[PssdffJay]

And now back to our regularly scheduled updates. Lots of photos on this one.

I had already taped down the template. So next I center punched and confirmed with the callipers.



Then drilled. Look!! No chips!!



Then I spent 15 minutes screwing it in as the ion arm slowly sucked towards the shell.



And voilà!! C'est Magnifique!!





(Still need to clean off my table...)

You can see the gap here but when there is no paper it is hardly noticeable. Even less I'm sure when I get to paint.



And just for fun with the cap on.



I think the PPD will be next before I go with the booster tube. My internet is down in the neighbourhood so I'm limited to my phone only. (First world problems...) so I'll see what I can find for install tips. I've see metal dowels (Letmebleed's thread I believe) but I don't see why it couldn't just be screwed on.

[halliwax]

looking good buddy!! do u think the PPD is the hardest part to locate/drill/fasten?

[35FT_TWINKIE]

Nope, it was 25 degrees! I had the top down and the doors off on my jeep celebrating Canada day in style. Wind blown hair, and bugs in my teeth!!

I'm going to assume that to be 25 degrees Celsius and not 25 degrees 'Merican?

[35FT_TWINKIE]

looking good buddy!! do u think the PPD is the hardest part to locate/drill/fasten?

PPD was super easy. So easy in fact I didn't hardly pay attention the first time I mounted mine and totally ruined it.

Currently have a replacement on its way from Sir Vin.

Just drill hole or holes into shell, place PPD where you want it, mark it through the holes from the inside of the shell, remove, drill, tap, drink beer.

[PssdffJay]

looking good buddy!! do u think the PPD is the hardest part to locate/drill/fasten?

PPD was super easy. So easy in fact I didn't hardly pay attention the first time I mounted mine and totally ruined it.

Currently have a replacement on its way from Sir Vin.

Just drill hole or holes into shell, place PPD where you want it, mark it through the holes from the inside of the shell, remove, drill, tap, drink beer.

Check! That's what I figured. What did you do to ruin it?

I'm just waiting to be able to look at some reference photos for position. Hurry up cable internet people!! What do you think today is, a holiday or something?! Oh, right...

[PssdffJay]

Nope, it was 25 degrees! I had the top down and the doors off on my jeep celebrating Canada day in style. Wind blown hair, and bugs in my teeth!!

I'm going to assume that to be 25 degrees Celsius and not 25 degrees 'Merican?

No way eh! If it's warm enough to see yer breath and scrape yer windows, it's warm enough to drive aboot with the top down eh! You just gotta giver eh! And make sure you're wearing your teams sweater, eh, while you're out for a rip!

That hurt me to do that. I never actually say "eh" but I have some friends who do all the time!

[35FT_TWINKIE]

Well, first, when I placed it and drilled/tapped the holes I angled it with the face too far to the right. I didn't really noticed until I got my booster tube mounted and tried to dry fit my ladder, that the edge of the PPD caused to ladder to sit too high on the booster tube.

On the PPD itself, I drilled/tapped 2 holes, but I did them too deep (this was the first aluminum part I mounted and I was a bit over zelous) so when I tried to fill them with epoxy and redrill the holes off to the side, it wouldn't re-tap worth a damn. It was just a hot mess. The PPD though was solid aluminum from Ejgunth and was awesome. Shame I screwed it up...


And yes...I have pictures that I have not posted yet...

[PssdffJay]

I didn't think about the frame and the PPD placement. Damn. I think the tube is next then I can line up the frame and PPD and have no collisions.

[PssdffJay]

I got a couple more things drilled out. First I drilled, tapped, and attached this elbow.







When I was tightening it up it did start to chip out. Not too bad. It could have been way worse.

[PssdffJay]

Then I drilled the holes for the Legris straights. Drilling was super easy with that flexible extension. Tapping this was a pain though. The t wrenches that came with my set were to big to use so I used a pair of pliers and held on to the end and twisted it like a screw driver. VERY CAREFULLY! Pain. In. The. Ass!! But, it got the job done.



With my vintage Legris straights. I won't say how much, but the gbfans shop didn't have replicas and I didn't want a resin replica if I could avoid it.





And from the inside. I really wish I could find a nut that would work on the inside. I don't want to epoxy in my vintage straights. Can't find anything locally. I may have to start looking online.

[PssdffJay]

What's the difference between the vintage parts and the GBFans replicas? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let me show you.

Replica is on the left if you aren't sure.







And a photo of 1 vintage and 1 replica installed in the shell.



Replica on the right this time.

[bishopdonmiguel]

I really wish I could find a nut that would work on the inside. I don't want to epoxy in my vintage straights. Can't find anything locally. I may have to start looking online.

In the pipe fittings isle of your local hardware store, find one of these brass couplers with compatible threads. The straights will only thread in a few turns. With a fine hacksaw, cut a small section off each end of the coupler, file down any sharp edges and use as nuts (cut end away from the base of the straight). You may need a washer for a tight fit.

[Hijacker]

What's the thread pitch on the straights?

[Hoot]

Nope, it was 25 degrees! I had the top down and the doors off on my jeep celebrating Canada day in style. Wind blown hair, and bugs in my teeth!!

Hung....over

[abaka]

What's the thread pitch on the straights?

1/8-27 if I remember correctly.

[Hijacker]

Are they pipe threads or straight threads? I'm assuming straight from what you're saying. If that's the case, any hardware store with a good selection of bolts should have something that worke.

[bishopdonmiguel]

Are they pipe threads or straight threads?

They are NPT and therefore have a taper for creating a fluid tight seal. Best solution I've found thus far is utilizing the coupler as described above. Works like a treat but there may be other options.

[PssdffJay]

Yes to the pipe threads. It was a 27 NPT tap.

Thanks for the tip on the coupler. I find a lot of the "special" items mentioned here on the site, I can never find local anywhere here in Canada. I'll try this part number though and give it a shot.

[PssdffJay]

Nope, it was 25 degrees! I had the top down and the doors off on my jeep celebrating Canada day in style. Wind blown hair, and bugs in my teeth!!

Hung....over

I expect nothing less my friend! I expect a lot of people that are working today are in the same boat.

[bishopdonmiguel]

I'll try this part number though and give it a shot.

I probably did not make this clear but the link is just the first coupler that I found with the right shape. Wanted to illustrate what the part looked like.

If you have trouble finding one, shoot me a PM and I'll send one. The are $1.50 here. Cheap.

[PssdffJay]

Only a small update today. I was able to find some couplers and end caps to try with the straights and elbows. I need some smaller washers, but this will work with the caps. I have some of the couplers too just in case. I'll need to drill a hole if I want to run the tubing through like I've seen in some builds. Thanks for the tip bishopdonmguel. I had to go to the store, I couldn't find anything online.

These are the caps I got.



This is what it looks like now. Again, need smaller washers to fit side by side.



I also put a semi gloss clear coat on my elbows. They're still drying and I'm not at home. Photos to follow when I have a second coat on them.

[bishopdonmiguel]

need smaller washers to fit side by side.

Do you have a bench grinder? If so, using pliers grind one edge of each washer flat until they fit together like a figure-8 when installed. From your picture, looks like you would need to remove about half the metal from one side of each washer for a good fit.

[PssdffJay]

No grinder but I do have a dremel. I was going to see if I have a smaller diameter washer that I could just drill out the hole. I needed a double washer on these to fit tight.

I wonder if tin snips are strong enough to cut them. Things to try.

[PssdffJay]

Ok, today has not been a fun day building.

Let's start with something easy.

I drilled 2 holes where the PPD is going to go. Perfect enough! Off to a great start.



And then things started to go bad...

[robpenfold]

Oh oh. What happened?

[PssdffJay]

Next I wanted to install the booster tube so I could line up the PPD and booster frame.

I marked out where I wanted it to line up which I could hardly see the sharpie on the shell.



Then a really rough dry fit to see.



Then tape. Lots and lots of tape!



Measure and mark out the centre line. Hard to see the sharpie again.

[PssdffJay]

Then I draw a line, figure out the space where the plug's bracket will be and centre punched.



Then I drilled out the 1/4" holes.



Then, more tape!



Good so far, or so I thought!

I flipped the shell over, marked the holes, attempted to drill straight, (see how I said "attempted"?) and the tried to tap it straight. After some cursing, and trying to get the bolts to go in and some more drilling, cursing and drilling, here is what the shell looked like.



Soooo, the top hole is much bigger. And oblong. At least now I can mount the tube and it look decent.



BUT WAIT!! There's more!!

[NoodleMaps]

Waiting for the real bad....

[julz]

Nice progress Jay.

You can always fill in the excess space of oblong holes when you find out where the screw wants to sit and then sand it flush again, But you might not need too. Keep it up, you will be finished in no time

[PssdffJay]

Now I have to install the booster tube plug! So I thought, no prob, just take out the top bolt, and make a mark. Suuuurrre. I can't get anything long enough to go through to mark it. So I take off the tube, put in the plug, center punch no problem.



But then I attempted to drill a hole. See that word again?!

Apparently, I couldn't drill straight to save my life today. At this point I wasn't taking photos, just trying to get it to work. I didn't realize how not straight and off the mark I was. I tapped my hole thinking it was good. Tried a test fit in the tube and here is where the shit hit the fan. Because of how bad I drilled the holes in the tube, compound that with how bad I just drilled the hole in the bracket and you get total EPIC fail!! The holes go opposite directions. No way to get a bolt in.

So I thought maybe switching the bracket around, use Vin's predrilled hole and use my hole to hold the plug. Better, at least I can sort of get it to thread. But now the plug sits 1/4 out of level. FUUUUUUU......

Ok, nope. Then I though maybe I could still use the predrilled hole and use 2 new screws to hold the plug? That I was saving for the last resort.

What I did was put the bracket the original way, slide the plug in, start the tap again on the tube side and just frickin start tapping new threads in the bracket!!

Now for a photo.



See how bad of an angle? It's nowhere near being anything that resembles straight!! BUT.... It was in, and threaded, and more or less level. Except it rattles. No way to tighten it up to stop the rattling. I think I'm going to have to somehow get some jbweld or Apoxie sculpt or something in on the underside and hold it with a bolt threaded so I know it's right and hopefully it'll set and stop the rattling.

So after a very long time, I can say the booster tube and plug are mounted. There has GOT to be a better way to do this.

And some more photos.











Can't even see the plug in the last shot from that angle but I assure you, it's there!