Project Vecna - the neglected 80SC

[FA-18C]

Damn cool. And with patina being the end finish, assembly is not terrifying - you are just enhancing the patina. This would look cool with some custom wide steelies...

[jpnovak]

Thanks Guys.

Yes, there is an interior planned. That will be more Phase 2 of the project once it is on the road and mechanically sorted.

Well, I do have wheels. But they have to wait until some suspension is assembled.

[jpnovak]

Its funny. If you have ever taken on a project like this you realize that there are parts everywhere. When the car was disassembled, I just put the doors, fenders and other panels on the side of the house behind the fence. But now, they are painted the safest place for them was on the car. So, I took a few fasteners and hung the doors, fenders and decklid.

And behold, it starts to look like a car. Cohesive visual representation abounds.

















In the next few days I will get the car off the octisserie hoops and onto a dolly so I can start to pull the wiring. That is not going to be a fun task.

[FA-18C]

As a TX car with patina need to add a bullet hole or two…

[jpnovak]

Chris,

Honestly, I am surprised it didn't have any bullet holes.

[FA-18C]

There’s time…

[FA-18C]

BTW I have very recently used your signature quote with a company CEO…

[jpnovak]

Originally Posted by FA-18C

BTW I have very recently used your signature quote with a company CEO…

Sometimes that is absolutely necessary.

[AlKidd]

Ive been working on cars forever and a car in pieces takes up three times the space as one thats together. My wife wonders why we have 3 sheds. At least when its together the car can be used to store itself.


[QUOTE=jpnovak;11895242]Its funny. If you have ever taken on a project like this you realize that there are parts everywhere.

[TxGerman]

Originally Posted by jpnovak

Sometimes that is absolutely necessary.

That's funny because I too have shamelessly used JPN's tag line....it's sooo correct and always seems to elicit a great response!!

[chrisbalich]

What's really funny is that I bear his quote in mind when he's explaining things to me.
I'm constantly thinking to myself, "Do I really understand what he's trying to explain to me?"

[Showdown]

I figure if I just keep nodding and saying “yeah” “uh-hu” and “yup” while Jamie is talking to me I’ll eventually get close to understanding…

[jpnovak]

you guys are cracking me up.

[jpnovak]

The icebox. That term brings thoughts of some cold winter day. Or a refrigerator stuffed with items that need to stay... Well, Cold. This term certainly does not explain the January weather we are having in Austin this week. Quite the opposite with temps in the upper 70s. It does, however, remind me that summer is coming and that this old 911 I am working on has terrible temperature control - and that it is made worse by the black paint. Think of it this way. Black is a light absorber. All the energy in the visible spectrum and beyond will be absorbed by black. And then this is radiated and transferred to the driver and passenger sitting under said roof.

Now, the nerd brain of mine decided I needed to change the heat transfer characteristics of the car. This is a wholistic approach. The first step is the interior panels.

Now, black surfaces absorb energy and release in different ways. White, on the other hand is a pretty good reflector of energy. We will not go into spectral analysis at this time. mostly because I do not have absorbance or reflectance spectra of my film coatings. what i can tell you is that without a doubt, specialty coatings work great.

In my last build (72 - Minne) I used this same coating stack and it makes a significant difference in how heat is handled in the car.

So, how about some science. Heat moves through materials due to phonons. A phonon is simplified as a vibrational wave in a material. Now, if you disturb how a material is put together it can help prevent phonons from from moving through. In my case, I used some ceramic nanospheres mixed in paint. These do 2 things; 1) prevent nicely organized layers of paint molecules and 2) because they are are hollow they do not let heat transfer through.

So, I mixed up some DIY thermal barrier paint and went to work. Once mixed, this is the consistency of peanut butter. But it rolls easily and goes on thick with a brush. 2 coats was enough to cover the interior. I coated floors, rear seat pans, rear deck, tunnel, roof underside and the inside of the doors.

Here are some pics.











Funny that the sun was out as I was painting. I got the first coat on the roof and noticed I was not sweating anymore. So yeah. It works.

There is more to the thermal management of the tub in a future update. Materials are in the works.

[Showdown]

Seriously, Jamie!? Phonons and ceramic nano spheres!? The rest of us are over here trying to not mess up and you’re over there playing mad scientist.

I hope you get put on probation at work and have to stay home for a few weeks and just have to work on Vecna to pass the time


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[jpnovak]

In the last update I talked about coatings. yes, with an "s" as in plural. Each layer has a purpose. the last one was heat management. And the next one is sound control.

In this case, I did not make my own sound control paint. I bought a bucket of Lizard Skin sound Control. Its basically mass loaded material in a sprayable paint. Easy to apply and effective.

After mixing, I loaded the Schutz gun and started coating.



I started with the tunnel. I also sprayed inside the tunnel. This, of course, made all kinds of debris and shrapnel come out that I had to vacuum up before coating the floors.




Eventually, the entire interior was coated with 3 coats of Sound Control. It dries to a matte gray color. Next step will be to overcoat with some paint to prevent any damage.











Now, some may ask if this coating works. Here is a quick video of me rapping on the roof and floor. Can you tell a difference in sound? The first few frames have a distinct metallic ring to them. The second frames do not. The sound is definitely muted. Now, think about how much road noise this reduces. yes. It makes a difference.

[jpnovak]

Now that painting is effectively done I need to prepare for assembly. Next up is the wiring harness.

The original wiring was compromised in many ways. Hard, stiff, chafed, and chewed in multiple places. It's not bad when a wire needs to be repaired. But I dislike repairing large bundles, especially since some connectors were damaged.

Thankfully, I found a full SC harness on ebay. Nice and supple. So far it is so much better than the rats nest I started with.



I still have the original harness and will use for repairs as needed.




Tonight I will lay out the primary harness and get it prepared to pull through the tunnel. That is always a fun time.

[Jonny042]

Man oh man. I can't even keep up with reading your posts about your progress!!!

Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing.

[jpnovak]

Jonny! good to hear from you. I hope you are staying busy with your engine build and other project.

Just think. Winter is like half over for you.

[jpnovak]

In the last installment I showed a pile of wires and a second box of wires. While not particularly difficult, sorting through them takes time and requires a methodical approach.

Step 1. Lay the harnesses out and see what we actually have. That part is easy. Just start pulling the wires. The main harness is the long mess of copper that looks like the snake. the main power battery cable to the starter is also next to it.




There are two sub-piles that are the front wiring harness from the car and the secondary ebay special one.


As I was going through the main harness that was dug out of the ebay special box I found this... HMM. This means it is not complete. That's right, cut harness. It is frustrating to have a seller really say "its totally complete and uncut". The problem is that time has gone by and not much recourse.





the only option is to fix it.

Now the bad news first. No, a cut harness is not the bad news. The bad news is that the harness that came out of the car had a ton of chewed wires. Some kind of rodent went to town. Rat, mouse, squirrel... It doesn't matter at this point. These are just a few examples of what I am dealing with.







The good news is that the cut section of the ebay harness has a perfect underdash and front section. yes, I am often a "glass half full" kinda guy.


So, There are just enough parts of each harness that give me reference marks for length. It turns out that the ebay harness was cut right where it goes into the tunnel. So, align the two sections. Tape them in place so they can't move and start splicing.

The two wiring harness sections are split and one-by-one I cut, strip and crimp. I like crimps. I work in an industry where soldering wires is not allowed. So, crimps with built in shrink wrap are my go-to. Now butt connectors are slightly oversized compared to the actual wire. the idea is that the crimp connectors are staggered across an 8 inch section. This way the harness will be small enough that it will actually slide back into the wire chase in the tunnel.













Eventually it was all taped up and ready for action.