Hood mounting

<< Hood Hinge                                                                            Gas Struts >>

Major System Category: Body (Hood)
Task: Mount the hood
Parts: Corvette donor hinges
Prerequisite Tasks: Everything under the hood.
Additional Costs:
Time Requirement: 4 to 5 hours
Date Started: September 26, 2012
Date Completed: September 29, 2012
The task of mounting the hood and attaching the hinges is quite important. Get the hood messed up and the entire car is going to look cockeyed. This certainly requires more thought than just installing the bulb seal, flopping the hood over that and bolting the hinges tot he car. Alignment is very important. Now this isn't to say that if the hinges don't go on just right all is lost. The hood hinges mirror the hatch hinges in that they have some alignment capability.

This is where the hood mates to the body shell on the driver's side next to the  door hinge. The idea here is for the  ends to match up. I found that when i was off by 1/2 inch, this section had slid on me. Once the hinge  is bolted to the hood, this can still be adjusted by moving the hinge assembly where it attaches tot he chassis.

At this point in the build, I am nor ready to seal off the top of the tunnel and run the duct work through holes cut in the top panel. For now the top tunnel aluminum remains uninstalled. However, I did screw the piece that comes attached to the front of the body shell and ran bulb seal over that.

The laser level is an invaluable tool. This is a low light photo, because the garage door is shut and the lights are off.  The horizontal line bisects the headlight pods. This is an easy place to conduct measurements. One thing I discovered is that there no flat spots on the hood. It is a constant curve.

For my initial alignment, I positioned the hood so it runs flush along the body shell where the hood and body meet by the door hinges. I used Gorilla Tape to secure this area. This isn't perfect and things did shift around on me. I set up the laser level and ran the horizontal line so it bisected the headlight pods on both sides. Then I took my yard stick and set it in the pods. Initially, I was half an inch off side to side. The best way to describe the alignment process is to play with the hood until these measurements get within an acceptable tolerance. For me that is somewhere under 1/8 inch difference.

Passenger side light pod.

Driver's side light pod.

I snapped a line under the hood louvers and ran a measurement from the edge of the hood to the louver opening. In this case, everything was dead on. The alignment issues came from one side of the hood being slightly forward of the other side. The laser level is enormously helpful in getting this right. The other thing I did was drop the front end off the jacks so it rested on the suspension and the tires. This helped to eliminate a good chunk of the differences. The rest could be a slight difference in the way I have the shocks set on either side of the car. I am guessing that if I ran the same alignment procedure on my Corvette, I would see similar variations left to right.

The one flat piece I found was inside the front grill. I used a level to see how close I was. She is still a tad high on the driver's side, but well inside my 1/8 inch tolerance.

These are the 5/16 bolts connecting the hinge assembly to the  hood.

Moment of truth. The hood actually opened up. Right now I have a plastic tube holding it up.

I performed a preliminary attachment for the hood. Brought the car back down to the ground and ran the laser measurements over again. I did this a number of times. This is what takes time on this process. I am sure people with more experience can get through this part faster than me.

Hood Hinge

<< Mount Body Shell                                                    Mount Hood >>

Major System Category: Body (Hood)
Task: Mount the hood
Parts: Corvette donor hinges
Prerequisite Tasks: Everything under the hood.
Additional Costs:
Time Requirement: 1 hour
Date Started: September 26, 2012
Date Completed: September 26, 2012
The hood hinge is a combination of the Corvette donor parts and the Factory Five kit parts. The hinge bolts to the mounts at the front of the chassis that sit on either side of the the condenser, radiator and fan assemble inside the inner wheel wells.

Corvette donor hinges. The bumper pads are still attached. The strut mounts for the Corvette struts are pointing up at the bottom of the photos. The Driver is on the left and passenger is on the right.

Factory Five hinge plates.  The Driver is on the left and passenger is on the right.

The build manual photos are pretty good. They show the Corvette pieces, then the Factory Five pieces and then the assembly. I labeled mine D(river) and P(assenger) to keep everything straight. I have adopted this nomenclature for virtually everything in the car. This works better for me than left and right as it is really easy to get turned around.

The Factory Five hinge plate attached to the Corvette hinge. This is the driver's side assembly.

I removed the Corvette struts and left the bumper pad attached to the hinges. I don't think the bumper pads serve any purpose on the GTM. Certainly the strut mount for the Corvette struts are not used.

Hinge assemble attached to the driver's side. Note this is between the inner wheel well and the front tire. The old strut mount is pointing in and the Factory Five hinge plate faces the front of the car. The hinge plate needs to lay flush against the fog light pod inside the hood.

Factory Five uses carriage bolts and nylon locking nuts for the assembly. This proved to be a major help. As I found myself later loosening and tightening things down as I worked to get the hood straight and attached. My trusty ratchet wrench and really long extension got a work out!

Passenger side assembly.

I have to admit I am a little dubious of the long term strength for the hinge to hood connection. The hinge itself is well engineered and can handle the weight. My concern is the fiber glass that the hinge connects to. I estimate the hood weighs around 75 lbs. I've already had one clumsy accident where it tipped over on me and sent my work table cartwheeling into the drive way. The calamity was loud enough for the neighbor across to the street to poke her head out the window to see if I had killed myself or something.

The final task is to attached the bulb seal. The kit has various types of  seals. This is the  one mounts  to the top of aluminum. It has a sleeve that slides over the edge of an aluminum panel. In this case the inner wheel well.

The nice thing about the hinge set up is there is room for error and correction. The manual says not to tighten down everything, but sooner or later the time comes to raise the hood and see if things hold together.

Door Panels (Sound Proof)

<< Mount the Body Shell                                                             Preliminary Fit >>

Major System Category: Sound/Heat Proofing
Task: Apply sound proofing materials
Parts:
Prerequisite Tasks: Need to be finished with an area
Additional Costs: $100
Time Requirement: On going
Date Started: September 10, 2012
Date Completed: September 10, 2012
My plan was to work my way around the car. The next item I planned to tackle was the passenger side door. There's just one glitch in this plan. I am still waiting on the front door trim panels. I need these pieces to anchor the internal door frame.

Sound proofing the interior door area.

I had retrieved the doors from my storage locker (about 4 miles down the road). It was sometime after I had everything else set up to start working on the doors that i realized I did not have this piece of the puzzle. There are other pieces I could have worked around, but I did not want to guess about placement for things with the front trim panels.

I decided to sound proof the inside of the doors. This was the one thing I could get done. This is a easy task to accomplish. I kept the area around the door handle free (for the moment), just in case I change my mind about the door poppers, or if they prove unreliable. However, my intention is to close them off and cover them with a spare piece of fiber glass.

Note: Initially, I was concerned about miscellaneous fiber glass pieces, but once I started on the body cut outs for the body shell, I realized I had enough for the shaved door handles.

Roof (Sound Proofing)

<< Roof Scoop                                                             Next Link >>

Major System Category: Sound/Heat Proofing
Task: Apply sound proofing materials
Parts:
Prerequisite Tasks: Need to be finished with an area
Additional Costs: $100
Time Requirement: On going
Date Started: September 21, 2012
Date Completed: September 21, 2012
Sound proofing the roof is very straight forward. I cut four strips. The first three were a foot wide, the last was around 8 inches wide. I ran them front to back up to the slot for the roof scoop. I had to piece material at the front of the roof where it arches. This took about an hour, and proved worthy of a photo op.

B-Quiet sound proofing applied to the roof.

I'm sitting in the car, working on the sound proof. Notice the Fred Flintstone feet hanging out the bottom. Yaba Dada Doo!

GTM AC Compressor Shield

<< Cockpit/Tunnel Aluminum (Rear)   Front/Center Undercarriage Aluminum >>

Major System Category: AC & Cooling System
Task: Install AC Compressor Shield
Parts:
Prerequisite Tasks: Sound Proof  Rear Tunnel
Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 30 Minutes
Date Started: August 25, 2012
Date Completed: August 25, 2012

This is the cut out as delivered with the kit. Orientation: Passenger side, behind the firewall.

The compressor shield is thick chunk of metal that covers the hole in the panel facing the passenger side fuel tank. This really simple. Drill five holes and set five rivets. The important thing is to get this finished before mounting the fuel tanks. No one wants to undo the fuel tanks once they are installed. I also sound proofed the area.

Same area with the sound proofing and shield installed.

Rear Brake Vent

<< Mount Body Shell                                        Next Link >>

Major System Category: Body (Shell)
Task: Cut out rear vent slots
Parts:
Prerequisite Tasks: Mount the body
Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 2.5 hours
Date Started: September 17, 2012
Date Completed: September 21, 2012
I seemed to have more trouble cutting out these little slots than all the other body cut outs I have performed. Anyway, when I finished they were jagged and rough. I used a file, the Dremel with a drum sander and 180 grit sand paper to get things evened out. This is the only area that I plan to use the Factory Five supplied mesh.

Rear vent screens after they are formed and painted.

I painted the mesh screen black. This is keeping with the gloss black accents I am incorporating into the car's image. Next I did a test fit of the screen against the opening. The screen needs to be formed to the contour of the inside of the rear vent. To bend the mesh, I used a vice to evenly bend the creases at something less than a 90 degree angle. This is keeping with the angle of the fiber glass form on the inside of the body shell. There's no need to be exact. You just need the creases to work with.

3M adhesive tape applied to the screen mesh. Ready for install.

I used 3M double sided adhesive tape to attach the mesh to the side of the fiber glass. I have used this successfully on my Corvette in attaching Race Mesh grills to the brake ducts. I applied the 3M tape in two strips. Be careful not to roll the tape when applying the mesh screens to the fiber glass.

Final install.

The final bit of work requires sanding and glazing putty to smooth out the cuts. I work these tasks in around other things I am doing on the car. They take time, but in small chunks, as I have to wait for things to dry.

Rear Hatch Louvers

<< Rear Hatch Release Popper                                            Rear Body Louver >>

Major System Category: Body (Hatch)
Task: Install rear hatch louver
Parts:

• Rear Hatch Louver
• 8115 3M Bonding Kit
• Fiber Glass supplies

Prerequisite Tasks: Assemble and mount hatch latch
Additional Costs: $42
Time Requirement: 2 hours
Date Started: September 14, 2012
Date Completed:  September 20, 2012
The build manual calls for mesh to be used for the rear hatch screen. This is the cutout located between the hatch window and the rear edge of the hatch. I have read repeated posts where people talk about heat issues related to the engine bay. One guy indicated that after 20 minutes the hatch glass was too hot to touch. Recently, I saw photo where someone had built a beautiful engine cover. My thought was how hot does that sucker get.

The louvers are shipped flat. They need to be bent and secured against the  brackets for each set of louvers. 

The mesh supplied with the kit restricts air flow too much. This is the conclusion of the builders who have gone ahead of me. This is one of the benefits of starting on chassis #402. Just like there isn't a silver bullet to provide instant horsepower, there isn't a single modification that provides the cooling and venting necessary. The solution is to attack the problem from multiple angles:

• Vent the undercarriage.
• Install the roof scoop.
• Replace mesh with louvers:
• Side vents ahead of the rear wheels
• Rear hatch
• Vent the diffuser.
• Vent the rear body
• Install a second louver below the hatch louver
• Install additional vents below the tail light assembly

Louvers are bonded and painted.

Since heat is the enemy (and this car will only be driven on bright, sun shiny days), I need to do everything possible to vent the heat from the engine bay. I purchased the rear hatch louver from Vraptor Speedworks. If you are serious about doing the job right, you will purchase Vraptor parts. I had my parts 2 days after I ordered them (Shane provides super service!)

The louver is clamped in place and the 3M 8115 is allowed to setup for 24 hours.

Most of the work is already complete. All I have to do is:

1. Paint and/or powder coat the parts.
2. Bend the louvers into place.
3. Attach and bond the brackets.
4. Bond to the hatch.

Finished install.

Rear Body Louver

<< Rear Hatch Louver                                        Exhaust Vent >>

Major System Category: Body (Shell)
Task: Install rear body louver

Parts:

• Rear Body Louver
• 8115 3M Bonding Kit
• Fiber Glass supplies

Prerequisite Tasks: Mount the body
Additional Costs: $67
Time Requirement: 2 hours
Date Started: September 15, 2012
Date Completed: September 20, 2012
The rear body louver replaces a screen mesh. It provides better air flow out of the engine bay than the screen mesh supplied in the basic kit. The louver is shipped flat. Assembly requires that the louvers be bent at an angle and braces be installed to hold the louvers in place. I used 3m 8115 to bond the braces to the louvers. Next I painted the louvers a gloss black.

I used the laser level to mark the center line, then marked off the cut outs based on this center line.

Unlike the rear hatch, the rear body needs to be cut. I measured everything a couple of times. Used the louver as a guide and made sure the lines all matched, then used my Dremel with a cut off wheel to make the initial cuts. I followed this with a variable speed jig saw.

I used a white Sharpie to mark the initial cuts for each louver set.

Consideration: Where a mask, goggles, a hat and hearing protection. This can get pretty loud and it kicks up plenty of dust.

This is what my initial cut out markings looed like. Later I eliminated the interior  fiberglass strips.

I painted both pieces with a high gloss automotive paint rated for high heat.

I set the louver in place to give me a sense of position prior to final install.

Prior to finally installation, I sanded and smoothed the edge of the opening. I used 3M body putty to fill in any gaps or cracks along the edge. The installation went fairly easy. I applied a bead of 3M 8115 bonding adhesive around the entire edge, then braced the louver upwards against the fiber glass body shell. I reversed my clamps so that they were configured as spreaders, then braced them against the transaxle bracket.

Both the rear hatch and rear body louvers are installed.

Roof Scoop

<< Mount Body Shell                                      Roof (Sound Proofing) >>

Major System Category: Body (Shell)
Task: Mount the roof scoop
Parts: Roof Scoop (Optional Part)
Prerequisite Tasks: Mount the body
Additional Costs:
Time Requirement: 5 hours
Date Started: September 6, 2012
Date Completed: September 15, 2012
The roof scoop is more than just a pretty piece to add to the GTM's exotic look. It is a functional air scoop designed to force cold air into the engine bay (in motion) and to allow hot air to vent from the engine bay (at rest). It is a molded piece of fiberglass that needs to be centered on the roof of the car.

Roof scoop from the front. The opening requires trimming.

Consideration: The instructions I found for this were in threads on the Factory Five Forums. The description of the item on the FF website indicates that some body work is required.

Rough initial fit. There is a lip that anchors to the from the wind screen opening.

These are the items I have identified so far:

1. The scoop is longer than the roof, so the end will have to be trimmed. I am pretty sure this is by design.
2. The intake scoop is not open. This needs to cut out.
3. The slot in the rear of the roof (basically close to the rear portion of the roll cage needs to be cut out. I am making mine 12 x 1 inches.
4. The scoops needs to be fiberglassed to the roof.

Rear of the roof scoop. The untrimmed section overlaps the hatch .

I did my measurements. The scoop is approximately 26 inches wide. However, do not assume the scoop itself is centered. Measure from the edge of the roof line to get an approximate center, then measure a center line as well. There is a front lip that helps to position and anchor the scoop.

The slot is marked for the scoop cut out. This be covered by the  scoop when it is installed.

I moved my slot as far back as possible. I wanted to leave enough material so as not to compromise the strength of the roof line supporting the hatch. It seems very light weight right now, but once the glass is installed, it will get significantly heavier.

The scoop after excess is trimemd from the rear end of the piece.

I need to double check where the slot exits the roof on the underside, to ensure it is on the engine bay side of the rear class. The roof scoop requires two different cuts into the fiberglass prior to install.

1. The scoop's front opening.
2. The slot at the rear of the roof.

This is the front cut into the roof scoop. I suppose this could be completed after the scoop is mounted, but it is much easier to do this when the scoop is on a bench.

I mounted a cut off wheel on my Dremel. I know other builder's use a reciprocating saw for this work, and I sure it is very fast. I was more interested in precision. The battery charge on the Dremel was up for each cut. After I cleared away the excess debris, I used a drum sander (also on the Dremel) to even out the edges.

This is the slot just forward of the hatch (that's a nice even gap on the hatch, if I sat so myself). The roll  bar is visible .

The final piece for the roof scoop is bonding it to the the roof. I checked with other builders blogs and build journals (there are no instructions for this entire procedure). Most people decided to go with 3M 8115 adhesive. Most people griped about the cost of the gun (approximately $60). I think it is a good investment! Chances are there will be something that needs bonding. I got a great deal on Ebay.

1. 8115 gun.
2. 2 adhesive packs
3. 6 nozzles

This is where the center of the scoop mounts. It is around 9 inches up from the edge of the window.

The 8115 system is very easy to use. I marked the areas of the roof that would act as the mating surfaces for the scoop. I put a generous amount of bonding agent down, troweled it with a spreader and then mounted the scoop per my measurements. (I measured this one multiple times.) I used a combination of clamps and weights. In my case, 8 lbs boxes of 9mm bullets. I set them down in a train on both sides of the scoop and let it set up over night.

This area is the band between the edge of the scoop and where it is raised for air flow to the back slot. This averaged about 4-3/4 inches. This isn't necessarily cut even on both sides, so you really need to measure from the edge of the car to the raised area of the scoop.

The final thing I did was run a bead of 8115 bonding agent along the edge of the  scoop - like a caulk line on a bath tub. The final touch is to glass the scoop edges into the roof and create a seamless boundary.

She is clamped down and weighted down for the night, The instructions say 4 hours to set up if the temperature is 73 degrees or higher. We're starting to see night time temps in the fifties so, I let her sit all night long (about 18 hours total)..

Rear Hatch Latch

<< Rear Hatch Gas Struts                               Rear Hatch Release Popper >>

Major System Category: Body (Hatch)
Task: Install latch
Parts: Latch parts
Prerequisite Tasks: Assemble and mount hatch latch
Additional Costs:
Time Requirement: 2 hours
Date Started: September 12, 2012
Date Completed:  September 12, 2012
The actual work on the hatch is fairly straight forward, but it took me 2 days to figure what the procedure was telling me to do. Once I figured out the orientation and understood that one of the parts was reversed from the mechanical drawing, things fell into place.

Striker and striker plate with the washers inserted for temporary assembly. I probably could have tightened this down for real, but I was just being slow and cautious.

Consideration: There is very little room for error when assembling this piece. So measure twice, then measure again. Take your time.

These are the rivet inserts located on the inside of the hatch. Factory Five has done a good job in creating  mounting  plates for rivets and rivet inserts.

The first thing I did was assemble the striker with a pair of washers. This was so I did not tighten down everything into the nylon locking nut. This allowed me to have the striker assembled to the correct length. I taped and clamped this to the hatch. I clamped the latch to the body shell tab.

These are the holes drilled for the latch into the tab that hangs down from the body shell. You can see my scribbles with the Sharpie. Orientation: looking towards the rear from inside the engine bay.

The manual says to measure 15/16" from the body shell to figure out where to mount the striker. In a perfect world, this might work. In my world, this isn't quite far enough. I eyeballed the striker plate (minus the striker) and the latch. When everything lined up, I marked those locations with a Sharpie. I then put the striker on the striker plate. This caused me to back off the striker plate from the body shell so the end of striker slides between the latch and the body shell.

This is the big hunk of metal that acts as brace for the  latch. These holes are for the  same rivet inserts drilled for the latch in the previous photo. This is Factory Five's solution to reinforce the tab for the body shell where the latch is attached. I think this area may require additional reinforcement.

I marked the locations for the rivet inserts. I drilled pilot holes with 1/8" bit, then drilled the final holes with the 25/64" bit. I attached the striker first. My thinking is there is more wiggle room for the latch (i.e. it can be adjusted prior to final install to match up with the striker). Once I was satisfied, I drilled out the holes for the second set of rivet inserts. Insert screws and tighten everything down. It is either going to work or fail. The final test was seeing if it works and it did - wow!

This the is hatch latch and striker closed. I plan to get a shaved door handle kit that includes a  trunk popper. I may have to fabricate some sort of brace for the popper solenoid, but it seems much more reliable than running a really long cable into the cockpit.

Forward Parking Assist - Circuit 3/9 (optional component)

<< Gen II GTM Front Grille                                                   Rear Parking sensors >>

Major System Category: Electronics
Task: Run cables for forward parking assist sensors
Parts: Optional part (parking assist sensors)
Power Cell: 3
Circuit: 9 - ORANGE
Master cell: TAN/GREEN
Prerequisite Tasks: Mount the body
Additional Costs: $50
Time Requirement: 1 hour
Date Started: September 1, 2012
Date Completed: September 1, 2012
The forward parking sensors are an identical setup to the rear parking sensors. They came in the same kit. The differences are as follows:

• Wired into the brake switch.
• Mounted on the inside of the hood.

Forward parking sensors staged on the radiator aluminum box. There should be enough slack to route easily to the hood once it is mounted. Orientation: front of the car.

I currently, do not have the hood mounted on the chassis. I decided to stage the sensors inside the radiator aluminum. This is an area I reinforced for strength earlier in the build. I enclosed the sensor cables in wire loom, and ran the loom under the radiator aluminum wall through the steering rack mounts. I snaked the loom around the battery tray and behind the lower rear mount for the front control arms on the driver's side. I believe I can mount the control box to the inside of the body shell below the hinges for the hood. I have temporarily mounted the control box here.

Sensor control box mounted inside the body shell behind the front tire on the driver's side. There is  plenty of room to run the speaker cable up the pillar and into the headliner. Orientation: driver's side wheel well, taken from beneath the car.

I can route the speaker cable up the pillar and mount forward on roof under the head liner. There is a vendor that has created additional fiber glass pieces that for mounting gauges on the driver's side pillar and over head   parallel to the center tunnel. Even if I do not mount additional gauges, I can see the utility for these pieces.

Permanent home for the front parking sensor. The master cylinder are at the bottom of the photo. The red is part of the  body shell and the black angle piece is the wiper motor arm.

Update April 10, 2013: I got around to finding a permanent home for this module.I cut a 5 x 5 inch acrylic square (I have been working with acrylic to mold some pieces for a center console compartment.) I mounted the sensor module on the acrylic using 3M double sided tape, then I mounted the acrylic ahead of the wind shield next tot he master cylinders. I had to be careful not to cause interference with the wiper rocker arm. Once I am certain I have handle all the other issues related to the hood, I will mount these sensors on the hood. Right now they are on the reinforced section below the radiator.

Fabricated mount for parking sensor. This sits above the front grille on the ledge/ This is a great place to run wires/

Update August 10, 2013: Most of the summer was spent working on the body. The hood and body shell are at the point where I finished up most of the wiring associated with Power Cell #1. The front parking assist sensors are designed to attach to a surface using 3M automotive tape. This works fine for the outer sensors, but not for the two middle sensors. I entered up fabricating a mount from angle aluminum and 3M tape. I used the Loctite Epoxy designed for fiberglass and aluminum.