Door Popper Spring (optional component)

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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.

Shaved handles

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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.

Side Mirrors

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Major System Category: Body (Door)
Task: Install side mirrors
Parts: Corvette donor side mirrors.
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 4 hours
Date Started: November 21, 2012
Date Completed:  November 25, 2012

The side mirrors installed very easily. Basically, you follow the measurements in the manual, use the gasket as a guide, mark and drill the holes. After that it is just a matter of screwing the mirrors tight.

Driver's side side mirror. the passenger side one is silver. So right now I have yellow, red and silver car. Note the three mounting studs and power cable. The mirrors were part of the donor car kit I purchased from FParts.

The main power cable has a grommet that is taped in place. I removed the tape and measured the location of this hole between the 3 studs. This hole has to be somewhat close otherwise the cable tends to bind. I also had to ensure the hole was not too big as I wanted the grommet to maintain a water tight seal.

These are the holes drilled for the studs. I was a little bit off, so I had to open up one of the holes to get the mirror to mount. Otherwise there were no problems. The "X" marks the location for the power cable.

There is the issue of hooking up the mirror for power and control. I have decided to go with the Quick Racing Products power mirror harness kit. The alternative was to work out something using a Corvette based control panel or to hook it into ISIS.

This the grommet on the power cable.

I decided against purchasing a mirror control panel on Ebay. If I went the Ebay route, I would still be faced with the interface to the mirrors. Not impossible, but the QRP solution already solved that problem. There is enough invention on this car, without finding more.

I made sure the grommet is properly seated prior to mounting the mirror. This is pretty much idiot proof. Just take your time, measure and make sure everything looks okay.

ISIS was another solution, However, the beauty of ISIS is its limitation in this case. I would have to use an InMotion Cell. This would have required eight circuits to handle the up down and side to side motion on each mirror. That would be a lot of wiring for something that a relay can handle so much more elegantly.

Some shameless self promotion!

Jay Harris (President of ISIS) had talked about a special module to handle the mirrors, but couldn't find enough interest. Jay is good guy. He will work with you, answer your questions. He even answers the phone! He told me flat out that most people were going with a QRP type solution. Easy enough. It is not like I am not going to spend a fair chunk of change on his stuff, but I appreciate his honesty.

Mounted!

Door Poppers

<< Door Latch                                           Side Mirrors >>

Major System Category: Body (Door)
Task: Install door poppers
Parts: Popper solenoid, cable, pulley
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $75
Time Requirement: 4 hours
Date Started: November 21, 2012
Date Completed:  November 25, 2012

One of the issues I worry about is security. These cars attract a lot of attention. Chances are people have never seen a GTM.  I decided to go keyless early in the planning stage. This means the normal form of ingress (i.e. door handles) needed to go away. I'm not going to go into detail on the security system, except to say it is multi-layered and bio-metrically keyed to me. Yes, if I have a dead battery, she's going to be hard to start.

These are the pulleys and the solenoid base plate.

The first security layer is to eliminate door handles and rely on door poppers to open the door. There is a need for a manual override, and I have something in mind for how I am going to put that together. To operate the poppers I have a fob. The fob is linked to the RFlink module installed in the ISIS master cell. However, the fob can only get you into the car. It has nothing to do with starting the car.

The rear of the solenoid where I attached power and ground leads. This is clamped in a vice. I did  all the electrical work down stairs in my cave, as the temperature was dropping through out December.

I am using 60 lbs solenoid door poppers and a plungers to push the door open past the striker. The plungers (like the striker) need to be installed after the engine and transaxle are installed. The plungers need to be secured against the chassis and installed through the body shell.

The solenoid popper is bolted to the mounting bracket. The steel cable is looped around the end of the solenoid and the clamp is in place, but not compressed. Yes, they don't make vices like this any more. It was purchased 60 or 70 years ago.

The latch has a vertical orientation. The idea behind the popper is a solenoid attached to a wire cable that fires (i.e. contracts) been an electrical charge is applied. Unlike the rear hatch popper, it is not possible to position the solenoid so it is in a straight line to the latch.

Close up of the pulley with the steel cable threaded. At this point nothing had been tightened down, so that is why there is slack on the line. The pulley is riveted into place. You can also see the narrow end of the internal brace. Things are very tight on the rear edge of the door.

The solenoid works on a electrical charge that fires the solenoid causing it to contract into the housing. I attached five feet of 16 gauge wire for power and ground. This has to be threaded out of the door and into the front hood area where it gets connected to the power cell and grounded at a ground point on the chassis.

The popper solenoid and pulley before the steel cable is tightened into place. The cables from the window motor is just to the right of the popper solenoid and the black bracket in the middle of the photo (behind the brace) is the window track.

I use a 12 volt test battery to verify the connections are working and that they are solid (this is a lot of fun - it's a guy thing). The solenoids come with a heavy bracket. This is mounted to the bottom of the inside of the door. I used short bolts and nylon nuts to secure it in place. The last thing I want is for the popper solenoid to slide loose inside the door.

Everything is tightened up. Note: There is still some slack in the steel cable.

The idea to use a pulley and form a right angle between the latch and the popper solenoid is not original with me. I don't remember where I first saw the idea, but it really works. The pulleys are quite simple (a $2 part at Lowes). I think I found them in the screen door section. The pulley allows me to create a right angle between the popper solenoid and the latch. I riveted the pulley into place and checked for strength.

I threaded the steel cable from the latch, through the pulley and to the popper solenoid. The cable loops around the solenoid end and is crimped using the two channel clamp. If you lose one of these clamps, there are available at the little parts area where they sell pulleys at Lowes and Home Depot.

Once everything is tightened down, I retrieve my test battery and fire the solenoid. There is plenty to check:

1. The door latch actually opens.
2. The pulley doesn't stress.
3. The bracket holding to solenoid doesn't stress.

I fired the solenoid about twenty times. There is a significant bang each time. 

Door Latch

<< Power Window Motor and Track            Door Popper >>

Major System Category: Body (Door)
Task: Install door latch
Parts: Door latch
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs:
Time Requirement: 4 hours
Date Started: November 19, 2012
Date Completed:  November 19, 2012

Originally, I had the door latch and striker as part of the same task (i.e. the latch closes around the striker and that's what keeps the door closed). I started working on the doors prior to putting an engine and transaxle in the car. The only way to get the engine and transaxle into the car is to remove the body shell. This is already complicated by the rear hatch hinges and the front hood latches. Both of these have to be disconnected before the body shell can be removed. Installing the striker, adds a needless complication to the removal process. So this part will have to wait until after the engine and transaxle are installed (sometime in 2014).

This is the latch attached to the mounting bracket. Factory Five purchased the latch from a third party. I am pretty sure they machined the mounting bracket.

Likewise the doors have to be removed from the car before the shell can come off. The doors seem less problematic that the hatch hinge and hood latches, because by the time I have to remove the doors - everything related to their fitment should be in place per the arrangement of the hinges on the doors.

The curved part is the cut out area where the latch is exposed as part of the door. 

The latch has a similar arrangement in terms of adjustment as the hinge does. The work area for the latch is very tight, and difficult to work with. The hinge and the latch need to be tightened down together. This happens prior to window placement, since the internal frame needs to be solid so the window tracks can be attached. There are a bunch of pieces here and they all have to work together.

This is the latch mounting bracket connected to the internal frame on the rear side of the door. To the right of the internal frame, the opening for the external door handle is in close proximity to the latch controls. This will be covered up and closed in as I am opting for shaved door handles and internal door poppers.

Placement of the latch is dictated by the formed cut out area for the latch and the depth of the latch inside the door. In other words, enough of the latch needs to be visible so the striker can properly mate with the latch. I already have some issues with the drivers side hood latch and I don't want to repeat that mistake here. Eventually, I am going to have to adjust the hood striker to line up a little better, but I am holding off until the body shell goes back on for good (i.e. after the engine and transaxle are installed).

This photo shows the internal frame connected tot he latched, the rear window track and the  cables going back to the motor, and the internal door popper. The items still missing at this point is the glass, the fixed tracks, the filled in exterior door handle (i.e. shave door handle), and the internal mechanism to open the door from the inside of the car.

I used the Dremel with a cut off wheel to cut the fiber glass and open up a slot for the latch mechanism. The fiber  glass is very thin here as it is on the hinge side. Once I had the latch comfortably exposed, I tested the latch mechanism by pushing the striker into place.

Power Window Motor and Tracks

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Major System Category: Body (Door)
Task: Install power window motor
Parts: Power window motor and tracks
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs:
Time Requirement: 4 hours
Date Started: November 19, 2012
Date Completed:  November 19, 2012

There is a right and a left side power window motor and window track. The easiest way to figure this out is to read the labels. At least, one label should still be present. After you figure out the drivers and passenger side motors out, the next challenger is to figure out which end is up on the window tracks. I'm sure this is obvious to some people, but it was a mystery to me.

This is the power window motor. Attached by cable are the window tracks. It  has the form of a floppy hour glass shape. I would check the pulleys where cable runs to make sure they are secure and not chipped. I think that last thing anyone wants to do is to back in here to fix something like that.

The manual says there are two bolts that need to be removed from the top end of tracks. The suggested method is to pound out the bolt by placing it over a socket. The bolts on my tracks were frozen in pace, I and was concerned that pounding on the track might deform something. So I used a cutting wheel and drill to remove the bolts. I've since purchased a Drill Doctor, because cutting out harden bolts has done a real number on many of my bits.

The kit includes brackets to attach the window tracks to the internal frame. I've held off on this until I get a sense for how the window is going to interact with the rest of the door. I have read numerous build logs where the windows refuse to go down all the way. This indeed may happen to me, but I'm going to make a good faith effort to get the window to go all the way down into the door.

The final thing that needs to be done is to re-position one of the cables running out of the motor. What you will notice is that once the motor is attached to the frame the cable going towards the rear window track is awkward. I don't think this is in the manual, so I read it on a build log (I apologize because I don't remember which one it is.). There are five big screws that hold the plate in place for the cables. These screws and plate need to be removed and correct cable needs to be moved one channel upwards. The cable is still going to be tight, but it is workable.

This is the window motor cable system with the plate removed. the cable with the green tab needs to be moved to the next channel. This is a tad intimidating the first time through, because I figured I might really mess things up. If you take your time, it is fairly bullet proof.

The photos in the manual are pretty good about how to attached the motor to the "C" shaped fitting on the brace. The main consideration is leaving space for the glass to descend (width wise). I have approximately 1/2 inch left for the glass to move up and down between the motor and the inside of the door. It seems there is more room on the drivers side door than the passenger side door. Again, it does not appear that doors are symmetrical.

Thie window motor is attached to the internal brace. Note the access plate for the cables faces the sound proofed panel. These screws line up with the brace. Again this is fairly straight forward. What is awkward is the uncertainty of how this all going to work properly. I suspect that the window tracks in the GTM are at much tighter angle than they are inside the Corvette door they came from. I haven't dismantled my Corvette door to find out. I'm not that curious! You can also see the power connect (orange tape) on top of the brace.

The power connector to the motor can be removed. This makes it easier to attach a ground and positive wire to the leads. (Remember, there has to be power to the motor, mirrors and door poppers. This is a good time to get the electrical work down. The wires feed out through an opening cut above the top hinge. Once I have things set, I and going to reinforce the area between the bottom of the power line opening and the top of the hinge slot. The fiber glass is real thin here. I used my 12 volt test battery to check the motor and the tracks. They move real good without any glass installed.