Restarting my SLC project in West Texas

[Hector]

We will get together as soon as we can. This year for sure. If you drive it here then well put it in the garage no problem. It might be a little soon to take her that far so I'll more than likely drive over to see ya again. More on that as timing reveals itself. Where did you put your award? Center of the fireplace in the living room I hope.

The best part of this hobby is the people you meet. You have been no exception, my friend.

Agree wholeheartedly about the people, truly amazing bunch. you were the very first SLC owner I visited, it helped seeing what a finished SLC looked like. especially one well sorted out and track ready. I certainly got a bunch of great ideas from you that I implemented.

You are always welcome here, bring your wife. I am crazy enough I may just venture over there soon, I have a tow hook and triple A LOL.

My wife did not let me put the plaque on the mantle LOL, will go on my garage wall of fame next to the Ken Miles picture.

 

[Hector]

So a couple of funny stories, I am slowly backing up of the garage and my wife is screaming the the car is smoking and smells really bad. It turned out the clutch was not releasing and the clutch pedal went to the floor. I decided to take a look and noticed a small leak on the hose fitting, took it apart and found out I used a wrong fitting, flange instead of NPT, went to order one and amazon told me I had ordered one in the past, wen to my parts bin and found it!!! And voila, leak fixed and clutch works perfectly , shifting is superb with the gated shifter. Love it !!

Drove to one of my friends house and seemed like the entire neighborhood came out to see the car. Same thing happened at work and at the gym. People have a hard time believing that I put the car together in my garage with no special tools at all.

I absolutely love my corvette lambo style sequential tail lights

The last picture shows the car agains typical Texas vehicles, it really looks like a toy !!!

Truly enjoying every ride, and getting butterflies every time, scary and cool at the same time, a totally new experience . Strongly recommend it

 

[Hector]

A little update and some helpful tips for future builders:

It has been in the mid 100s in West Texas and have been driving quite a bit lately, I don't have oil coolers and my water temps are peaking at 206 with the A/C full blast and sitting in traffic, very happy about that . My advice is spend good amount of time on BOTH your inlet and outlet duct design to maximize radiator flow and diminish turbulent flow.

I strongly recommend a vent into the footbox, I initially intended it for the heater but it helps a lot keeping you legs cool, even though I have a heavily insulated footbox, it still makes a huge difference. OH and yes insulate your footbox as much as possible, more is better , even with great ducting heat still transfers quite a bit as the radiator is right in front of your legs.

As Kurt mentioned in his post, backing up can be tricky, I strongly recommend a backup camera. Judging distances with my side mirrors and main rear view mirror (camera is mounted on the roof ) is difficult . the adjustable little cone images of different colors are super helpful .

I have my backup camera activated when the the car is in reverse gear and projected into the stereo, but could be done on the digital dash ( I have the AIM MXS 1.2) or the rear view mirror.

I have an AIM proximity sensor on one of my front wheels for speed readings instead of GPS based, it flutters a bit even at 10 Hertz , still trying to fine tune it, but overall very happy with the setup.

The stereo works well, I am able to enjoy some music but the engine noise wins every time rpms go up. unfortunately I don't think I could carry a cell phone conversation while driving , but I have my blue tooth connected so that I know when someone is calling , hard to hear the phone ring as well . But people sure know you are coming.

Love my valentine radar detector remote screen built into my dashboard. The radar is mounted inside on the roof. Always good to know when someone is around you with a radar on , it is super easy to get on it and exceed the speed limit 10 or 20mph.

Still getting used to the attention. It takes forever to get out of any parking lot as people flock to the car and always try to guess what kind of car it is , and the questions keep coming. Coming out of my office a couple of days ago several people (At least 10) on the building next door where lined up at the door taking cell phone videos as I was leaving.

A young woman got out of her car at a stop light to take pictures of the car, and the light turned green, I had to wait for her to get out of the way . Just crazy stuff !!, I find more funny than annoying and I don't mind talking to people when they have questions . I heard all about the attention thing , but was not expecting the magnitude of it all. Quite interesting .

 

[Neil]

A little update and some helpful tips for future builders:

It has been in the mid 100s in West Texas and have been driving quite a bit lately, I don't have oil coolers and my water temps are peaking at 206 with the A/C full blast and sitting in traffic, very happy about that . My advice is spend good amount of time on BOTH your inlet and outlet duct design to maximize radiator flow and diminish turbulent flow.

I strongly recommend a vent into the footbox, I initially intended it for the heater but it helps a lot keeping you legs cool, even though I have a heavily insulated footbox, it still makes a huge difference. OH and yes insulate your footbox as much as possible, more is better , even with great ducting heat still transfers quite a bit as the radiator is right in front of your legs.

As Kurt mentioned in his post, backing up can be tricky, I strongly recommend a backup camera. Judging distances with my side mirrors and main rear view mirror (camera is mounted on the roof ) is difficult . the adjustable little cone images of different colors are super helpful .

I have my backup camera activated when the the car is in reverse gear and projected into the stereo, but could be done on the digital dash ( I have the AIM MXS 1.2) or the rear view mirror.

I have an AIM proximity sensor on one of my front wheels for speed readings instead of GPS based, it flutters a bit even at 10 Hertz , still trying to fine tune it, but overall very happy with the setup.

The stereo works well, I am able to enjoy some music but the engine noise wins every time rpms go up. unfortunately I don't think I could carry a cell phone conversation while driving , but I have my blue tooth connected so that I know when someone is calling , hard to hear the phone ring as well . But people sure know you are coming.

Love my valentine radar detector remote screen built into my dashboard. The radar is mounted inside on the roof. Always good to know when someone is around you with a radar on , it is super easy to get on it and exceed the speed limit 10 or 20mph.

Still getting used to the attention. It takes forever to get out of any parking lot as people flock to the car and always try to guess what kind of car it is , and the questions keep coming. Coming out of my office a couple of days ago several people (At least 10) on the building next door where lined up at the door taking cell phone videos as I was leaving.

A young woman got out of her car at a stop light to take pictures of the car, and the light turned green, I had to wait for her to get out of the way . Just crazy stuff !!, I find more funny than annoying and I don't mind talking to people when they have questions . I heard all about the attention thing , but was not expecting the magnitude of it all. Quite interesting .

Get used to all the attention your car generates, it never ends. A fellow almost fell out of the passenger-side window of a van while it was driving down the road. He was taking a picture of my car.

 

[Rich Kruger]

After trying 100 different adjustments I figured out the the parking brake that came with the kit DOES NOT WORK, it will not hold the car on the slightest slope. So that was $1295 for the kit, $600 for the E-stopp and all my time down the drain. Cam warned me and I did not listen, I thought I could make it work, I was wrong. future builders, don't male the same mistake , cut your losses early .

I used the Pantera Tesla Brembo electric parking brake controller. The only thing useful from the previous kit were the thread inserts. SAD

But I on a positive note I was able to use the previous threads to attach the new bracket.

A new bracket was made, thank you Cam for the blueprint.

Press fitting the thread inserts was difficult without a hydraulic press, I bent the crap out of my bench vise handle, close to 90 degrees!!! so I cutup a large socket and used a cheater bar, beautiful solution , thank you .

then it was a matter of fine tuning the bracket , connect everything to the electronic controller that came with the kit and connect it to a push button on the dashboard.

It is super strong, works well. Since both were used units, I replaced the electric motors, since Cam told me one of his failed, super easy 5 minute thing to do and not very expensive.

I'm still perplexed how the stock parking brake system doesn't work for a lot of the builders here. I did install the superlite e brake calipers with an e stopp actuator. The only thing I had to do was to remove the release spring from the supplied cables as they limited the cable pull. So yes my first attempt failed until I noted that those springs limited the travel. Otherwise once corrected and adjusted the parking brake is very effective.

 

[Joel K]

I'm still perplexed how the stock parking brake system doesn't work for a lot of the builders here. I did install the superlite e brake calipers with an e stopp actuator. The only thing I had to do was to remove the release spring from the supplied cables as they limited the cable pull. So yes my first attempt failed until I noted that those springs limited the travel. Otherwise once corrected and adjusted the parking brake is very effective.

Rich, thanks for posting this. I haven’t given up on the e*brake yet But wasn’t at all confident I could get it to work. I’ve read many build threads on what the different builders have tried to do, but I don’t think anyone has suggested the cable springs were the limiting factor. Now I have hope!

I’ll report back later in the summer when I install the heavy duty linear actuator with the calipers.

 

[Hector]

I'm still perplexed how the stock parking brake system doesn't work for a lot of the builders here. I did install the superlite e brake calipers with an e stopp actuator. The only thing I had to do was to remove the release spring from the supplied cables as they limited the cable pull. So yes my first attempt failed until I noted that those springs limited the travel. Otherwise once corrected and adjusted the parking brake is very effective.

I tried that without success, I also had the e stopp setup. I also tried repositioning the calipers for maximum grab on the rotor, the setup will work on a tiny slope but not on a significant slope. the Tesla calipers are night and day 100% better. I think my experience is quite common . Believe me I tried everything. taking everything apart and starting form scratch was no fun at all . But if it works for you that is great !!! Just hope you won't find your car at the bottom of a hill someday

 

[Hector]

Just when you thought I will have no updates for a while. As I was leaving cars and coffee I saw a guy with a paint shop T shirt , I asked him if he was a painter, he told me he just started his own paint shop here in town, that since he is building ip his business he will work with me super reasonable, and he has been doing painting on the side for many years but just got laid off and will switch to painting full time. He showed me some of his work, top notch .
So I was going to Plasti Dip my car like Cam but I was hesitant about spraying the 2K primer, I heard is thick and tricky, so I figured might as well let a pro do it, then I will do the Plasti Dip myself.
So I helped my new buddy with a lot of the sanding, I was going to leave a few parts on like door hinges (that are tricky to fine adjust) , but decided at the last minute to disassemble everything 100%. no masking of any kind .
I had done most of the fiberglass work, defects, mold lines and such , hours and hours of detailed body work .

So today I went to the shop and my new friend was asking me why I wanted to do the Plasti Dip. My answer was for 2 reasons , flexibility (try different color schemes) , and second let the cracks and rub spots develop over time and not ruin an expensive paint job.

But the kicker is, some of the spider sections will be painted black , the door sills , the areas that sit under the front and rear clams , so basically a large portion of the spider.

And his point is , we have done all the prep work, a very nice priming job, you will have to partially paint and clear coat the spider, why not just do a full paint job?, if I choose to Plasti Dip on top of that that is fine. the major expense of a paint job is the prep , primer and re sand, which we already have done.

But I already bought the Plasti Dip, spray gun and dip armor protection for the Plasti Dip.

So ........ I will leave you in suspense and show you pictures in a few days, you will see what direction I went .

So basically my two choices are Plasti dip , very little additional cost, worry free driving (no worries about damaging the paint) , or a nice paint job for much less than a cheap Maaco job and a beautiful metallic finish with clear coat ( I am leaning towards a BMW metallic black that is gorgeous).

 

[Howard Jones]

Oh fuck that's easy, PAINT the CAR! Then add clear chip protection to the nose and the area that is the place where the front tire throws road crap onto the body in the front of the lower center section in the rear of the lower wheel well. Done and dusted! Be sure to use a color that is used on a production car. That way you can repaint the front clip in a few years and it will be like new. If you use clear protective film you may never repaint. Be aware that the heavier the metal flake the harder it is to match later.

In all honesty, I personally don't like the plastic dip look, but that's me, and it's your car. I like the look of wrapping the car better, it looks more like paint.

So that is what I would do. Take advantage of the super deal on the paint job and then wrap it someday if you want to change the color. You might be able to use a clear wrap on the nose, I am not up to date on the wrap versus the clear protection comparison.

 

[Alex]

Why would you plastidip the car ... this isn't a ghetto ass 1996 honda civic ... and it's not 2010 anymore where plastidipping everything is cool.

If you're worried about durability and letting things settle, then you sand/polish the gelocat to a mirror finish .... I did that for my 917 and sl-c (after having my 65 cobra re-painted 3 fucking times because I somehow kept choosing the most incompetent people even though their samples were top notch somehow) and almost 15yrs later you couldn't tell the difference between them and (white) paint. Plus gelcoat is tough as nails so I love that.

 

[Hector]

Oh fuck that's easy, PAINT the CAR! Then add clear chip protection to the nose and the area that is the place where the front tire throws road crap onto the body in the front of the lower center section in the rear of the lower wheel well. Done and dusted! Be sure to use a color that is used on a production car. That way you can repaint the front clip in a few years and it will be like new. If you use clear protective film you may never repaint. Be aware that the heavier the metal flake the harder it is to match later.

In all honesty, I personally don't like the plastic dip look, but that's me, and it's your car. I like the look of wrapping the car better, it looks more like paint.

So that is what I would do. Take advantage of the super deal on the paint job and then wrap it someday if you want to change the color. You might be able to use a clear wrap on the nose, I am not up to date on the wrap versus the clear protection comparison.

yeah, that's the direction I am going , and used a standard BMW color with very little flakes and I am planing to use the clear bra thing in a few places . The paint job is taking forever , I think the guy is inexperienced and got over his head , but at the end, is cheap and much better than what I could have done.

 

[Hector]

Why would you plastidip the car ... this isn't a ghetto ass 1996 honda civic ... and it's not 2010 anymore where plastidipping everything is cool.

If you're worried about durability and letting things settle, then you sand/polish the gelocat to a mirror finish .... I did that for my 917 and sl-c (after having my 65 cobra re-painted 3 fucking times because I somehow kept choosing the most incompetent people even though their samples were top notch somehow) and almost 15yrs later you couldn't tell the difference between them and (white) paint. Plus gelcoat is tough as nails so I love that.

unfortunately there were too many places where I modified the body and there was bondo and primer, no sense trying to match weathered gelcoat , and I like what Cam has done, he already changed the color 3 times , and it looks very nice , not ghetto at all , and super cheap.
but once all the sanding and priming was done the cheap paint job was the path of least resistance and least work for me short and long term

 

[Frank Clark]

With the popularity of semi-mat finishes, plastidip or wraps fit right in. Unless you are going for a simple classic paint job, it will be dated in a few years.

In West Texas you are always one good sand storm from needing a repaint anyway

 

[Hector]

With the popularity of semi-mat finishes, plastidip or wraps fit right in. Unless you are going for a simple classic paint job, it will be dated in a few years.

In West Texas you are always one good sand storm from needing a repaint anyway

or a hail storm, had a couple of bad ones recently , hammered two of my cars , old ones thankfully .

 

[Hector]

Well , just when you think you are almost done with this project, a butt load of things show up at the end, I have not posted an update for a while, so here it is .

Yes, decided on a cheap paint job, and let me tell you, I got A SUPER CHEAP paint job, the good news I learned a lot about paint correction, getting rid of orange peel , fixing defects , fish eyes , trash, you name it. I found a system that is much faster and easier than wet sanding to get rid of orange peel , i used a ton of sanding disks Kovax Super Assilex K-1500 (the pink ones) and got really good at it, since I had to do every freaking nook and cranny. Those sanding disks are amazing .

At the end and after hours and hours of sanding and polishing, I am decently happy, definitely much better than plasti dip , but the elbow grease needed to make it look decent was absolutely insane. A recurrent theme for me . LOL

 

[Hector]

While I was waiting for the paint job, there were a few smaller projects that needed to be done , one of them , wrapping the roof in black and tan leather , as well as the A pilars . Not a bad result for a beginner . navigating steep curves with a single piece is very very challenging . But got it done !!!

 

[Hector]

Well , while I was at it , why not do the Bentley thing and add a few stars to the roof . LOL . Call me crazy but those fiber optic lights are super cool , and cheap, I can change colors and patterns with the app on my phone, I absolutely love it , it was my nephew's idea . You have to see it to really appreciate it . Who knew, a superlite with Bentley touches . I will post videos later .

 

[Nick h]

Forget the plasti dip. It will look garbage. Wrap it if you must but ultimately paint would be the best road long term

 

[Kurt Hoffman]

While I was waiting for the paint job, there were a few smaller projects that needed to be done , one of them , wrapping the roof in black and tan leather , as well as the A pilars . Not a bad result for a beginner . navigating steep curves with a single piece is very very challenging . But got it done !!!

This is exactly my plan for my interior. Good to see that I now know an expert at this process. I will be looking you up for pointers when the day finally comes that I get to this part of the build! Nice work!!

Sorry to hear about you painting issues. Even a decent paint job takes A LOT of prep work which equates to a lot of hours/money.

Doing it myself saves a lot of that cost, especially doing the block sanding. I would certainly not call myself an expert at spraying paint (I am very good at primer and basic paint spraying) but with every car/motorcycle that I paint with the base/clear process I get a little better. My nephew just bought another truck (square body this time) that he is building and already wants me to paint that one for him.

If you ever to repaint your SLC down the road maybe we can work together.

 

[Hector]

This is exactly my plan for my interior. Good to see that I now know an expert at this process. I will be looking you up for pointers when the day finally comes that I get to this part of the build! Nice work!!

Sorry to hear about you painting issues. Even a decent paint job takes A LOT of prep work which equates to a lot of hours/money.

Doing it myself saves a lot of that cost, especially doing the block sanding. I would certainly not call myself an expert at spraying paint (I am very good at primer and basic paint spraying) but with every car/motorcycle that I paint with the base/clear process I get a little better. My nephew just bought another truck (square body this time) that he is building and already wants me to paint that one for him.

If you ever to repaint your SLC down the road maybe we can work together.

Happy to help any time . leather is like anything else, a bit of a learning curve and then you just have to take your time .

Yes once you hone your spraying skills I will be ready for a re paint LOL .