In reply to StayOne_Benz:
I'm not sure whether to say thank you for reading 27 pages of life liberty and the pursuit of race cars, or apologize that you had to suffer through 27 pages of scope creep rambling fart jokes and poor spelling of editing and grammar. Either way I'm honored that you read the whole thing through.
I read the whole thread from start to finish the other day too. I'm a sucker for long threads, like I've read every single one of Mazdeuce's threads too.
I never thought much about AMC cars, but this is pretty darn cool. Stoked to see it with flares.
In reply to dannyzabolotny:
Thank you and i apologize to you as well.
Free 3/4 gallon used up. Add 37.99 for a gallon from wal mart, and 19.99 for a gallon of body filler from napa, and 37.99 for a 30 yard roll of chopped strand mat from amazon....
In reply to Dusterbd13:
Where the pictures man!? The pictures!
In reply to Nick (Bo) Comstock:
Nothing to really see yet. Just really ugly layers of E36 M3tily applied fiberglass.
In reply to Dusterbd13:
I'm sure you're aware of this but I thought I would mention it anyway.
It's going to take a ton of body work to get a decent finish out of it. Be prepared for lots of filler and lots of sanding. And when you're done with that more filling and more sanding.
I wish I wasn't so far away because I actually enjoy that process. Not many people do.
Definitely not looking forward to sanding. However, with it being ALL curve, i get to skip trying to make it perfectly flat with a sanding block. I should be able to do it all with my palm sander.
You might want to do a quick search on: 1. Edd China doing the body work on the Ferrari 308 gt4, very good info on sanding technique 2. Look for VW bug fender repair, they are nothing but a series of compound curves.
You will find that the "curved cheese grater" is your friend on "just" cured bondo and 80 grit on the long board is the next step to finding the low spots. Add another layer of filler and repeat.
Challenge Budget: Car/parts $200
Donor Lincoln town car: 410
Engine crossmember: 120
Sold transmission crossmember from Lincoln: 10 Sold rear axle from lincoln: -50 Scrapped what was left of lincoln: -89
Sold AOD from lincoln (300, but can only recoup 261)
Engine swap: 5.0 plus 300 boot
Sold kelstar wheels-200 (cant recoup more than we spent)
2x2 angle iron, tractor supply 12.05
Brand new Watkins glen nascar slicks and wheels, which were bought for $50, and promptly sold to Dallas dad for $50 and some weld wheels with really old drag slicks. So, slicks were $0, but $50 taken out of the recoup limit.
4 5/8 heim and jamb nuts: $37.50
Pair of aluminum seats, $40
Sheet of flame retardant high density foam $10
Fire suppression system parts (not included in challenge budget. But ive had 2nd degree burns on the boys before, so were getting safety gear come hell or high water)
1/4 plate, scrap metal yard: 7.50
Mustang convertible mounts 22
Bending plate cost 25
Swedged tubing, ebay: 31.90
Threaded adjusters and 650lb springs, SRI performance: 65
2 used billstein shocks, pull-a-part: 14
Cage materials: 271.40
1/2 Spool welding wire: 16.50
Leaf spring sliders: 40
Clamps for spring adjusters: 23.59
Adjustable brake bias valve 18 (amazon)
2 cans of flat black spray paint (lowes project source) .97 ea
Half melted, used 21 circuit ez wiring harness cut from my duster after the mice chewed it up and it had a meltdown. $5 is what I was quoted as FMV due to the fact that copper prices are down.
Accessories and flexplate: see link in update
Battery cables and relays, pull-a-part: 12.75
Steering box, pull-a-part: 27.50
25feet 3/8 steel fuel line, ebay: 25.75
Bypass fuel pressure regulator, ebay: 29.23
Used, noisy, and mostly dead fuel pump: 6.50
Used mix and match nitrous kit: 32
Two half cans of ford engine blue $7
3/8 plastic line clamps, lowes: 1.78
1/2 metal line clamps, lowes: 3.48
Throttle return springs and brackets: 5
3/8 2x compression fittings, 3x npt-compression, 1x t fitting from plumbing supply house: 6
battery hold down, oriellys 5.99
2x 36 inch 1x1 holey tube: 2
Driveshaft safety loop (dad bought it at an auction last week) 5
Tractor supply run for bolts and angle iron: 18.08
Wheels for monster slicks: 50 from facebook marketplace
Lower radiator hose: 14.82
Oil filter: 4.17
Bucket of hose clamps (pull-a-part doesn't charge for these, so I added the admission charge to the yard): 1
Scrap chunk of 16gauge sheetmetal: .25
Suspension, driveshaft, and 3.73 posi 8.8, offerup: 100
Traded ultralights and sun tach for pro-tach, mechanical 2 5/8 gauges and chunk of diamond plate from a 4x4 buggy guy down the street
Rear brake hose: Challenge budget exempt
Spark plug boot insulators, ebay, 11
Spring perches, amazon 17.49
Pipe standoffs (5) and 3/8 allthread, rhulens supply 8.22
Chunk of diamond plate dad scrounged it somewhere, and said he got got for free.
Misc crap (zipties, sheet metal screws, wiring terminals, used toggles, nuts and bolts, etc. Pretty much the little oddball crap that goes into every build that I had laying around from over the years) 50
Starter solenoid: 7.90
2 inch glasspacks, chunks of 2 inch exhaust tubing, and a little bit of stainless 2 inch: steves buddy: 15
Tow hook: 3
Steering wheel from swap meet 5
Quick release, ebay: 19.99
Manual trans: 50
Flywheel: 45
2 dog leases 1.98
2 u joint straps 5.99
Clutch kit, clutch master, clutch slave: 107.13 shipped
Power steering hose: 15.99
3/8 coupler: 2.50
Welding: 5
Alternator plugs: 2
Starter: 34.39
ARP pressure plate bolts: 12:50 bradley auto parts
Shocks from scrap metal pile: 5
Hood pins: 7.50. Ebay
Hoosier f40 scrubs (budget exempt, byt I bought 16 with a max of 13 laps for 15 each!!!)
Hydraulic clutch line: 25 from the local tow company
3 inch blocks: 25.89
Trans seal: 4.50
Secret weapon: 100
T-shirt material. Bought 5 yards, but the number will change when I see how much I have leftover: 5.98 a yard for a total of 30.90. Used 2 yards. So, 11.96
3/4 gallon of bondo brand fiberglass resin my sister in law was donated at the school and couldn't use. Very old, and possibly expired. $free
1/2 gallon of new resin: 27.99 at walmart for full gallon, 13.99 to the budget
Gsllon of bondo: 18.99 on sale at napa
30 foot by 50 inch Roll of fibrglass mat: 39.98 but only used 13 feet (rounded up) 17.32
New challenge budget total: 1922.41
Bodywork sucks. Im not good at it. Yet. But, I wasn't a great welder at the beginning of this either, or a great fabricator. Now im passable. Hopefully by the end, my bodywork will be passably good.
Anyway, when we left off, I had stretched t shirt material, and questionable fiberglassing methods. I have learned a lot in the past week. Way more than I ever wanted to, really. But learning new stuff is fun.
It took quite a bit of resin to get all the soft spots out of the t shirt material. Many, many 4 ounce solo cups worth. With a 1 inch brush. Outside in the heat.
Here’s what the surface texture looked like afterwards.
20170816_185411 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170816_185405 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
I then pulled the 10 yard package of random strand mat out of the box. I first tried using large sections at a time. This did not end well, and I have regretted it ever since. What I found worked was to paint the material on the car with resin, chop up some 6x6 squares of mat, stick them to the resin, and then soak more resin in. Sharp edges with this method were a bitch. But, after a few evenings, I had two layers of chopped strand mat on top of my rigid t-E36 M3s shapes.
20170816_161421 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170816_185331 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170816_185336 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
In between layers, I used my 4 inch grinder with a 36 grit flap wheel to take out bubbles, random spikes, and globs. It made the second layer lay down much nicer. Still not nice, but less bad.
20170817_175158 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170817_175931 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170817_184201 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
After this, I broke out the bondo. And the 80 grit on the palm sander. This is where im at for the foreseeable future. Its taking a LOT of bondo to make them smooth enough for a race car. I'm half tempted to smooth them out to good enough, and put a layer of volara foam and upholstery over them. I wont, but it would be a lot easier and faster....
20170818_141432 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170818_141832 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
My buddy art is a body guy. Puts wrecks back together on the cheap for buy here pay here lots. Hes coming by over the weekend to give me some pointers, so hopefully it gets better quicker.
Dude, it's coming along really well. For a first start at making flares, it looks like you have a set of flares already. With some more elbow grease in them, they will be pretty I'm sure.
I would be doing the shaping with 40 grit.
crankwalk wrote: Dude, it's coming along really well. For a first start at making flares, it looks like you have a set of flares already. With some more elbow grease in them, they will be pretty I'm sure.
Thanks. I needed that. Between being sick since lunch, and looking at how far i have to go, its really appreciated that i may be closer than i think.
My personal opinion but I don't think you are doing yourself any favors with the palm sander.
In reply to Nick (Bo) Comstock:
Im all for learning. Care to learn me why the palm sander is the wrong tool for the job?
Palm sander is more for flat work. Too wide, flat and non-conforming for curvy stuff.
So what would be better? I was thinking my 5 inch da palm sander was a better choice than one of those foot long air files. But i know not what i am doing.
Even on a curved surface you want to use a long sanding block to knock it flat. A palm sander is going to create so many high and low spots it going to look like a topography map.
Make or buy a long flexible block, I would be looking for something around 18" or longer, and use 30 or 40 grit stick on paper to knock the Bondo back quickly. Use a cross hatch pattern, hold the board sideways, push away from you up the flares and pull it back towards you making an X pattern. Overlap and work your way around the flares. With quality paper it should just fall away.
I'll try to find a video demonstrating what I'm talking about. I'm not so sure how well I'm describing it.
I realize you are not making a show car but the results will be so much better with not much more effort on your part with the proper application if correct tools and technique.
In reply to Nick (Bo) Comstock:
Part of this for me is learning. I know this wont be a show car, but i want a good 5-10 footer. Like a nicer driver quality, as thats what i like to own. And learning on this will make following projects easier and better.
Looks great, just a little more work. Flares are never meant to be perfect. Looks like you are almost there. This has been a inspiration for many of us. Hope you have great success, or at least great fun, I think you are already having great fun and that is the real goal of this hobby!!
I didn't watch all of this one but it looks to cover it pretty well.
TED_fiestaHP wrote: Looks great, just a little more work. Flares are never meant to be perfect. Looks like you are almost there. This has been a inspiration for many of us. Hope you have great success, or at least great fun, I think you are already having great fun and that is the real goal of this hobby!!
It has been a hell of a ride. I have learned so many new skills, and had so much fun researching and implementing things. I look at it in amazement. Not something I ever would have set out to do, as i never thought i COULD . And honestly, if i didnt have steve as MacGyver, and dallas acting as the imp of the perverse and encouraging every bad idea ive had along the way, the car could NOT have been built. Not by me. Because i would have admitted defeat before i began.
I must admit that at this stage im fearful. We are so close to success, and so close to over budget, that the line is razor thin. I don't want to let the team down with crappy bodywork or going over budget, or all the time and hours we've invested away from our families go to waste.
I haven't even registered for tbe event or made travel arrangements. Im really second guessing myself at this point. I really feel unprepared for everytbing but the actual racing.
BTW, I'm super impressed with the flares and the whole build. Don't give up. You're almost there 
So close. Thanks for the encouragement.
Now if i could just convince somebody to help me out with the budget spreadsheet, build bpok, etcetera. Im ridiculously concerned about berkeleying that up. Especially since all my budget documentation is this thread, and maybe 3 reciepts. And my ebay history if i can figure out how to print it.
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