First Upholstery Brainstorming / Consulation (March 2, 2013)

Today we met with our upholstery guy, Robert Rivera. I have know Robert for years and his work is second to none. What sets him apart is his creative ability. He isn't one to rest on his last success, there are no two jobs alike. The "next one" always has to be better and different from the last. 

The theme for the interior is to pay homage to the original iconic SS style interior design features, using modern materials. This is the Cerullo Sport GT seat in "frame and foam" sporting one of our many design ideas in "Sharpie".

This is the original (re-pop) SS interior we used for reference.

  
Can you see the wheels turning?  LOL!  Seriously though, this was a really cool day!

Disassembly After Mock-Up (February 24 - 25, 2013)

This is just a short entry to celebrate getting to this point. It took nine months to get here. Short of terminating wires and upholstery we pretty much built the entire car.  I want to throw out a Thanks to a fellow Stevesnovasite member TomM. If it weren't for a conversation with him about 2 months prior to reaching this point I may have well torn it down and dealt with lots of fab during re-assembly. Definitely not my original intention but it is tough to resist the urge to skip the PITA stuff to get to the "fun" stuff. Building as complete as possible in the mock up process is the right way to build a car like this. There are numerous things that are not anywhere near "stock" and doing that custom stuff at final assembly is not the way to go. And definitely need to include a MAJOR Thanks to my car building and life partner, my Awesome wife!

The following are just a few shots during disassembly.

  

Sure came apart a lot faster than it went together!!!
A bit of finish work and paint and on to the "fun" stuff!!!!!!

Brake Line Fabrication (February 16 - 23, 2013)

This post will cover the fabrication of the brake lines. As with the fuel lines, I sourced the tubing from Inline Tube. I actually bought the kit they have for $125 which included almost everything I needed for less than the sum of the individual parts. In addition I bought the following to supplement the kit; (1) 3/16 union, (1) 3/16 tee, (1) extra package of clamps and 15' of extra spring wrap. These lines will utilize double 45 degree flares. Everything is stainless. I used two different benders, one was a tight radius for some of the bends that were in tight spaces. 

I started at the rear end and worked to the front. Here I was mocking up the mounting for the tee/rear flex line using poster board as a template.

   

Mounting bracket formed up from 14 ga. steel. The stud is welded to the bracket from the back side then ground flush.

First line from the tee to the LH rear caliper. In this pic I had already bent the line per a solid wire template and installed the spring wrap. Then performing the final flare operation. I used an Eastwood turret style double flaring tool. This tool is worth the money as the results are professional and inspire confidence! Brakes are not a place to skimp!

Finished double flare.

Finished line.

  

  
  
Next up the RH line from the caliper to the tee.

  

Flaring the RH line.

RH line installed.

  

  

This is the beginning of the rear to front line. It will mimic the same path that I used on the fuel line on the passenger side.

From the rear along the subframe connector to the front.

This is the formed line without the spring wrap or the final fitting installed. It terminates a few inches from the front. There will be a union located there to connect to the front portion that will run to the proportioning valve located below the master cylinder. The spring wrap and final flare fitting were installed once I verified exactly where the union needed to be located.

This is the front line to the prop valve. In the picture you can see the wire template that I used to fabricate the actual line.

Flaring the front line.

Beautiful flares!

  

Finished front line next to the templates.

Rear portion of the front line attached to the union.

  

Front portion of the front line attached to the prop valve.

U shaped line between the master cylinder and the prop valve.

  

Beginning of the line from the master cylinder to the tee for the front calipers.

  

  

The line runs from the master cylinder back to the firewall on the same path as the rear line for aesthetic reasons. Then back towards the front along the frame. At the Tee a short 90 degree bent to connect to the left front caliper flex line. From there the line drops to the inside of the frame to the RH side.

  

  

Adding the spring wrap.

  

  

Connection to the RH caliper.

Finished lines.