The foam board insulation panel installation is basically done at this point. I just finished cutting and installing foam panels along the sides of the car where the exhaust pipes will run and inside the transmission tunnel where I imagine it will get pretty hot also. I received a PM from one of you guys expressing concern about the flammability of the foam insulation. It doesn't burn like gasoline but it's not fire proof either. All the exposed foam insulation will be covered with aerospace, foil backed fiberglass insulation cloth for one more layer of protection against heat but also because the fiberglass is fire proof. Yes, fiberglass car bodies burn but that is because the glass fibers are only reinforcement for plastic resin which burns.
Fiberglass cloth is just spun and woven glass fibers. It's an open car and it will get a Halon fire system so fire shouldn't be any more of an issue than with most other cars.

Now I'm installing some (8) small aluminum panels (3003 "alloy" .037"-1mm thick ) here and there on the chassis to either hide the insulation or to block off remaining openings that could be sources of hot air into the passenger compartment. Some of the panels in the photo still have the protective paper on them others were cut from scrap that no longer had paper on it. These still need to be fitted, trimmed, filed, punched, etc before installing them. A couple of panels on the chassis had to be made in several pieces, with stepped lapping flanges, to allow installation in confined areas. The copper colored bullet shaped devices are Cleco temporary panel fasteners. They are very quickly installed and removed with special pliers and really aid in test fitting and assembly work.

springs

I can tell you guys are really thrilled about insulation (which I'm still working on). The GAZ rear shocks with springs I ordered came in the other day with the UPS man, or at least I though they did. I ordered single adjustable shocks with adjustable ride height but when I opened the box I didn't see any threads on the shock bodies and knew right away I was in trouble. Called the supplier, straighted out the mistake (theirs), packed the shocks back up and waited for a call tag to arrive to ship them back. Of course the shocks I wanted they only had 2 of, so I have to wait about 2 weeks to get 4 correct rear GAZ shocks.

Today was better. The front Varishocks I ordered came in and, to my relief, were correct and so were the 250 lb springs. These shocks are have a single adjustment knob to adjust compression and rebound simultaneously. Twin adjusting knobs are available also but it's a street car. Single adjustable is good enough. Same with the urethane bushings. Spherical bearings are available but - it's a street car. I installed the springs on the shocks, along with a set of Energy Suspension bump stops, but installation on the car will have to wait a bit. I still need to do a preliminary suspension alignment before I put springs on the car. Right now ride height is perfectly maintained with the solid struts.

insulating panels

This weekend I concentrated on sealing up small openings between aluminum panels and the chassis, bracing corners around the inspection openings at the tops of the foot boxes and insulating around the fire-wall area.

Some brief photo descriptions:

1) A partial sheet of 1" foil backed foam insulation board with a bunch of panel shapes laid out. I cut these out on a band saw. Lots of triangles on this car - I cut a lot more than seen here.

2) Some of the insulating panels have been glued into place here. In the upper most triangle space is the gas pedal shaft support that needed a seal against hot air blowing in. I made the seal out of two layers of foil backed fiberglass insulation cloth. A foam panel was glued over the top of that.

3,4) The upper portions of the foot boxes were insulated on the inside. I have aluminum corner braces flush riveted into the corners here and the heater hose end fitting screwed in place.

5) The upper portion of the fire wall and the front wall of the right foot well received insulation on the insides. The "no glue" labels are there since these insulating panels may still need to come out for component installations like windshield wipers, a dash support, etc.

6) The top of the right foot box. Measuring for and installing the insulation panels in here wasn't easy. There are more that are hidden from the camera so you can imagine what fun they were.

interior panels

Tonight I finished riveting and sealing panels in place that form the air box, for the engine induction, at the front of the chassis. Pressurized "cold" air coming in through the front grille will pass under the radiator and into this box which will contain two K&N conical air filters on the ends of two aluminum pipes going to the plenum on top of the engine. The in and out coolant pipes for the radiator will also pass through the box.

I also sealed up some seams where moisture might collect between where steel chassis tubes and aluminum interior panels mate.

Earlier today, I purchased two 4 X 8 sheets of 1", foil backed, foam insulation board. If it's dry outside this weekend and not too windy, I plan to cut all the geometric shaped insulation panels to fit between the chassis tubes and glue them in place on the backs of the aluminum interior panels. It's better to cut the foam board outside since it makes such a mess. It gets all sticky with static electricity too, a pain in the arse. The plan is to cover the foam board with foil-backed fiberglass insulation cloth later.

While working with the fiberglass cloth, I want to make and install boots around the steering column and accelerator pedal shaft to keep hot air out of the driver's foot well.

Haven't seen the new shocks and springs arrive yet with the UPS man - dying to get my hands on them.

more panels

1) The rocker panels (outer sills) are a bit complicated so that the side exhaust pipes can tuck under there. The perforated stainless steel heat shield, when installed over the side pipes, is pretty much flush with the bodywork.

2, 3) Test fitting the left inner fender panel. The big cut-out at the bottom is for the exhaust header. The louvers were individually made in form blocks and then welded into the panel. To get some mileage out of the form blocks, I used them to make the louvers for the rear quarter panels and trunk lid also. Since the bottom of the car will be almost completely closed off with panels, a lot of hot engine air will blow back through the trans tunnel into the trunk area so lots of louvers are needed back there.

1) The top of the passenger foot well gets similar treatment.

2, 3) The high sills now have covers on them as does the rear bulkhead with little slots for shoulder belts.

4, 5) The red handle on the trans tunnel is for the battery kill switch.

closing in the interior

I've been riveting minor body panels to the chassis to begin closing in the interior (at least as closed in as a car with no roof can get).

1) I riveted the upper and lower panels for the passenger footwell in place after installing the heater and fuse panel. The heater is the only real amenity - nice to at least have warm feet on a late fall drive. It's a light weight hot rod unit from Vintage Air, I believe.

2) The heater hangs above the passenger's feet. I still have to figure out how to duct some of that heat over to the driver's foot well.

3) Installing the aluminum interior panels has closed off the transmission tunnel. I'll be stuffing insulation against the backsides of the panels inside the trans tunnel to try and keep from baking.

4) On the driver's side, the footwell has been closed off too. The little access panel comes off with Dzus, quarter-turn fasteners. The whole top panel comes off by removing some 4mm machine screws for more serious servicing on the pedals and master cylinders. The box with rounded corners on the right is the door hinge access cover. It's mainly there to keep engine compartment heat from blowing into the door area.

The skeleton (chassis) is slowly disappearing under its skin again, only this time a lot of panels are being riveted (semi-permanently) in place. I think I installed about 500 rivets yesterday.

The cowl section was the first piece of body work made originally so it was the first to go back on. It's the only exterior body panel that gets riveted semi-permanently to the chassis. All the other exterior body pieces (sub-assemblies) will be attached with bolts, screws, quarter turn fasteners, etc, so they can come off (at varying degrees of ease) for cleaning and servicing the chassis and other mechanical parts of the car.

The transmission tunnel is kind of large and square for a reason. I wanted a really stiff chassis AND I wanted the engine as far back in the chassis as I could get it (The front of the engine sits well behind the front axle center-line and the driver's and passenger's feet are up alongside the engine). Riveting panels directly to the chassis tubes, rather than making a more organically shaped console, saves a little space. I plan to cover the tunnel, sills and rear bulkhead with diamond stitched, pleated leather or vinyl and hopefully that will dress it up a little. The engine is also offset about 2 inches to the right in the chassis, for two reasons. It gives the driver more foot room to operate the pedals comfortably and this way the drive-shaft, which is only about a foot long, has a straight run to the offset pinion shaft in the differential. This worked out rather conveniently. If I had built a right hand drive car, the pinion offset would have worked against me and that's funny because the Salisbury diff is made in England.

No I'm not preparing to run over the remaining panels in the photos. It was just a convenient place to temporarily spread them out without having to worry about someone (like me) stepping on one while I installed one panel at a time.