Honolulu 818S Hana (work/build) Thread

[metalmaker12]

Me too

[Aloha818]

Very impressive.


What method are you using to check for air pockets? I've seen people use back-lighting but since you coated the back side of the panels that probably doesn't work anymore.


So 80, 180, 320, apply filler and repeat ad nauseam?

Boog, thanks, and hanks for asking.

A stiff wire brush, accidentally, and when I cut the hole for the vent in the top DS engine cover a large (nickel sized) piece of gelcoat cracked loose and was hollow under.

I'm blocking first with 180 to see where filler might need to be used, then if needed I rough up the area with 80. Every before and after with filler sees 80 first. Every product needs it's required grit to hold tight and what will cover. Filler needs 80 grit, and my primer needs 320, both to grab and to cover.

[Aloha818]

Glad you found those voids! Two thumbs up for covering the bodywork process in your thread, it'll help a lot of builders that didn't know about voids/fg repairs/bodywork. In my opinion, it should be part of the ffr build manual.

Thanks Carbon Fiber. I found more earlier on, but didn't realize it was part of a bigger issue and filled them before I took pics. I hope what I'm posting is mostly accurate. With bodywork I know there are many ways to skin the cat! But this could at least inform others as to the process, so when they get a $5k-$10k price for a quality paint job they know what is required to get there.

As far as the FFR manual, it's supposed to be no paint remember!

[Aloha818]

I have a spider crack that matches yours in shape and location. I'm just leaving mine because I fall on the opposite end of the spectrum as far as attention to detail on fit and finish. You are an ANIMAL. Your reveals are looking nearly perfect. I bet your pretty excited to paint this after all your hard work. What color are you going with?

Brando thanks for commenting! Interesting about the cracks. Must be how they pop the panel out of the mold?

I am probably going overboard and a true bodyman could have done done this work in a couple of days. With experience you learn what shortcuts to take and what will cover and what won't. So I have to go a little farther to make sure.

Asking me today, my color of choice is metallic black.

[Aloha818]

Other than a couple small touch ups I finally finished prepping the quarters, rear bumper, trunk lid and engine cover. As you can see not much filler spread all over the place, but I still went through almost 1/2 gallon. The engine cover and trunk lid are just sitting in place, no screws or attachment. Where the trunk lid used to stick up at each corner now lays flat. This due only continual panel adjustments.
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Here is a closer pic of the trunk lid/DS fender/bumper meeting. After paint I will be adding some aluminum across the front of the rear bumper for the trunk compartment. I will use that support to tighten the gap to the trunk lid, right now it opens up almost an extra 1/8" in the center.

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For some reason the rear of the quarters are nicely finished where they attach to the rear bumper, but the rear bumper where it connects to the rear of the quarters is pretty rough. Very little filler required on the quarter, but more than touch-up required for the bumper side. Same for both sides of the car.
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So I made a couple little changes to the fender wells. As shipped there is a flat angle designed around all the fender wells, and then at the quarter to bumper connection the flange kind of sticks out and the bumper section is a little wider and tapered compared to the quarter.
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So I sanded deep into the gelcoat, removed the angled line and rounded over the entire edge of the fender wells, I also straightened the return lip and cut back the flange at an angle so it is less visible.
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Now the edge just looks like rolled metal.

Probably no updates next week, off to the mainland for business till Thursday.

Here is a side shot, in my opinion, starting to look pretty good!

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[Boog]

Will you be spraying with the quarter panels and rear bumper on the car? Or will you be removing all panels to spray each individually?

The gap between the two, or lack there of, is very uniform but a different width than all the other lines on the car. It makes me wonder what the result would be if someone took the easy road and just bolted/glassed/filled the three as a single piece for more of a clam shell look. A fender bender would be significantly more costly though.

Something about the curve/roll of the bumper as it trails off around the front and back of the rear tire make it look like vehicle costing many times the typical $20k-$35k that will go into most 818's. Its amazing how attention to detail on body work and interior really are the dividing line between OEM and "kit car."

[carbon fiber]

I forgot to mention it earlier, but before filling voids make sure and scuff the inside of the void up just like any other time you'd be prepping for the surface to grip. If it's too small to get sandpaper into, I take a scratch awl and scrape the inside of it to scuff it up.

[Scargo]

Best to use a Dremel and get inside and undercut it like the way they do tooth fillings.

[Aloha818]

Will you be spraying with the quarter panels and rear bumper on the car? Or will you be removing all panels to spray each individually?

The gap between the two, or lack there of, is very uniform but a different width than all the other lines on the car. It makes me wonder what the result would be if someone took the easy road and just bolted/glassed/filled the three as a single piece for more of a clam shell look. A fender bender would be significantly more costly though.

Something about the curve/roll of the bumper as it trails off around the front and back of the rear tire make it look like vehicle costing many times the typical $20k-$35k that will go into most 818's. Its amazing how attention to detail on body work and interior really are the dividing line between OEM and "kit car."

Been on the mainland most of the week, then one of my friends that own HIFI Hawaii had a grand opening of his store after a remodel that I helped with, so today was my first day back on the 818.

I'm still undecided on pulling all the panels and priming/painting or leave on what I can. Today I'm leaning toward taking everything off and painting individually. Mainly in case I ever need to pull an engine or trans I'll know that the paint should not chip off. Which could happen if painted all together.

Thanks for the positive comments about the sanding/prep around the fenders. I agree, it really add a little class with the rounded edges.

I forgot to mention it earlier, but before filling voids make sure and scuff the inside of the void up just like any other time you'd be prepping for the surface to grip. If it's too small to get sandpaper into, I take a scratch awl and scrape the inside of it to scuff it up.

Thanks, good info. I also clean the area with lacquer thinner to remove any contaminates.

Best to use a Dremel and get inside and undercut it like the way they do tooth fillings.

That's what I did with the spider cracks too. But mostly I dig out whatever I can with a knife. Once you have to pull out the filler no reason to be shy on how much you dig out.

[Aloha818]

I finally finished prepping the rear half of the car for primer, all filled and sanded down to 320. Prep should be about 95% complete.

First up on the front is too add supports and delete the hood pins from the hood. I wish I would have made this decision before I installed and drilled the hood for the pins!

I will make a couple angle brackets on each side of the front of the hood that will match a pair of angle brackets on the side of the fenders. But first I started on a center support/catch toward the rear of the hood. For the operation of the hood you will remove two screws, visible only from down low (similar to the ones on the headlight supports), then slide the hood rearward about an inch to slide out of the rear catches, then raise up and off.

I made a 1" wide steel bracket with a slot in it to receive a 1 1/2" piece of steel, sort of male/female connection with the hood having the female side. I cleaned the area and roughed up the steel then used 15 min epoxy to attach. I will glass in the bracket later to help spread the load, but with just the epoxy I couldn't pry it loose after just 30 mins.
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Then I fabricated a tripod of sorts out of 1" tube steel with a 1 1/2" wide piece of steel for the male portion of the connection. The tube steel will act as a stop. FYI, from the top of the 1" FFR tube frame to the underside of the hood I set at 5 1/4"
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This area of the hood has a couple bends in the fiberglass so the solid support should strengthen the whole center area, bracket just under the Hula Girl for reference.
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Next I will fabricate a similar designed bracket on each side of the hood to the rear, that will catch after the center bracket catches, maybe by 1/2". Then on installing the hood I can make sure the center catches then slide a little more forward and make sure each rear side catches, then install the front two screws.

I am making all of my extra supports and brackets removable and will send out for powder coating.

Maybe a little more work to remove the hood than with hood pins, but not much, and nothing visible.

[Brando]

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Without body pins my engine cover sits 1" over the bumper out the most outside points.
How did you get your rear engine cover to contour to the top of the bumper like this? It's so nice!

[Aloha818]

Without body pins my engine cover sits 1" over the bumper out the most outside points.
How did you get your rear engine cover to contour to the top of the bumper like this? It's so nice!

Brando! thanks for the compliment! What helped most was building the brace that holds the rear of the engine cover. The brace was made with a slight curve rising in the middle. (Reference post #451 for specifics) Raising the front/center of the trunk lid let the rear corners lay down. Also making sure all the return lips on the panels were sanded down/adjusted to match the adjacent panels. Right now my trunk lid sticks up about 1/8" without any fasteners/pins etc.

[Aloha818]

Since today was Mothers Day I would feel guilty spending any more time than 3 hours with my Hula Girl.

I was able to get the rear passenger side hood pin delete bracket fabbed up and installed, proof of concept.

For the hood portion I cut a 3 1/4" long piece of 1" x1/8" plate steel and cut a little grab piece to weld on, then using 5 min epoxy stuck it on (after some time laying out the receiving bracket)
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Then for the frame mount I cut a 2 3/8" long piece of 1" square tube stock and welded a 2" long piece of 1 1/4" x 1/8" plate stock on one end. Then cut a slot in the flat stock that stops about halfway through the center of the tube steel. The notch is slightly wider at the entry end to make it a little easier to guide the hood into place. Then with a little time spent getting the exact height and location figured out, tacked it in. This is exactly over the FFR hood pin location, FYI.
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Works great! Set the hood down on the car, about 1" rearward from the correct location, centered side to side, start pulling forward, the rear bracket guides the hood straight and the center catch grabs and then about 3/8" from the correct location the rear starts locking in. Pretty excited on how well it's going so far.
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One question though. I've followed every build so far and in every front end pic of every car, including FFR's cars, for some reason it looks like where the front of the hood meets the bumper the front line doesn't quite match up to the bumper. I know on mine, the area where the hood passes between the center of the bumper, is too tight. I cut a slice out on each side of the bumper that I will glass in to make enough room for a continuous even gap. So I'm not sure that by me making that cut helped or not on the front line up, but so far mine is pretty close. In this pic both the rear hood pin delete brackets are installed and the hood is pulled as far forward as the brackets will allow, but no front brackets yet. Just C clamps to hold elevation.
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[Aloha818]

I pretty much finished the hood pin delete project today. I have a couple little adjustments to make and weld in a couple nuts on the front brackets.

First up I needed to slice a little more material out of the bumper on each side of where the hood passes through. Then used some 5 min epoxy to hold together until I take the bumper off and do a proper glass repair on the backside. In the following two pics you can see the gaps are a little closer, a lot closer that how it was shipped.
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Then I fabbed up a couple of brackets to attach to the hood. I used the same process as the other brackets, cleaned off the bed liner and roughed up both the glass and the metal bracket, then used 5 min epoxy to secure. I will glass in all brackets after I'm happy with all fitment.
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Then with a little trial and error, and mock up, I fabbed up the brackets to mount to the side of the bumper
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Then with a single 1/4" x20 hex head screw on each front side of the hood, accessible just under the hood lip, the hood is secured. With these 5 brackets the hood is supported and held secure. The hood cannot move up or down, side to side, or forward or rearward.
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Now I can start to fill/sand/adjust the hood to the fenders/bumper for an even better fit and finish!

[Mechie3]

I really don't like this thread.







Each time I open it I find new things to do. Great work!

[RM1SepEx]

I can't accept that cutting the nose on both sides was needed to allow proper hood gaps... It looks to me as if the lip on the hood doesn't go down at a 90 degree angle as it does over most of the hood, the "lip" seems to flare out at the area where the hood and front clip meet between the headlights. I'm wondering if I can improve the fit with some heat and persuasion...

I'm limited as I haven't given up on a no-paint car.

do you have the aluminum panel to cover the master cylinder access hole that includes a rubber support for the rear/center of the hood?

[Aloha818]

I really don't like this thread.








Each time I open it I find new things to do. Great work!

Thanks for commenting! I'm not sure if I hate this thread or myself for not building as delivered. I guess when I'm done if everything looks good Ill look back and say it was worth it. But spending whole days just to get two feet of body lines to look the way I want seems excessive!

[Aloha818]

I can't accept that cutting the nose on both sides was needed to allow proper hood gaps... It looks to me as if the lip on the hood doesn't go down at a 90 degree angle as it does over most of the hood, the "lip" seems to flare out at the area where the hood and front clip meet between the headlights. I'm wondering if I can improve the fit with some heat and persuasion...

I'm limited as I haven't given up on a no-paint car.

do you have the aluminum panel to cover the master cylinder access hole that includes a rubber support for the rear/center of the hood?

RM1SepEx, thanks for reading and posting!

I didn't want to accept that I needed to to cut into the bumper to make the hood gap right either. I also didn't want to accept that on the passenger side I have all but cut off almost all of the hood return lip on the last two inches too. But that is what feels like to me to be the best use of time to get the best result. But maybe my body parts are worse than yours or others.

I wouldn't give up on a no paint car. For sure you can get the body adjusted, repaired and patched with gelcoat. Boats get damaged all the time. They cut out whole sections of fiberglass, make repairs, and patch back the gelcoat with little to no visible defects after. It just take time and skill.

I do not think I was ever sent the cover for the master cylinder or the rubber support for the hood. If not, I can just make the cover how I want, and I don't need the hood support since I made my own.

[Aloha818]

With my success on deleting the 4 hood pins on the hood behind me, I started prepping for primer/paint.

Since making the front of the hood/bumper location is really my only real body issue on the front half of the car I started there. How this area finishes out is what will guide the finish on the rest of the hood/fender relationship.

With the hood now fully anchored, I came back to the area of the bumper that I sliced to make some room for a decent gap. I ended up cutting open some of the gap again to better dial in the height in relation to the height of the hood. Again with 5 min epoxy for now.

Then to continue on my quest for flush panels and even gaps, out came the filler. I have been mixing up about the size of a large tablespoon at a time for most of my "adjustments". Since the fiberglass will sand as fast as the filler, and based on my experience, I'm afraid of mixing too much at one time. A little easier on metal since the metal can give the sanding block a point of reference when your shaping the panel. So after 4 rounds of spreading and sanding here is where I'm at.

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So panel to panel is dead even. I now have the gaps roughed in. When you start spreading filler you can make anything and change everything. So the "plan" I used for the filler in this area was to keep the FFR lines on the bumper to come across the hood and meld into the radius front. The hood has the basis of this concept as delivered, but the corners were so rounded off that it was kind of hard to recognize at first. In the first pic above you can still see some of my "control" lines on the bumper. This did carry over on to the hood but were sanded off with the 180 grit round. I'm pretty happy, at this point, with the shape and gaps. Hopefully I'll feel the same after a couple coats of primer!

[Scargo]

I love being a critic. With all the great things you are doing to the bodywork, I have a few suggestions... that might make it even better looking.
Looking at the front (the first of the last three images), there are the vertical slits. I think you can improve on the full radiused ends. I suggest they more follow the body lines (above and below) and have four small radii more consistent with all the others on the car; perhaps no more than a 1/4".
For the two trapezoidal openings, which seem like they might be for brake ducts, what about eliminating the lip around the opening and have all those faces go straight back? I think that would give it a cleaner, more production molded, plastic look. Beef it up on the backside if you are worried about strength.
Keep up the good work and keep feeding us.

[RM1SepEx]

I'm having a heck of a time getting the fenders to match up with the sides of the front clip and the fender side/wheel well and the short tips on the front edge where the hood and headlights match. I can get either/or to line up but not both. Did you have to relieve the body around the lights to about a 1/4 lip vs 3/8+ as it came from FFR?

[Aloha818]

I love being a critic. With all the great things you are doing to the bodywork, I have a few suggestions... that might make it even better looking.
Looking at the front (the first of the last three images), there are the vertical slits. I think you can improve on the full radiused ends. I suggest they more follow the body lines (above and below) and have four small radii more consistent with all the others on the car; perhaps no more than a 1/4".
For the two trapezoidal openings, which seem like they might be for brake ducts, what about eliminating the lip around the opening and have all those faces go straight back? I think that would give it a cleaner, more production molded, plastic look. Beef it up on the backside if you are worried about strength.
Keep up the good work and keep feeding us.

Scargo, thanks for weighing in, I love critic's! At least constructive criticism.

After I finish the hood and front fenders I'll start on the rest of the bumper. I like the idea of a little more detail to the "slots" than just the large radius ends. I made similar changes to the side opening in the rear quarters. Stay tuned!

The opening on each side of the center "grill" still need to be sanded and shaped, but like you suggested, will be straight back.

[Aloha818]

I'm having a heck of a time getting the fenders to match up with the sides of the front clip and the fender side/wheel well and the short tips on the front edge where the hood and headlights match. I can get either/or to line up but not both. Did you have to relieve the body around the lights to about a 1/4 lip vs 3/8+ as it came from FFR?

Dan, sorry your having issues! I also had a time getting everything to "work". Frustrating because it takes so much time to bolt everything together, just to find out you need to make another "adjustment" and repeat the remove/replace sequence. This design is a little clunky.

I made some notes here when I was working that section. But I had to sand to fit the bumper under the lights and a little on the fender above the light to get the light to fit better which helped close the gap at the hood/bumper/fender corner.

Hope this helps.

[RM1SepEx]

Just read the latest GRM... they had to do the same thing.... bolt, unbolt, tweak, adjust, repeat... whew... it's getting better. I do think that I figured out the tight hood to nose area... the hood flattens over time, if it has more curvature, it fits that area much better. Naturally when I curved it another gel coat void popped!

The rear area of the hood is a problem as well... Again curvature of the trunk lid needs to increase and the rear clip gap is larger in the middle than the edges. I think that the tension from the sides increases its curvature and it needs to be flatter! What fun, a big 3D puzzle

[metalmaker12]

I am still tweaking, spent a good 4 hours doing some body work and it does not seem like I did much. It's deff a pain to get just right.

[Aloha818]

Just read the latest GRM... they had to do the same thing.... bolt, unbolt, tweak, adjust, repeat... whew... it's getting better. I do think that I figured out the tight hood to nose area... the hood flattens over time, if it has more curvature, it fits that area much better. Naturally when I curved it another gel coat void popped!

The rear area of the hood is a problem as well... Again curvature of the trunk lid needs to increase and the rear clip gap is larger in the middle than the edges. I think that the tension from the sides increases its curvature and it needs to be flatter! What fun, a big 3D puzzle

I am still tweaking, spent a good 4 hours doing some body work and it does not seem like I did much. It's deff a pain to get just right.

Thanks for sharing your build info, seems like we are all having similar challenges!

I'm trying to post my progress with commentary and pics. I might not always make the right decisions, but at least some info for others to think about.

The more you make little moves, with some time between, with the panels sitting as much as possible in their correct final position, the better.

[Aloha818]

Now that I'm happy with how the hood through the bumper fit, time to glass in the steel brackets on the backside of the hood. These have been attached with 5 min epoxy, rated at 4,000 lbs. but to be safe and to spread the load a little I added some fiberglass
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The "critic" Scargo weighed in on my front bumper cut outs. I know, I'm going too slow and I need to get results. So the front cut outs were just roughed in to start getting an idea of the look. I had already finalized the rear quarter side vent openings
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With the plan that I would make the front bumper vents similar, when I got there. So today while I was waiting on fiberglass to setup I detailed out the side vents.
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Then as suggested by Scargo, I detailed out the openings on each side of the center grill.
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So what do you think so far? FYI, the rear quarter vents, side bumper vents, and the opening on each side of the center grill will get the FFR supplied mesh, no trim. I have already had them powder coated satin black. The center grill will get 1/2" x1/2" chrome stainless steel mesh. Similar to what Jaguar puts on their supercharged models.

I also spent some time grinding down the bumper/fender connection. Both sides on my kit were UGLY!. I had to dig deep into the fiberglass. There is also a big dip in the front of the fender on the flare area. First pass with filler didn't even make a dent in it. This same dip is on both sides, BTW.
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[longislandwrx]

great work and enviable patience!


If removing the rear vent did you consider just smoothing it all the way out? Or did you decide it would have been too flat and needed some detail?

[RM1SepEx]

Thanks for sharing your build info, seems like we are all having similar challenges!


The more you make little moves, with some time between, with the panels sitting as much as possible in their correct final position, the better.

I'm feeling that this is the key... My rear hatch is "resting" in place right now with a gallon of "ballast" on both rear corners.

P1110906.JPG

I'm going to lower the inside front of my headlights a bit by lowering the buckets... perhaps that will get me that last 1/4 to make the front of the fender touch the front fascia

[wleehendrick]

So what do you think so far?

Looks great! I also powdercoated all my mesh satin black, and cut out my front side vents similar, but I extended them a little more vertically, so there's a near uniform lip all around.

The center grill will get 1/2" x1/2" chrome stainless steel mesh. Similar to what Jaguar puts on their supercharged models.

I'm not a big fan of chrome on modern cars; I was thinking something similar, but also satin black, like the grill on this CTS-V:

cadillac-cts_blue_12.jpg

[Aloha818]

great work and enviable patience!


If removing the rear vent did you consider just smoothing it all the way out? Or did you decide it would have been too flat and needed some detail?

Thanks for commenting. I don't know about patience, but I'm starting to see the end of bodywork coming!

My original thought was cutting the whole center out and making it all flat. But at the engine cover area, in the center, is a raised profile. That would mean I would have to cut all the way, maybe into, the flange to get the patch low enough. After thinking about it for a couple of days I decided I liked the profile of the area better than thought I would like a flat panel. I also have a spoiler going over too, so I think it adds a little design element to see the two lines of the profile coming out from under the spoiler.

But think I could like it either way.

[Aloha818]

I'm feeling that this is the key... My rear hatch is "resting" in place right now with a gallon of "ballast" on both rear corners.

P1110906.JPG

I'm going to lower the inside front of my headlights a bit by lowering the buckets... perhaps that will get me that last 1/4 to make the front of the fender touch the front fascia

That helps, also you really have to bend that piece of Z shaped metal support to shorten its effective length. It's about 3/8" or so longer than it needs to be. I almost made another to make it easier.

I noticed in your thread you have a piece of tube running side to side under the rear of the engine cover. It helped greatly on the fitment of the trunk lid to arch the tube/engine cover. By raising in the middle the rear corners of the trunk lid start coming down into alignment. Also, check the fitment of the hinges for the trunk lid with clearance for your tube steel support. On mine the hinge, in the open position, almost touches the bottom of the panels, no room for the tube. That's why on mine I'm bracketed to the crossbrace with the tube stopping short of the hinges.

[Aloha818]

Looks great! I also powdercoated all my mesh satin black, and cut out my front side vents similar, but I extended them a little more vertically, so there's a near uniform lip all around.



I'm not a big fan of chrome on modern cars; I was thinking something similar, but also satin black, like the grill on this CTS-V:

cadillac-cts_blue_12.jpg

First off, stay safe out there with the fires and protect the 818! And second, thanks for commenting.

Post a pic of your slots, I couldn't find any on your build thread. I could see cutting a little higher, not sure how to gauge cutting lower.

I like the grill in the pic, that's the mesh I'm talking about. I'm painting my 818 black metallic, the interior will be mostly black (except the red in the seats) my wheels are chromium black and all the FFR mesh I will be using is satin black. So my thought, currently, is that the chrome will add "bling" to the overall presentation. If not, I can always run it over to the powder coater. Also, since both Jaguar and Cadillac both use this type of material on their "inducted" versions, subliminally people will infer that my 818 is inducted.

[RM1SepEx]

I too had to bend the crap out of the z bracket... 3/8 is about right. I haven't bolted the angle for that purpose. We see that almost everywhere... no idea what one change might effect when you assemble the next piece..

Day off today, working 2 stroke racing kart carbs for an autocross Sunday... my wife's kart first, of course!

[metalmaker12]

Now that I'm happy with how the hood through the bumper fit, time to glass in the steel brackets on the backside of the hood. These have been attached with 5 min epoxy, rated at 4,000 lbs. but to be safe and to spread the load a little I added some fiberglass
image.jpg

The "critic" Scargo weighed in on my front bumper cut outs. I know, I'm going too slow and I need to get results. So the front cut outs were just roughed in to start getting an idea of the look. I had already finalized the rear quarter side vent openings
image.jpg

With the plan that I would make the front bumper vents similar, when I got there. So today while I was waiting on fiberglass to setup I detailed out the side vents.
image.jpg

Then as suggested by Scargo, I detailed out the openings on each side of the center grill.
image.jpg

image.jpg

So what do you think so far? FYI, the rear quarter vents, side bumper vents, and the opening on each side of the center grill will get the FFR supplied mesh, no trim. I have already had them powder coated satin black. The center grill will get 1/2" x1/2" chrome stainless steel mesh. Similar to what Jaguar puts on their supercharged models.

I also spent some time grinding down the bumper/fender connection. Both sides on my kit were UGLY!. I had to dig deep into the fiberglass. There is also a big dip in the front of the fender on the flare area. First pass with filler didn't even make a dent in it. This same dip is on both sides, BTW.
image.jpg

I am having all the same issues, you must have a lot of time to document this all and we all thank you for this.

[wleehendrick]

First off, stay safe out there with the fires and protect the 818!

Thanks, will do!

Post a pic of your slots, I couldn't find any on your build thread. I could see cutting a little higher, not sure how to gauge cutting lower.

I don't have access to it now; it's in my storage unit, which is under evacuation. I eye-balled how low to go; here's a photo-chop of your pic which approximates how I trimmed mine:

image.jpg

I like the grill in the pic, that's the mesh I'm talking about. I'm painting my 818 black metallic, the interior will be mostly black (except the red in the seats) my wheels are chromium black and all the FFR mesh I will be using is satin black. So my thought, currently, is that the chrome will add "bling" to the overall presentation. If not, I can always run it over to the powder coater. Also, since both Jaguar and Cadillac both use this type of material on their "inducted" versions, subliminally people will infer that my 818 is inducted.

Yeah, all black might be a bit much.... A little bright-work can make it pop. Look forward to seeing it!

[WIS89]

I don't have access to it now; it's in my storage unit, which is under evacuation!

WLH-

Stay safe and take care of family and loved ones! I am so sorry that you all are experiencing this, and I would happily send thunderstorms your way if I could!

Here's hoping for minimal property damage and no more loss of life. You all will be in my thoughts!

Regards,

Steve

[wleehendrick]

Thanks, Steve!

[Aloha818]

I too had to bend the crap out of the z bracket... 3/8 is about right. I haven't bolted the angle for that purpose. We see that almost everywhere... no idea what one change might effect when you assemble the next piece..

Day off today, working 2 stroke racing kart carbs for an autocross Sunday... my wife's kart first, of course!

Keep working at it! Little moves end up making big changes.

[Aloha818]

I am having all the same issues, you must have a lot of time to document this all and we all thank you for this.

Metalmaker, thanks much for letting me know my comments are beneficial! Sometimes I wonder if anyone is reading/following.

I don't have a lot of extra time per se, but my occupation as a manager allows me some flexibility to be around. Also, I only have to walk about 2000 feet to get to work and the garage (all across the street from the ocean, BTW) I'm building the 818 in is only about another block further. So basically I'm not spending 1-3 hours a day sitting in a car like a lot of others probably do. Translates into more time on the build!

So part of my motivation on posting (sometimes I think too much info) my progress is based on a lack of info coming from those ahead of me. My nature is a planner. Without meaning to criticize anyone, and I'm sure they had their reasons, but specific and critical information about the kit were lacking on the first major documented builds. It seams like one day they mounted the panels, a couple weeks later everything is painted and ready to bolt back on. Without the information on how much time it takes to get the body to a high quality, I greatly underestimated how long I should plan to get mine ready. Obviously FFR is not going to pay someone maybe 400 hours to really tighten up the body for show either, as that wouldn't translate well for prospective builders expectations to the kit they would actually receive. Again, I'm not knocking the kit, I'm perfectly happy with what I bought and the price paid. Just trying to keep expectations in the real world!

Anyway, I'm glad my progress is at least helpful, if not entertaining.