Page 5, The saga goes on...
8/21/00 cont. I also built a rocket ship this weekend, by accident. After I got the alignment correct on the trunk latch, I had to release the male part. It has a large spring on it. So when I pulled the release cable off goes the latch! It flew at lease 20 feet up and back. Maybe I'll drop a note to NASA on this. I wonder how big a spring they'll need on the shuttle.
Anyway, hinged on the trunk lid, mounted thr prop rod, and did a little grinding on the lid for fit. Looks good and it works. I now have a real trunk! I also got my personalized license plates this past Friday. So I've got a picture of the finished trunk, with license.
Next step, mount the tonneau. I wanted to mount it so it can be removed, for whatever reason. Henry suggests rivets, I decided on bolts and nuts. I called Henry, and he sent five 1/4  X 20 captured nuts. I set the tonneau in place and marked locations for the nuts. The tonneau falls naturally into place, and that's a big help in locating it. I decided to locate the mounting hardware through the double panel in the body, where the trunk hinges go. The 3 locations are one on the center line, and one each at about one inch in from the ends of the double plate. You can reach all 3 spots from the trunk. I measured the flange on the tonneau to determine the locations for the holes on the body, and drilled 5/16" holes. This size is for the necessary fudge factor. I placed the tonneau, and marked it through the body holes fot location of the captured nuts. When I mounted the nuts in the tonneau, I made a small mistake. I should have ground the inner edge of the tonneau flat before mounting. I got some not perpindicular angles, which causes alignment problems. The nuts mount right at the edge of the tonneau flange. I would suggest making lots of alignment marks on the tonneau, and the body to help with the mounting. With these mounting points, plus the two mounting screws at the B pillars, I now have a secure mounting, and it's easy to install and remove. Another successfull engineering job!  I just hope this is strong enough to hold the roof in place at freeway speeds.
8/28/00 OH MY, It's almost September!!! Good thing this weekend was so productive. This was the weekend to start on the front of the project. I had been worrying about the cuts on the front since I first started the project. Henry kept saying everything makes more sense once you get into it. Well, he's right. With book and saw in hand, away I went. Actually, I spent at least an hour trying to get the cut lines layed out. 3 1/2" from in front of the steering box I understand, but how to transfer the mark to the other side? Finally figured it out. I used my levels and square, and determined that 3 1/2" from the front of the steering box equates to 7 3/4" from the sway bar. Sounds simple, but took quite some time to figure out. So, sawzall time again. God, I love the power tools! In total, the truck lost another 6" in length and about 40 - 50#. Next step, mount the new radiator.
   OK, now I've got a big pile of bits to put together to make a cooling system. Hummm, wires and fans and brackets and stuff. Mounting the brackets to the radiator was no big deal, but how to mount the fan? It came with 4 mounting brackets, but I'm on my own on how to mount to the radiator. Hummm.......
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Look Ma, a real trunk lid. It even works! Still needs some sanding for good fit.
8/28/00 cont. Ok, so I've got flanges O plenty on the radiator, but no holes in the right place. That's the problem. Ah, ha! The light goes on. I bent the fan brackets 90 degrees, at the point where they intersect the flanges for the radiator mounting brackets. Drill some holes and,  TA DA, fan mounting points. Damn, I'm good! I still think this is a fun project. Makes me think. But wait, there's more! Mounting the radiator assembly to the frame was no problem, just drill the holes, and put the RUBBER BUSHINGS in place. More on that later. The next trick is getting radiator hoses that fit. Off to the parts store with old hoses in place. I had to go through 3 clerks, but the third one was the charm! She took the time and got me exactly the right parts. Like they were made for the project.  OK, so now is time to install the electrics for the fan. Relay, with wires everywhere. This is a good fan kit. All the wires are imprinted with what they do. What a good idea. Figured out the relay mount, cut and splice the wires together, grounded the fan and filled the radiator. Time to start the truck. Gosh, it sure is quiet without the old fan! I wonder how many horsepower I get with losing the 20# fan? Ok, so I'm now waiting for the electric fan to come on. Wow, the temp gage works! It didn't before. That's good. But it sure is going up, 180, 200, 230 degrees, and no fan! That's bad. What did I do wrong? I check the sensor, it's a little loose, so I crank it in some more, no fan. Getting pretty hot, so I gst a jumper wire and short the sensor to ground, and I get fan. Good no overheating, but why won't it go on automatically??? After 30 minutes, or so, finally the light goes on. NO GROUND on the radiator. RUBBER BUSHINGS!!! Oops. I put in the ground wire, and everything is OK now.
I also started some sanding this weekend. I needed to sand the trunk lid, door jams, as well as the front fender stubs. I was using power tools, but getting wavy lines. So off to the store, again. I picked up some 60 grit paper, fill sheets. I cut a 2X4 to the length of the sheet and wrapped the paper around it. Off I go with this, and it works great! Straight lines, and the excess glass just melts off! Next step, mount the fender stubs and the front end. This was a good weekend. I feel like I can actually get this done. I should have the Rodster in the driveway in about two weeks!
Oscar Myer won't be the only hot dog on the road when I'm done!
9/5/00 I can't belive it's September! Where has this year gone? It seems like I just started dreaming about this project, and now  it's almost time to take it home. Seems like the project has been a measure of the summer. I had a very productive last several days. Everything is just falling together. I installed the roof. Getting the rear window installed  was the hardest part of that part. I had to cut out the opening, creating another snow storm of fiberglass. I had never installed a window before, and the rubber seal fought me every inch of the way. I did finally get it installed. I cut the seal to the proper length, trial fit it into the opening, and everything looked good. After installation, the seal was 1/4 inch too short. Oh, well, I'll fix that with black sillacone sealer. This weekend was time to actually hang the front end. I got the hinge bar mounted in place with no trouble. I then placed the front clip on the bar and swung it into place. Guess what? It didn't fit. I didn't cut the clearance notches in the fenders. It was also hitting in several places. Good thing I didn't mount the headlights. I could just stick my head into the holes and see what wasn't clearing. Turned out the front was hitting in several places. I had to cut more off the frame. That was good, more power tools. Then there was a few other points that needed grinding. I also had to replace the overflow bottle. Mounting the new one took over an hour. Trying to find space wasn't easy, but it's installed now. Bottom line, the front is in place, ready for lamps and final fastening. I got the fender stubs glued into place, and stepped back to look. My god, I've built a car!!! I've cut off the window frame from one door, I'll be doing the other one soon. Hang the doors, let's go cruising!!!
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