´69 Chevelle Showcar

[Kanada Kustoms]

Fantastic progress on a fantastic build!

[Andy Oldenburg]

Last time I mentioned the problems/challenges we stumble upon as soon as we leave the path of the building instructions. I am actually finished with this build, but then again, not quite yet. You will see why at the end of this post😄.

Before marrying the body and the chassis I added the parking brake cables. 

Then I took care of finishing all of the wiring. 14 LEDs means 28 thin wires, 4 resistors and the battery holder getting soldered together and tucked neatly into the compartment under the gas tank. I did a good share of testing on the way because I couldn´t have taken something NOT lighting after the whole mess was complete. This is shortly before being finished:

And this with the tank slipped in place and held with the magnets. Wipe my sweat and take a deep breath🤗

The gap on the rockers are covered with thin sheet styrene with matte BMF. You can slightly see the wires hidden in the rocker.

The engine was the usual fun. The printed carb and the fabricated air filter really make a difference. I deconstructed the belt and pulley part and worked the pulley wheels to hold thin rubber belts. These I cut from a 1mm place mat. The pulley wheels are connected to the block with .8mm brass rods. 

The finished engine looks like this:

For the front steering and suspension part I fabricated springs and shock absorbers.

Now comes the problem part I started with: Being so happy about the cool carb/filter combination, I didn´t think about if it might not fit under the closed hood.... Well, it DID NOT! Aaarrrrgh! Also, since the wiring forced me to work in an unconventional order, I had to spar the engine to the end. So, it didn´t fit into the bay either. What to do?

I sliced the gear off the engine again and that solved that inconvenience. No big thing gluing them together again. Dropping the engine about 10mm to make it fit under the closed hood forced me into open heart surgery. First I cut and grinded a much as possible off the engine mount with my micro tool. Then I worked the engine pan to an extreme to lower it over the mount. 

After sanding and filling the gaps with epoxy and touching up with paint, you can hardly notice anything. I could have kept this step to myself, but I wanted to disclose the drama!🥺😖😂

The hood fits now and engine bay itself is finished too.

Now comes a last bit of trouble. I cut out the roof for a targa convertible. Until far into the building process the windshield frame and the roof fit perfect. And after connecting the windshield to the frame I didn´t bother checking the fit any more. Under normal circumstances the "glass" would pop into the frame and the roof would take it´s tension. But the windshield frame is only about 2mm thick now and so the frame adapted the shape of the frame. Meaning, the convertible roof doesn´t fit now! Gaps at the back, twisted and a fat gap over the windshield. Dang....

I could just discard the roof and leave everything as it is. But that wasn´t what I wanted at the start. I am now working the roof, adding plastic and after sanding, putty and painting it will be fine. And I am so happy I decided to make the roof grey! I would never get the paint to match good again.

This is my last post on this WIP thread. After I get the build finished I will introduce it on "Under Glass". 

Thanks for watching and your friendly replies and support!

 

 

[BK9300]

Seriously well done - amazing work to get all the wiring in place and hidden.  Your engine looks fantastic, too!