Saturday, November 28, 2015

Wing Window NACA Ducts (optional component)

<< Body Shell Prep                           >>

Major System Category: Body (Shell)
Task: Rough installation of NACA Wing Vents
Parts: NACA Wing Vents Carbon Fiber
Prerequisite Tasks: Install the rear cockpit window
Additional Costs: $1500
Time Requirement: 4 hour
Date Started: November 1, 2014
Date Completed:  January 11, 2015
This is one of those tasks that is dependent on the bank account. However, in late June the time arrived when I had enough money scraped together and put in my order for the NACA Wing Vents. These are available in either fiber glass (boring) or carbon fiber (yes!) These vents replace the rear quarter windows. Unless you have an extraordinarily flexible neck, you were never going to be able to see out of these windows anyway.
Carbon fiber Naca vent.
These provide  functional cold air intake. The intake off the manifold is a double "U" shaped duct that runs the length of the engine and can be position directly next to these entry ducts.
The NACA vent overlays this window. This does add an extra step, because now you have to account for the interior.
I chose carbon fiber to match the carbon fiber wing and to tie the carbon fiber to the interior accents. To get these fitted to the body shell is basic grunt work. The tools I used were a reciprocating saw, a die grinder and a cutting wheel.
This is a rough measurement of the cut. Becareful, otherwise, you'll have to do some repair work.

The cut needs to be tear drop shaped, because the shape of the duct dropping into the vehicle behind the rear fire wall . 
You can see how the underside of the vent slopes at an angle. This is why you need to make a tear drop shape cut.

Note: There are a number of things that you need to consider:

  1. The location of the rear fire wall. Obviously the duct cannot extend into the roll bar. Provided everything is mounted properly between the body shell and chassis, this should be okay. But you will be cutting opening very close to this margin.
  2. The fuel cap opening may touch the bottom of the NACA duct piece. I anticipate I will have to make an accommodation for this when I get there.
  3. This is a recent photo where I was working on door fitment. I had to remove material from the rear pillar to get this right. The gaps in this photo are not finalized.
  4. The duct piece has a lip that anchors against the rear door jamb. This will require additional sanding to remove material so the door can close.
This is the passenger side duct. You can see where there is some interference with the fuel cap.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Door Popper Spring (optional component)

<< Door Popper                                           >>

Major System Category: Body (Door)
Task: Install door popper springs
Parts: Popper spring assembly and angle aluminum
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $5
Time Requirement: 3 hours
Date Started: November 8, 2015
Date Completed:  November 8, 2015

I am working on the punch list of things that need to be fixed, before I pull the car of the lift and prep her for paint. One item is working on the doors and everything that entails. The car has shaved door handles, and this requires door poppers to be mounted inside the doors. The popper is simply a solenoid that releases the latch when the circuit is fired. However, you need something to push the door open. This is where the spring comes in.
The popper spring is a strong spring that needs to attach inside the body shell and push through a hole to open the door. 
This turned out to be one of those visualization things that I didn't foresee until I was holding the popper spring in my hand. I poked my head inside the door and looked at where it should be attached. The only problem is there was nothing to attach the spring to. Oops. It was metal fabrication time again. I chose two pieces of angle aluminum that was 1 inch wide. I cut two pieces, then cut tabs on the ends so I could bend the metal over and rivet it to the chassis.
This is on the passenger side next to the seat belt hooks. (mine have been modified to handle the 4 point harness system.) These are held in using  
The placement here is a bit tricky. The spring projects a pin past the plane of the door into the cockpit. This is hidden by the seat and there is a opening to accommodate this. I fashioned the bracket so a flat side is against the inner body shell. This allows me to "trap" the spring assembly between the bracket and the body shell.
This is the hole drilled into the body shell. I started this with a 1/8 inch pit, then switch to step up bits. This ended up slightly larger than 3/4 inch.
I marked the popper on the inside of the body shell, drilled a pilot hole, then opened it up to the correct size.
This is the spring pinned in place  from the inside of the body shell.

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