<< Mount the hoodForward Parking Assist - Circuit 3/9 >> Major System Category: ISIS Wiring Task: Mount the Fog Lights Parts: Kit fog lights Prerequisite Tasks: Hood needs to be mounted and bolted into place Additional Costs: $27 Fog Light Brackets Time Requirement: 2 Hours Date Started: October 2, 2012 Date Completed: October 2, 2012
I did not even bother figuring out what the Factory Five method was for mounting the fog lights. I had an order ready for Shane at Vraptor Speedworks, so I just added these to the list. Vraptor has many good ideas and everything they sell has a practical application for the car (in this case my sanity).
Left to right: Bracket that comes with the fog light, Vraptor bracket, Vraptor bracket attached to fog light. I painted my brackets gloss black.
Since I have been working on the hood, with momentary lapses back to the sanding tasks related to the hatch window and roof scoop, I decided to get the lights mounted. I need to do this anyway before or after I purchase the ISIS system. This purchase has been delayed due to the assessment that modifying the Corvette fuel tanks is an exercise in futility.
Close up of mounted fog light.
The major gotcha in this process is the presence of the brackets used to attach the hood to the hinges. Murphy's Law is alive and well, because those hinges may just be placed to interfere with the mounting of the fog lights. I ended up whisker close to one of the hinge brackets. Fortunately there is enough room to make minor adjustments. I used the steel template, drilled my holes for the bracket. Then I test fitted the bracket and light until I had a reasonable certainty that the attached bolts would go through the holes. This is one of the very nice things about these brackets. The bolts are fixed, so you can just attach the washers and nuts from inside the hood.
Another shot a little further back.
Once I was satisfied with the bracket fit, I drilled a final 1/4 inch hole (watch out for those hinge brackets!) to thread the leads through. I moved everything into place, and tightened the lights down. Another small step in giant puzzle!
<< Hood HingeGas 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.
<< Mount Body ShellMount 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.
