Nose Job Hardware

Time to re-attach the nose to the body:

After some final finagling to ensure everything was aligned as closely as possible, the hinges were welded to the steel frame and bolted to the fiberglass.  Only then was I able to tell if it would actually work as expected.  I had to make a few minor modifications to the braces that are within the drainage channel.  I also had to cut the flaps just in front of the doors so that their curvature does not interfere with the rotation of the braces on the sides of the hood.  This is what it looks like in place and operational:

The hinge connections are working properly.  However, there is enough rotational force on the hood that the stop braces (which keep the nose from flipping completely over and smacking on the floor) were twisting under the force.  So I added reinforcing in two directions. . .

That kept the braces from bending, but now it was twisting the frame to which they were attached. 

Time for Plan B.  An angle welded to the hinge itself prevents them from turning too far.  This approach required a little trial and error to get just the right length on the angles so that they stop the hood at the desired location and both sides are aligned, but it is a much simpler, elegant, and reliable solution.

Next dilemma: how to secure the hood when closed?

I took a field trip to the local pick-and-pull yard and found two Honda Civic donors with trunk latches that looked like they would do nicely.  They are both relatively compact, and will fit between the outer and inner bodies just above and beyond the top door hinges.    I had to remove a small bend in each, and trim them a bit to fit the desired locations.  Here's what they look like installed.

Passenger                                                                                                                                               Driver

The original hood release pull was missing - so I made my own.  Not bad, I think.  

The original was mounted way at the back of the firewall.  The new location is just inside the driver side door.  I still need to figure out the final connection of the cables to the pull before it is operational.  I will also need to glass in wood mounts to the hood for the hook side of the latches.

The original configuration of the hood included baffles in front of the wheels to keep dirt and water off of the headlights when they are in the down position.  I wanted to maintain that functionality, but the rotation of the hood now rotates the bottom face of the cowling through that plane.  I needed a solution that utilized a flexible membrane similar to a "mud flap".  A pair of cheap black rubber floor mats from the auto parts store worked nicely after trimming back the bottom of the original steel baffles.

                                                                                   

Wheel Side

Headlight Side

Note in the photo above (left) that I had to drill holes through the new baffles for the wiring for the front end lights.  The holes are just above the hinge point, so even though the hood rotates +/- 90 degrees, there is little movement of the wires themselves.

Nose Job - Second Surgery

The reinforcing fiberglass work is done!

It may not look like much, but the photo above represents about 14 hours of work.  The fiberglass did not want to cooperate for much of the work.  It kept forming bubbles and/or edges that would peel up, requiring hours of supervision to force all the defects back into shape until the final "set" of the epoxy.  Each of the ribs got three layers of fiberglass.  I also added a layer over the lip between the original "hood" and the nose to lock it in permanently.  With the ribs completed, the nose can now fully support itself.

This is what it looks like back on the car:

As you can see by the photos below, the vertical position is not quite right at the rear corners.  However, there is enough flexibility still in the nose that these can be forced into correct alignment with minimal pressure.  I will need to figure out how to install hood catches such that it holds the corners down and in alignment when latched. As mentioned earlier, the passenger side gap is optimal, but the driver side gap is very large, and will need to be adjusted later.

All in all, I am very pleased with the results!  The process was nerve-wracking as I had no way of knowing if the final shape would be correct until the final batch of fiberglass had set!  I also did not know if the final shape of the ribs would clear all the important bits.  Most of the clearances are not exacting, but there are a few corners where there is only a 1/4" or so clearance on each side of one of the ribs to the face of the windshield drainage channels.

While I was waiting for resin to cure, I also added a new chrome plated support plate and pneumatic struts to the rear hatch window.  For my model vehicle, originally, there was only a manual support rod on one side to hold the glass open when in use.  As the glass is quite heavy, this was less than convenient.  As you can see, the new struts easily support the weight of the window.  The bottom end of the struts have studs that are threaded into newly drilled and tapped holes in the roll bar.

Nose Job - Second Surgery Prep

With the bulkheads in place, the next step is to add reinforcing ribs to the bonnet.

The steel angle in the foreground helps to ensure that the "wings" near the doors will be in the correct position once the fiberglass dries.  The ribs are once again made from foam core and are 1/2" wide and approx. 1" tall.  They are held in place with contact cement until the fiberglass dries.

I also need to add some mounting supports for the new auxiliary fog lights.  With the baffles in place I can build off of those.  The plywood will be encased in fiberglass when it's done.   I have not actually applied the fiberglass yet as it has been very cold in the shop the last few days.

Also needed are the hinges themselves.  The rough fabrication has been completed.  The top side of the hinges will "sandwich" the fiberglass and bolt through it.  The tube steel side of the hinge will be welded to the existing metal frame just below the fiberglass nose.  The brackets in the middle are the stops that will be bolted to each side of the metal frame to keep the nose from rotating too far.  After a test fit and attachment of the tube steel to the frame, I will paint these before final assembly.

The nose needs to rotate up and down, and so do the headlights, but independently of each other.  Therefore, the next set of brackets needed is to attach the headlights armature to the metal frame instead of the fiberglass.  The following photo shows how the armature was originally attached to the fiberglass.

The "tabs" on the fiberglass are no longer needed or wanted, so they have been cut off.

Now similar supports need to be created on the steel unibody. I've fabricated them so they fit just behind the existing splash guards at the front of the wheel wells.

Driver Side

Passenger Side

The passenger side has to fit around a bump-out for the alternator, so the bracket had to be curved in two directions.

To complete the brackets,  I'll need to fabricate four "L" shaped attachments that will actually fit around the armature pipe.

Nose Job - First Surgery

I've decided to add a tilt-nose conversion to my car so that getting to all the under-hood parts is a little more manageable.  It will increase access to the engine bay from this. . .

To this!

The first step is to check that all the body panels are fitting properly and/or that you know they will fit.  The rear body was attached and the door skins installed to check the gaps.

As you can see, the passenger door fits pretty well at the strike side.  I decided to tweak it a bit, however to get the gaps even tighter.

The driver side did not.  There were large gaps.  I've already ground down the edge of the door to accept a fiberglass extensions.

This is what they look like now.

Passenger

Driver

Next I set the nose in place to check the front gaps.  They are a little harder to gauge as there is some warping to the fiberglass which keeps the nose assembly from staying put on both sides.  However, they appear to have too much gap.  I will adjust the final gap later once the tilt mechanism is complete.

The first step of the actual face-lift procedure is to permanently attach the original "hood".  I secured the hood from the bottom side with temporary screws.  I'll remove them and add a bridge of new fiberglass over the transition later.

Then I ground down a lip on the top surface of both the hood and the body and fiberglassed the hood into place.  Bondo and primer complete the transition.  I've cut a new opening in the "scoop" so that it is actually functional.  I'll mount a screen behind it later.

The next step is to reinforce the fiberglass nose so that it can withstand all that moving around without breaking.  It is designed to be supported by the metal unibody frame, so it needs some new bulkheads and other supports to be rigid enough to handle the new stresses.

I cut new baffles out of cardboard for each side to fit in the front of the nose beside the headlight buckets.  This is the most critical upgrade as it is where the hinges will be mounted and the weight of the entire nose supported when it is done.

(Note that I notched around the auxiliary light sockets - I've got a new set of aftermarket fog lights that will be going in there later.

The patterns were then transferred to 1/4" foam core, and coated with two layers of fiberglass matt, which provides a temporary non-structural framework for the fiberglass.  I had to brace the tall side of the assemblies until the fiberglass dried.

Cruisin'

Wow!  It's been a while since my last post!  Over two years!

I've done some work since then, but only in very small bits and pieces until the last week or so.

I purchased an electronic ignition module and got it installed.

Of course one of the little posts had to drop down into the distributor requiring the removal of the distributor, turning the engine back over to 6 degrees of dead center, and aligning the distributor again. . .

I also installed a new aftermarket cruise control system.






















The system uses a  pulse generator which connects to the speedometer cable.  It is a fairly bulky attachment (+/- 4" long) and I had to shorten the original cable sheath a bit to get it to fit in under the steering gear assembly.  The good news is that it works!  The bad news is that now my speedometer doesn't (apparently the install somehow over-stressed the hairspring).

As a safety feature, the system requires a cut-off switch for both the brake and the clutch.  The brake attaches to existing brake light wires, but the clutch required installation of a new contact switch (above right).

There are not many options for mounting the throttle linkage connection because of the low clearance in under the hood, and the configuration of the throttle linkage arms.  I finally settled on the location shown.  It is relatively unobtrusive, and appears to work well.

Even so, it was very tight getting a nut in between the existing linkage rod seat and the bottom of the radiator overflow strut.

The control module fits nicely in the driver's side bulkhead just in front of the firewall.

The cabin controls replace the original turn signal bar.  I chose this particular model system because it has one of the most convenient and unobtrusive controls.  (unlike the factory AC knobs in the background - that's a separate project coming later. . .)

I also installed my new replacement mirrors:

Cr@*ck!

The good news is that I've finished all the rear fiberglass repairs. . .

. . . and got it back on the chasis (sort of).

Then there's the bad news, and the really bad news.

The bad news is that the fiberglass body doesn't fit on the metal chasis. 

The passenger side all fits like it's supposed to, but the drivers side (surprise!) is riding too far forward by about 1/2".  It is binding between the metal frame and the body panel at the drivers side rear door pillar.  The rocker length is exactly the same on both sides, and there is the necessary room between the chasis and body panel at the bottom, but the top corner is binding.  I've triple-checked all the measurements, and the fiberglass appears to be the same on both sides.  So apparently the chasis frame is out of whack.  This is not a complete surprise as that area had been mangled and reworked in the past, but I would have expected the result to be too short, not too long.

Oh well . . . It appears that if I take the body back off, cut the metal pillar, and weld it back together, the fiberglass body will slide back into position where it should be.

Which is just as well, I guess, since both mufflers are riding higher than before, and the body needs to be cut back some around them anyway.

The really bad news is that in the process of working on the fiberglass one evening the body jumped off the sawhorses and fell to the floor, cracking the windshield. 

I'm pretty sure spares can be purchased.  I'm pretty sure they're really expensive.  I'm also pretty sure you can't just FedEx those things.  In Texas you can still pass inspection with cracked glass so long as your wipers still work.  So. . . I'm thinking I can progress as-is for now, and once the car is legal again and proven itself around town, I'll need to go on a road trip to pick up a new one.