49. Working from the inside out

I shifted focus back to getting the interior squared away in preparation for getting the rest of the body back onto the car.

A-Pillar covers:

The front edge of the a-pillar covers is pushed forward quite a bit – well past the black edging along the exterior perimeter of the windshield.  The result is if you install the a-pillar cover as-is you’ll be able to see the front roll hoop from the outside – not very pretty.  Unfortunately the cover needs to be fairly wide because it needs to be wiggled back and forth to get it installed – the wider the better otherwise you’ll be fighting the cover to get it in, and you’ll likely damage any finished surfaces as you do so.

To hide the front roll hoop, I purchased edge seal PN 1120A868 from McMaster and ran a strip of this along the front edge of each a-pillar cover.

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Here’s what the seal looks like in profile.  It has a 1″ rubber edge and the molded steel reinforced grip has a “tooth” to help it stay on the a-pillar cover.  The PN I ordered is meant to be used with a 1/8″ edge; I had to sand my covers down a decent amount to get it fitting snuggly.  There’s an alternate PN 1120A871 which is meant to be used with a 3/16″ edge which may have worked better.
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Edge seal installed onto a-pillar cover.
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Here’s the “face” that will be visible from the outside, looking in via the windshield.
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The rubber is wide enough to hide any visible portion of the front roll hoop and is flexible enough to move out of the way as the cover is installed into place.
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A-pillar cover installed; view from the outside.  The rubber trim and molded edging are visible. but not obnoxious.
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Close-up shot of the edge seal behind the windshield perimeter.
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At long last, finished a-pillar covers installed and they still fit!

I carved out a few minutes to do something non-critical and fun stuff – I installed the a-pillar tweeters.  I tried to fabricate the “pods” so each tweeter could point to my head only – forget the passenger!

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Driver side tweeter.
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Passenger side tweeter; this pod had to be shaped pretty radically because the tweeter needs to rotate almost 70 degrees to get good line of sight to the driver’s head.

More fun stuff – the driver’s seat and harness have also been installed.  After getting all the belts adjusted it feels pretty awesome being strapped in!  The vroom vroom noises I made seemed so much more meaningful after tightening the belts down so much I could only whisper.

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The TIllett B5 seats seem to be the most popular seat for the SLC.  With the adjustable seat rails and a more upright seating angle this just barely fits – I don’t have enough room to stick a finger between the top edge of the seat and the top of the door!  Most builders will recline the seat further back to gain more headroom.
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The cockpit is nearly complete!

Doors:

I added more sound and heat blocker to the interior of the doors.  I’m down to my last few pieces of Damplifier and I’ll be scrounging for scraps to finish things off – I’m probably just going to order some more Yep, I ordered more.

The door is constructed using an inner and outer door skin, bonded together.  The main portion of the door is essentially a rectangular shaped tube with the upper and outboard faces part of the exterior skin and the inboard and lower sides part of the interior skin. The main portion of the interior surface gets cut out for access and is replaced with a door card.

On the upper surface I’ve bonded 6 adhesive-mount studs.  I then applied a layer of Damplifier, Luxury Liner Pro, and followed it all up with some Heat Wave Pro.  The Luxury Liner pro isn’t recommended for use on ceilings (or in this case upper door skins) because it’s fairly heavy stuff.  LLP is normally installed using spray adhesive or velcro.  However, I figure the use of bonded-in studs and locknuts ought to be strong enough to keep the LLP in place without rattling.

On the outboard side I applied a layer of Damplifier and followed up with a layer of Mega’Zorbe.  I would have preferred to go with LLP/HWP but my gas strut pick-up point is too close to the exterior skin and the gas strut would interfere with the bulky sound/heat blockers.  Mega’Zorbe is soft enough that it won’t interfere with the gas strut’s operation.

Insulation of the interior and lower surfaces will follow once I’ve locked down a few more details.

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Upper surface of door; I used Plexus MA300 to bond the studs.
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The LLP/HWP combination is pretty bulky but it’s pretty fantastic when it comes to making the door sound “dead”.  Since the upper surface of the door gets exposed to the sun at all times this panel is likely to be a prime source of thermal energy.
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Exterior surface gets scraps of Damplifier …
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… and a layer of Mega’Zorbe.

I can’t believe I’ve used as much sound deadener as I have – when I purchased my box of B-stock I thought I was out of my mind but at the time it was a bit of an impulse buy.  To date I’ve consumed about 60 lbs of sound deadener alone!  I have at least another 60 lbs in Luxury Liner Pro and another couple in Thermal Block/Heat Wave Pro.

Confession time: I have another order in with Second Skin for more Damplifier Pro**.  I know, I have issues.

This is not your typical super-LIGHT coupe.

** I had an issue with this order and when I called Second Skin to let them know they went above and beyond to make things right – A+ service!

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Moah dampah!

I then rough mounted the doors and bodywork – this was the first time getting the body back together after priming and boy does that really change the look of the car!

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Floating on my QuickJack setup.  Kinda looks like the nose of a spaceship from this perspective.  The greenhouse does have that “bubble” look to it from here.
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I think this is the angle I like best.  Greenhouse looks great from this perspective.
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Rear view.  Spaceship.
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Raise’em high!

In another effort to make myself giggle I carved out another few minutes to temporarily mount my door cards so I could finally see what the interior would look like.  In the cycling community the anti-carbon folk preach about how a bump will cause the bike to shatter beneath you, sending thousands of tiny carbon shards into your nether regions.  With so much carbon on this car it will be death by a bajillion carbon shards that takes me out, not the 10 thousand pound tractor trailer.

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Entombed in carbon – love it.
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The orange/red door card provides some nice contrast but I’m still on the fence with this piece.  I recently made up another door car in standard carbon for another builder and there’s just something about straight carbon that looks right.  Putting it on my to-do list to make another set later.
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With the door open and better lighting you can really see the contrast in color and stitching.  The matte Alsa soft touch everywhere else provides a great background for the glossy carbon.

Play time over, I need to really knuckle down and stay focused!

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Parting shot.

I’m really digging this storm trooper white/black look.  I also like the contrasting black along the mid-body.  Something to think about as I consider paint options.  With the plastidip I’ll have the flexibility to try out several different colors and paint schemes before making a final decision.  I never thought I’d like white much but this photo really speaks to me.

Hawt.  Giggle.

 

 

3 Comments Add yours

  1. Infinite Reality says:

    While reading this post, I kept thinking the same thing about the storm trooper look as well. With the amount of additional carbon fiber on the outside of the body, I’d be very tempted to go with that look on the first plasti-dip to see how it all looks together. I originally planned for my body to be the whitest of whites, but of course like most things some how that all changed over a weekend when I went to get some stuff powdercoated and took the whole color scheme a completely different direction. With my front wheels being a different shade of bronze than my rear wheels didn’t help my choice since I have to get them redone now anyways.

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  2. Infinite Reality says:

    Also, thanks again for taking the time to keep this blog updated. Always love getting emails when you post a new part.

    Like

    1. Cam says:

      Thanks for the feedback! It’s funny how your concept of what the car should be changes throughout the build. I’ve already got enough dip here to do the car in 2 totally different colors, white was never even on my radar. I’ll move forward to use this stuff up but I’ve got white on the list of future colors. Just another reason not to pre-buy too much ahead :/ tough to not let tour fingers and credit card do the clicking when you’re on a spree. Those Black Friday sales had me pretty amped – biggest sale ever, blah blah … lol

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