Thread: '37 Oze build

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Lookin' good, I had a friend show me you can head to the local lazer engraving shop and have them make new emblems for about anything for usually under $10, they might be able to make something that looks custom to replace the caddy emblem. Your doing a nice job!

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Very nice!

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Dave, I wish I could tell you what to do but I can't, I can only tell you what I did on my wildrod project, and I learned it from my buddy who sold their bodies when they where in Canada. He did not use the conventional "cat whiskers" or typical window molding just a small "U" shaped channel that has got a 1/8" gap and the legs are about 1/4" long, he had me roll up my windows and scribe the outside and inside fiberglass the same thickness as the center of the U molding and I took a die grinder with a twist lok 120 grit disk and rolled the window down and ground the door on the inside and outside to the scribed line and then took a continuous piece of the rubber mold and installed it inside and out with 3m weatherstrip adhesive. This finishes off the door nicely and fits snugly against the glass with no rattle and very snug, keep in mind early factory window channel wasn't very water proof on the bottom as the door always had a small drain hole to drain the water that went in on the outside. This is my first post with pics so maybe this will work??

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Originally Posted by Matthyj

Dave, I wish I could tell you what to do but I can't, I can only tell you what I did on my wildrod project, and I learned it from my buddy who sold their bodies when they where in Canada. He did not use the conventional "cat whiskers" or typical window molding just a small "U" shaped channel that has got a 1/8" gap and the legs are about 1/4" long, he had me roll up my windows and scribe the outside and inside fiberglass the same thickness as the center of the U molding and I took a die grinder with a twist lok 120 grit disk and rolled the window down and ground the door on the inside and outside to the scribed line and then took a continuous piece of the rubber mold and installed it inside and out with 3m weatherstrip adhesive. This finishes off the door nicely and fits snugly against the glass with no rattle and very snug, keep in mind early factory window channel wasn't very water proof on the bottom as the door always had a small drain hole to drain the water that went in on the outside. This is my first post with pics so maybe this will work??

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Nice looking build! Definitely a lot more show to it than my car will have!

The rubber seal will definitely hold the window in place and keep water out, but it's more common to use something that has some fuzz or whiskers against the glass, so it won't stick or bind.

Right now, I have "standard" 5/8" wide by 9/16" flexible run channel all the way from the bottom of the window (when it's rolled down) to the top of the frame. All areas that contact the glass are fuzzy or whiskered. Below the window opening, I have aluminum channels that fit the run channel snugly and guide the window up at the proper angle. I had to install the aluminum channels myself and spend many hours filling the hollow window frame area to fit the run channel. The only vacant space is at the bottom of the window, inside and out. Your trim would certainly keep the water out and the installation looks very clean. Do you have a part number from someone like Soffseal? Here's a typical run channel:

http://www.soffseal.com/store/main.a...il&item=SRC073

All doors should still have drain holes in them - new cars have them because you just can't keep all of the water out. Right now, I've only got one small hole in each door, but I'll either enlarge them or slot them to insure proper drainage. The holes are placed so they can't be seen, but will allow the water to escape to the outside.

One of the biggest problems I've encountered with the Oze is no factory support. You'd think that the current Oze owner has never built one of these cars before. For example, Oze suggests a Soffseal SRE798 U-shaped trunk weather strip that is only 1/8" thick at the bottom of the U. It looks nice, but does no good when the gap between the drip rail and the trunk is 1/4- 3/8". You couldn't wash the car or drive it in the rain without getting a trunk full of water. I'm using a much taller E715. When I asked about the proper windshield weather strip, it was like pulling teeth to get an answer, but I finally got a part number for it. Initially I was told that my "glass guy" would know what to use. The glass guys around my area want nothing to do with a hot rod.

SoffSeal Weatherstripping & Rubber Details

I notice that Soffseal's website no longer has the dimensions of each weather strip. Tough to buy a weatherstrip, with no dimensions listed.

Thanks so much for your reply.

To see some of the window installation issues, go to page 16, starting at post #235. Some of the following posts show the hollow window frame area that I completely filled with bondo glass to fit the flexible run channel and the aluminum channels that I made. It was a tough job because Oze permanently bonded some steel support tubes to the inner door skins, right where I needed to bolt my channels. A good builder would have installed run channels, before the door skins were bonded together.

Sweet ride Mattyhyj!

Thanks, give me a few weeks and I will post final pics as I am nearing the end of the build (finally) been a heck of a long build, I don't want to hijack this thread with details!! But as you know putting a early hemi in anything involves extra work! Matthyj

Dave, I understand what your talking about now, most all of these cars I seen complete look pretty poor around the windows because there is no rubber or trim, I think your on the right track. I know sort of what your up against as I bought my body and bare frame in 2006 and the company went out between then and 2011 when I finally got started! I had to fumble through much of the build with know help from the factory, I was lucky I had the glass as I had to fabricate the suspension myself. That's how I fumbled on this site looking for windshield molding, which you happened to help me with!
Here's a tip maybe you or someone could use on 'glass fabrication. I had to fab, armrest, consoles, dash extensions and even an air cleaner (see attached picture). Most I started with a base board (wooden) cut to shape that I contacted Styrofoam to, which I finish shaped with 80 grit sandpaper easily. I then duct taped the foam to keep resin from dissolving the foam, I then sprayed mold release (Oreilly $8-9 bucks) on the duct tape. I then layered cloth the mat on the outside overlapping the board, after dry I trimmed the mat & cloth flush with the board and drilled a hole in the board that I poured lacquer thinner into to dissolve the foam, then I reached in and peeled out the duct tape leaving a nice hollow form like I wanted, you have to body finish the part afterwards but it works well, maybe it will be of use to somebody else. Anyway your doing a great job, keep at it and if I can be of any help let me know as you have helped me already! Matthyj
Interior.jpg

I've used wax to put over duct tape and thet seems to work to keep the matt from sticking too.

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One of the things that I've never dealt with is the poor performance of my Lokar parking brake lever, that will not put out enough force to actuate my Wilwood parking brakes. I trashed the Lokar brake lever and the cables - about $250 in parts and 2-3 days of work. In place of the brake lever, I put two billet aluminum cup holders into the console. Even a hot rod needs a place to put some cans of pop.

I bought an E-stopp electric parking brake actuator that puts out 600 pounds of pulling force and a new Lokar cable set, to replace the old setup. I also bought an E-stop cable combiner bracket, but found that it would not work for my installation. To use the E-stopp bracket, you must have cables that are prefabricated to the exact length needed. I also had an interference problem with a frame cross member that made the bracket unuseable.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/esc-esk001

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/LOK-EC-81FU

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/esc-esb002

As received, the actuator has a 5-1/2 inch long cable housing (including the threaded end) and a cable that's about 11 inches long, fully extended. Apparently, that's a lot shorter cable than older units had. The longer cable made the actuator impossible to install in a lot of cars.

I made my own cable combiner bracket that was compatible with the Lokar brass cable stop that combines both cables. The Lokar stop requires the cables to be placed ¾” apart and ¾” above the frame. I made my bracket from some 3/16” x 1-1/2” and 3/16” x 3/4" 304 stainless steel bar stock that I had on hand.



I found out the hard way that the Lokar cable stop is hard on the cables. If you just cut the cables to length and clamp them down with the two set screws, the ends will be badly frayed, if the cables are ever removed. To fix that problem , I used my TIG welder to ball the ends of the cables this time, so they wouldn’t fray. I had to turn the amperage down to 20, to get some control over the weld. A also practiced on some scrap pieces, to I wouldn’t ruin an expensive stainless steel cable.

My only complaint about the E-stopp actuator is the lack of instructions. I assumed that the actuator cable was fully released when I got the unit, since that’s where it needs to be to hook up the cables from the parking brakes. When I first hooked the actuator to the car’s battery, it immediately released about an inch of cable and fouled things up. I was able to make some adjustments and not have to relocate anything, but it was a setback. If that’s the way these units are always sent out, then they should include instructions that tell the installer to make the electrical hookup early-on and be sure that the cable is fully released, before mounting the cable combiner bracket. They should also tell you that it’s OK to retract the cable, to check the maximum cable travel, or at least tell you how much cable travel is available.

Here's the whole unit, installed. It's about 27 inches from the end of the actuator to the end of the cable combiner bracket. I have a lot more frame rail available, but my oval shaped muffler is positioned only a couple of inches behind my cable combiner bracket. If I had moved the whole thing back further, I'd have to remove a tail pipe and muffler, to make any cable adjustments. If I had no other choice, I might have done that.



I'm seeing more metric parts all the time. The E-stop actuator has metric threads. The cable ends at the parking brake end of the Lokar cable housings are also metric and require a pair of 16mm wrenches to install.