BEAVIS' White Track Car

[Okibi]

I was going to put 2 near the radiator and 2 in the middle of the front side marker reflectors so I didn't need to cut up my front bar.

[beavis]

Fastback Part 2

So the roof is all ready for paint now... Main roof section is now sanded


These are the mounting points out the rear of the main roof section, riveted and epoxied on, which the boot slides onto. Its just some aluminium tube welded to a flat alloy strip. The tube slides into holes on the boot.




The whole lot back on the car for now. Looking forward to getting it all painted and some windows installed so the car is completely sealed up again.



Well there you go, ready for primer next, and some sanding and perhaps a little more filling before the paint goes on.

[JZP]

Colour?

[beavis]

Mixing it up, going with colour matched roof, so Mazda 'Pure White' this time rather than black like the last roof. If i really don't like it, i will paint it black again. Also going to paint the doors when I get the time as they were done with rattle cans and the colour and finish is atrocious.

[beavis]

PAINT!

So onto painting, and first off... allow me to introduce you to my makeshift paint booth:


With that I was able to get the parts primered for the first time which was a good feeling.


I then hit the whole lot with some more sanding and filled a few more imperfections.


A final coat of primer to seal it all up. Looking nice and smooth all over now and in the sun to cure well. Special mention to the supercharged NA.


Finally, colour! Looking nice and shiny in what I thought was Mazda 'Pure White'.


I had an apprentice helping out, however the bloke was pretty useless so I fired him.


After a day enjoying the sun I set the parts on the car and scratched my head as to why the colour was so off...


It would seem the bloke at the paint shop stuffed up somehow along the way. The colour was too creamy. I went back and he mixed me up another can. He thinks he may have forgotten to add some black to the mix, either that or his paint code software is off. Note the two open cans. On the left is the original colour, on the right is the new mix.


So second attempt at painting and the colour is looking better. The ladder was a good tool for standing the roof up.


A reasonably nice gloss off the gun, and some orange peel. I guess I'm reasonably satisfied with the level of peel. When I get the time I might try sand it out a bit. Anyone know if it's worth the bother? Or will I make it worse?


The end result


Now it needs rear quarter and rear windows, seals and some brackets to mount it to the car, then this milestone is done.
But, gonna start on the exhaust next... and come back to the windows.

[Okibi]

Looks great, keen to hear an experts opinion on that orange peel. I'd guess you'd need to wait a week at least for it to harden up a bit before sanding back.

[smy0003]

Is the paint self leveling?
The Orange peel might help aerodynamics, like a dimpled gold ball, who knows.

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[rascal]

The Orange peel might help aerodynamics, like a dimpled gold ball, who knows.

Only if the car is spinning thru the air, which I hope we never see.....

[beavis]

I'd guess you'd need to wait a week at least for it to harden up a bit before sanding back.

It's had about a month now actually, so it'll be well cured now.... I aim to finish off the windows this weekend.

The Orange peel might help aerodynamics, like a dimpled gold ball, who knows.

Only if the car is spinning thru the air, which I hope we never see.....

Don't even want to think about the threat of an accident.... it's so long since I've been able to even start the car.

[beavis]

Exhaust!

Well I spent the last few weekends on making up the exhaust...


Plan is to run a flex join on the end of the Nitro Dann downpipe which will then mate via a V-band to the rest of the exhaust. The exhaust itself will consist of a hotdog shortly after the V-band, and then a muffler at the rear. I would run less mufflers if I could, but noise restrictions are an issue.
I started by tacking the whole lot together with the MIG. The slip in fitment for the likes of the muffler and the v-bands make welding easier.
However, there is a huge gap around the hotdog ends which made welding those up a bit of a challenge.


Mocking up exhaust tip designs... This upturned style was one concept which got scrapped very quickly.
Notice however, I have angled the rear muffler upwards to make sure there is reasonable room for any rear underfloor work/diffuser.


To get the muffler where I wanted it, the boot had to go.


Saved about 3.5kg or roughly 7lbs. Not that heavy In the grand scheme of things, but every gram helps.


Fast forward a week and I spent a morning welding everything up properly. Given this is just old fashioned mild steel, I decided to paint it for a bit of added weathering/longevity. I found this white exhaust paint at the paint shop and figured it would generate some questionable looks...


Close up of one of my less sh*tty welds… Actually, lap joint of the v-band was reasonably easy to weld.


Also notice the huge fat hangers I’ve used. They are bolted to the car with round rubber bushes, much stiffer than a traditional hanger, but not completely solid. Hopefully they are sufficient to keep things sturdy yet not cause any metal fatigue type issues. I might need to cut some metal out of them, they do look a bit heavy.


And, last job was to try keep some of the heat out of the cabin/gearbox/flat floor... So I’ve wrapped it all in the DEI titanium stuff. This used up most of a 50 inch length roll (I think it was 50 inch).
I used this stuff on the last exhaust (pre-turbo 2.5” dia zorst) and it seemed to work well.



Next time I’ll hopefully get back to finishing the rest of the roof.

[sailaholic]

Given all the other mods did you consider an aluminium exhaust? I know Madjak and some NA screamer Honda people running them.


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[beavis]

Given all the other mods did you consider an aluminium exhaust? I know Madjak and some NA screamer Honda people running them.

It would be cool, but I am not sure if it would handle the heat a turbo generates over N/A.
Also, I was kinda forced into using the mild steel items that you see above because the lightyear bought the materials one day when he was buying some exhaust stuff and just sorta surprised me with it.

[pepejesus]

Blow the diffuser with the exhaust, 2011 F1 style!

[billybunter]

well I only use acrylic so know nothing about the other types but if I sprayed one day i'd cut and polish the work the next day or sometimes -on the very same day or even a few hours later depends on temperature. 20C is great!

when you get paint mixed and for some reason if your spraying the plastic bumpers or fiberglass bumpers or anything like that the match appears in most cases - not a match well that's what I have found anyway.

that's why when I paint a complete car I buy a 4 litre can of the colour and hold the left over back so if at a later date I go back in to do a re-work -at least it will match perfectly and you won't know where I have been....well hopefully not!

no doubt a pro spray painter will get it right first time but again he is going to charge you heavily to get it right first time. getting the paint on is not the problem it's getting the colour to match - that's the problem

[madjak]

Given all the other mods did you consider an aluminium exhaust? I know Madjak and some NA screamer Honda people running them.


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Check out my build thread. The thin wall mandrel bend in my aluminium exhaust melted and collapsed. I'd definitely run one again but just make sure you run 2.6mm wall thickness tube and lobster tail any radiuses. The stainless exhaust I have just made weighs a ton compared to my old one, which I made soley because I can weld SS.

I will run an aluminium exhaust again when I get better at welding the stuff.

Btw love the fastback... its getting me inspired to learn how to glass.