Hey guys,
I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I've done a ton of work since I last posted and I'm excited to share this with you all.
So, after over 900 hours I've finally finished all the body work. I filled the entire car with Evercoat Rage Gold Ultra then blocked everything down. The only thing I didn't get to was the door jambs but I'm running out of time to work on the car and I'd like to drive it this summer. I had to fix a ton of air bubbles that were in the panels. The original panels were all nearly flawless but the Ecklers panels were filled with hundreds of air bubbles. Some as big as 1"X3" that I had to chip out, clean, and fill. The ACI panels on the other hand were all nearly flawless.
In addition to the body work I fixed the grill on my hood. My dad was bored one day so I gave him the job of removing the terrible grill on the hood lol. Took him a few hours with a heat gun and a scraper but he got it off! I then cleaned up the hood and made a new grill out of aluminum. It's way lighter than the old stainless stuff and isn't as restrictive. To mount it I used some urethane to attach some elevator bolts to the hood.
I then decided to make a new radiator/fan shroud cover. I used some masking tape to create the shape of the cover. I then masked everything off and sprayed some mold release agent over the tape. I laid 5 layers of cloth fiberglass over the tape and waited for it to setup. Once it cured I removed it and found it to be a little flimsy. I thought this might cause it to warp over time so I added two layers of 1.5oz mat cloth to the bottom which made it incredibly strong. After that I just filled and sanded it then drilled two holes to mount it and installed some threaded rivets in the rad support. It fits perfectly and the mounting screws are relatively hidden.
After that I decided to redesign the front of the quarters and back of the skirts. I wanted to redesign it to match the shape and angle of the front spoiler. I used some polyurethane foam and created a mold. I used a digital angle finder to get the angle of the front spoiler and matched it to the mold. I also took the curve of the bottom the front spoiler to make the flare of the side skirt. Lastly I measured the height of the spoiler so I could match that to the rear. Once I was happy with the shape I fiberglassed it with cloth and mat fiberglass. Once that was cured I filled and sanded it. It took around 20 hours for this small change. I only added 2" to it at the widest point but I feel it's made a huge difference.
I also had to fix my engine bay. I did some bad filling 5 years ago and the engine bay was chipping in a few areas. I ground it down, filled, and painted it.
My painter just came today and is really impressed with the body work. He told me I should seriously consider a job in it. I don't think it's for me. I little too itchy lol. I should have a quote today or tomorrow and hopefully I'll have the car in for paint soon.
I've saved the best for last. I picked up my new tires a few weeks ago! 275's for the front and 325's on the rear. Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's.
