Heater Plumbing, Dash and Body Trial Fit

The kids have Friday off for some sort of teachers work day, so I went ahead and took Thursday and Friday off so I could have a long weekend to get in some family time AND car time.

So far, here's what I've been able to complete.....

First, I mounted the bracket for the optional passenger side roll bar to the chassis.  Easy to do and not much to see, but it gets rid of another box in the garage.

Second,  a few more parts came in from Summit Racing so I was able to complete the plumbing for the heater/defroster.  Again, not too hard but it does look organized and shiny.  And shiny is always good.  The final step will be to connect the dash heater control to the valve on the hose, but that will have to wait until the final dash install.

Third,  I completed the final layout of the dash gauges, switches and other controls.  The only indicators left are three small lights above the steering wheel for high beam and turn indicators.  You can see my initial marks for location, but I wanted to check body fit before drilling the holes.

And finally,  I had a friend come over last night to help me get the body on the chassis.  I went out this morning and temporarily secured the body into place.  The primary purpose of this initial body fit is to check the dash location and clearance of all the aluminum and gauges before any final mounting holes are drilled and the wood veneer is installed.  The dash will need to move to the left about 1/8" and up about 1/8".  That's why we test everything first before drilling holes.

Next up, installing veneer to the dash.

Passenger Roll Bar Bracket

  

Heater Plumbing

Heater Control Valve

 Dash Layout

 Overall Dash View

Body Fit Trial 



Progress

Ok, it's been a while since my last post.  I've finally made some visible progress, so here goes.....

First, Mike came over last night and welded the tabs onto my fabricated parking brake bracket to hold it into place.  If you're not familiar with my parking brake saga, go back and read past posts.    Of everything i've done so far, the parking brake has been by far was the biggest pain in the ass.....so far.  It shouldn't have been hard, but it was just a long drawn out comedy of errors.  Mike also brought over another person he just met who's building a '65 coupe here in Peachtree City.  We're turning into quite a little community of builders right here in PTC.

With the parking brake finally finished, I was able to begin attaching more aluminum in the cockpit, starting with the back wall.  I also fabricated and secured a small patch panel to cover the old parking brake location in the passenger side of the transmission tunnel.  Next up, side panels below the doors.  And with the additional aluminum in place, I have now started installing some of the weatherstripping that will help form the seal between the aluminum panels and body when it's in place.

The wiper motor was the next piece to be installed on the firewall.  The firewall is starting to get crowded, but so far everything's fitting with only a couple of small pieces remaining.  The rest of the wiper assembly is installed with the body, so of course the rest will come later.

On to the engine compartment.  I've begun organizing the all the wires in there, starting with the spark plugs.  I installed a pair of chrome spark plug wire loams.  They're hard to see, but they sure do organize the wires and make 'em look great.  Next up, installing the ignition computer on top of the passenger footbox and completing the heater plumbing.

Next I did the initial install of the sidepipes.  It will require slight adjustments to get them perfectly aligned with the body, so I figured I might as well start now.

And finally, I've started laying out the dash.  I went over all the nessecary switches with Mike, then came up with this initial layout.  The only switches not located yet are the fans to bring fresh air into the driver and passenger side footboxes.  I talked with Brad, and we think they may be buttons located either under the dash on their respective sides or on the transmission tunnel.  In case you wonder why fans are nessecary, the footboxes in Cobras are notoriously hot, and bringing in fresh cool air helps a bit I'm told.  I also prepared several mockups of a wood dash, and I've included a picture of the winner.

Now that I've finally cleared the parking brake log jam, hopefully progress (and posts) will be more steady.  A trial fit of the body will probably be next so I can get the dash aligned just right before I start drilling holes and determing exactly where it will be secured.  Pictures of that soon.....

Parking brake bracket.  Doesn't look like much, huh?

Rear cockpit aluminum panel in place.

Help with weatherstripping.  Notice the JEGS hat,

next up..... gray work shirts with our names

above the pocket.

Weatherstripping around trunk.  No covers for access holes yet.

Wiper motor is on the far left of the firewall just sneaking past the heater fan.

Spark plug wire organization.

Detail of the chrome spark plug wire loams.

Sidepipes.

Dash roughed out in pen.  All those clamp have nothing to do with

the dash assembly, this is just a convenient place to store 'em

where I can get to them quickly.

Bolivian Rosewood dash mockup.