Projects Haulin' ass in fiberglass

Spent the last couple weeks sourcing doors parts from various vehicles hoping I could make it all work.
The interior handle & pivot is from a 32-34 Ford pickup, the "latch activator" (as they call it) is from Rocky Hinge, latch is a slimline bearclaw style latch and stock style exterior handle for that "traditional" look.
Lock rod retainers are GM style for the SS 5/32" rod that I found at a place called Rebel Metals.
The interior pivots were modified with rivnuts to make mounting easier as were the latch activators since trying to through bolt these inside the door would be a nightmare.
Make up some linkage and voilla! working door latch! I located the interior handle so it's a bit easier to reach when I'm harnessed in. The handle depression in the fiberglass will be filled in the future.

 

Kind of at a standstill as rain is expected and moving the '31 in and out to get working room is required. Now that the doors are ready to hang it's time to start building the roll cage. Saw something on one of those TV shows that intrigued me...... they used cold rolled steel strap to pattern the tubing bends. Cut and weld the strap to fit then bend tube to match. Guess the next stop is the metal yard to pick up a bunch of cheap strap. Really need to find a garage/storage space to park the '31 for a few weeks so I can knock this out.

 

Last part of the door puzzle showed up today (thanks Ron). Electric Life power window kit will allow me to make up the window channels, mount the motors and cut out the inner access panels. If I'm not careful, this may start resembling a car or something.

 

Starting to fit the regulator and track. More fabbing and cutting required to mount the regulator below the recess in the inner door panel. Using and old rear glass from the '31 to locate the track, then ordering custom glass to fit.

 

Itchy time in the garage tonite. Sometimes you don't know exactly what needs to be done until you start cutting and this is one of those times. I was hoping to cut the access hole and make a mounting panel for the regulator mounting inside the door. Problem is, the regulator has to be as close to the inside panel as possible, so the panel will need to mount to the cabin side of the panel. I only have 1-1/2" gap between the inner and outer door panels for the glass and the channel takes up 9/16" of that. By pulling the regulator in as far as possible I can shim out OUT later, but if I don't get it right NOW there's no way to move it back in.
The outline is the 1/8" aluminum mounting panel I need to make to mount the regulator and motor.

 

Now the fun begins! I want to make this look a bit more factory finished than some of the fiberglass cars I've seen, so for the doors I want the fuzzy all around the perimeter with the stainless bead tucked in nice and tight.
The flexible w/strip forms reasonably well, but can't really hold it's form without support. There's definitely a feel you acquire to bend this and above all..... go slow. That's where the aluminum channel comes in. It'll hold the form and provide something to attach mounting brackets for the door. To make the big bend I'll cut the sides off and bend to match.

 

I didn't explain it well in the last post, so here is the channel after modifying and bending. Need to make 2 more bends to finish it off and determine the final glass width. This weekend it's off to Home Depot to get some 1/4" MDF and make the pattern for the glass.
I've never built one from the ground up like this and didn't find anything helpful in searches on how build a door from bare 'glass, so I'm wingin' it........

 

Here was my day. Head down to the metal supplier early and find some 1/8" alum sheet in the rem bin. Make a power window reg and motor mount, then trim the ends of the window tracks. Put it together and see what issues there are. So far so good.....

 

Great work

 

Been waiting on parts for another part of the build, so this weekend was doing a couple things.
Got the window channel where I want it and got some 1/4" MDF to make the glass pattern. I'm now working on a couple different ways to mount the channel so it's not going anywhere once the halves are bonded.

The parts I was waiting on is the rear disc parts from an Explorer. I can source all new parts for the price of used, so after a bit of research got them coming. First issue is if I mount the caliper mounts on the correct sides there's no way to route the E-brake cables (they are on the top). If I swap sides, the cable mount is now on the bottom, but the caliper mounts below the axle centerline and brake adjustment is now on the top. The only thing that I'm really concerned with is if calipers can be bled mounting lower like this. Calipers are here tomorrow, so stay tuned......

 

Your buzzing right along, job well done

 

Thanks. There's a LOT to be done before I pull the body for frame mods. Once I started looking at all the little frame related things it delayed pulling it back off. Also picked up the 1-1/2" flat bar (for making patterns for bending) so I can start on the roll cage, but the biggest obstacle is room. With the '31 taking up half the space of a 2 car garage, I need to find a temporary home for it so I have some room to work. Until that happens, progress will be slow. I can only get done what I can pull out of the garage and get back in before going in for the night.

 

Nothing earth shattering tonite. Got the calipers and mounted the left to check it out.... took a whole 10 minutes. Figured I'd start making a few different mounts for the window channel with the extra time. Made this one with some scrap 1/8" sheet, a couple pop rivets and a 1/4-20 rivnut. Didn't take any time measuring, just kinda eyeballed it for concept. I think this'll work for the 3 mounts around the window but will switch to steel so it's easier to adjust the height for the gap between the channel and fiberglass.

 

I dodged a bullet. The caliper doesn't rotate down enough to create an issue bleeding them. I'll post up a pic tomorrow so anyone else considering this can see it.

 

This pic shows the right caliper bracket on the left side with the left caliper. The bleeder is still at the top even with the caliper rotated down, so no issuers there.
I try to use common factory parts whenever I can so I can easily source replacements, save money and give it a production look. This is the left brake hose for a 1997 Explorer (same source as the brake assy's) I'll be using. It's really easy to make OE parts this early in the build, you just need to spend some time in parts catalogs. When I'm looking at cars (custom or factory) I tend to make mental notes of what kind of parts are used. Never know when it might be needed on the next build.

 

Waiting on the brake hoses and cables to finish the rear discs, so thought I'd investigate the front axle and hubs. I'm thinking about sending the previous owners wife a bill for saving her husband's life, because alot of the things this guy did would have killed him.
The steering arms are 3/8" Speedway pieces and don't necessarily have an issue with them, but what the PO did when there was a clearance issue with them is a problem. Instead of grinding the lip of the caliper mounting bracket, Wile E. Coyote decided to grind half the rear mounting tabs away. I'll be replacing them when I blow this back apart but glad I noticed this workmanship now.
And he thought he was "The Shit"car builder. Glad I don't trust other people's work...... it'll kill ya.

 

Is using a heim joint for a tie rod end ok?

Phil

 

They work well especially as this will see more track than street. Oh and those arms are made for bolts and Heim joints as they are drilled straight (thru bolt) and not tapered for normal tie rods.

 

Got a few parts today so I can start laying out the battery box and fuel cell. I want the battery box sealed so instead of having the cable go into the box with grommets, I put through terminals in.
There also needs to be a master disconnect, so mounted it next to the tail light (I'll mark it per NHRA rules after it's painted) for easy access. Fuel pump and fittings will be here Monday so I can finalize the fuel cell and pump location and start fabbing the batt/cell mounting bracket. All this has has to be done before I can pull the body and re-do the frame reinforcement.

 

Wound up swapping sides of the cell and battery box after laying out the fuel pump. I want the fuel line to go forward on the right frame rail, so the cell had to go on the left. I didn't want the pump hanging down and since the cell outlets will go thru the body, poking the pump motor up allows aligning the pump with the cell line. I need to get more angle to start building the mounting frame for the cell and batt box, so it'll take a week or so to get that done. Going to make up some brackets to weld on the frame for bulkhead fittings so I can have solid connections from the braided stainless to the hardline. This is the fun stuff......

 

On your door, Is the opening big enough to get glass in/out for replacement when/if it cracks. On the one I purchased/owned for 7/8 years ended up replacing both sides from glass cracking, I had to make opening bigger, my opening was smaller than your pic, made a rivet in aluminium panel to hold it all back together, another 5 minute project that took a lot of time/effort, worked fine, your construction/detail looks much better than I had in my car. Looking Good !

 

There's definitely going to be a process to get the glass in. The glass will go in at an angle and go in the track. The motor/bracket assy goes next. I hate little surprises later on, so I spend way too much time thinking through how I'll service things later. Nothing worse than having a brain fart and having to cut into fresh paint later on........

 

This is my nod to more vintage looking engines. Don't remember who coined the phrase, but we called velocity stacks "salsa bowls" back in the day.
The intake isn't optimal for this car since it was the lowest carb height single plane I could fit in my boat, but it'll have to do until I can scratch up enough money for a taller intake. BBF strokers love more plenum, so added a 2" phenolic open spacer. At this point I just want to get around to the roll cage then the frame.

 

This should make what I'm doing with the pump and fuel cell clearer. I removed the mounting feet from the cell to move the sump fittings through the body. I'm making a mount for the cell and battery box that'll mount to the frame rails so should pass tech. You have to bend over to see what's going on underneath so it's kinda stealth.

 

My memory this AM is telling me you have pump upside down, I ran a holly blue pump early 2000's on my street driven Roadster, had trouble with pump overheating, shutting off and on second replacement, called manufacture, they told me nicely to read directions on mounting.......Duh. Maybe today it's different and remember I'm old. LOL

 

I've never seen one mounted with the motor on the bottom. From Holley's installation instructions...
"The pump should be mounted on the chassis, in a vertical position with the pumpmotor on top."

 

I guess my memory is wrong, I must have mounted it motor down causing the problem. The advantage of age is many memories, disadvantage IS age sometimes.

 

I'm suffering from oldtimers too. Good news is everyone's a new friend and I can't remember if yesterday was bad or good.

 

Presto, clean and out of harm's way. Next is the frame tabs for the bulkhead fittings and the cell/battery tray mount this weekend.

 

Fun today.... cut, grind, repeat. Other than the drivetrain, this piece is probably the heaviest. Could substitute aluminum for steel, but this has to be strong, so steel it is.
Hopefully it's not raining tomorrow so I can get the cell/batt box frame welded up.