My son Nick helped me make some interior and trunk panels for the VR today. He also took her for a quick spin so I could take this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkcvC...layer_embedded
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My son Nick helped me make some interior and trunk panels for the VR today. He also took her for a quick spin so I could take this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkcvC...layer_embedded
Lookin' good out on the street, Wes!!!! Now are you going to be able to get it away from your son??????:LOL::LOL:
Yep, he'll be claiming driving rights on the "Maiden Voyage Clause":LOL::LOL: That's going to look like a million bucks with paint, Wes. You've done a fantastic job on it.
I agree! That's a sweet ride! So cool that you shared it with your son too..
I've been pondering hood pins for a while now. I was at the AHA "Fun Under the Sun" kit car show in Pomona last weekend. Saw a Velo Rossa that was going for the classic look by using leather straps to secure the hood. The enormous belt buckles really detracted from the sleek lines of the car. An to add to the distraction, the builder used the VR style tilt front end AND had the original style center hood opening. Why? :confused: That means it had four of those big buckles mucking up the front end. I had already made a tentative decision on my latch arrangement, and after seeing that VR, I felt much better about my choice.
I chose the modern Aerodynamic panel fasteners from Aerocatch.
I toyed with mounting them on the side of the tilt hood but the curvature seemed too extreme and problematic for my feeble mind to tackle. So I went for what I perceived to be the simplest mounting spot... the old Z's fresh air intakes in the cowling area under the windshield.
After a little eyeballing, I marked the spots on the hood and made my cutouts.
Attachment 57902
A couple of brackets tacked into the vent openings and the pins are mounted.
Attachment 57903
I'll be making a new fiberglass cowling to fit under the hood. I'm working with this cardboard template for now.
Attachment 57904
I'll mold in a "cup" to conceal all but the pin and nut.
Attachment 57901
I think the final look is pretty slick.
Attachment 57905
Bought some cheap carpet at Home Depot to make a temporary interior. Covered the trunk and did a little two tone up front. It'll do for now.
Attachment 57906Attachment 57909
Attachment 57907Attachment 57908
You make even the "temporary" look great!!! Nice choice on the "hood pins" too!!!!:D:D
X2! Your "temporary" looks great! As well as the hood pins..
Nice job on the carpeting, and the hood "pins" rock! They look sleek and are very secure. Good choice, great install!
Nice work Wes! Taking advantage of this warm weather I see! Love your choices for the hood latches. Very cool clean look. Can't imagine the car with a beltbuckle hood holddown...just detracts from those beautiful italian lines!
Well here it is.... Classic??...or ??????
Attachment 57913
Nah, you took the right approach 110%! The buckles are nice on period correct vehicles from back in the day, but they simply don't fit on that sleek red beauty. He's ruining the lines, like you said.
Your latches IMO "fit" the car a whole lot better then a bunch of belt buckles bouncin' around on the paint!!!!
As mentioned, you nailed it with your choice of latch. On the red car, did the roof fold away like a correct convertible or have to be pulled apart and stored in the trunk ? I do like your thinking on the panel under the hood to finish the cowl area, it is those little things that makes your car out shine others of the same, eg, the red one with buckles and straps.
What Dave said
Maybe if they didn't "cover" the car in buckles... Seems way overdone!
SO it makes your selections look a lot better!
It folds down in the area behind the seats. It's typically a TR7 top with some slight modifications. That's what this one appears to be, but I couldn't find the owner to confirm. And the other weird thing is the 'wing' windows. Never seen that on a 250 GTO or on a Datsun Z donor.
I'm thinking about making a removable fiberglass top for those rainy days when I just gotta drive the VR.
Something like these hard tops.
Attachment 57923.
A little photoshop work and it might look something like this.
Attachment 57950
As long as it comes off......the car is just way too cool topless to go adding a permanent bulky top! Your design looks way better than those others anyway! And your wheel & tire choice plus your innovative styling cues put you light years ahead of the others.....just sayin'! :D
Thanks for the kind words, Randy.
Top would only be used on those few days a year here in Norcal, when you absolutely can't drive topless.
Wes we were looking at the hardtop convertable Cadillac XLR's. Best of both worlds there. To bad that's not an option! But a hard top/soft top combo is still pretty cool! My friend loves the XLR, but would never dump 72k when they first came out, ironically there are two for sale in our area for under 25k with low miles on them.
Anyway back to the Fauxrrari, it looks great right now!
Steve, my wife loves her VW Eos with it's retractable hardtop. Unfortunately that technology is way above my pay grade.
In the way of progress, I took my first trip to DMV with paperwork in hand. With an appointment, I was in and out in 30 minutes.:) Walk-ins were waiting up to 3 hours!!:eek::eek: After paying $146 in fees, I left with my BAR certificate of sequence number and two one day operation permits.
Two days ago I drove to he closest inspection station for the brake and lamp inspections. Passed the lamp inspection fine, but I was told the brakes were pulling to the right too much, and would need some work. The good news is they didn't charge me for the brake inspection since all the tech did was a test drive.
After talking with the tech., it seemed the most likely cause of the pulling brakes was the 40 year old hoses, since the calipers, rotors and pads are all new. After replacing the hoses yesterday, it still pulls to the right, albeit somewhat less.
I know I need a front wheel alignment, but what else could be causing my problem??
Ok...I think I've solved the brake issue. While replacing the tension rod bushings, I noticed the calipers wobbled slightly on their mounts. Apparently I left out the lock washers when I mounted the calipers. The mounting bolts bottomed out in the holes leaving the calipers slightly loose.
With the washers installed the calipers are mounted solid and she stops perfectly straight.
She still drifts slightly to the right when cruising, so I'll get her aligned tomorrow and then head back to the inspection station this week.
Glad the DMV was a breeze for you but.. what's the BAR Cert.? And you got out of there for 146 bucks?!?! That was cool.
In comparison, a friend just registered his 29 A after 15 or 16 years of "building it".. he had to use a title service in New York and then went to the DMV here in Mass., his paperwork sailed through until they decided the cars value would be $10,800! :eek:
He swallowed hard and wrote the check to cover the 6 1/8 % tax on the nearly 11 grand! And he still had to pay the registration fees for the priviledge of going to the registry, oh and another title fee! :HMMM:
BAR is the California Bureau of Automotive Repair. They're in charge of Smog among other things. Under California legislation (Senate Bill 100) BAR provides 500 Smog waivers (called certificates of sequence) per year to home built vehicles. It allows the owner of the the vehicle to choose between the year of the engine or the year the body style most represents when determining what year to title the vehicle. If the smog referee cannot match a year to the body, the default year is 1960. Without the waiver I'd have to meet current smog requirements.
I don't think I'm finished with fees yet...especially since I'll be applying for personalized plates.
Thanks for the info! Over here in Mass. it was decided by the legislature that EVERY vehicle would now have to meet some emission standards. So to do a rod or replica comes to the same thing, essentially buy a late model complete car and place your body over the running gear/chassis. What "they" are after is the vehicle to have the OEM certification (certified equipment) all in place and intact. Even a gear ratio change cannot be greater than 10% from stock/original.
That's why I rushed mine into completion to beat the deadline so I didn't need to meet the emission standards and all the registration hurdles.
So the new "trick" now is to do a restoration of sorts and register your ride as an original and then hot rod it. But a lot of the old cars just don't have titles as they were never needed 'til about 10 years ago. So guys need to jump through these hurdles by getting the car registered / titled out of state and then "buy" the car and register it in Mass. and keep it "original looking" in case the state wants to inspect it.
It's all a mess! The state model A club tried meeting with the registrar to air grievences with the legislation to no avail, they were told there won't be any changes except it's clear that "old cars" have a finite life span now...
Time for another Tea Party!
It's amazing how politicians can be manipulated. The car hobbyist is such a small part of the automotive industry, yet environmental groups have persuaded government that hotrods and home build vehicles are such a huge menace that they need to be regulated.
Now I'm not saying that an any unsafe piece of junk should be allowed on the roads, but an individual building a single car for his own enjoyment, shouldn't have to meet the same standards as the original manufacturer that is selling tens of thousands of units to the uneducated (in automotive terms) public.
I think California's process is at least reasonable. Basic safety checks, brakes and lights, and a way to maintain some air quality without overburdening the home builder.
A really good looking custom.
i wouldnt call it a hotrod but who cares
that thing would make me sprain my neck looking at it at a stoplight.
especially once i heard the engine
Having said that, I am reminded of a story conveyed to me when I did an engine swap many years ago. It illustrates the incongruity between some of the California Smog requirements.
This guy did an engine swap into a late '60 something (smog controlled at the time of the swap) Ranchero. He used the entire 5.0 power train from a '90 something Mustang GT. Smog regulations require all the original smog equipment from the 'Stang be present on the Ranchero. So he ran dual exhaust with two catalytic converters, exactly like the 'Stang. When tested it's emissions levels were way under the limits for the strict '90 something year of the engine. However, it failed the visual inspection because of the catalytic converters. Seems, smog regulations will not allow retrofitting a car with catalytic converters. Why? No one at BAR could give an answer. So the cats were removed and the Ranchero retested. It now passed the visual inspection just fine, but it pumped out multiple times more emissions. Failed, right?? Wrong!! Turns out it only had to meet the standards of the year of the Ranchero. Which it just barely did.
Go figure...
Second trip to get the brakes inspected, ended like the first...failed. Too much travel in the brake pedal. A rebuilt vacuum booster was the remedy. Third time's the charm... she passed.:D
Back to DMV Thursday, then off to CHP for a vin verification.
YEP! Third times a charm! :D Glad to hear you're on your way! Congrats!!:)
Proof no job is complete till the PAPER work in done. Congrates
Way to go Wes.
Trip to CHP office was a breeze. All my paperwork was in order. The only snag occurred when I was told that the old vin plates had to come off and be surrendered. That meant a trip home to drill out the rivets. No big deal. With my old plates in hand, a new vin number was issued and a new plate affixed to the drivers door jam. The metallic tag has an adhesive backing, but two rivets are provided by CHP that must be installed by the owner. I was instructed to drill holes at the marked locations on the tag and tap the rivets into place with a hammer. The rivets act as anchors as well as anti-tamper devices.
Attachment 58121
One more hoop to jump through before DMV title and registration is complete... Smog referee inspection next week.
One more?? Well. Here's hopin' it continues to go along smooth.
A newly issued/installed VIN plate is a beautiful site! Congratulations!
Made it over one more hurdle! Congrats Wes!