LocostUSA.com

ahh i see that sounds cool. megasquirt has a scripting API + some microswitches on the shifter?

sounds pretty close to adding pneumatic actuator + paddles on the wheel!

The MS does the upshift cut side with native sw and cal features. I have an Arduino with a motor controller for my etc setup. That's where I need to add the down function. I run the shift switches through the Arduino on the way to the MS anyway so I can add it whenever I want.

We did this on our fsae car and it's the right compromise for me. I love the old school sequential stick shift but the auto features are very race car!

Moving right along with all this extra time!

Got down to the bare frame, running about 80% on parts coming off getting totally completed before going on the shelf. Aside from the engine and painting a bunch of parts with regular liquid paint (how old school!) everything is ready to go back together. It's also now finish welded, that was only about 3 days of welding so really not as bad as I expected. Surprised how much more substantial it feels after finish welding, you would think good tacks would feel pretty solid but now it's like you could drop it off the lift with no issue. Speaking of that...no, didn't actually drop it but it's pretty awkward to move around by myself in a small garage!



Next up were the floors. I got myself worked up about road debris and once something like that is in your head you can't ignore it. I hate steel floors on these things for a bunch of reasons so I just $$'d up and got a nice piece of 0.1" 7075. I've used it before and it's always remarkable how much better this material is than 6061. 73ksi is more than double the yield strength of A36 steel sheetmetal and nearly double 6061 T6. At 0.1" that's a much stronger floor than almost any pass car on the market. Feel pretty good about a step ladder encounter on the highway.

It cuts beautifully with a circular saw! It's a little nerve wracking to touch the saw to it the first time but you can see how cleanly it cuts by the tiny sliver of material it will remove intact.





Another done, not done situation. I thought the floors were done in this pic. It's now been 2 days of drilling and trimming for weld bumps, etc. NOW they're done.





Powdercoated the suspension parts as well, that was more fun than black aluminum panels. Here's the process in pics:

sandblasted parts:



Fresh powder:



Out of the oven:



I freaked out a bit because the color was really tame and dark compared to the chip. However, 15 minutes later it had brightened right up! So don't panic if you pull parts out of the oven and they don't look right. It's hard to capture in pictures but these are really different reds. The brighter one really pops and is a nice highlight color which is what I wanted. The other one right out of the oven might look good as a conservative color for a whole car but isn't anything special.



For the blasting cabinet discussion, I'm going through tips like water with the aluminum oxide media. You can see it surprised me on this one, nearly cut the tip in half. Minutes from ruining the gun! Given the gun company isn't shipping right now I decided to make my own. They advertise their tips as case hardened but mine made out of some scrap stainless last way longer. I happened to have 12mm stainless bar so it's as easy as cutting a piece off in the bandsaw and drilling the hole. I have like 12 feet of the stuff so not sure I'm ordering any more TP tools tips.



Here's a great pic of 'quarantine garage.' My wife's Jeep started death wobbling at 45mph so it finally is getting all new joints up front. That plus the Stalker being totally blown apart has me at my limit of space!



Next up is buying paint. Frame needs to get painted ASAP to continue. I'm a newbie to 'real' base/clear paint so I need to have a conversation with a paint store that can help walk me through it. That's tough to do over the phone but I'm going to try later today.

Also a lot of engine details to wrap up, need to put some filter screens in the dry sump pan, finish welding a couple fittings that I couldn't reach with everything put together, clean and paint a lot of engine parts, etc.

Alex

Looks good! With this quarantine thing going on, I think there will be a good many 7's actually hitting the streets for the first time this year

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Gavin

My build: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=16005

Agree! Although in some ways it's pointing out how far behind I actually was relative to my target of being done in a year! Without this extra time I'd be well into fall by now on my normal garage time schedule.

Alex

Time Lapse SD card #4 filled up, 8 months in 4.5 min:

https://youtu.be/Bc0CQ3vFqJU

I used to be able to embed the video but I guess I've gotten dumber.

Alex

It's been a couple of years, but last time I was looking at paint I strongly considered a company called Southern Polyurethanes. Reviews sounded like it was quality stuff and the owner had a support forum where he was very helpful.

I ended going with Summit Racing's auto paint because, at the time, I lived in NE Ohio and Summit's main store in Talmadge OH was less than an hour away and open until something like 9pm every day. Meant I could get extra or replacement within two hours if I spilled something or temps were too hot or cold for the reducer I had on hand. They also have a pretty decent tech line and I was happy with the paint, although in Summit's case I was using their single stage urethane.

If you have a Sherwin Williams auto paint store nearby, they are my favorite paint so far, but they're not going to hold your hand through the process (although they will give advice, but they're oriented more towards professionals). Their products are great, and a little pricey, but it may be worth it if you have one of their stores nearby. The regular SW stores may also deal in car paint, but I had one that was just car paint near my office.

Thanks, I was looking at the southern poly place but I've got two well recommended paint shops near my house, fortunately. They're starting back up with an appointment system on Monday so that's tomorrow's job. I have a specific color in mind so I don't want to use one of the internet based products. I also expect I'll have questions as I go. I'll let whichever shop I like best choose the brand/system, I wouldn't know any better either way.

Should be an adventure, thankfully I've got some time on my hands right now. We're stuck at home so I just fire up the work meetings on the garage stereo and pause when I need to talk, works pretty well so far. It's not my Metallica pandora station in terms of motivation but at least I'm in the garage!

Alex

I vinyl wrapped mine

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Larry in Seattle

That looks great! I thought about vinyl but it's been a while since I've owned a nicely painted car, I miss the occasional wax, etc.

Alex

So painting. Uhg, what a GD [PooPoo] show. I have a massive amount of respect for people that paint well. The part I can't stand is that nothing is ever done perfectly. The sandpaper doesn't reach, or the filler shrinks just a touch too much, etc. The most important skill a painter has is the ability to say "well, that should be good enough" and be right about it.

The weather turned in MI a few weeks ago so I was ready for frame painting. I was going to just do that in the driveway but wasn't thrilled about it. It dawned on me at some point that with nobody throwing any parties that party tents might be pretty cheap. Turns out they are. 10x20 for $145.

This thing works great, I cut a hole for a big box fan in one corner and three furnace filters on the opposite wall. It moves a ton of air with the seams taped up. While not an HOA, our neighborhood definitely will not welcome my garage addition for long so I'm busting ass to get everything done. (There's a creek along our whole back lot line so you can only see a tiny corner of the tent from the road) My ultra tolerant wife is not loving this part either so that's double the motivation.







Frame pre-view!

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I'm new to 2 stage painting. I did a 40' long city bus for my wife in single stage (long story) so I own a fair amount of the equipment and I'm comfortable spraying, just new to the timing of getting all the coats on in one session. I wanted the frame to match the bodywork in Corvette Watkins Glen Grey but have red accents on the trans tunnel so the two tone is another new thing for me. Went to a really great paint shop in Clarkston, MI (Wiltse's) and they set me up with epoxy primer, both base colors, and clear. I went with the higher end paint since I knew it would help with my amateur mistakes.

That was one of the hardest garage days of my life. From start to finish was between 9-13 coats with the two tone situation and I vastly underestimated the amount of gun time to paint something like this frame. I had a nice detail gun so it gave me the best shot at getting in the tight spaces but took FOREVER. About an hour and half of actual trigger pulling. I thrifted some coats since it was clear that as you paint a square toob you really put on a couple coats. Last clear went on as the light was totally gone, Lisa was gathering flashlights in case I didn't finish but I did make it.

Result is a solid B which is about what I went in expecting for my first try and the reason I did the frame first. It's about twice as good as I expected mid-day while painting that SOB. There are a couple dry over-spray spots of clear and a few areas where the WGG didn't cover enough. None in any place that you can see, all issues will get covered by aluminum panels, had good luck on that.

The only real problem is that I hadn't looked at a WGG Corvette in a while and it's a lot darker than I want the body. I went back and got some Blade Silver for the body. They go well together and you really can't see both at the same time anyway. Bummed that I don't have it matching but small potatoes in the end.

Roll cage got a texture black the next day, ready to bolt parts on now!

The red will 90% disappear under black aluminum panels, it will just be an accent to bring the outside stripe into the interior a bit.





I'm now cranking through the prep for painting the body. Trying to get the tent down next weekend if possible. Everything is body-worked, sanded, painted black on the B-side, and ready for primer except the front fenders which I'll do tomorrow. Then I need to mask the backside of the hood and rear shell, move everything into the booth and clean, clean, clean. Depending on the forecast I'll then prime tomorrow night or the next day I find with 36 hrs of good weather.

I also have a confession that I'm quite ashamed of. I feel like I've sunk to the level of a Civic Type R engineer. I've made a fake vent. It's just there to expand the footwell so I don't want any more water than normal getting in there. The other side of the car is real, I swear! At least I gave it some depth. With that aluminum piece painted flat black it should look pretty real.



Those side panels were the first body panels totally ready for paint. Masked for the exposed carbon stripe and ready to go.



Not looking past a finished paint job at this point, fingers crossed that will be next weekend.

Alex

Paint is on! I won't say done because there's still the whole wet sanding, buff, etc but the hard part is over.

Went really well for my first paint job that mattered. I made one run in the clear on the bottom inch of the driver's side rocker. Odd, really didn't think I put any extra on there at all. I guess that means I wasn't stingy with the thickness of the clear coats overall which I was worried about. There's also some pin hole patches in the carbon that I hadn't seen. Though about stopping after primer and filling them but I'm really tired of this part of the project so I'm chalking it up to Carbon character

Of course, the hood was the part in the stalled air spot of the tent, no way to re-arrange. There's a half dozen little dust nibs and one fruit fly sized chunk of something in a 2 square foot area. I saw the big chunk in time, pulled it out with a pick and re-cleared so you can't feel anything, just a little spot.


Lots of pictures, just an hour old so staying in the tent overnight to harden. Super happy!

Stripe color first and masked. I masked a little too soon and the tape left some texture. Clear completely eliminated it but I was a little worried for a bit.



Done!



Side panel with exposed carbon stripe:





The back end turned out great, it had the best airflow.





Fender stays will get the same texture black as the rollcage eventually.



Hopefully it looks as good in the sun. There's no mottling in the silver at all but a few areas have a bit of an orange peel look but it's definitely in the base metallic coat, the clear is really smooth. You have to get your nose 6" away to pick it out but that's the only overall issue and it really doesn't bother me at all, I always planned on a home garage looking paint job and this is much, much better than I expected!

Alex

Took the scuttle out in the sun and am pretty stoked. It's silver so indoors I didn't expect magic but didn't realize how much it would change in the daylight. Here's a lame phone camera pic before the light went away.



Alex

Looking good!

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Larry in Seattle

Wow! Very nice. Fantastic job. Congratulations.
Eric

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MGiata current build here: https://www.mgexp.com/forum/mga-forum.2 ... n.3898051/