2PM just to get 4 minutes of autocrossing in but... you have WAY more patience than I do if you enjoy fishing.

Haa, haaa! You sound EXACTLY like Mike. We have a small fishing lake very close to the house and it happens to be almost across the street from a grocery store. Each time we drive by, Mike starts yelling that you can get fish cheaper and easier (and already cleaned) at the grocery store. Fortunately, the lake we took the kids to last weekend has fish that must be starving. Within 5 minutes, they were biting. Same thing happened the time before that. No patience required. As for the autocrossing, you have way more man parts than I do. Just saying. People keep telling me autocross is fun. LIARS!!!!!!! The last thing I want to do is go fast around turns. Heck no. Straight is the only time speed is allowed.

[SoCalMike]

Went over to give Mike and Julie a hand with the coupe yesterday and I was able to see that dash in person. All I can say is that the pictures do not do it any justice, that dash is absolutely awesome and you have to see it in person to get the full spectrum of how nice it came out. Can't wait to see it with the final finish on it. We worked on the car all day just to weld in one little plate... LOL. Had a blast hangin with those two. If you have had the pleasure of meeting these two great people and spending some time with them you understand how funny they are and they keep you laughing all day. Can't wait to get down there again to get some more done. I think its getting close for powder coat, but I'm sure they will keep adding those cool little touches that will make it an amazing car when finished.
Mike and I also went out for a ride in the Cobra, WOW!!! What an Awsome peice of machinery. Makes me want my car even worse, now I really can't wait. Thanks Mike, that was cool.

[frankeeski]

SCMike, Julie only lets Mike drive in a straight line. One day you'll have to venture one city over here to Upland and we can let you experience a few twisties through the Mt. Baldy loop. I'll make your eyes bleed , just kidding. Come on over and I'll buy you a beer and talk shop. Mike, Julie and their kids are a great family, you'll never find a more genuine bunch.

[MRSQSL]

I'll update tomorrow but I just turned on my iPad and saw the nice comments. Awwwwwww, thanks guys!

[MRSQSL]

Week 25:

Have you ever stepped back at the end of an exhausting day with muscles aching to admire your hard work, satisfaction oozing from your pores? Didn't really feel that so much this weekend. When we all stepped back, we discovered the only thing that looked different was a little plate for the shifter. How could three people have spent an entire day working and have so little to show? Part of the problem is that it was really only two people hard at work. I was more of the tool fetcher and cleaner upper.

I'm not sure how Mike managed it, but he convinced SoCal Mike (here on out known as OM for "other Mike") to come over and help. I kinda figured after the last time OM would have had enough. I guess he's telling the truth when he says working on the car is relaxing for him. It has the exact opposite effect on me at this point. Anyway, OM arrived Saturday morning and was oodles of help. The original plan (which never actually happens) was to work on the rear x bars. The monkey wrench in that plan came when Mike got an email from the person we are borrowing the engine hoist from saying he needed it back for a bit. No problem. Absolutely. That meant, though, that we would need to put in the engine and trans and pull it again while we still had the equipment to do so. This is not a tiny feat. Engines are heavy!!!!!! On top of that, the chassis has to come down off of the rolling stand we have it on to jack stands while the engine is installed. For anyone putting a 347 in with the body on (not nose), you will have to go old school. The leveler will hit the body in the firewall area and you will never get the correct tilt or depth. OM realized we could rest the balancer portion on a steel bar resting across the 4" tubes while we unhooked the leveler. The chain was then attached only to the heads. That allowed enough space to complete the install. My Mike said it's old school and how he used to do it when he was a kid because he couldn't afford a leveler back then. I remember those days. Anywhoodles, we got the engine in which then allowed us ("us" is used very loosely throughout as I really wasn't able to contribute much) to plasma cut, grind, etc until a plate had been fabbed up for the shifter to mount to. I know. Didn't we already do that? Yes. Yes we did. Martin, however, had to remove it while he was doing his handy work (Martin is the dash guy and I should mention he also stopped by unexpectedly Saturday and spent a couple hours hanging out with us - very pleasant surprise). The slightly humorous part of that story is that just about the time we tack welded in the new plate, Martin pulled up carrying the old one which we had accidentally left at his shop. D'oh!!!!!!

I love where the shifter is going to be mounted. I didn't get to sit and try it out, but my high tech eyeballs like it.

After the mounting, it was time to reverse the process and undo everything. Packed the shifter away, unbolted the engine mounts, pulled out the engine, etc. Very little progress, but it had to be done and thank goodness both Mikes were here to help. If they got mad enough and left me to fend for myself, I'd be laying on the floor in the garage, pinned under who knows what sobbing. I don't know if my Mike will admit it, but I would think he must be soooooooo much happier working in the garage when there is another man to help. When Mike pulled out the engine hoist, OM knew exactly what to do. I was still looking at the engine on the stand and the transmission on the ground and the hoist on the floor. What's the first step? Thank you Mikes!!

Next step is to return the hoist and then get to work on the cross bars. We discussed the idea of making them removable which I really, really liked. But then Mike and I got to talking about how to actually do it and I started getting cold feet. Mike had some good points which I can't even start to remember now.

On a personal note, Aly is now officially a soccer ref. She took an intensive one day training course Saturday and passed. The season begins in a few weeks. I can't wait to see her first game. How do you root for a ref? Also, I decided it was time to give up on running for a bit because the heat was making an excellent excuse and I wasn't ever actually leaving the house to do it. I started P90X yesterday and now I can barely move. OUCH!!!!! Every muscle hurts. Didn't realize I had muscles on the sides of my stomach. I do. Oh and I think we are going to try to take Scoopy to a car show at Dos Lagos next month. It is a two day event with all sorts of semi famous car people like the West Coast Customs guy. Martin will be there too with a booth if you want to meet him and check out his work. Hopefully some of the other Factory Five guys will bring their cars out too. Sounds like it could be fun and it's super close to us. Yay lazy us!!!! Hee, hee.

[SoCalMike]

Frank, Sounds like a plan. As soon as we both have five minutes I'll swing buy for that beer and we can definately talk shop. Brain needs the break.

Mike

[QSL]

pics!

[QSL]

We made more progress today then i expected!

[rj35pj]

That is some serious tubing! It makes it look like you mean business. I mounted a spare tire in the back of ours and my wife wanted to know where we would put the groceries? You will have to reach around your bars to get your groceries in.

[WIS89]

Great progress y'all!

I am still loving that dash! You both have an awesome vision and creativity.

You are building a beautiful beast!! Good luck the rest of the way.

Regards,

Steve

[QSL]

thanks guys, we hope to button her up next weekend so we can take her to powder coat!

[QSL]

Not Julie... the car.

[68GT500MAN]

Has Julie decided on a color for the frame powder coating? The pressure to make a decision is growing.
Doug

[QSL]

At the moment, she is looking at this... however, it could change...

[MRSQSL]

Week 26:

I am still leaning towards a charcoal/anthracite color for the frame with black panels. This may change once the car is actually at the powder coaters, but we'll see. I would really like to get some input from Jeff Miller on colors since I need to figure out what to do with the dash and I would hate to make a frame/panel decision that clashes or restricts a future awesome color selection. I suppose I should try calling or sending him a message. He's good, but I don't think he's good enough to hear my mental pleas for help.

We didn't do anything on the car Saturday. Instead, we returned the borrowed engine hoist to Scott and played with an adorable "sausage with legs" dog he is currently pet sitting. It is a bulldog that is fatter than fat and may possibly be the most adorable dog I've ever seen (don't tell my three dogs I said that).

Sunday was Coupey day. I knew from the first time I saw the open house coupe with the x in the back, that I wanted to do the same to my car. There were times when it seemed it wasn't going to work out and I was sad, but I could accept that some modifications just weren't possible. When Mike tack welded in the first X bar this weekend, I literally teared up. I don't think he saw as I tried to hide it. Apparently I wanted those bars more than I realized. I absolutely love my new "X". It has been my favorite mod (other than the dash). Side impact bars are nice. Front round tubing looks great. The back X is perfect!!!!!!!

How hard could it be to make an X? Much, much harder than I would've ever guessed. Thank goodness Mike is brilliant and was able to come up with a notching plan that worked on the first try or we would've had tons of scrap tubing and nothing to show for it. Even the notching was a pain as it was done on the drill press, but the tool wasn't made for long tubes or 45 degree(ish) angles. It took a lot of thinking and staring and moving before cutting. Once that was done, how do you decide where the bars meet up and how to keep the "X" from looking deformed? Lots of math and lots of measuring and lots of eyeballing later, we have an X.

I was introduced to a new tool this weekend. I have seen others use it, but was too intimidated to get near it myself. Mike gave me no choice. He had me mark 62" on a section of tube and then told me to cut it. Ummmmmm...how? Chop saw. Nooooooo!!!!!! Chop saws are loud and could easily chop off limbs. Plus, I had already moved the thing once and found it to be obscenely heavy. I'd like to know what makes a welder heavy and a chop saw heavy. I have not exercised enough to lift either easily, so I'd like to demand that tool companies lighten them up for future purchases I may need to make. It's all about me, me, me. Anyway, I got down on the ground and Mike showed me how to line up my mark with the saw and how to mush the tube up against the little metal thingymadoodle and scrunch down on the turny piece. He suggested that I press down on the saw handle thing, but don't push down with consistent pressure. Instead, I should press down and then let up a little and press down and let up, etc. I took this a little too literally and he said (the next time I had to use the saw) not to bounce it up and down so much. Oh, oops. Okay. (Speaking of bouncing up and down too much, did anyone see Miley Cyrus perform on the VMAs? Aly just made me watch it. Makes me sad.) Anyway, I cut the tubing and was very proud of myself for not cutting anything more than the tubing.

I realize with this new gorgeous "X", I'm not really going to have the grocery storage the car was originally designed for. We discussed making hidden lower compartments, but the braces don't really work well for that either and I am set on having my battery hidden in the trunk or rear fender doohickey, but not in the front of the car (which seems to annoy Mike). I don't want to see the battery. I just don't. I'm the woman, therefore I'm right. Hee, hee. I figure I can either tie the grocery bags onto the bars or maybe not take Coupey grocery shopping. Mike pointed out later that the car has racing features in the front and in the middle, so it needed the one in the back as well. I hadn't thought of it that way, but yeah. All I know is that I'm happier than I ever thought I would be over some lengths of tubing. I LOVE my new X. I'm not sure how to hide a tool bag, but it'll be worth it in the end.

I think we may possibly have a three day weekend coming up. Wooohooooooo!!!!!!! Lots of car time. I think we are just waiting to finish up the bumper thing in the rear and a couple brackets before calling the frame complete enough for powder coat. I'm so excited. After it returns home, we can kick butt on suspension and get it down on it's four little feet where it belongs. I'm hoping when we return the stand to Scott, he is dog sitting again. LOVE that dog!!!!!!!!

[frankeeski]

I could have gone without the Miley Cyrus reference, I now need to take a shower to wash all that filth off. Julie, you mean to tell me that the whole time my chop saw was at your place that you never had a chance to use it? Now at least I know who to blame for the blade being so worn down when I got it back, Mike.
You and the family are making great progress even though you believe differently. Keep it up, you'll be moving quicker soon when it come to assembly versus fabrication.

[xlr8or]

Julie that four paw sausage is here pretty regularly.
We got our new dog Sunday afternoon. 7 month old German Shepherd from a local rescue. He is adapting very well to a comfy bed and air conditioning. Big upgrade from a 6 by 12 pen with a dirt floor.

I sold my coupe today. I'm a little jealous of yours though. When I built mine not many had gone too far outside the box and yours is looking to set a new standard.

[MRSQSL]

No, Frank. I never used your saw. Eeeeeeeep!!!! It's loud and choppy. Although if I had to choose between cutting metal or sanding metal, I'd go for Mr. Choppy Saw every single time.

Nooooooooo! I mean I wanted you to sell your coupe since that's what you wanted but I didn't actually want you to sell it!! Get it back! I took my first ride in it. It had better be going to a good home. I think you should give me sausage dog to make up for all my anguish over this.

Congrats on the new doggie. I'm glad you were able to find one. Sounds like he will be spoiled rotten. Yay!

[SoCalMike]

Mike and Julie, X brace looks great. You guys did an awesome job getting that fabbed up. Can't wait to see it all done. Going to the river this weekend but maybe after we return. Keep up the great work, its paying off.
Mike

[QSL]

thanks... just so everyone else knows, we were actually thinking of doing it removable. The problem ended up being that you would see the joints and we thought that they may not look that great and mess with the mojo. Its still a neat idea, but we had to scrap it.

[xlr8or]

Julie I don't think my daughter would appreciate it if gave her dog away.

New pooch is doing great. Very smart and it taking to training very quickly.

2013-08-27_21-47-26_607_zps6d8769b5.jpg

[QSL]

Handsome!!

[MRSQSL]

Oooooooh!!! I love your new dog. He's perfect! I can't wait to meet him (yes, I'm apparently inviting myself over).

Is there any chance you could post or email me a picture of sausage dog? I was telling the kids and they'd really like to see her.