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Guest nezzie76

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Guest nezzie76

Here's some pics that TeeZee and I took the last couple of days: http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/dancingnathan22/lst?.dir=/New+pics&.view=t

You can see the tail lights that we have going. I tried to get some shots of the reinforcement and roll bar, but I did a bad job. You can see the VW headlight trim rings though. Anyways, I'll try to get more posted in the next couple of days.

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Guest Anonymous

Pictures 1,3,14,and 15 are of the Origin Z fiberglass convertible top header flange mold that we "cracked" off the roadster top today. We placed the top in a shed to cure overnight....Picture one is the Origin covertible top header flange upside down being prepared to make a mold with parting film. Flange is outlined with wide 3M masking tape..... Picture 2 is the white Gelcoat applied to the header flange... Picture 14 is the new untrimmed header flange mold after curing overnight. We used the heavy duty putty knives to "crack" the mold from the header flange. The new front header flange mold came out good and smooth..... Picture 15 is the new untrimmed header flange mold resting against a space heater which is literaly setting inside the convertible top that was placed on top of a chest freezer to cure..... Today , we waxed and applied parting film to the convertible top and applied the first two coats of gelcoat prior for tomorrow's labor intensive fiberglass lay up. We also prepared and fiberglassed a rear lower flange for the convertible top on the rear of the Vello Rossa tub. We will wind up with about five pieces to bond together (2 front and rear flanges,2 side window flanges and the top section) to fit the fiberglass convertible top to the Vello Rossa. We decided to do the top molds in the open rather inside due to fumes and fighting winter low temperatures to cure the fiberglass We are both goofy afterwards from smelling the fumes. bonk.gif We are learning fiberglaas mold making as we go. There is also a pictures of the Jag gas cap.. (and the $3.00 utility tailights).

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Great pics!

 

Nezzie and TZ - a few quesitons if you don't mind.

 

1. Did you just get VW bug trim rings or something else? Any suggestions where to grab them?

 

2. Do you guys have any clues as to where to get the Mazda hinges? I am striking out a Junkyards up here and don't want to pay $80 for a pair.

 

Any help is appreciated and congrats on the progress.

 

Teo

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Guest nezzie76

Hey Teo,

TeeZee and I have to go out to the junk yards pretty soon anyways, want me to pick you up a pair? We have lots of those old Rx7s around here. I think I got mine for $5.

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Guest Anonymous

The VW trim rings are used OEM VW..If there are VW swap meets in your area/would be a good place to find them. The rings were put on over the Datsun light housings with a small fabricated metal clip attached to the fiberglass that the upper trim ring slips over and the bottom of the trim ring is held in place by a screw. The rings due to their larger shape at the top give a vintage look to the GTO in addition compliment the slope of the fenders. I was trying to adapt some small Fiat trim rings to cover the housing . Nate found some old VW rings of mine and they looked so much better. We have found that after the paint is removed from the Mazda hinges and polished /they discolor quickly with out a protective coating. Victoria British 1-800-255-0088 free catalog sells a chrome trunk hinge in the TR2 3 4 & 250 catalog for $34.95.. The trunk hinges and VW trim rings are utilized on the Tomahawk body

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Thanks TZ and Nezzie.

 

I will get those hinges from VB - I have a bunch of items to place an order from them for both my VR and my RX-7.

 

JC Whitney has the VW trim rings for the beetle for $5.99 and I have to place an order there soon as well.

 

FYI - I nailed the Grant Classic wood wheel with adapter for about $75. The VR part yet to nail down is the driving lights. If you have ideas.... smile.gif

 

Thanks and have an awesome week.

 

And of course - keep up the awesome work. The car is looking good. I have fallen behind with getting my house ready to sell so I can move to Florida. :(

 

Teo

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Guest nezzie76

Actually we aren't using anything for the hood hinges yet. We planned to use trunk hinges from a sentra, but we got pissed off :mad: at them and put that on hold. The RX7 hinges are used only on the back.

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Guest Anonymous

Tom.. I have taken pictures with my 35 mm camera of the 80's Nissan Sentra trunk hinges on my Tomahawk hood plus other pictures of the fiberglass work. These should be posted within 2 weeks. The hinges for the Vello Rossa will have to be set further ahead and more square with the hood mounts. The ******* McBurnie hood flange on the fenders is angled causing alignment problems. we finished laying up the mold this afternoon and will "crack " it out probably Wednesday if cured. We are not using any plastic wrap or heat to promote curing and I even cut down on the catalyst hardener. The cold weather can be used to our advantage to cure the mold. We want the mold not fully cured and a'little" flexible when removing the top since the rear window flange may cause a problem to pop out. May have to place the mold back over the top to reduce warping (?). Our luck is running too good and I figure there maybe some repair to the gelcoat since I noticed some gelcoat wrinkling around the rear window flange from some acetone off a dripping brush. Gelcoat does not fair well with Acetone contact. We have over 2 gallons of polyester resin,over 20 feet of (standard roll) fiberglass mat and about 30 feet of 12 inch wide fiberglass cloth in the mold at the present.I have about the same time now in the fiberglass mold than I spent watching the video tape of the TR7 convertible conversion

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If you had about 20 feet of glass/carbon mat and a big roll of 3" carbon tape, you'd be as well-equipped as my friend's model boat shop, except he uses West Systems epoxy. The only difference is that we got some 'tropical formula' hardener to use in the summertime.

 

BTW, I found my body parts! when moving my brother's barn contents to the new house. I think the lowering springs went to the scap guy, but I found a set of braided spark plug wires! The hood was nice on top, but the edges looked a little cheap since you could see the matt on the underside & the skin was overal kinda thin. I think I might epoxy the underside for looks later.

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Guest Anonymous

Tom ..if we could :eek: find carbon fiber, it would cost over $20.00 a yard for a 42 inch wide piece.. We are paying :D $5.00 a yard for fiberglass mat and $7.00 a yard for cloth. A :( 12 foot roll of 1 1/2 inch carbon fiber tape is over $30.00 and the tape usually is only compatiable with epoxy resin. A gallon of the West System epoxy resin and hardener will run over $80.00 frown.gif while the polyester resin out of old Man Brooks' 55 gallon drum costs $20.00 ;) and we bring our own container. Epoxy resin requires a precise amount of hardener for satisfactory results while you can spill a whole tube of hardner bonk.gif in polyester resin and only have to work cuss.gif faster. Hey , carbon fiber would be great but they will not accept food stamps in trade on carbon fiber or epoxy resin :eek: .

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Guest Anonymous

We began laying up the mold fiberglass on the convertible top yesterday. Did not complete to a good full thickness for a mold. Some resin has wax in it that rises to the surface to block humidity and air to aid in curing. Hopefilly this polyester resin does not contain the wax to resume our lay up.. We will finish the lay up today and let cure for quite awhile. For beginners we are having good luck so far with the fiberglass and weather.It is a learning experiece getting the fiber to lay flat. There is a hand held air powered chopper ($250.00) that cuts fiberglass rope into strands that would be great in lay up. You hold the rope fed gun over the work and it drops the appropriate "selected" size strands on the lay up area.The chopper would probably pay for its self over cloth and mat fiberglass with the use of fiberglass rope. The mat is very easy to wet and lay flat when ripped into small pieces.To wet, you use cheap stiff bristle brushes with a dabbing motion not with a stroking motion.

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