Nine Month Milestone

Chassis #402 arrived at the end of June, 2012. It was a good time and a good distraction as I had just said good bye to Ripley, my Black Lab, a few weeks earlier. Rips watched me curiously as we worked on both the Porsche and Corvette - never quite sure what was going to happen next (neither was I). Based on my schedule, budget and other obligations this represents nine months of progress on the build since delivery. I split my time between the Northern and Southern Man Caves. Obviously, when I'm down south, the GTM waits patiently for me to return so we can get working on things.

Except for a few things like mounting the running gear, removing and installing the body shell and getting the transaxle into the chassis, I've done everything myself. Oh, there has been grand kid or two that cut wires and play with lights, several neighbors who stopped by to see what was happening, and plenty of other interested folks who wandered in. All this is to say, you can build one of these incredible cars on one side of a double garage in a suburban neighborhood.

I plan to do the final assembly at Southern Man Cave, which is being augmented  with a number of bells and whistles to make jobs like moving engines and transaxles and body shells much easier. The nine months of work is basically weekends and evenings, a significant amount of mumbling to myself, deer in the head lights stares and wandering about the build looking for the tool I just had in my hand.

The major items completed or close to completion are:

• Suspension installed.
• Brake and clutch lines run.
• Fuel system.
• Most of the door internals.
• Non-ECU wiring
• Body work/modification up to primer.
• Transaxle inside the chassis.
• 50% of the sound proofing
• Most coolant lines run.
• Miscellaneous items installed (e.g. side marker, nozzles, vents, HomeLink, Lights)

Side Markers

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Major System Category: ISIS Wiring
Task: Wire up the DRLs
Parts: Side Marker Lights
Power Cell: 4
Circuit: 8 - GREEN
Master cell: N/A - Controlled via control stalk and/or Kenwood DNN990 HD
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: Side markers - $20
Time Requirement: 90 minutes
Date Started: November 24, 2013

Date Completed: November 24, 2013

The base GTM design make no allowance for side markers. There are not even any reflectors. My buddy Brian observed that with a car this low to the ground and nothing to reflect on the sides is probably asking for trouble. I purchased two sets of side markers from Super Bright LED. There are many interesting items on this site. The other site I have used for lighting enhancement is http://www.autolumination.com/.

I measured up from the rear edge of the wheel well even with the fender louver. I marked the hole on both sides of the car,

At this point in the build, I have dealt with glassing the seams, shaved door handles, cutting into hood for fender louvers and rear body louvers, plus all the body work necessary to get to primer coats. So the idea of drilling a hole into the side of the hood for side markers is not very intimidating. Ask me about the same issue when the kit first arrived and I would give you a different answer. Once I decided to add side markers, then I decided to drill the holes on the primed vehicle. Things are much easier to fix at this point then on a car where everything his at finished paint.

Hopefully, by the time you end up drilling holes into the side of the car, you've done enough body work to be confident that the process can be reversed.

I plotted a line from the rear point of the wheel well to the fender louvers rear edge. On this line I placed the widest point of the marker. The wires from the marker are about .5 inches off the center point. So I measured 3 5/8 inches up from the rear wheel well point and drew a line .5 inches to the rear. I drilled a 1/8 inch hole as a pilot. I worked up drill bits to 13/32. At this hole size I can fit the wire and the connector through the hole.

The side marker wires run along the inside of the hood and around the inside of the fender louvers. The wire loom protects the side marker wires.

These side markers come with an splitter box that enables you to splice into the headlight and signal circuits. These wires can be run down the inside of the hood.

This splitter box cmes with the side marker lights, It ties into the headlight, signal and parking lights.

This the side marker. It is just held in place by tension on the wires. There is a connector between the marker light and the circuitry. This allows the marker to be removed for final paint.