looks like the tilted nose is going to be pretty close to the ground. will it open all the way with a flat front tire? Yeah, sorry I didn't ask sooner. ;-)
looks like the tilted nose is going to be pretty close to the ground. will it open all the way with a flat front tire? Yeah, sorry I didn't ask sooner. ;-)
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Good eye, though it's not as low as it looks. It will get the bumpers added, though, which adds a few inches. (Speaking of bumpers, I need to reinforce that area. The glass there is really thin.)
I'm planning to make a small prop rod similar to one on a Spitfire. This will set the angle a few degrees back, and prevent the hood from crashing into the ground.
It is astounding how far this car has gone from when you started. I know you probably get frustrated looking at the unfinished fiberglass, but you have re-engineered this car to such a high level and that now extends to the bodywork with the changes you are making to the bonnet and body. Well done sir, this is really fun to watch and learn.
Nice progress! Nice looking welds too sir!
In reply to TVR Scott :
i'm sure you already thought of it, but in case not, add some kind of travel restriction that will prevent a poorly-timed gust of wind from ripping the bonnet off when it's open.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Yup, definitely don't want any accidental out-of-control hood smashing activities.
That's fantastic progress.
At first I was thinking cable stays would work, but that wouldn't stop wind from blowing the hood closed. Maybe some sort of split rod that falls into place when you open the hood fully.
JoeTR6 said:That's fantastic progress.
At first I was thinking cable stays would work, but that wouldn't stop wind from blowing the hood closed. Maybe some sort of split rod that falls into place when you open the hood fully.
You mean, much like that found on the TR6??
Looking great Scott. Very nice design for the hinges.
CoolHandMoss said:You mean, much like that found on the TR6??
Surprisingly, no. I was thinking something like this.
Or maybe gas struts on both sides.
In reply to JoeTR6 :
I like that prop rod. I was thinking of making something similar, but just buying something would be nice too.
I've also been thinking about gas struts. They wouldn't need to be very high-force at all. The hood just isn't very heavy. McMaster has them in a variety of lengths and forces for about $43 a pair.
The only issue I've had in the past with struts is getting the mounting points right.
Those hinges are great! Nice work!
Hi @TVR Scott!! (If that tags you) It's been quite some time since I stopped by! Been to Denver a few times last year, but my brother was on a big push to clear the parents house and get it sold. (Sold in August 22) Each time I thought of stopping by, but not in the cards.
But Wow, I ALWAYS love that you have made progress!
Hope the ailments are a bit less and it's easier to tackle stuff. Just wanted to stop by, see the progress and cheer you on!!
(I broke my rule of almost 20 years and no more projects... but that's another story I guess)
Keep it up!!
Bill
Hey Bill! Good to have you check in.
Congrats on the sale of your parents' house. That was my summer project last year too. Not really one I want to repeat.
On my car project I'm right now at the intersection of boring and exhausting: paint removal on the rest of the shell:
The red is more penetrating epoxy - the P/S door had quite a few spider cracks. I'm working mostly on the D/S now and it seems a lot less damaged. So that's good.
I saw in the "how many cars" thread that you're looking to downsize your fleet. What are you thinking of liquidating? And I'm guessing from what you said above that you bought more vehicles - details please!
I am still very intrigued by the penetrating epoxy....Hoping it works well!! Have you sanded any of it yet?
TurboFource said:I am still very intrigued by the penetrating epoxy....Hoping it works well!! Have you sanded any of it yet?
Yeah, a bit. It takes a long time to cure (several days) but once it does I can sand the excess off back down to the bare fiberglass.
On the next round of spider-cracks I'm going to try thinning it with acetone. The instructions say you can do this for even greater penetrating power. I'd love to see it wick right into cracks, and un-thinned it's not quite there.
What brand etc is it?
Total Boat
Fingers crossed this does the trick. Some work up front, but it may pay off in the end result. Nice to see this on the pages again.
Got some good work done yesterday afternoon, so it's photo-dump time!
Next logical step on body-stripping and paint prep became the doors. Like time to take them off. I'd been avoiding this mostly because I didn't want to be tripping over them. But here we go.
Right side came off pretty easily, since I already had the door card off. I did find the window frame had these funny little fasteners at the top:
They're like a weird cross between a ring-shank nail and a screw. The anchor in the frame looks like it was meant for drywall. Janky PO add-on? Probably. I'll do something else with real fasteners.
I figured out all the weird door and window hardware, and managed to get the P/S door all stripped down to a bare shell. Nothing too weird. I'll be upgrading hardware and adding the keyless entry. Shouldn't be too bad.
On to the D/S! I managed to wrestle the door card off. It was a bit tricky because I couldn't remove the window crank, so I had to snake the door card around the handle. You can see in this pic that the handle installation is all messed up:
Awesome hardware on there too. PO definitely left his stain here:
The window regulators had a spacer that maybe held them in the right spot, but this spacer looks like this now:
I'll make a new spacer out of Delrin or something similarly appropriate. Note to self: 1/2" thick spacer.
The chip-board makes me think maybe the PO was working more of his magic here. I wonder a bit if the regulators aren't the stock ones. The arm on them is welded to length, and not in a clean factory way. Regardless, I'll probably keep them since they work fine.
Door hinges had two broken bolts already:
I broke two more of them. Awesome. P/S hinges are in decent shape, but the D/S one is pretty wobbly. Hopefully I can fix it back up ok. Stainless hardware and anti-seize are definitely in the plan for when these go back together.
Tight space on the D/S - another reason I was avoiding the job. You can see I'm making pretty good progress on the paint removal. Haven't posted much on that because it's BORING!
And here's how it looks at the end of yesterday:
That's it for now. Time to get my dirty clothes on again and get back at it!
I get happy when this is on page 1
Great progress Scott. From what I can see it looks like your regulator and installation methods are the same as mine. My 1/2" spacer was a more solid plywood, 5 ply iirc, and wasn't quite so deteriorated. I was rather surprised as I took mine apart at how it had gone together.
In reply to CoolHandMoss :
Were your window regulators rewelded to a different length? Mine were clearly modified from some other purpose.
Hi Scott, great to see the progress on the tvr. Just thinking about your hood prop if you wanted go keep it english the series land rover had a neat fold /locking prop that might work for you. Had a series 3 and I always thought it was cool.
In reply to 2Girlsracing (Steffi) :
Good to see you back!
I looked up that Series 3 prop rod - I could buy one new from Rimmer Bros for $250. Yikes!
I'll have a look on e-bay and see if there's anything more budget friendly. Otherwise struts will probably do the job.
Good idea on the struts, Scott. Now figure out the right strut length, rate, and and mounting points, so the rest of us don't have to do the hard stuff and can just copy you! Really, though, I enjoy seeing all the progress you have achieved. I haven't been completely idle, so I will be doing an update to my forum posts soon!
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