Footbox Aluminum - Driver Side

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Major System Category: Chassis
Task: Build the driver's foot box
Parts: All parts were attached to chassis on delivery
Prerequisite Tasks: Inner Wheel wells
Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 4 hours
Date Started: July 12, 2012
Date Completed: July 12, 2012
The driver side foot box sounds easy enough, but if you were like me you probably didn't quite grasp how all the pieces fit together. Now it is time to put them back together. You need to go one step at a time.

The front wall is straight forward. Orientation is left hand side  looking towards the  front of the car.  It is a good Idea to lay out all the pieces involved, so you see how everything fits together. If something is really springy, then it is not together correctly.

Consideration: The foot box consists of five parts and there are seams between these parts. The front wheels are going send road debris, water and who knows what else right at the box. There are two things I think that need to be addressed: body filler for gaps and undercoating to waterproof the footbox. 

This piece attaches to the right side of the front wall. The back side is common to the tunnel. The tab  painted black (on the lower left hand side) fits under the middle section of the front wall. It is a little tricky to get it to slide together. 

This tab on the front wall fits behind the piece above. This causes some tension between the two panels.

Consideration: The outer should be installed last. Otherwise it will get in the way of everything.

The lift definitely came in handy tonight. One the problems I ran into was the foot box tab for the lower front side wall did not want to match up nicely with the front wall piece. Eventually I placed a spreader so I could push the pieces into place and rivet them together. The perspective from the underside of the car points out many places were water can gain access under the carpeting. In one case, I drilled from the underside of the car due to space limitations inside the car.

The front panel and bottom tunnel panel installed. Orientation is left side of the car  looking  towards the tunnel side of the footbox.

The first two pieces were the hardest to install. It is an area where some gaps exist. I did not rivet the area where the clamps show in the above photo. This is because this a common area with the next part of the tunnel aluminum.

This is the funny piece I couldn't figure out for a while. This piece faces the front wall and is positioned right beneath the dash. Orientation is looking towards the driver's seat in the cockpit. 

I applied additional silicon front and back as well as between the panels. I also sprayed all contact areas with Plasti Dip. Since this area is enclosed, I did not think it necessary to spray the entire panel. The back sides of the panels are sprayed. This area will be waterproofed and sound proofed before any finishing pieces are applied.

The final piece is installed. Orientation is looking from the left hand side of the car towards the tunnel. The front of the car is to the left. I did all my orientation to the front fo the car when I removed the aluminum during kit disassembly.

I put the little triangle piece on third, because I determined I needed something to anchor the upper tunnel panel. You can see my impromptu work bench (AKA the cockpit floor). The lip of the piece above the triangle piece is Shane's stereo close out box. I am a long way from installing electronics, but the close out box is a handy place to stick the rivet bag. The one piece I did not install is the outer wall. I still need to prep that piece. Otherwise it is ready to go. 

Radiator Aluminum

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Major System Category: AC & Cooling System
Task: Install aluminum panels
Parts:

• Radiator Undertray
• Radiator Rear Duct

Prerequisite Tasks: Inner Wheel Wells
Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 4 hours
Date Started: July 2, 2012
Date Completed: July 7, 2012
I started working on this half way through the Inner Wheel Well assembly. The reason being these pieces need to fit together. The other reason has to do with a couple of threads I read on the forums. I have spoken of the importance of the forums, and this is a case in point.

One of the pieces for side reinforcement of the undertray. This involves riveting three pieces of metal together.

The aluminum undertray and the inner wheel wells form a three sided box around the radiator. Unlike the rear duct piece, the undertray is riveted to other pieces of aluminum. More than one builder reported that the first time the car was taken up to speed, this piece gets bent all out of shape. There is not enough strength (simply in the panel) to maintain structural integrity. The solution is very simple - a 3/4 inch angle aluminum bar riveted inside the lip. I went the extra step of running two additional pieces to reinforce the rivet points between the inner wheel wells and the understray.

Stabilize the piece with clamps.

Consideration: Reinforce the undertray lip and sides.

The undertray installed. The main reinforcement piece runs the length of the tray just inside the front lip. It is a thicker piece (1/4 inch) than the side pieces (1/8 inch).

This is piece behind the radiator duct panel. The cross members makes it difficult to get a drill  in there.

I have additional steps of coating the metal prior to installation. The other thing I have done is lay other aluminum pieces in place on the chassis. As I worked with the rear duct piece, I noted the next piece in line was going to be a bear to drill holes for once the radiator aluminum was in place. I went the extra step and pre-drilled the aluminum and the chassis. I am wondering if some of these things are easier to see, because I have the luxury of changing the height of the car via the lift.

Inner Wheel Wells

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Major System Category: Chassis
Task: Install inner wheels
Parts: LH/RH Front Wheel Wells
Prerequisite Tasks:

• Protective Coatings
• Tire Rack Assembly                                  

Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 4 hours
Date Started: July 4, 2012
Date Completed: July 6, 2012

The inner wheel wells attach to the front of the frame. They are the first sheet metal pieces that you will attach to the car. If you are going to apply any protective coatings to the metal, this is the time to do it. I'll admit I took my time with these panels. I wanted to make sure I was doing everything the way it needed to be done.

This is attached with screws and clamps. The screws are visible in the original holes. You can purchase bag of plastic clamps at Home Depot for $10 or so.

The first thing I did was reattach the panel to the chassis. I used the 6mm tap screws and clamps to make the panel stationary. 

I used a white Sharpie to trace the cross members from the chassis.

Consideration: Prior to making anything permanent, I mounted the pieces that are adjacent to the inner wheel wells. These pieces (e.g. radiator undertray, radiator duct panel, outer walls for the foot wells) all interact with the inner wheel wells. Some of these panels need to be riveted together. While I had everything connected, I drilled those holes.

I worked with both sides of the inner wheel wells. I also fit the radiator aluminum pieces together. These all need to fit  together. While I had things clamped, I drilled the holes to connect the radiator undertray to the inner wheel wells.

I marked the back of the inner wheel well. The rule of thumb here is three inch spacing for rivets to chassis, and 2 inch spacing for rivets to other sheet metal panels. 

I finally get to use the silicone I purchased last year.

I started out drilling with a conventional metal drill bit. Halfway through drilling into the chassis cross members, I went down to the hardware store and picked up a pair of 1/8 in ch titanium bits. Now it seems like I drilling through butter. 

You might want to leave the section of the inner wheel wells  un-riveted until after you fit the  outer wall of the foot box to the chassis. It will make it easier to fit things (up by the blue tape in photo).

Consideration: If you have trouble fitting the rivet into the hole, you can either try screwing one of 6mm or redrill to open up the hole.

Both sides are attached and ready to go.

I finish off the install by spraying the rivets with Plasti Dip. Now everything is black on the panel.


Consideration: If you plan to reinforce the radiator undertray (highly recommended), you probably want to drill the common rivet holes before you permanently attached the wheel wells.