|
|
 Posted 12/8/2016 5:53:32 PM |
|
|
Junior Member
 
Last Login: 12/8/2023 10:53:05 AM
Posts: 34,
Visits: 1,142
|
|
Do you have the contact info for the guy who transported your body? It would be great to knows who's out there, having experience and the space in their rig to haul it. Keep up the good work. Where are you in the Bay Area, I'd love to come see your project!
|
|
|
|
| Posted 12/8/2016 10:50:44 PM |
|
|
Junior Member
Last Login: 9/27/2021 4:59:23 PM
Posts: 62,
Visits: 344
|
|
@surfin: my good friend from highschool actually works at the steel company and gave me great discounts and a free delivery #winning!
@Michael Keaton I am in the fairfield area....you are in the bay? working on a build? The transport company is GT Auto Transport out of Sac...they have done a few deliveries for gotham cruisers and gave me an unbeatable rate....
 
|
|
|
|
| Posted 12/19/2016 7:38:41 PM |
|
|
Forum Member
Last Login: 12/6/2023 2:20:22 PM
Posts: 254,
Visits: 3,355
|
|
| Looks good. A lot of good info here
|
|
|
|
| Posted 12/22/2016 10:25:30 AM |
|
|
Junior Member
Last Login: 9/27/2021 4:59:23 PM
Posts: 62,
Visits: 344
|
|
Info update:
Suspension:
I just received my air ride suspension (EZ Air Ride CPBBD). I went with the 4 way as I found in my research that a two way (one control for the front, one for the back, as opposed to an individual control over each corner of the vehicle...gives you a greatly reduced handling car, and not like Im planning on taking corners at 80mph....but its only slightly more, and I felt like I might as well do it now) and it looks great. Also bought a polyurethane bushing kit for the body and the suspension...so its time to get some things mounted here in short order.
BODY WORK:
I have been doing research on body filler....the universal consensus is that Bondo brand stuff is garbage. It hardens like concrete and is difficult to work with. Evercoat is the premiere brand along with 3M products.
Evercoat has two primary products I was scouting, "Rage Gold" and "Rage Xtreme" both are highly touted as being the best, easiest to sand products for filler out there. Xtreme has the tag line of having no pinholes due its specialness...but its also very thin, so it isnt as ideal for vertical filling. Gold is thicker and has nearly no pinholes as well....so what many have said is they use Gold for the fills and finish with Xtreme.
I have a neighbor who works in a body shop with 25+ years experience, and he recommended going with a fiber reinforced filler (has the little fiberglass strands in the filler)...commonly known as "Kitty Hair" which is ideal for body seam work, which is what I will be using it for. He said I could use Rage Gold and it will be just fine, but its advantages are really when you are filling in large areas, like dents or holes, so you want that smooth, easily sanded product, but with the reinforced Kitty hair products it is stronger and being that its for seam work primarily, it would be better suited. Its a little more work to sand, but...so what. He also uses it to fill in scratches etc...its a versatile product.
He said a gallon should cover what I need to do on this kit. Amazon has them for roughly 60$. Kitty hair has long strands, so I found Evercoat's "Everglass" product which is the same, except the strands are shorter....so I went with that. I also found this is the same product Matt used for his Mattmobile, so I feel like it was a good choice.
REGISTRATION:
I have been doing some research on registering this, as I want it to be street legal (in CA...where car politics is insane)...here is what I have gotten:
first I found that there is a special build license you can get for kit cars (SB100) which would allow you to register it as a batmobile, and be smog exempt....however in order to get this, you have to provide receipts and paper trail for every piece of the car...primarily engine, tranny, etc. CA was giving out 500 a year, which, when first implemented would be taken up within the first couple days of the year. Supposedly with the first rush of people taken care of, and the economy down, they are now more easily available. However I heard that the number of licenses may have been brought down to 200....
I have consulted a few different resources, including a cop, and a machine shop guy who specializes in custom engines, etc....they both said that its not even worth trying...its too difficult to the point of being nearly impossible.
The machine shop guy said that there are people with "more money than God" who get a hold of all these licenses and he heard of one having a 10k price tag on it...
he made a few calls, and according to him, and the cop...as long as it has its VIN, matching engine type, and tags, it is good to register it as what the car was originally (95 caprice in my case) as it is just considered a body mod and you dont even need to do a brake n light inspection with CHP....however according to the cop, the CHP is the real obstacle, as their job is tickets and accidents, so for your regular local cop, they dont care....if you have tags, thats all they look for. There are too many DMV laws for them to know specifically what is what. However CHP will definitely be able to spot certain things such as lights...so it needs to have the lights set up according to the standard that the original car has....which means for the 95 caprice, I need to have the third brake light in the middle of the rear of the car...head lights must be 22" off the ground, turn signals must be visible on the side, etc
Main issues Im working on now:
Radiator:
The space for the radiator is extremely tight, I was told that I need a custom one built, or possibly speedway motors has one....but from what I can see, speedway doesnt have one that would work.....so I guess I need to go custom...which Im cringing at what that will likely cost. Being that the caprice radiator/condenser has a bunch of connections etc....I have to make sure I get every detail down for the custom order, because they are non refundable.
30 cals:
I really want the authentic replicas that fire (propane/oxygen of course) but the only real lead I found has them listed at $2500 a pop which is just not gonna happen. I will only realistically be able to fire them off a couple times probably ever...so I cant see myself spending 5k on that....please somebody throw me a frickin bone on this...
Recaro seats:
I really want the authentic fishnet recaro seats, but they are pretty rare, and a pair goes for about $1500. I see some have gone with honda civic seats, ford focus seats, etc....but I dunno....I kinda want the recaro's but looking for a better deal if possible.. Most that I have found (ebay) are overseas so its like $300 for shipping alone...anyone has a better lead?...let me know
|
|
|
|
| Posted 12/22/2016 11:03:14 AM |
|
|
Supreme Being
Last Login: 4/6/2024 5:28:59 PM
Posts: 1,684,
Visits: 5,334
|
|
I have to agree on the bondo, it is cheep stuff and not good.
he made a few calls, and according to him, and the cop...as long as it has its VIN, matching engine type, and tags, it is good to register it as what the car was originally (95 caprice in my case) as it is just considered a body mod Yeah, that's the way it is in my state as well. I think some states have different rules though.
As far as the guns. You could try building them yourself. I thought I saw someplace online that was selling the component's, but I can't remember where now.
|
|
|
|
| Posted 2/26/2017 7:09:08 PM |
|
|
Junior Member
Last Login: 9/27/2021 4:59:23 PM
Posts: 62,
Visits: 344
|
|
Been a couple months since Ive updated...I have spent most of the time doing body work, which is going to be an ongoing thing, and buying new parts....I bought seats...not going with the Recaros...I couldnt justify the price at this point in the build so I might get some later, depending...I installed new bushings which was a PAIN IN THE @$$!!! I also bought and now installed a new exhaust system...glass pack mufflers, so Im hoping for a nice sound once I get it all running. I also installed the airbags and it felt great to push a button and have the whole car rise up...I removed the replacement transmission crossmember we installed, and went back to the factory to make better space for the exhaust pipes....and also have begun cutting some of the steel plating I have to mount the floor pan and create the firewall....AND i just bought my wheels and tires. Im going with hoosiers instead of Mickey Thompsons. The MT's have an inner tube, and dont look quite as nice as the hoosiers to me, so I went a different path.
challenges on deck:
- since I bought my re-manufactured engine, I havent got it all together and running yet, so I want to get that going soon. I will need to buy a gastank and custom radiator for that soon.
- extending power steering lines to reach the steering box
- mounting the floor pan and assessing the head room
- mounting the steering column
installing the airbags, working on the back of the dashboard panel
new exhaust:
body work:
measuring up floor pan for mounting:
new steering wheel and column:
the cave, preparing to cut steel for interior cockpit mounting:
steel cut for the firewall:
steel cut for bottom of floor pan:
exhaust mounted, factory transmission crossmember remounted:
custom exhaust hanger hooks connected to rubber mounts:
rear end: exhaust and air bags:
|
|
|
|
| Posted 2/26/2017 7:56:47 PM |
|
|
Junior Member
Last Login: 11/17/2023 11:50:54 PM
Posts: 74,
Visits: 1,326
|
|
you have made a heap of progress...well done.
I see you are running the exhaust under the car. Have you made sure the shell will sit in the right position so that when the airbags are aired down that it sits nice and close to the ground?
Also what is that steering wheel off?
Keep up the good work
|
|
|
|
| Posted 2/26/2017 9:40:24 PM |
|
|
Junior Member
Last Login: 9/27/2021 4:59:23 PM
Posts: 62,
Visits: 344
|
|
thanks!
We have done measurements and when the air bags and chassis are at its lowest point it should still have about an inch of clearance...once we get everything in place if we have to adjust we will, but we should have plenty of room...
the steering wheel is an F1 style steering wheel; meant for import racers I think, but I love the style...and we are making it fit...it does have some "type R" text on the wheel (which I believe is for Acuras) but Ill paint it over or something; here is the link to it
|
|
|
|
| Posted 2/27/2017 4:31:36 PM |
|
|
Supreme Being
Last Login: 4/6/2024 5:28:59 PM
Posts: 1,684,
Visits: 5,334
|
|
Man that looks great. 
|
|
|
|
| Posted 3/1/2017 10:39:17 PM |
|
|
Junior Member
Last Login: 1/13/2024 9:34:39 PM
Posts: 25,
Visits: 833
|
|
Hello,
Very glad to see the progress on your build. I have what I think is the first body from Doug's molds.
I think what you described as Bondo looking like "toothpaste" might be the clay they used to fill the seams in the molds before they lay up the fiberglass.
Dave B.
Connecticut
|
|
|
|