Looks great.. Keep the updates coming.

That is looking great.

For detail you need to bead in something. what I do not know.

If you are wishing to run down a deep habit hole, there is so much you can do with a bead roller. From the simple, to the extreme.

Click to view attachment

Not sure I would waste the days doing something that intricate, but I would add a few just to get rid of any possible tin can effects. I want to see the car on the road, and the huge smile on your face when it is done.

Stephen - I was thinking of a crest on the front section of the removable fire wall panel. Probably not bead rolled...! I'm no where near skilled enough for that.

However, since I'm clearly in no hurry to get it running ( ), I stayed with my "hmmm, I don't like that/think I'll do it over" approach.

As I'm working on the fire wall, I'm not liking the corners - too sharp an angle.
To my eye, it conflicted with the nice, soft 1" round tube edges of the rest of the console... So...

I wasn't sure I could pull it off (and I've only done one corner so the final outcome remains to be seen) but I went "full fiddly" and worked out the necessary angles, cut the appropriate shape and did my first "around a corner" bead.

Then I had to and bend and trim and tweak, but I think it looks LOADS better and keeps a consistent theme with the rest of the corners.

Here's the before and after. I still need to weld and finish that clipped area but:

What say you?

Oooh. I like that! Nice touch.

If you look closely the basics of the crest are bead rolled the rest was etched / scribed. So lay out the shield and a couple of the center dividers and then "cheat" a little and laser etch, acid etch, or CNC the other sections for the look you want. Or cheat the entire thing take it to the beach find an air brush artist and have them brush the crest in.

Since you have a CNC plasma cutter it would be a lot faster the plasma the details out, TIG them on in the best dime stack you can muster and just clear coat it out for the world to see.

I keep being distracted by the fire wall work. I want to get the engine to the dyno guys and all that it needs is to finalize the muffler mount. So...

If this isn't "getting jiggy wi't it", I don't know what is!

Yes, seriously. This really is the fixturing craziness that I came up with.

Almost there...

Sorta like this. I still have to add a flange all around the plate to stiffen it up but you get the idea.

Once the mount is complete, tabs get added to the muffler.
A couple small items after that then the motor comes out and I can get back to work on the chassis and all the remaining sheet metal, Tangerine Racing rear pick up points and the last parts of the rust repair.
Still a ways to go...

Nice progress there, I'd have been happy with the beaded corners but the radius is nicer to inadvertently bump against. That muffler bracket is lovely.

I've been finally able to spend some time looking at those roof panel pieces and figuring out how to mount one...

That earlier version of the muffler bracket plate simply wouldn't do. A little plasma table and some added style points.

Still need to finish welding but you get the idea. It's not real light, but it likely won't ever fail!

Chris that looks great, nice design and artwork all in one.

In with Stephen on this. Couldn’t say it better.

Dang Chris, you need to be a designer at Bugatti or Pagani....nice

If you’re interested in doing the design thing at Bugatti, the head of designs daughter goes to school with my youngest. He is a Porsche fan too. Achim Ansheit?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eAY5fRglsb4

You and I simply do things so much differently


Good enough just isn't in your vocabulary

Thanks for the kind words, gents. It does help with the motivation.

Back to the fire wall.
I wasn't happy with any of my ideas for closing in the upper portion because they all seemed to conflict with the 1" round edges of the console. So I took a step back and tried to get a clean slate in my head about what this should look like.

Here's the latest: Continue the console all the way up to the top! Still a few things to work out and, as always, it's not over til it's over but I think I like this better.

The front of it will still be removable for access.

I needed a break from the fire wall. The chassis has a few more spots that need rust repair so I figured I'd get after the frunk seal channels.

Time for my best effort at an impersonation of Brent, Cary and Kent...

I think I missed it. What's a frunk?

I'm trying to pay more attention, now.

front trunk

You'll be able to do that with your eyes closed. Looking great so far.

Typical. It's always worse than you think it'll be.
With all the other things I've been doing, I hadn't really looked that closely at this part of the car. As I did, it was clear that I had more to do than I'd originally thought.

This is a BUB car so it has that model's frunk seal channel that's a bit different as it runs across the front of the car. Upon closer inspection, I figured it'd just be easier to lop the whole thing off and fab a channel repair part that was more like the earlier cars'.

Let's start with what hides between spot welded seams. Looks like my plan was more than just a good idea... it was sort of a requirement.

Then I used my trusty curve template thingy to get an idea of the curve I'd need.
It always amazes me just how much curve there is in some parts of these little "square" cars.

Cut and bend some 20 ga.

Then it's off to the shrinker, test fit, shrink, test fit...
Oops, too much! Stretch, test fit, shrink.

I'm calling this my cardio workout for the day.

OK, that's getting there.

"Hmmm"
"Well" and "Oh, boy!"

It curves both ways...

Of course it does.

Off to the stretcher! Repeat of the earlier process. Fit, adjust, fit adjust...

There we go.

A bit more fine tuning, but you get the idea. Just more fiddly stuff.

Well done! I love that curved template thingy and had no idea the BUB channels were different. Interesting to watch.

Chris it’s always fun to watch your skills at work. Nice channel building.

I didn’t realize the ID plates were mounted in different locales.
Mine is mounted on my passenger side headlite “box”.

Thanks Dion - Yep, earlier cars had the ID on the headlight box, the '75/'76 had the ID plates on the front firewall.

Looks like real work, I am starting to embrace my rust

That template tool is one of the simplest and coolest tools I've seen! Great work with the stretcher! Its like it was made to do this type of work !

I have told you before but you have mad skills.

Keep it going.

Thanks for taking us with you on this reworking of this unreal car.

Bob B

Thanks again! I really appreciate all the nice comments.
Back to it, then.

A quick reminder: use up your consumables! I mean really!

As I was looking at what else I'd have to fab, I remembered I'd saved some of the needed pieces when I cut up that '72 parts car last year. So it seems I did notice this area but forgot! (Well, I am turning 60 this month... )

So, a bit of fitting and I don't have to fab these complex little pieces. Nice.

And with those pieces in place, I could finalize the front channel.
It really does fit pretty nicely. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Fabbed up and welded in the underside portion of the headlight bucket channel. I still need to trim the vertical edge to the appropriate height.
Then I moved on and fabbed the lower edge that spot welds on. Here it is ready for final fitment.

A little more shrinking/stretching to get the front edge channel width where it needed to be and it was time to spot weld it in. It turned out just like I'd hoped it would.
and and it's all done!

And it's funny, all the hard work and it gets totally covered by the seal. Ah well, I know it's well de-rustified. And this is just the old seal used as a test fit. All new rubber will be used for the reassembly.

With the channel repairs complete, it's back to all the other stuff...

Finishing the channel repairs was a nice break from the "how do I want to do this" work I'd been doing. Feeling a bit re-engergized, it's back to the fire wall.
Both upper frame tubes are fabbed and fitted. Now to work out how to close everything off/up.

And that's just copper-rich weld through primer on the frames. Some areas will be welded, some riveted but I wanted to get some protection on the bare metal.

A number of folks have commentrd on/asked about the curve tool. Years ago, a buddy got it for me as a b-day gift. This Eastwood product looks to be the same thing. May be available cheaper elsewhere but for those interested, there you go!

https://www.amazon.com/POWERTEC-71056-Flexi...&ref=plSrch

Seems like I keep posting the same shots, doesn't it? But there really are differences as I keep making incremental changes.
I'm liking the ways the angles play. Everyone seems to be getting along.

And pretty quickly, it's back to the fiddly stuff. First attempt at one of the upper filler piece templates. I'm still noodling on the details of the design for this area.

Your engine and exhaust look so good thru the openings in the firewall. Maybe you should find some heat resistant transparent material to make windows.

Chris, you are a bad influence... I ended up getting me a bead roller (manual for now), so inspired by your build! Of course mine will be nowhere close to having the same amount of detail or craftsmanship

Ha! Says the guy with the CNC...
Mike, you’re going to love the bead roller and believe me, you’ll find all sorts of things to do with it.

Finalized the muffler assembly by adding the mounting tabs and used the mount as the fixture.
Using the tapered head bolts automatically centers the hole in the tab with the mounting boss. Neat little trick.

All mounted! I'll replace the bolts with something more appropriate.