Friday, July 19, 2013

Front Wilwood Brakes

July 19, 2013 -
 
  Since I wasn't sure I used the *exact* right thread locker on the small bolts that hold the two pieces of the front brake rotor together, I followed a friend's advice and ran safety wire through these dozen bolts on each front rotor.  I looked just about everywhere but no local stores had safety wire.  After looking online for 5 seconds I found it as well as the concept of safety wire pliers which make twisting the wire faster and prettier.  I bought the wire online with some cheap safety wire pliers. First, unless you've done safety wiring before, you will cut your hands or fingers at least once learning.  Second, your first one (or two) won't look so great so you'll probably just pull it out.  Lastly, my cheap pliers worked just about until the end.  Right as I was doing the last two, the clip that slides back to hold the pliers clamped down on the wires started bending in a way that let the pliers mouth pop open and not stay clamped on the wires.  I don't think I'll have to safety wire anything else so I can see both arguments for good tools that cost more, and a cheap tool that lasts just as long as you need it.  Here's one of the rotors with safety wiring.  The safety wire pliers are above and next to them are some needle nose pliers which came in handy too.


  Once that was done I could put in the front Wilwood 6 piston calipers.


Monday, July 15, 2013

Front Spindle-Hub

July 14, 2013 -

Got the front spindles and hubs on. Thanks to Dave for the 36mm socket!

Some Time Off

July 13, 2013 -

Had to take some time off this past week to practice for a golf tournament with my Dad. It paid off though as we won the low net in the 2013 Westwood Member-Member golf tournament. Way to go Dad!



Thursday, July 11, 2013

Front Suspension

July 11, 2013 -

Put in the upper control arm (UCA) and shock absorber. The big thing I have learned so far is if you are having trouble stop and search the forum on ffcars.com as people before you have probably already dealt with whatever it is. The other things I learned:
- The frame gets in the way of getting a wrench or socket on the aft nut for the UCA mounting. You'll need to rubber mallet a flat head screwdriver so that it is wedged between the nut and the frame to hold the nut in place. I thought it best to have the nut turn into the upper/wider part of the screwdriver.
- The spacers for the lower shock mounting are too big to fit in there. You'll need to file them down. Keep filing until it isn't that hard, otherwise you'll try and mallet it all together and that will make your life more difficult than it needs to be.
- Make sure you use the longer bolts for the top shock mount and the shorter ones for the lower shock mount. I don't know why the manual doesn't state that. Once you put the long one in the bottom you'll think it looks funny and when you put the short one in the top you'll know it's too short and you screwed up.
- Lastly, what I *didn't* learn was how you are supposed to fit or adjust the UCA adjustment bars. I sort of eye balled it to middle of the road and am assuming later on I'll see how I need to change it. I tightened things down just a little and it all looks accessible for later adjustment.



Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Lower Control Arm and F Panel

July 9, 2013 -

I put in the lower control arms on the front suspension and siliconed and riveted the F panels today. Things I learned: the pneumatic riveter is awesome but make sure you put the right size nose piece in for the rivet size you are using. Acetone is powerful stuff and will remove ink on the F panel like it was just dust. I also learned you can use both washers on the rear half of the lower control arms to take up the extra spacing but it worked best to slide them in together. (A light touch of grease and some gentle love from a plastic dead blow hammer didn't hurt either.) I had to buy a 6 point half inch drive 21mm socket for the bolt heat and a 15/16 inch wrench for the nut. They get you on buying these individually. The most fun part of putting in the lower control arms was getting to use the big torque wrench!



Monday, July 8, 2013

Delivery

July 7, 2013 -

Got the big delivery today. Here's the body and frame coming off the Stewart truck:

And here are some (not all!) of the 20-some boxes of parts. I got through just about all of them that day.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Body Buck

July 5, 2013 -
Mostly finished body buck to hold the fiberglass body while I'm working on the rest of the car. Thanks to Jeff for the use of the jigsaw to make the curved cuts in the plywood.