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Post by buildercg on Jul 26, 2017 18:04:03 GMT
It's been raining here for the last couple of days so I didn't go out to get my car inspected until this morning. The guys at the inspection station loved the car but told me I would fail because of the lack of windshield wipers and because the exhaust sticks out. While frustrating, they told me this before scanning my registration or taking my cash. I will get the changes done and go back to them.
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Post by buildercg on Aug 26, 2017 0:02:59 GMT
It's been quite a while since I posted an update, largely because not much has been happening with the car due to work, home life, and trying to figure out what's needed to finish the last .1% and get the car truly legal. My current status is that I have an appointment with a local muffler shop to get a new muffler installed, as the donor's muffler sticks way out the back and would fail state inspection. I'm also working on the windshield wipers. I bought two mid-range marine motors ( these) and installed them. Installation has been tricky as the didn't come with any instructions (for instance, it's not clear which side is "left" vs. "right") and mounting them to DOT glass (which, according to my glass supplier, will break/crack if I put too much pressure on it) required creating a collar to go around the central shaft and provide a friction point as well as creating custom brackets - which I'm starting to get good at - to prevent the motor from twisting instead of the wiper arms. Fortunately, I had thought ahead and had the glass cut to accommodate just this thing, though I wish I had gotten 1" diameter holes instead of 1/2" holes. The assemblies are turning out to be not such a good investment as one of the clips which holds the wiper blade onto the arm broke last night while I was trying to adjust the position of the wipers so that they would swipe the correct part of the windshield and also not interfering with each other. It's quite clear that the "park" feature is close to useless, as any extra friction causes the blade to drag, which throws off the timing between the independent motors and can also cause the plastic gearing to jump. It's also extremely inaccurate in terms of where the arm finally stops moving. The wiper arms are held onto the rotating spindle via friction (vs any type of lock) meaning additional slippage/misalignment with every pass. I bought an expensive 22" wiper blade today to replace the broken one (impossible to just buy a single clip). Fortunately, the motor seems to move the large blade with ease (even better than the small 11" blade it came with). The large blade can be positioned on a single motor to wipe most of the windshield, so I'm going to see if I can get that to pass inspection. My inspection won't be at least until next weekend due to the muffler appointment date so I'm going to work on trying to key the arm/spindle to ensure positioning stays relatively correct in the meantime. Otherwise the car is great fun. I have had it out only for showing it off to family last weekend (very brief drives around my neighborhood). I still have the random idle issue but otherwise everything is great. |
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Post by buildercg on Sept 2, 2017 14:19:13 GMT
Arg. Got to let off some steam. The car would not start this morning due to a really dumb reason: I forgot to plug the wiring harness completely together when I was working on my dash last weekend. It took me 2 hours to find the simple fix and because it took me so long I missed my appointment with the muffler man. There's no way I can get out for even 1/2 a day during the week so now I have to wait again until next weekend.
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Post by buildercg on Sept 9, 2017 20:39:53 GMT
I got my new muffler on today. It's not too fancy, but it sounds great. I think it's freer breathing too and car seems to have a little more umph.
The shop straightened out the whole system, and replaced my clamped on flex pipes with rigid welded pipes.
I'm very happy with it.
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Post by rc58 on Sept 11, 2017 13:18:25 GMT
So are you thinking this makes it 100% finished? Whats next on your list?
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Post by buildercg on Sept 11, 2017 19:29:04 GMT
I got my black "R" sticker today (legal to drive for 60 days, but need to go through more state inspections) and took it for a nice drive in the morning and another shorter one in the afternoon.  rc58: It'll never be "done". On my test drives today I found that one of the rear passenger fender mounts rubs the inside of the tire after the tire heats up and expands. I'll need to take it off and do some bending. New tires and possibly wheels (I like mine, but I need big spacers to use them due to offset) will be on the docket too. I also plan to give the car more power (running stock 1.6L '91 now) via one or more of the following: turbo, supercharger, different engine though all of those things will wait until at least winter before I do anything. I like to listen to music/radio while driving so I need to figure that and I also need to work a little on rear visibility (the wing makes the center mirror almost useless). Finally, I'm a small guy and I get cold easily, so I might look into ways to block the wind and/or keep some heat in the car (needed gloves today). |
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Post by buildercg on Sept 12, 2017 1:26:56 GMT
A few more things I want to do are:
1. Redo the dash pod with new instruments.
1. More forward lighting. My headlights are a pair of 5" bullets and they put out okay light, but I'll probably also add a light bar or rally lights.
3. Better protection for me and my passenger against pebbles and rocks (it's amazing how much comes into the cockpit).
We'll see what my MAC inspection says, but I might also have to change my rear turn signal indicators (I used 1" DOT certified LEDs; while they're very bright they might be too small). I might also have to put more work into the wipers; though I hope not.
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Post by gwnwar on Sept 12, 2017 16:02:12 GMT
Did you ever get the front end aligned..
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Post by buildercg on Sept 12, 2017 16:08:49 GMT
Did you ever get the front end aligned..o Yes, much better. Car drives nice and straight. Will get another alignment with new tires. |
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Post by buildercg on Sept 27, 2017 4:03:23 GMT
I've got about 400 miles on my car since getting my sticker. Not bad, considering the weather we've had has mostly not been conducive for open air driving and my insurance does not cover daily commuting.
I love the car. When I drive it I can just listen to the sound of the road, the engine, and the exhaust and focus on driving. It's quite refreshing.
That said, on my last drive I notice the rear passenger fender was rattling. When I got home I discovered that the bolt holding the fender mount was loose (this was about a week after I had checked it). That same bolt is one of two that holds the caliper in place. Soooo....time to check all the bolts that hold important pieces on. I was going to do this around 500 miles....I'll do it a little earlier than planned.
I also finally took it too a gas station to fill up. Oh..it's slow. My fuel tank is an ATL racing fuel cell. It's designed for high speed filling, a.k.a. the style usually found on race tracks. Because the fuel nozzle doesn't fit the same in my filler neck, I need to go slow otherwise the nozzle stops. It took almost ten minutes of awkwardly reaching over the wing to get 7 gallons in the tank. Not hard, but a little tedious. Still, it beats having to much more awkwardly support my 5 gallon gas canisters and pouring them into the tank using a funnel.
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Post by rc58 on Sept 27, 2017 19:24:46 GMT
What insurance company do you have covering it? And I was thinking 500 miles to check bolts when I get to that point. Now I am thinking 50, and 100, and 150.
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Post by gwnwar on Sept 27, 2017 19:45:07 GMT
Are you using longer bolts to make up for the thickness of the bracket and lock washer.. Use new lock washers and I would put on some Blue Loctite..Let it cure/set for 24 hours.. For cold weather driving you may want to make up a pair of panels to cover to the top side rail.. Held on with dzus fasteners and maybe small upright wings to mount to side of wind shield.. Might install a heater small unit.. check ebay for "hot rod heater" keep the other half happy..
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Post by buildercg on Sept 27, 2017 21:11:51 GMT
What insurance company do you have covering it? And I was thinking 500 miles to check bolts when I get to that point. Now I am thinking 50, and 100, and 150. Grundy's Insurance. Inexpensive, unlimited miles but restrictions on where the car can be driven (cannot be used as a commuter car or backup vehicle). www.grundy.com/collector-cars/ |
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Post by buildercg on Sept 27, 2017 21:26:19 GMT
Are you using longer bolts to make up for the thickness of the bracket and lock washer.. Use new lock washers and I would put on some Blue Loctite..Let it cure/set for 24 hours.. For cold weather driving you may want to make up a pair of panels to cover to the top side rail.. Held on with dzus fasteners and maybe small upright wings to mount to side of wind shield.. Might install a heater small unit.. check ebay for "hot rod heater" keep the other half happy.. Hi gwnwar, Yes. I replaced the upper bolts with much longer ones as even the (15mm x 60mm length or maybe 50mm, as I recall) bolts that came with my Wilwood brake set were much too short to hold the caliper and the mount. I believe I picked up some 15mm x 90mm and cut a little off as 90mm was too long with the spacers and fender mount. I use flanged hex screws now. You think lock washers will work better? Work is killing me right now (big project due in a couple days) so I'm probably not gonna get any time on the car for another week or two but blue loctite is exactly what I was thinking. I'm also going to apply a thin line of paint to every nut so I can visually see if they move. Other half has been great letting me do this project but is not a fan of sitting in it and only barely tolerates short drives when it's 80 out (vs. my son, who loves it). I'm not too worried about temps yet but I'll check out adding some electric heat. I will probably take the approach of heated jacket and gloves which can get power from a USB plug since buying clothes is something my better half won't object to. The car will sit on jack stands in the garage during the winter. |
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Post by calibuild on Sept 30, 2017 17:12:08 GMT
What insurance company do you have covering it? And I was thinking 500 miles to check bolts when I get to that point. Now I am thinking 50, and 100, and 150. Grundy's Insurance. Inexpensive, unlimited miles but restrictions on where the car can be driven (cannot be used as a commuter car or backup vehicle). www.grundy.com/collector-cars/Can also try these guys. Was very pleased with them. www.rallyinsurance.com/Will need pictures of all 4 sides and the engine. You can drive it to work 2 days a week with special permission. It's supposed to be in a locked garage at all times it's not being driven, and they will want the DL number of anyone who has access to the garage. This is normal (same requirements as another insurer I got a quote from). Clearly, it's easiest if you live alone with a locked garage. |
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