Whew! The last month has been a whirlwind. I spent at least 6 hours a day in the shop for the 2 weeks leading up to Final Bout SSNW and I
still have a lot left to wrap up.
I finished shaping the hood vent and covered it in a layer of aluminum tape, which was supposed to make it easy to remove the fiberglass once cured.
Removing the vent was a bit of a challenge. I only did one layer, figuring I didn't want to build up thickness on the outside layer, which ended up causing the fiberglass to crack in a couple spots as I was fighting to remove it. Probably would have been a lot easier if it was a less complicated shape.
Here's where I fucked up:
1. For doing the second layer of fiberglass, I just did one layer on the inside and let it cure upside down on a flat surface. I should have just sat it on what was left of the mold once it started to cure so it'd be in the position it's supposed to end up in.
2. I wasn't super sure on how I wanted to bond the vent to the hood, so I left a bit of a fiberglass skirt, sanded off the gel coat of the hood, and applied resin. In retrospect, I should have trimmed to size to sit on top of the hood and then added some sheets of glass to attach it.
But anyway, I went ahead with the original plan and attached it to the hood. The driverside, which is where it had cracked during removal, was somewhat problematic and wouldn't sit flush without some added pressure.
And then after a coat of kitty hair and another of putty and like 8 hours of sanding I had to throw in the towel as I was running out of time.
The diffuser needed some mild repairs. Those were much easier haha
And got everything prepped. I was supposed to have new fenders and overs, but they didn't make it in time
Paint time!
Came out a bit too glossy
Especially compared to how the aero and all the other doodads came out. Ended up having to sand the car down and hitting it with a fresh coat of satin clear. I think my friend doing the paint started regretting taking on this experiment having never worked with satin paint before lol
While painting was being done, I took the opportunity to get my wheels powdercoated and rebuilt them.
Cleaned up hardware after a good 2 week soak in Evapo-Rust.
Did some face swapping and got a new set of lips/barrels and wound up with a pair of 17x9.5 +0's and four 17x10 +11's (pair of SL and pair of NR with different size lips/barrels).
Always loved the gunmetal on gunmetal look
At some point between coats of paint I was able to install the Kpower intake manifold and Chase Bays catch can and coolant reservoir
And then the final thing before first start: custom throttle cable. I ended up removing the oem cable and reusing it's bracket, which the new throttle cable slid into perfectly. I wound up with a ton of extra deadzone adjustability, but if my years playing with BMX and dirtbikes taught me anything, it's never cut the cable until you've got the feel dialed in.
So last Tuesday was make or break day. I had exhaust and some minor fab things set up for Wednesday, tune Thursday, and final assembly somewhere in between to tackle before departure on Friday. Andddd of course I forgot the computer with the Kpro software. Tried to start up anyway and we got it running on starting fluid, but couldn't get it to stay running. After a couple hours of taking shots in the dark I decided to throw in the towel. It was obvious it wasn't going to be ready for the fabwork in the morning, which set off the series of dominoes. It's likely for the best that I didn't force things as none of my team mates ended up being ready in time either.
Anywho, after a nice relaxing weekend hanging out with friends, watching drifting, and not worrying about car shit for the first time in like 4-5 months I came back and threw some panels on. I probably won't have time to actually mount any of it up for a few weeks, but the mockup was satisfying none the less.
Jury is still out on whether or not satin was a good choice. I'll need to reserve judgement until I've seen it out in the sun. Thankfully, my paint guy said he'd be happy to coat everything in normal gloss clear should I decide otherwise, but not for a few months haha
I also need to put more time into the hood. Little imperfection that I thought the satin would hide actually turned out to be FAR more noticeable than if it had been glossy 🙃 played myself yet again!