These are the most recent postings. See below for previous page(s)

Page 1

July 1, 2008

Yep, 7 months without an update. Most of the progress has been posted on the Euro-Nova forum under Nic's Sterling CCC #416 . I'm posting some pictures here anyway. These might take a bit as they are being pulled from Photobucket.com . When we last left off, I had treated the underside of the chassis with bedliner. Since then I fabricated a cover for the steering box access hole.

And the result. I got carried away and sprayed it with bed liner.
 

Next, I worked on the taillight buckets. I'll spare the before and during pictures and just show you the after. They aren't done yet and I need to re make the top right bucket as I don't like the angle on it.
 

Rear bumper redesign time!

 
I have a few layers of fiberglass on them now, but this is to be the end result.

I dropped the floor pans for headroom, I also will be leaning back a bit. Therefore the stick shift lever needed to be moved back. 10 inches seemed to be the good number.
I bought a new shift handle too, but it'll get
I also shortened the e-brake handle 8 inches and moved the the parking brake cables to a lower location on the handle. This required a cable shortening kit.
 

NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXT! Steering column from a 1996 Pontiac Firebird was purchased for a good price and a steering U-joint from a 90 something
Camaro was also purchase for a good price. The U-joint was cut in half and welded to a piece of the original VW steering column. Worked great! A steering column
support structure had to be fabricated as well.
 
 

Thats about 7 months of work for ya. Next is to get the canopy back on the car so I can figure out the seating, the visual clearance out the windscreen so I can
design and build a custom dash and get to work on the center console.

January 14, 2008

More progress. Zora (my wife) and I flipped the chassis on its side Saturday and I began cleaning off the old under coating with a grinder and wire wheel. Dirty messy job. After cleaning it, it got a bath of mineral spirits to help with cleaning. Then got 2 baths of Acetone to get the rest of the wax and tar removed. I ended up using 2 cans of Duplicolor Truck Bed Liner. It's a spray on application, really easy, but very smelly. Open the doors!!! Here are a few pictures.

January 8, 2008

Much has been done since the last update. I receive a good number of new parts and installed them. In no particular order, the following has been done:
Installed axle tubes, replaced seals at both ends
Painted, rebuilt and installed rear brakes, all moving parts replaced.
Painted, rebuilt and installed front brakes, same as above.
Bolted transmission back in, replace rear mounts, front mount is still in good condition.
Replaced clutch and throttle cables boot.
Installed swing arm torsion plates, lowered rear about 1 notch.
Installed new brake master cylinder.
Painted and installed hard brake lines and soft lines.
Replaced clutch spring.

Some pictures of progress

Side notes: I have been considering seating options. I cut some plywood for seat bottoms, but need to find some dense foam to use for the cushioning.
The Miata seats I have are not going to work, I think they are too large. I still need to move the shifter and parking brake back. I might wait until I get the body temporarily attached to the chassis so I can work with the seating. Once I get the seating positions right, that will tell me where I need to move things to.
Click HERE for an interior idea I had.

November 19, 2007

Long time, no update!

I've been "kinda" busy with the car... I finally pulled the transmission out so I can replace the worn boots and clean up the rear suspension and brake parts.
The mineral spirits on the bench is great for degreasing. I poured some into a spray bottle and spray the parts to be cleaned. Works great! I am hoping to be able
to reuse most of the rear suspension and brake parts. I will buy a rear brake repair kit and new brake pads at least. Most of the other parts should clean up pretty
good. We'll see though.

After MANY MANY MANY unsuccessful attempts at the rear lights, I remade my wooden buck. Instead of it having the "steps" it did, it tapers now. I don't have a picture of the new buck yet. Sorry.

July 30, 2007  

My parts from CIP1.com came in on Friday. Everything I got was great, just what I needed. But no what I expected, but that was due to a fault on my part. The sway bar bushings didn't come with the clamps to attach them to the lower suspension arms. I ordered the wrong part. However, I was able to purchase a new stock set from Bug Stop Saturday morning. I cleaned up the sway bar, removed all the old paint and applied 2 coats of primer and then 2 coats of Chrome Aluminum paint. I'm not sure if I like it though, so it might be re-sprayed. I painted the bushing clips as well.

The struts went on without any problems. I replaced the nuts that came with them with lock nuts from the local hardware store. I feel better knowing they are less likely to back off their threads if they lock into place.

Anti-sway bar and bushing clamps in primer.

 

New struts installed. They're the big silver cylinders next to the wheels. You can JUST see the new
pedal stop bracket behind the pedals too. AND... you can see the boxes from our recent grocery trip.

Better picture of pedal stop bracket.

July 23, 2007

Who has dropped pans? Oh, that's right.. I DO!!!!! 5 full inches of dropped glory. The pans are welded in, primed and the seams have been treated with black silicone
for water/air sealing. On a side note, I ordered 2 KYB front struts, the pedal stopper plate and sway bar bushings from CIP1.com. I opted for free shipping, so it could be up to 2 weeks before they arrive. I still need to move the shifter and parking brake. The shifter needs to move back at least 8" in order for me to reach it without having to lean forward or reach too far. 9" to 10" would be preferable, but I'm not sure what to do about the parking brake. I have been considering a hydraulic parking brake, which would
be most preferable. Then I can get rid of the big 'ol brake handle. HERE and HERE are hydraulic parking brakes. Problem is, I'm not sure if they are street legal, or if I can get away with it if they aren't.
That's it for now. Next update? Not sure, maybe a week or two.

July 18, 2007

Let me start this update by stating the following.... I haven't welded since high school, 1991 at the earliest. So its been a learning experience for me for the last month or so.
The torch I borrowed from a fellow enthusiast came with a #2 tip. After many frustrating attempts, and many painful burns, I finally did some research and found out why
the torch had been "popping" so much. I've been using the wrong sized tip. Thanks to my local welding shop and to Dad for running all over Concord and Pacheco, I now
have a size 00 tip. With all that said... WOW! What a difference a tip makes. nice smooth welds, no popping, no burning of my skin. Night and Day difference.

Now on with the pictures of the progress.

I still need to weld in the "shelf" behind the seat pans. I'm having some problems getting it to "line-up" easily. This area will probably be
bodged horribly as far as welding goes. I have some gaps, some as large as 1/4" or so that will need to be closed/filled. Luckily I have
scrap steel left over that I can use to patch/close these gaps. It wont be pretty, but it'll be done.

After I get the pans welded in, I move on to the very scary and daunting task of moving the shifter and parking break back 6" or so.

July 2, 2007,

It's been a while, but here's an update. Started welding the passenger seat pan this weekend. Other than running out of gas and oxy, it went fairly well.

The tunnel and outer side panels welded in. Actually, the tunnel panel is just tacked in at the front and back.

The underside of the car. I had to flip it on its side to get to these seams.

I should be getting more gas (hahahaha) and oxygen this week so I'll continue then.

In the mean time, another project is to disassemble\dismantle\dismember the drivers side pan that was done OFF the car,
and ended up being too wide for the area it is supposed to fit into. Grrrr...

New Month, New Page....

May 8, 2007

After making irreparable changes to the rear end, it's time to continue in that fashion. Although no CHANGES were made. I have been struggling with the taillight bucket concept for a loooooong time. I have tried to make buckets out of fiberglass on two occasions and didn't do so well. I even made some out of ABS plastic that I vaccu-formed from a wooded mold or buck. Sometime last week I thought I would try using the ABS as a form. Its a little more flexible that the wood. It came out... okay. Not great or even good by any measure, too many holes and air pockets, but I learned and that's important. Here is the result of the first attempt.

Fresh off the mold.


 

I did tear the corner of the fiberglass trying to get it out, but I think that can be repaired if I decide to go this route.

By the way, the Green stuff is called PVA, Poly Vinyl Alchol. I can be brushed on or sprayed on. I sprayed it on in several coats. First two coats are light.
Then followed by 3 very heavy coats. PVA acts as a separating agent between the fiberglass resin and whatever it is sprayed on.

Last weekend I widened the taillight holes I cut. I also re-fabricated the wooden buck I used to make the ABS molds. The rear panel of the car is not flat in either the horizontal or vertical plane. I measured the vertical slope of the rear and then cut the wooden buck to match that angle. You'll see what I mean below. Then I sprayed several coats of PVA, same as above, onto the wooden buck. Then sprayed 1 layer of gel coat and brushed a thicker layer on top of that.
I have 2 ideas from here:

Idea #1. Insert the new buck into the taillight holes and glass the buckets to the car. Doing it this way, would eliminate an extra step. As seen in Idea#2.
Idea #2. Wrap the wooden buck, that has been gel coated, in fiberglass. Remove that piece and glass it to the car.

Below are pictures of the wooden buck sprayed and brushed with White gel coat.

Here you can see the angle that I was talking about above.

Here too.

Next update? Not sure, most likely next week.