Body Shell Preparation

<< Seam Glassing                                                Cockpit rear Window  >>

Major System Category: Body (Shell)
Task: Handle issues on body, prime and seal
Parts: Bondo, fiberglass, Primer (6 cans) and sealer (3 cans)
Prerequisite Tasks: Seam Glassing
Additional Costs: $150
Time Requirement: 40 hours
Date Started: July 20, 2013

Date Completed:  August 3, 2013
At the risk of stating the obvious, the body shell is the largest piece. However, overall it is pretty easy to work. The major seams are basically on top and visible. The one exception are vents forward the rear wheels.

My build has some non-standard additions:

1. The roof scoop. This is a optional piece produced by Factory Five.
2. Replaced the Hatch mesh with Vraptor Hatch louvers.
3. Added Vraptor body louvers.
4. Added Vraptor Side Scoop Louvers.
5. Added Vraptor Wing Mounts.
6. Rocker Panel Extensions. This is a optional piece produced by Factory Five.

This looked nasty all winter and most of the spring. It only came together after I got started using the long sanding block. You can see the buildup along the hatch in the lower right of the photo, and I had not started on the seams.

The roof scoop introduces another set of seams and fiber glass feathering that needs attention. The nice thing about this is everything on top of the roof and easily accessible. The seams are straight and give way to the long sanding block. It all looked very ugly for a long time. The Dura-Block kit is worth its weight in gold.

These louvers are straight forward. Both of these are Vraptor products.

The hatch and body louvers are pretty straight forward, and do not present much of a challenge.

The side scoop louvers have seams top and bottom. In addition, the area has to be cut, sanded and smoothed out. There are curves everywhere. The space is really small. The area that extend out from the top of the louver is a major hassle, because it is up side down.

The side scoop louvers are going to be trouble no matter what you do. It is just very difficult to get any direct leverage inside here. There are seams that need attention and it is just a big hassle. If you have a lift, it helps to raise the car to chest level so you can use your body to apply leverage.

The wing mounts need to be welded to the transmission bracket, and they are currently on order. I don't think I'll be making the rear body cuts until later this fall.

The rocker panel extensions go along the bottom of the car wheel to wheel. They are large enough to protect the vehicle  from some rocks and road debris.

The rocker panel extensions are carbon fiber. So they go on after the body is painted and final install has taken place. If you ordered these, then you don't have to worry about another hard to get area, which is the lip that fits under the chassis.

You can see the A pillar where the hood blends into the contour. I do not have the hood latched in these photos. This gave me fits. The hood scoop certainly better in this shot than the one above.

My car had three areas that caused me headaches:

1. The contour as the seam comes up from the hood along the A pillar. It worked okay on the passenger side, and gave fits getting it smoothed down the driver's side.
2. The driver's side area along the hatch had to build up, because the hatch settled lower on the passenger side. I had to add about 3/16" to this area so the glass sits flush on the hatch.
3. The area between the edge of the hatch and the rear edge of the car. There are two sloping contours that I had trouble getting them sanded right. Maybe I just don't understand how to sand concave shapes efficiently.
   
   

   

   This is another top down shot. The contours on the end of the car that border the louvers is where I had trouble with the seams. The hatch is not latched in this photo.

   
   

Hood Preparation

<< Fender Louvers                                                       next  >>

Major System Category: Body (Hood/Shell)
Task: Clean up all issues on hood through primer
Parts: Primer (6 - 8 cans), Primer Sealer ( 4 cans)
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: 150 - $190
Time Requirement: 70 - 90 hours
Date Started: July  10, 2013

Date Completed:  July 27, 2013

There are no short cuts here. If you don't want to do this part of the build, then farm it out.

This is close to the final version of the hood. It is basically how I spent my summer vacation. I used steel wool as a final stage prior to sealing the primer. This smooths it down close to a glass like surface.  It has been a long journey to this point, but I found I kind of liked the body work and I'm glad I didn't panic and farm it out.

The body work is the area that most intimidates me (not that I'm not intimidated about dropping in an engine and hooking up a seven speed transaxle). The hood presents many challenges:

1. Seams
2. Fender Louvers
3. Headlight/foglights
4. Grille Area
5. Hood Latch area
6. DRLs

If you peruse the Factory Five Forums, you start hearing that the car vanishes for weeks and months before it come back finally painted and finished. There is a princely sum associated with the work, and if it comes in under $15,000, it probably is a bargain. There is a ton of work that needs to be performed to get the car ready for paint.

This is an early photo from 9/27/2012. I just brought the hood back from my neighbor's garage. This looks deceptively easy. The surface is smooth. At this point, I didn't know the grille opening is not centered or that the hood is off by 3/4" or that the Factory Five hood louvers are really sub standard and that I would end up purchasing the Vraptor hood louvers. Ignorance is bliss.

The seams and the fender louvers present the greatest challenge. You can't simply grind down the excess material on the seams and say good enough. There are the following issues:

I spent more time getting the fender louvers right than anything else on the hood.  This is the louver before I did anything to it. I expected the left and right louvers to be identical. They are not. I expected them to line up nicely. They did not.  I am happy I have them, but they are very labor intensive. I spent man weeks getting these right.

• The pieces connected by the seam are uneven, so grinding everything down to a even plane removes too much material.
• The seam needs to have a fiber glass strip to strengthen the area, and this just takes time.
• The hood has seams running from edges closest to the cockpit to forward the wheel wells, then down. There is another seam that runs across the front of the car over the grill.
• Fender louver add a further complication, because they need to be feathered into the rest of the hood, and there are cuts required to make them functional. 

 

This another early photo (9/29/2012) with the Factory Five hood louvers and fender louvers taped in place. I used a cross hatch laser level to figure things. It is sitting at the bottom center on a small tripod. The best way to describe mounting the hood is that there are 100 ways to put the hood on and I settled on the 101st way. Someone who came by to see the car, asked if I intended to take the hood off when I painted the car. I popped open the hood and showed them how it was mounted, then explained, "It is never coming off again."

If you add DRLs, then these need to be custom cut and smoothed out.

Another non-standard mod are my DRLs. I had to cut into the hood just below the grille. These took some time, but eventually I got them mounted properly. It was only later that I realized I had to make them pretty. I might have to do some more work here before everything is perfect.

I think it is easier to do this work with the hood connected to the car, and the car on a lift. This configuration provides a stable platform for the sanding process (and you will do beaucoup sanding).

This is several months later (6/27/2013). The seams are pretty rough at this point. Someone asked me on the Factory Five forum why I bothered fiber glassing the seams, because other builders just ground them down. Yes, you need to get rid of the extra bonding material, but remember we are talking about the strength of the body here on a high performance car. I applied Bondo, fiber glass, more Bondo and sanded and more Bondo and more sanding... Well you get the idea. I have to say that when the front seam blended into the rest of the body I was amazed. At that point, I knew the only standing between myself and a completed car was me.

I use the following products to get the hood prepped:

This product is phenomenal. The can has two chambers: 1 for primer, 1 for fixer. You shake it up for 2 minutes, then pop a button on the bottom of the car. This opens the barrier between the primer and the fixer. Then you shake it for 2 more minutes. Now you have the perfect mix (every time) withe professional fan spray nozzle.

• SprayMax 2K Rapid Primer Filler.
• Dupli-Color Primer Sealer
• Dura-Block autobody kit

A friend commented that there was a lot of nasty Bondo to sand down. He wasn't wrong. I bonded the fender louver to the body using 3M's 8115 panel bond. I then fiber glassed the edges of the louver to the hood. I then spent many evenings feathering the louver into the hood. My bride asked me if I had bitten off more than I could handle. I admitted that might be true. I certainly wondered if this would ever look right.

Once I was satisfied with the primed surface, I went over it with steel wool to eliminate any "pebbly" surface distortions, then I sealed the hood. This stuff is pretty caustic, so get a respirator and face shield.

This is the louver 1 month later.