[62131]

A lot of people only see the shiny paint and never see or think about the time and work that was put into it

[Essex_29]

Well said, sixball. Actually in 2007, about a year before I got my Essex rod done, a
friend of mine, who was building a '30 Chevrolet pick up that was almost ready, said: "This
 is almost as much work as building a house". Not far off, perhaps.
You're right about that, 62131. One thing that's funny too, is that if you get some
bitter critic, most of the time it will be from guys who haven't built cars themselves.

In any case, on the top pic, snapped some 15 months ago, you can see the front wheel is just
standing by itself on the floor. Lots of things have been done, but in those pics it doesn't
really show, unless one takes a good look.

Anyway, on with the door openings.
One of the tops of the door jambs was missing, and some previous owner had gotten
one from a four door car. I had been planning on just lengthen that one, but then I noticed that
I had made the door itself incompatible with the original top jamb parts. So here's a new version.



Here, welded to the roof.



I didn't grind this more than I needed to, I'll make drip rails to go on top of this weld.

Last I made a kind of rail, or profile which I cut out from a 1" by square tubing that I
had rolled to a bend in my tubing bender/roller. A rubber door seal will be mounted to this "rail".



It's pretty critical to get this rail thing mounted in the right position, as the rubber seal
profile I have chosen has a maximum allowance for just ³/₁₆" between getting totally
smashed, and not sealing.
The holes along the profile will allow me to first test mount it with screws, and then weld it in place.
I'm planning on doing this the same way on the floor

[Essex_29]

New day, so said and done, I screwed the little profile into place, and tried the fit with the rubber
seal. Testing to close the door, which worked, and a piece of paper to try if it catches between
the door and the seal, which also seemed fine.
The seal is tried on in this pic.



The trial mounting with screws-thing worked a charm, and here's the little profile welded to the
 top of the door jamb.



On the floor, the same kind of procedure was a bit easier to do, as nothing was falling down all the time.
One door jamb done, one to go.



Arrow points to the newly installed door seal profile on the floor. Just in case it's not self explanatory.
Did I tell you I like to make arrows?
In any case, it looks and feels better now that you can't see into the car around the door anymore

[sammons]

Nice progress Essex. I like they way your weatherstrips turning out. Looking good.

[sixball]

Great work! Next time you are in Nevada why don't you stop by and build my roadster? 

[Essex_29]

Thank you, sammons. Boring work though, Hope to get myself dragged out to the
garage to do the other side tomorrow.
sixball, Thanks, and uh.... I'm busy, sorry 

I got back my prop shaft made from two into one piece a couple days ago. It's got a beautifully blacked
billet steel, CNC machined coupler/yoke, that fits between the output shaft on the  BMW six speed
transmission and the the front U-joint of the Dodge Ram 4WD front prop shaft. A coupling part is
then turned on a lathe to make the Dodge slip joint fit into a front half of a Chevy Caprice prop
shaft, a left over from a custom prop shaft made from the other end of it. I painted it earlier, and
now it's got new U-joints too.
The S10 rear axle has the same U-joint as the Caprice, so things work out.



This build is extremely environmentally friendly, using parts that I find on my shop
floor... Sure. Maybe better than buying a new car.
But then, who'd want a new car anyway?

[Essex_29]

Finally today, I got the right hand side door opening and seal profile things done. the last one
fought me all the way, and I had to make a new one. Oh well, that's what building cars is about.

Today, though, something fun came in the mail!



Business cards and Member stickers. Very cool!
The Finnish customs has apparently taken a look see, as the envelope is ripped&taped, and came in my
post box in a plastic bag that had  "Customs" printed on it

Also today, I ordered a bunch of brake parts rom Rockauto. Not cheap to get car parts here.
Parts $124
Freight $150
VAT $67

Locally prices are just as bad:
A pair of front disc brake rotors: $65,68 at Rockauto (as ordered today)
Local speed shop: 278€

One just has to keep smiling...

[Essex_29]

The brake parts I ordered from RockyAuto came today. Ordered Saturday, and came
here (North Europe) nine days later. That's not bad at all.



Brake upgrade,
I have a  Mustang II front end and the 9" brake rotors look tiny. They'd probably be good
enough for a normal street driven car, that's me in practice, but 11" rotors will look better in any case.
 This package contained two Granada rotors, bearings and seals, GM brake pads, and slide pins for
 the calipers. I ordered caliper brackets from ebay. I still need a bunch of stuff, but to avoid customs
 I need to keep the value of the parts in each order below 150 €uros, which is about  $155 or so.

The rotors were 32 Euros a piece in the webshop. Added freight and VAT the price on my doorstep is
90.31 Euros. so 2.75 times the original price.

Anyway, I have a 1987 Firebird Trans Am GTA brake pedal, booster and master cylinder. I will run new
 front calipers for the same car, so with the 11" Ford Granada rotors they should yield the same
braking power. I'm Running rear GM drums on the S10 axle, so I might need to go with a same
diameter G-body disc/drum master cylinder to get it all dialled in (these had the same cailpers).
This should work, getting me a brake system that has a potential to work right off the bat.
At least there's hope.

[EDNY]

Today, though, something fun came in the mail!



Business cards and Member stickers. Very cool!
The Finnish customs has apparently taken a look see, as the envelope is ripped&taped, and came in my
post box in a plastic bag that had  "Customs" printed on it

Customs probably opened it after seeing my last name and wondered if the President of Poland was sending you something

[Essex_29]

Haha, Ed, that's probably it!

I've really lost my momentum after New Years, mostly doing small work around the house, and
generally being unproductive.
32nd anniversary today, so it's not a garage night. Yesterday, though, I got a couple hours in,
working on the rear part of the floor.

I cut out a piece of sheet metal, and rolled two bends in it at a friend's garage with his bead
roller, as the floor piece was 6" too wide to fit in my sheet metal brake. I also rolled a litle
hump in the center with his english wheel to clear the shock absorber cross member.



I rolled a diamond around the little hump, this time using my own little bead roller (right pic). I cut
out another hump to clear the air bag/spring mount, and started working on a little hatch to be
able to service the air bag and lines after the floor is welded in.



I bent a 90 in a piece of sheetmetal, drilled holes, and welded it to the wheel tub, making a 
flange to later weld the floor to.



Also in the pic above,  the spring mount can be seen. Here it's cut down a bit, to make clearance
against the triangular humps.

And, wouldn't you know it, the triangular hums were cut in almost the right place, so I had
to cut a bit more. Nothing copious amounts of weld, grinding and paint won't hide.



I might make a battery tray here behind the rear seat. As long as I'm not certain, I'll probably
leave this part of the floor just sitting in its place.
Still some planning to do regarding placement of Battery, air tanks and compressors (thoguhts
of these still make me cringe a bit), and the fuel tank.

[TFoch]

Any progress is good!  Keep at it, looking great!

[sixball]

You are fine. Unproductive is my fast mode. I get nothing done in a hurry. 

[Rattiac]

Great stuff here.   
Im always interested in how these things are sealed up. 

[sammons]

One piece at a time, it'll get there. Keep at it.

[Essex_29]

Thanks all of you, any progress is good, I guess, but geez, inspiration has been at an all
time low and progress has really suffered.

Last time I was online, I couldn't get any pics uploaded, so I gave up, so here comes a
couple weeks worth of words and pics.

I got the rear floor done so far, holes are drilled for spotwelds, and the humps and hatches
are done, nuts welded to the underside of the floor piece. It's still not welded in, since I'm
undecided about fuel tank and battery placement.





I got the header pipes I had ordered from a company called Botnia Bend.  12 header pipes
 bent to 62 degrees.



This is how they're planned to mount. Flanges are still not done.  Drawn and ordered though.
The pipes will snake down through the fender and back inwards, to a collector.
Bends below the fender will be unpolished water pipe. Everything in stainless.



Six polished pipes in a row on each side. Can't wait to see it done.