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HomeNotesDiary 2018
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Total from 2017  
767hr

Jan 19  0hr
The year is starting very slowly. Purchased a set of low beam LED projectors out of 2016 Ford F150 as trial mid December to see how big they are and if they can be altered to fit different LED chip before holidays last year. They had arrived just before Christmas but never had time to take good look at them. Rough glance at them proved they they are much shallower and lower then the HID projectors and it might be possible to swap the 3.4W LED chips for a 10W but some adaptor may be required for it. Larger 20, 50 or the 100 W COB LED chips are way to big and will never fit properly under the mounting points nor the reflector properly. Though the OE chip has fair amount of light so will have to try them at night and see how they work and if they are acceptable.  One good thing is that those LED do not require any drive circuitry and can have power fed directly to them, which is a bonus as the housing would be much smaller due to the un-necessary electronics.
The other part that needs to be verified is to see if 2 of those projectors can be fit side by side for high and low beams. based on the preliminary assessment it may not be possible as they are just as wide as the HID projectors and the 2.5 round projector just fits in the gen 3 head light. May try the LED and the round projector as combination.  Other option for those Ford LED projectors is to use them as fog lights


Jan 30   0hr
Purchased High Beam LED lights to match the Low Beams. As it turns out the HB modules are about 1/4" smaller around the lens and the heat sink looks smaller as well. normally this would be reversed but guess engineers at Ford seen it differently.  Bad news is that the idea of 100W or even 10W COB modules will not work as the chips surface is just to big to fit between the lens holding frame. Alternative is to find other surface mounted LED chips like CREE with a very low lens profile as the actual headlight lens does the focusing so how the light is emitted from the chip is not of a great concern

 

Feb 09   0hr
The second pair of lights arrived. Just a rough fitting they will work fantastic and worst case will use the OE LED chips. Idea is still to have them replaced but with a small twist. More in headlight v4 section


March 11  0.5
Started making a buck to hold the new LED headlight projectors, Unfortunetaly  this will be positive part that will be made out of MDF and wll have to make a negative form out if it first then make the positive component.Good part of it is that it will be just a matter of removing few screws holding individual pieces flip it to other side and the opposite mold can me made out of same buck 


March 17   1hr
MDF is a great material to work with and very easy to shape with knife or sharp chisel. Aligned everything together and carved out all indentations.  Just need to make stand offs for high beam and upper part to the share


March 24   0.5hr
Finished the stand offs for the high beam.   Just need to make up the upper brow to mount the per trim

May 1, 1hr
Taped off surfaces on the headlight plug with shipping tape hopefully the plastic will be easier to separate from plaster then paper tape. Added extra parting dividers and layed first coat of plaster. Hopefully it will prevent shrinking and this way it will allow for adding inserts to make the mold stiffer

May 2   0.5hr
Added couple more layers of plaster to make the plug thicker and allow for sanding to get it into shape

May  4    0.5hr
pulled wooden formers out from headlight plug and letting it dry to harden it up and prevent from crumbling into pieces.

May 7    1hr
Started sanding down and preparing interior molds to make parts from.

May 20  3.5hr
started cleaning interior molds. Made some adjustments to outer walls of instrument cluster and nose of it

May 21  5hr
Did some more sanding of the instrument cluster, its getting better but still far away. Will have to make up some sort of plate emulating circuit board so that mounting tabs can be made. Finished cleaning interior molds, waxed them and assembled 2 outer kick panels ( speaker buffles )  and main dash pad.  Will have to cover with PVA next and they will be ready for fiberglass.

May 22 1hr
Brushed PVA on interior molds. Missed glove box yesterday :( well next time  Re-measured mold for headlight frame. Will have to trim half inch from the topside to shrink profile down

May 27  1hr
Sanded instrument cluster and primed

Jun 1   1.5hr
Reversed headlight wood plug for projector base, cut out all indentations and reassembled. Build up filler for most just need to add more onto the top to get some thickness. Will need to dry for a day or 2 and adjusted to similar dimensions as first

Jun 2   1hr
Removed from form and added few more layers of plaster to build up the thickness

Jun 7   1hr
Sanded down back side to give symetry to left and right side and skim coated to even up areas from belt sander

Jun 8  1hr
put gel coat on outer and inner kick panels and dash. attempted to cut out instrument cluster display board for making mounting tabs. Sanded down head light projector mounts and primed. Will have to get work on mount side to get details next in order to make parts/molds

Jun 15  2.5hr
Finally got around to lay some fiberglass. Made up the dash and driver inner and outer kick panels. Small part of the mat drooped around glove box so will have to re-make small part and stitch-in in place of that fallen area. Run low on resin and will have to get more for other parts. More importaly need to make molds of that center console as it has been sitting since last fall.

Jun 16  1hr
pulled parts from molds, couple areas need to be fixed were mat was not pushed far enough. Looks like missed on couple releave corners for mating purposes between outer kick panels and dash. Will have to do final trimming and rid of the gel molds split leaks

Jun 17  2hr
Trimmed the kick panels to better shape at least where it meats the firewall and floor board. Most likely they will need additional trim once carpet goes in.  Trimmed dash and it looks like after adding the cap pieces at ends the overall width had changed where it needed to be cut down by 1/4" at each side, kind of sucks cause have to finish the sides now. Kind of made extra cuts around the mount flange around A pillar where trim supposed to lean on however the dash slips in nice and easy which may not be that bad of a mistake. Will have to do some fixing around some corners where did not push the mat against the gel and gel cracks off now. Secondly will have to make defroster and side vents tubes under it to complete the dash.

Jun 24  1hr
Sanded/trimmed headlights projector holders and filled in air packets and all the rough chisel marks and uneven surfaces. Hopefully can finish it quick so that main holders can be made so that fenders can be adjusted.

Jun 25  1.5hr
Sanded down projector plugs again, they seem to be fairly straight though there are some air packet voids that will have to be fixed and proportions on one corner of projectors needs to be made symmetrical.
Sanded down instrument cluster. Will have to see how the simulated display PCB will fit and back fill. For now primed all 3 pieces and will have to wait till primer dries.

Jun 26  3hr
Layed up 2 right kick panels and under dash trim piece on driver side. Sanded down headlight projector holders and bottom of instrument cluster. Primed all pieces. One more skim coat and they might be OK to trim corners and finalize the plugs/molds

Jun 27  2hr
Resurfaced small areas on projector holders and bottom of instrument cluster early in morning.
Trimmed panels from yesterday. need to get more resin to make parts from remaining 5 molds and make a mold of center console and part of it.
Sanded the projector holders again, finally it looks good. However one of the angles on one of them is bit off, debating if I should change it to make it symmetrical. If I do that I may build up 1/8" of side wall on low beam just to make it same to other side.
Sanded bottom of Instrument cluster to make it smooth. Its not going to be seem but its a matter of knowing that it was done properly. Readjusted display fitment and double it in thickness to make it thicker and sandwidget between flat pieces to make it straight.

 Jun 29  1hr
Rounded off corners on the projector holders, came out better then thought and no air bubbles. Need to build up left side to make a bit better clearance. Once that is done they are ready to make parts of.  Trimmed the display panel cardboard cutout and filled in rim around the instrument cluster.

July 1   5hr
Waxed and PVA glove box skin and driver pedal trim, skipped on gel coat as dash will be covered later any way. Leid up parts for both sill's, both upper trims, glove box door and column trim. This leaves center console to make molds off. Though can start making mounting tabs for the outer kick panels and sills. 
Trimmed off left projector holding palate and final sanding on both sides to round off any missed corners and made all nice and smooth. Cleaned up instrument cluster and filled in center so that the mold would looks bit better and be easier to make the part. Bit longer over all but it will be worth the effort.

July 8  3hr
trimmed last set of fiberglass parts, Parted instrument cluster

July 9  1hr
waxed instrument cluster and headlight projector holders

July 13  3.5hr
PVA instrument cluster and projector holders. parted center console, removed steering column to get it out of the way, waxed and gel upper center console and the projector and instrument cluster. Filled in low area on dash pad with gel where gel did not bond to fiber mat.

July 14  4hr
As somehow missed on the PVA step of the top of center console thought probably for the better as it will stay attached bit better. and gel coating corners of it yesterday. Did laid first mold part, once it cures will pull the parting wax and PVA both sides so they can be done same time.  Will have to extend bottom though with cardboard and build up packets with gel bit thicker maybe.  Laid up the projector holders and after they cure and pulling them out from plaster molds will be able to trim and proceed with rest of the bucket. laid up face part of the instrument cluster as well, top will be next.
Hopefully will be able to get to mounting the inside panels and finishing the dash and moving on to the hinges for the hood and doors soon.

July 16  1hr
Pulled all parting from all the molds. Tunnel looks good, will have to extend bottom of the sides a bit just to give a bit of extra flat area. Instrument cluster got couple chips so had to fill them up. not the largest but something that its easier to fix now then the mold later


Jul 18    3.5hr
Pulled all parting cardboard from tunnel. Made up next parting for instrument cluster and waxed all parts

July 20  0.5hr
PVA all parts

July 22  5hr
Big progress had been made, got both sides of center console molds laid up. this will be close to 80% or more of interior panels molds done. All that will be left is the B pillars, bottom part of the back firewall, ceiling and a small upper trim around windshield that will have to be made while the A pillar frame is removed and can be laid upside down. Also laid secod part of Instrument cluster with just the bottom to be made.
Now can move on to mounting doors and start working on adjusting front fenders.

July 24  1.5hr
drilled holes on center console for bolting all parts together, trimmed all the fuzzy edges and pulled molds of the plug. Cleaned up all left over plug material from the chassis and molds. YEY time to finally other things on the car now that dont have to worry about disturbing the molds/plug. Waxed last part for instrument cluster, PVA next then gell and layup fiber and resin for the 3rd mold piece. Will have to move on the new LED lights to see what size they will be and mean wile start working on the front fenders.

July 27  1hr
waxed PVA and gelcoated lower part of the instrument cluster

July 29  2hr
laid up bottom part of instrument cluster. stitched up gearshifter part of center console plug in order to make the mold for it.

July 31  0.5hr
trimmed and pulled molds of the instrument cluster.


Aug 6   2hr
sanded and cleaned up center console, filled in voided with filler to rebuild some of the chipped and problem areas when making the molds upside down

Aug 14   3.5
Sanded down and did some cleaning of the center tunnel mold sides. Filled in crack, bubbles and uneven surfaces.
Laid first layer of filler on shifter cover plug

Aug 15   2.5
More of same from yesterday. Molds are getting better. One longer day or 2 like today and the molds should be ready for making a part.
Sanded down shifter cover and filled in bit smoother layer of filler. Will see how much more work will be necessary after its sanded down tomorrow

Aug 16   3hr
Focused more on gear shift cover plate plug today as from yesterday surfacing of the plug seemed to level all major surface voids and unevenness with just small spots that will have to be fixed. So cut off all the major extra areas of the original plug and left just actual filler plate. Removed all foam that was in the way and surfaced all areas of interest to make a mold.
Sanded sown sides for center tunnel and refilled small spots. I think one more time and the molds will be ready

Aug 17  3.5hr
Continued on shift gear cover plug, sanded down and resurfaced and build up some cornersfor deeper mold.
Finished center tunnel side molds YEY, need to wax them assemble and PVA in order to lay up the part.
Stared to adjust dash support, sanded town and straightened so it would lay flat on cross bar. Surfaced and will have to sand it down to see if there are any major issues still residing with it.
Decided to build up instrument cluster front mold piece to give extra depth for mounting circuit board. Wrapped making tape around and rougly filled in perimeter with filler

Aug 18   0.5hr
Sanded down the face mold of instrument cluster. The tape did a fairly good job containing the filler. Its fairly smooth but will have to lightly skim surface just so that there will be less work after the part is made. Trimmed mown height of the build up to 3/4 inch which will be more then enough for PCB and any display mounts and surface cover silk screen leaving plenty of space for final lens.
Sanding back side will tell if there will need to be any more filling needed. Though will have to make flat indents on sides for SD and SIM cards mounts for possible options.

Aug 19  5.5hr
long day but very productive.
face of the instrument cluster spacing all filled, sanded, waxed and PVA, ready for part making.
Dash cross bar support, all sanding finished, waxed and PVA, ready for part making.
Center tunnel console, all sanding is finished, waxed, assembled and PVA, ready for part making. Thing thing is huge, probably as big as rear quarter panel if not bigger.
Gear shift cover all sanded down and primed.  Will probably give another coat of primer and sand it down really smooth as this will be final surface for the part and wanting to make it out of carbon fiber so the fit has to be perfect.
Sanded down kick panel parts, will focus on trying to make up a way to mount them and see how the dash will look like with them. Will have to device a firm way of mounting inner sill covers as most likely people will sit on them when coming or getting out of the car.

Aug 21  0.5hr
Gel coated front part of instrument cluster and dash bar support

Aug 23  1hr
Laid up fiberglass on last 2 parts

Aug 24  1hr
pulled parts from molds and trimmed. Dash bar support will have to get trimmed but most likely will have to wait till the center console is completed. Instrument cluster face looks fantastic. Just need to do the rest of it now.
Sanded down gear shifter cover primer to see how smooth it is. Also sanded down outer corners to mimic rest of the console and not having square corners. Had to fill in a bit as transition between primer to raw filler was not smooth enough.

Aug 25  0.5hr
Sanded down the filler smooth and gave a gentle round off on some other corners. Primed again.

Aug 26  0.5hr
Sanded gear shifter trim,  she looks beautiful.  Next.. making a mold

Aug 30  1.5hr
Trying to complete the instrument cluster shell, Started building up bottom mold to have recess in it for removable plate to access internals of the cluster.  Had to fill in hole then chipped away while making shell mold.  Will use bottom of the plug again to make access door as it has the contours for it marked in it. Hoping that filler will dry up today so that it can be sanded and primed as prep for making mold over weekend.
Started shaping plate that will be placed inside the door shell where hinge will be bolted too. It will serve as hinge mounting base and to which internal door frame will be welded to

Sep 2  3.5hr
Washed A pillar covers and dash bar support. Finished lower section of instrument cluster door indentation. Trimmed front part of instrument cluster part, most likely will still need some more adjustment but at least it will not try to cut into hands. Sanded down dash cluster plug bottom, unfortunately it still needs bit of filling so that will have to wait to be molded. Made up parting for wheel opening on fenders so they can be adjusted for better fit of the wheel and head light and contouring etc etc... Waxed  instrument cluster and PVA. next time will gel coat and lay up fiberglass

Sep 3  0.5hr
gel coated instrument cluster and gearshift cover. filled in A pillar trim chipped gel, will have to  fill in couple more times due to gravity
Sanded down bottom of instrument cluster to make door mold

Sep 7  2.5hr
laid up fiberglass on instrument cluster and gear shift cover and extension to front fenders.  Will make normal fiberglass cover/trim for the shifter however I think that will have to be remade :-/

Sep 8   0.5hr
pulled parts from molds and they look great

Sep 9   0.5hr
Trimmed shifter trim molds and looks great. Also trimmed and ground the instrument cluster. This thing will be NICE. Will have to do bit more grinding and fitting so the 2 part mate properly and especially that there are 2 very thin corners that need to be worked with.

Sep 13  2hr
Parted bottom of instrument cluster plug to make up door cover mold for the instrument cluster
Decided on fixing headlight plug ver3 and making a raised outer perimeter so that there will be extra space to cover marker/turn lights and affixing main lens to it

Sep 15  4hr
gel coated center console and instrument console cover. Laid up fiberglass on the cover and center console. This makes the last largest panel besides roof liner and possibly inner panel for engine lid though that might be done in 3 sections.

Sep 17  0.5 hr
Pulled parts from molds

Sep 18  1.0hr
Trimmed all parts

Sep 20  2.5hr
cut down to shape back plates that go inside of door frames where hinges will bolt up to. Fully  welded right door hinge and drilled a pilot hole for grease fitting.
Started fixing some non bounded gel coat on A pillar trim

Sep 23  4.5hr
sanded down A pillar trim pieces.  Sanded/grinded down high areas on center console. Looking at it. the side packets may need to be cut out and made removable at the sides may not deflect far enough to drop it onto the frame. Will have to see how it will work once the back is trimmed to fit window regulator in

Oct 8  3hr
Ground/sanded 99.9% of main dash underside and gel coat fix areas just to clean up all of the sharp fiberglass points and higher build areas. Its already much easier to handle it. Will have to grind very small areas on outer edges by A pillar in order to fix the outer edge after cutting it off in order for the dash to fit in. Cut down to size and pre-fit supporting structure under the dash so that it will rest on top of the chassis cross bar. Sanded down A pillar trim and to see what else needs to be re-work and fixed on it. However will have to wait for the dash to have its support fixed and mounted so that the A pillar trim can be adjusted to final shape.

Oct 9  1.5hr
To continue with the dash. Since there are 2 spots that need to have some flat surfaces reworked so to make it bit less difficult decided to extend them while the 2 parts are still separate rather then trying to squeeze hand in to lay up the flat surfaces. This way it will be just but joining with overlap glassing and it should be so much easier.
Covered up ends to refinish them and make 90' angles for cross bar mounts. This should locate the second part much easier as well.

Oct 11  2hr
Got couple hours of prep work today. In order for the center console/tunnel cover to sit properly on the frame, flanges need to be made on the cover piece. So after aligning and making sure it will sit nicely and sit closely to the dash lines where marked flat to the chassis. made up flange partitions on one side of the tunnel and now can lay some fiberglass and hopefully bonds nicely with the tunnel cover.  One problem, the side packets are deep, deep enough to interfere in installing and removing it. Will have to do something to fix this. May have to cut them out and make removable packets that will be fastened to the sides. Looked at a way to mount the inner kick panel extensions, Don't really like to have visible fasteners so may have to fasten on the joint like fingers like.
cleaned up template for the headlight rev3 to make the lens stand off. it seems like there is 1cm of difference in upper circumference between left and right side. It does not seem like a lot but its enough to wonder. Gel coated some of chipped off edges on A pillar trim and dash.
Will try to lay up fiberglass on the tunnel to make the flange and fix the dash tomorrow.

Oct 13  1.5hr
laid up fiberglass extending bottom part of underdash support and end caps for top dash part.  Will need to prep and join them together. Once that is complete can get front mounting done and start working on defrost duct. Laid up fiberglass on one side inside of the tunnel (center console) to make up support to lean on chassis. Will have to do same on other side next.


Oct 16  1.5hr
Pulled parting from tunnel and forms from dash parts. Trimmed and scuffed raw fiberglass on end caps so that they can be gelled and surface finished. Will need to remark other side of tunnel, part it and lay fiberglass to complete support for it.  Cut off inner part of the side packets as it was hard to put the tunnel on the chassis and even harder to take it off. Will have to see if its worth having those packets and if so will make them removable to make things of installing and removing that part easier.

Oct 19  4.5hr
Fastened top of dash to bottom with straps straps making sure it alligns with support cross bar.
Ground  down remaining areas so that then can be used to overlap fiberglass on top then grinding down flat for smooth surface finish.
Parted second half of center tunnel as prep for laing down support flange

Oct 20  1.5hr
Laid fiber glass on the dash, center tunnel and left fender as prep for adjusting outer arch just like right side

Oct 21  1.5hr
Trimmed fender from excess fiberglass and ground surface for better filler adhesion. Removed all straps from dash and ground down all remaining areas on bottom of dash. Due to location of small section around instrument cluster it will have to be done in 2 parts.
Trimmed center tunnel, however when test fitted it does not align properly and titar totters on the chassis. One good part about it is that first flange was made bit to low as it rests to high so will have to trim that down and effectively lowering it. One bad thing about it is that the flange might be too thin so will most likely have to build up thickness.

Oct 23  1hr
laid up fiberglass patching on bottom part of dash. Hopefully it will not grind through and it will be just a matter of surface finish of those joints and on to a small section around the cluster.

Oct 27  3.5hr
Ground down all the fiberglass to a flat surface on bottom of the dash. Made couple holes again cause of how the edges where curving up ... ahh more patching. ground off larger areas so it hopefully material will sing down into cavity and stuff some filler into the holes so hopefully it will fill in this time.
Cut off the flanges on bottom of the center console and ground off small area on center console support. No more titar toting, dropped the front part down a bit too and still holds to standing on top of it so it will still be solid and not break. Thou it is one of the heavier pieces on the interior aside from door sills.  Cause front part dropped, the dash is laying down bit better too. Also trimmed bottom of the console hopefully flash with floor so it does not hang low to ground any longer. It still will have to be trimmed in final stages of upholstery so that carpet would fit under it.
Noticed that the tunnel section of chassis is starting to get some surface rust due to the plug  making and the fact that it was stripped from primer. It will have to be addressed next time before it goes any further.
Sanded down A pillar trim from couple surface chipped gel coat area refills.
Slowly interior is getting completed. Will have to look into finalizing belt mounting and figuring out door latches so that next summer B pillar trim and back firewall area can be finished and floor can be welded in.

Nov 2   1hr
Got out for a bit today and plugged up all of the small holes on bottom of the dash. Put some weights on flat surface to push the material in and fill up the holes so it would go deeper and on corners put tape on to force the material in as well.
Well, it looks like it may have worked but will find out for sure after grinding flatter.
If it works will fill in top area around the dash and start defrost ducts and try to fasted to the window trim.
Sanded down and primed headlight buckets v3. Will finish those and make a mold and parts out of it to see how they will look like and compare to the LED version 4

Nov 5   1.5hr
Laid up last part around instrument cluster making fully bonded dash. Also added extra layer on back mounting face of the dash as it was thin during original lay up. Will have to grind all the surfaces now however from the looks of things it may look OK. Next step will be the defrost ducting plug. Initial making of it will tie up the dash however after that it can be surface finished and mounting points can be made so that it can stay in position.
Sanded down lip on the headlight buckets. Will have to figure out perimeter of the lens and move onto bottom part of the lip hopefully will be still able to make a mold of it this year and possibly pull part from it

Nov 10   0hr
Went out to recyclers to pick up few parts. Did not felt very well and cut the day short. However picked up interior dash harness and glove box latch and handle so will try to figure out may be how to make mounts for it and move on with making the inner tray part.  Thinking about it as ripped out entire dash at wreckers, should had picked up HVAC parts and see if any of it could be adapted.   Maybe first will try to figure out how big of a cavity I have to work with and look for parts that will fit there.

Nov 11   1hr
Got around to grind down last fiberglass lay up. It turn out pretty good. Next Will start figuring out how to mount it and rest of the internal panels. and surface finish the dash along getting instrument cluster bonded together.

Dec 8    0hr  (3)
Did some exploratory investigation for steering wheel wire harness and why there are so many wires there. As it turn out, ignition combination switch has single power feed cable and 4 switched output cables. Which is very normal provided that you need accessory, run, switched run and starter switched power. There is a plug to the coil spring for steering wheel controls/air bag and a key reader coil for security and last is small 6 pin plug for stick switches ie. turn signals, lights and wiper control. Well that's where things are getting bit dicey. I know why its done this way, and the answer is simple wire reduction as you would need close to 20 wires between those 2 switches. So Honda (Acura) put in a small controller getting all those signals into a small PCB fed it into a controller and spit it out on a CAN bus.  So now the couple questions are. Should I keep that steering column and its controls or look for a different one and replace the hole thing. Or should I use the fuse box/control module and adapt it. Or should I reinvent the wheel and build a propriatary controller and replace the one that is in the key stock and accompany decoder at other end to split proper signals out.


Dec 31
Another year gone again. With only 139hr this year on the time clock still made a relatively large amount of work though not as much as wished for.  Most of the work was on the interior of the cabin with majority of panel parts being made.  
Missed on major goals of mounting doors and window regulators, making hinges for front trunk and making them operational. Plus would have liked to make inner panel for rear deck lid.



 Total    906. hr
 

 
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