<< Exhaust VentSide Scoop Louvers >> Major System Category: Body (Doors) Task: Parts: Prerequisite Tasks: Additional Costs: Time Requirement: 3 hours Date Started: August 23, 2013
Date Completed: August 24, 2013
Shaved door handles means that the normal latch/handle arrangement used for opening a door doesn't exist anymore. The exterior handles are not installed. This does present a problem, because the doors come with an oval pocket to for the external door handles.
This the cut out acrylic template after it was buffed and sanded. Yes it is clear (that's the point) so the shape can be easily traced.
I am going with a door popper system. Briefly the door popper opens the door latch (which is internal to the door) when a solenoid fires and contracts the steel cable connected to the latch. Once the latch is released, a plunger on a spring that is installed through the body shell pushed the door open. As a precaution, I need to rig a manual cable to open the door in the event the battery is dead. Hopefully, the InReserve system performs as advertised and this never happens.
Traced pattern on scrap fiber glass.
I used a clear acrylic piece and a permanent marker to roughly trace the opening for the door handles from one of the doors. This is one of those times that something is identical between both doors. I cut the template out of the clear piece and sanded the edges until it fit easily in to the door handle slot. I used the acrylic template to trace two patterns on fiberglass scrap, and produced two fiber glass plates that fit (after some more sanding and shaping) into the door handle openings.
Cut out plates for door handle openings.
I then set the doors so the outer surface faced up (remember to support underside with something so there isn't undue pressure on the rear pillar). I used LocTite's fiberglass and aluminum epoxy. One tube was more than enough for both handles. I worked it along the edges. Next I set the fiber glass plate in place and attempted to make it as level as possible with the door surface. It doesn't have to perfect at this point, just close. If you spill some epoxy on the door, that's okay as well. It will get cleaned up in next paragraph.
Fiber glass plate epoxied in place. I used the angle grinder to eliminate high spots.It was high on the right hand side.
Since summer is still in full force, I set up the doors on a table outside the garage. I took the opportunity to sand and prep the doors for primer using the orbital sander. This allowed me to get rid of excess epoxy on the door surface. The plates I cut from scrap fiber glass were not completely even (as they came from the exhaust vents I cut in the body shell). I worked off the high spots with the angle grinder. I needed a light touch with this, otherwise, I would have done more damage than good.
Doors after the second layer of bondo was applied. Time for a quick run to let everything set up and dry.
Finally, it was just a matter of applying bondo, sanding, more bondo, more sanding until there is no indication that a handle socket ever existed.
This was pretty close to the finish. I applied some glazing compound to handle a few low spots.
<< Rear Body LouversShaved Handles >> Major System Category: Body (Shell) Task: Cut the two openings for the exhaust. Parts: Prerequisite Tasks: Additional Costs: Time Requirement: 1 hour Date Started: August 22, 2013
Date Completed: August 22, 2013
I had not planned on cutting the exhaust vents at this point in time. However, I went through my collection of scrap fiber glass (basically, pieces that have been trimmed from the car already), and discovered I didn't have a piece large enough to cut plates for the shaved door handles. It didn't occur to me right away, but the exhaust vents offer a large enough piece for the door handle plates.
Even though I flubbed drawing the line, I did cut it straight.
This is a very straight forward task (that requires a modicum of ingenuity to get done). If you think that's a contradiction, then you haven't been building a GTM for the past year. The build manual instructs to measure 8.5 inches from either side of the center indentation where the license plate is mounted. Note: The indentation is slightly trapezoid so measurements need to account for a slight difference top to bottom.
Here are the cut out pieces for the exhaust vents. Now I can form the plates for the shaved door handles.
I used a Dremel tool and a die grinder with cut off wheels to make the initial cuts. My preference is the Dremel tool, because it is easier to be precise. There some difficulty in getting the small Dremel cut off wheel inside the indentation to get all the way through the fiber glass. Once I had some initial cuts made, I was able to enlarge from the inside portion of the body shell. I had to be careful so I didn't get a cut going at an angle. Next, I took a reciprocating saw to finish the cuts, then a sanding block to smooth out the cut edges.
<< Wiper motor and Washer Fluid Tank Hazard Wiring - Circuit 4/6 >> Major System Category: ISIS Wiring Task: Connect steering column controls to wiper motor and washer pump Parts: Power Cell: 3 Circuit: 5 - WHITE Master cell: TAN/BLACK Prerequisite Tasks: Install the steering column Additional Costs: N/A Time Requirement: 2 hours (alone) / 4 hours if you have your 4 year old grand son help Date Started: August 17, 2013
Date Completed: August 17, 2013
Zachary wanted to cut wire. He cut this piece into teensy-weensy pieces.
One of the things that has been bugging me for the past week or so is how does the washer motor in the windshield fluid reservoir get power and signal. It seems like a simple thing, but I hadn't really dug into the problem until today. Zachary, one of my grandsons, was here to help. He did a great job cutting up wire. In fact, he demolished two scrap pieces of yellow and green wire.
Circuit drawing of the wiper motor and control stalk.
The manual has a section on the windshield wiper harness. You can't really tackle this task until both the wiper motor and the steering column are attached. These two assemblies form the end points of the windshield wiper harness. The wiring on each end of the harness is slightly different.
Steering column wiper harness. The lower yellow, green, gray and pink wires extend to the wiper motor. The second yellow splices into the door popper circuit. The purple is not used.
The steering column harness can be traced from the control stalk on the right hand side under the column and over to a plug. It is zip tied together with other wires for a while. What you want to find is the following:
Pink (washer pump)
Gray
Dark Green
Purple (not used)
Yellow (there are two wires) (power)
This is the bundle coming off the wiper motor.
The wiper motor has a wrapped bundle of wires coming out the front of the motor pointed towards the front left corner of the car. This has the following wires:
Gray
Dark Green
Purple (not used)
Yellow (power)
Black (ground)
Terminal block at hte wiper motor. The yellow, green and gray are spliced together. The black is spliced into a master ground/ The red extends on to the washer pump.
The build manual indicates the purple wire should be cut because it is out of specification for the GTM's wipers. My solution was to not extend tthe purple wire at all.
I wired up a terminal block that can be mounted under the steering column and ran wires to the wire motor, where I wired up a second terminal block.
I extended the gray, dark green and yellow wires between both terminal blocks.
I extended the pink wire only from the steering column terminal block to the washer pump. I had to attach a blade socket to end of this wire.
I ran the ground for the wiper motor in place of the pink wire on the second terminal block.
I extended a ground wire (with a blade terminal) to the washer motor.
The wiper motor ground and washer pump grounds are extended to the same terminal ground block used for the InReserve and Horn.
Major System Category: ISIS Wiring Task: Wire up the DRLs Parts: Power Cell: 1 Circuit: 8 - GREEN Master cell: BLUE/LIGHT BLUE Prerequisite Tasks: Mount DRLs Additional Costs: Time Requirement: 90 minutes Date Started: August 10, 2013 Date Completed: August 10, 2013
A good chunk of the front end wiring never got completed in April 2013. When I returned from the Southern Man Cave, I spent the first seven weeks working on the body. In northern climes, you really need to take advantage of the warm weather months! The GTM has been living with dangling wires from the DRLs, power cells and other things. I left them to hang down behind the grille, and it looked like a real mess.
This is an early photo of the passenger side DRL mount. You can see wires dangling over the side. This is not the first GTM to have DRLs.
Fortunately, I have wiring diagrams worked out for these circuits. In addition, I have a spreadsheet in my master build document that goes into detail about each circuit. I will be sending this spread sheet along with my next order to ISIS Power for the remaining power cells, motion cell and master cell coder. This is because I need ISIS to prep a file that can be downloaded into the master cell for my specific circuit set up. With five power cells, I am pushing 50 circuits - there's a lot going on in the car.
This Gen I GTM in Poland mounted the DRLs above the front grille. I am finding that this area is very busy. I use the upper lip of the front grill to manage the cross connection between head lights, hazards, fog lights. I'm not sure I would want to add the DRLs there. I corresponded with this builder, and asked him about the DRLs. As in every case, GTM builders are quite happy to share their knowledge.
This is half a terminal block. Easily cut with a hack saw.
The DRLs were cut into the body to the left and right lower corners of the grille opening. The fiber glass is very thick in this area, and it is tough going. The wires coming off the DRLs is 22 gauge (not the easiest stuff to work with). Initially, I thought I would create some kind of socket to plug these into, but since I plan to add Angel Eyes around the head lights into the DRL circuit, the idea of some kind og 6 way splice become unmanageable.
I daisy chain the terminal block to create a single circuit. Then I just need a single to power or ground.
Over May and June, I worked on the Intellitronix Dash for the cockkpit. One of the techniques I used here were terminal blocks. Now six way splices are easy. The white plastic terminal blocks are very easy to customize. They come in strips of twelve connections and the strip can be cut apart with a hack saw. I need six connectors for the ground and six connectors for the power leads. That is: 2 x DRLs, 4 x Angel Eyes.
These are the power and ground terminal blocks for the DRLs. The green wire is from Power Cell #1, Circuit 8. The black ground lead hasn't been connected in this photo. The terminals were bonded to the hood using 3M 8115 panel bond.
Note: Angel Eyes cannot be installed after final paint is complete. This is probably 12 to 14 months in the future (and it could slip to Spring 2015). However, the Angel Eyes need a place to connect, so I AM building that now.
The hood mounting is problematic due to the variables associated with centering vis-a-vis the rest of the car.. I explain to people that there are 100 ways to mount the hood, and I settled on the 101st position. I have made the decision that hood will remain attached to the car and it will need to be painted in place. Everything else can be removed. To this point, a great number of things have been permanently mounted (e.g. lights, signals, parking sensors) and the wiring associated with these peripherals.
I mounted the terminal blocks above the front grille opening on the interior of the hood. This is convenient, because most of the wires can run directly to these terminal blocks. The ground is to the chassis area that supports the AC condenser, radiator and fan assembly. The power lead runs to Power cell #1 and is enclosed in wire loom. I made sure I left enough slack in the wires so the hood can open and close without pulling something loose.
This task isn't rocket science, but is is something you probably want to get done before you drop an engine in the car. The cooling fans on the radiator unit have two plugs. The fan itself is controlled by a temperature switch controlled by the ECU. Here's the problem, the fans are up front and the ECU is back behind the fuel tanks.
These are the wires supplied with the kit.
The kit comes with a packet containing wires in the correct color and gauge. All you have to do is connect them then run them back to the other end of the car via the tunnel. I already had a large wire loom conduit in the tunnel, so I just routed them using it. These wires run by a number of tubes and pipes carrying hot fluids. Wire loom is provided with the kit - use it. The kit comes with a long strand of wire loom, but there are needs for different sizes of wire loom. Harbor Freight and Amazon have plenty of packages to choose from.
You need to cut back the tape so the wire can be exposed and stripped for the splice.
The wires are coded: gray, blue, black and white. This is how they were paired on my equipment. I am guessing I will need to know this eventually.
Wires extended and ready to be plugged back into the fan assembly.
<< Seam GlassingCockpit rear Window >> Major System Category: Body (Shell) Task: Handle issues on body, prime and seal Parts: Bondo, fiberglass, Primer (6 cans) and sealer (3 cans) Prerequisite Tasks: Seam Glassing Additional Costs: $150 Time Requirement: 40 hours Date Started: July 20, 2013
Date Completed: August 3, 2013
At the risk of stating the obvious, the body shell is the largest piece. However, overall it is pretty easy to work. The major seams are basically on top and visible. The one exception are vents forward the rear wheels.
My build has some non-standard additions:
The roof scoop. This is a optional piece produced by Factory Five.
This looked nasty all winter and most of the spring. It only came together after I got started using the long sanding block. You can see the buildup along the hatch in the lower right of the photo, and I had not started on the seams.
The roof scoop introduces another set of seams and fiber glass feathering that needs attention. The nice thing about this is everything on top of the roof and easily accessible. The seams are straight and give way to the long sanding block. It all looked very ugly for a long time. The Dura-Block kit is worth its weight in gold.
These louvers are straight forward. Both of these are Vraptor products.
The hatch and body louvers are pretty straight forward, and do not present much of a challenge.
The side scoop louvers have seams top and bottom. In addition, the area has to be cut, sanded and smoothed out. There are curves everywhere. The space is really small. The area that extend out from the top of the louver is a major hassle, because it is up side down.
The side scoop louvers are going to be trouble no matter what you do. It is just very difficult to get any direct leverage inside here. There are seams that need attention and it is just a big hassle. If you have a lift, it helps to raise the car to chest level so you can use your body to apply leverage.
The wing mounts need to be welded to the transmission bracket, and they are currently on order. I don't think I'll be making the rear body cuts until later this fall.
The rocker panel extensions go along the bottom of the car wheel to wheel. They are large enough to protect the vehicle from some rocks and road debris.
The rocker panel extensions are carbon fiber. So they go on after the body is painted and final install has taken place. If you ordered these, then you don't have to worry about another hard to get area, which is the lip that fits under the chassis.
You can see the A pillar where the hood blends into the contour. I do not have the hood latched in these photos. This gave me fits. The hood scoop certainly better in this shot than the one above.
My car had three areas that caused me headaches:
The contour as the seam comes up from the hood along the A pillar. It worked okay on the passenger side, and gave fits getting it smoothed down the driver's side.
The driver's side area along the hatch had to build up, because the hatch settled lower on the passenger side. I had to add about 3/16" to this area so the glass sits flush on the hatch.
The area between the edge of the hatch and the rear edge of the car. There are two sloping contours that I had trouble getting them sanded right. Maybe I just don't understand how to sand concave shapes efficiently.
This is another top down shot. The contours on the end of the car that border the louvers is where I had trouble with the seams. The hatch is not latched in this photo.
I ordered the kit in April of 2012. This is after about 10 months of planning and preparation for the car. So it was a big day to sit down at my computer, pull up the Factory Five order screen and actually start entering the information for the car and delivery. I'm bouncing up and down, because I was really doing the steps to order my GTM Supercar Kit. Did I know how hard it was going to be? Did I know I would really enjoy so much of what the next years would entail? Did I have a good handle on everything that needed to be done?
No.
How did I get here?
Some time in 2011, I sat down and evaluated my sports car collection. Actually, the collection only has 2 cars: a 2003 Millennium Yellow Corvette Convertible, and a 2000 Metallic Arena Red Porsche Boxster. I had a laundry list of things to do on both of these cars. I knew I wanted a third car to round things out, but what?
I tracked Ferrari 355 Ebay sales. At one point, I'm pretty sure I knew every 355 up for sale in the country. I ultimately decided against the Ferrari, not due to initial cost, but the maintenance tail. I wasn't sure I could keep it running.
Simultaneously, I watched Porsche 928. I remember going to the Minneapolis Auto Show with my dad the year this car came out. I was a junior in college. They had an engine under glass on a turn table. I loved the lines, the power, everything about the car. Of course, there was no way I could afford that car. I was having a hard time affording my Chevy Vega. I didn't know I would go another 33 years before I finally got to own a Porsche. I decided not to pursue this car, because of the nagging issues for cars that had low mileage and had just been left to rot in garages for 20 years.
I stumbled (as so often happens) across the GTM. This car had the subtle sleek lines I love in the Ferrari. It had was based around a Corvette C5, and I figured I had the same generation Corvette in the Southern Man Cave, so there was a familiarity. It used a Porsche G50 transaxle. Gee, it has Porsche parts, so I liked that idea. It used a Corvette engine. Okay, something that is cheaper to maintain than a Ferrari power plant.
I didn't know at the time, I would build my GTM around a LS376/525 6.2 L power plant, or that I would jump at the chance to upgrade the transaxle to the 991 7 speed Porsche Transaxle straight from the factory. Of course, there was the little catch about having to build the car.
Hmmm, can I build a car?
I guess the jury is still out on that question. I think I can, and failure is not an option.
