Defrost Vents

For some reason my CMC did not come with the little round squishable vents (probably still on backorder). Over years I have tried various ideas - like long straight yota PU vents and even VW bug vents. One too long and other too short. After looking decided to got with the OEM Speedster vent grille (hence why my build has taken a millennium). Other than the fact to conform to windshield the need to go in far corners - the look is spot on. So not how to feed the luke warm air to them. The yota vent tubes were right length - but straight. So made wood mold of the vent grills and tacked yota plastic to them to make a mold with curved shape. Yota tubes came apart so I had 2 sides of one separate. The final product is pictured below. Just need to mix some gorilla hair up and bond to dash. (You can see where the old straight yota ones "were" in photos --- right where tonneau snaps should go!)

Should have taken photo of the molds - Shubbie has them for his build.

That's some attention to detail right there.

Ed, we could use your help on the wiring. What are you doing Sunday?
(Assuming Wolfgang is up for it.)

MGB dash vents might be a good alternative for folks not as skilled with glass, possibly Ghia vents and vent covers as well. The windshield curvature is similar to that of the Speedster

Although . . . fiberglass is way more fun and the results of your efforts WAY more satisfying for sure.

Neat job there ! ! !

The smell of fiberglass resin thru-out the house was appreciated by my wife - plus I itched all night from sanding the fiberglass (even after a shower). Yup will be working this weekend! (Shubbie is out of town though). Just got word that even if govt closes at mid-night, it somehow is essential that I be at work Monday and all next week! Thought I'd have more time to work on it due to pending shut down.

Hoping to fiberglass the body to the pan this weekend. Build manual calls for this to waterproof the tub. Suspect majority of FF/CMC builds omit this step. With 5 tubes of silicon caulk my seal looks good but going to do anyhow.

Alan---you are "Mr Fixit" on steroids!!

Merklin Motor Craft reveals short cuts...
Defroster vents:
You can use a small vacuum cleaner attachment (Lowes $6.99)that looks almost the same as what you nicely crafted, cut a 1/4" x 6" slot that conforms to the radius of the windshield base, fasten them under the dash using 3M Seam sealer. ( Duct tape in place over night)
Fiberglassing: The body to the pan isn't worth the time and or effort, the pan gasket with a layer of good silicone caulk, the front and rear mounting bolts and the additional 4-5 bolts down along each side of the pan is all you need.
I am into my speedster build all of the weekend and took Monday off too...If you have wiring questions ...call me. ~Alan

Bwaahahaha

Greg,

I did the fiberglass of body to pan. I filled all the recesses with foam first, shaved it smooth and then covered with fiberglass.

Jack, will you testify that Alan uses steroids when assembling Speedsters? ;-)

How I get it done.
(1) You need to be married to one very special wife who, most of the time... understands the addiction.
I make a list in order of assembly, circle any item that needs to be ordered or purchased. I "quesstimate" the time each task will take and add 50% to that as a reality check, write that number next to the task. On paper, I list tasks in blocks of 7 hours. The 7 hours seems to cover a couple of 3 hours evenings and a full Saturday is the 7 hours.
As each item gets done, cross it off this gives you a sense of accomplishment and on to the next item, if you dont want to do what's next skip it if it doesn't foul your build order then pick something easy but do go back to it right away so it doesn't hang over you.
Most importantly, spend 15 minutes straightening the work area when you are done for the day, put tools back so that you'll now where thaty are and don't go stepping on the 13mm socket you couldn't find earlier and go for a ride (ask me how I know this) Then lay out what items you'll need to begin the next task.
So as CMC would claim, just 40 hours, a couple of friends and your on the road......

Al:

Thanks for the vacuum tip idea.

Off to Lowe's for yet another trip!

....and don't leave the spray glue sitting on the heater! ;)

Bwaahahahaha ~

Too Funny!

THREAD HI-JACK ALERT!!!!

All the while I was growing up, my Dad had several Beagles, which he fed canned, Alpo dog food.

Before he fed them, he put the sealed can of Alpo on the electric stove for a minute or two to warm it up a little so their little tummies got something nice and warm to eat. It worked great for years and they loved it.

Then he and my Mom went off for a couple of weeks in their RV and left the dogs under the care of my older brother, who lived up the street - the same one who had the Meisen Blue, 1959 Speedstah until I was 15 or so. Anyway,he got out the Alpo and put it on the stove and turned on the heat, but then the phone rang and he answered it - a fateful call if there ever was one.

While he was on the phone, all of sudden there was a terrific BANG!! and the can of Alpo blew up - all over the kitchen. The can lid embedded itself into the kitchen ceiling by about 1/2 inch, and the contents of the can distributed itself about equally, all over the ceiling, walls, floor and appliances, not to mention the brick facing of a circa-1720, farmhouse kitchen hearth. All 14.3 ounces of it. "Tasty Beef Stew" everywhere, including a nice, even coat on one side of my brother (fortunately, his back side - which remains his best side, even to this day).

So what's a fella to do?? You clean it up as best you can, give the dogs another (unheated) can and not tell your folks about it for at least ten years, when they can laugh about it (my Mom knew something happened within 10 minutes of their return - she could smell it).

Fortunately, I was 50 miles away in college or he would have tried to blame ME for it (I honestly think he tried to do that, anyway....the creep!)

gn

OK, Alan....

I went to Lowe's and fought my way through the Saturday Weekend crowd of lumber, drainage-piping and garden plant buyers to get to the "Shop Vac" aisle, only to find that they only had one, smaller, "4-1.2 inch, floor tool".

Now what am I supposed to do?????????

Should I just install in on one side?? If so, which side??? Should I favor the driver or the passenger??? Of course, the driver comes first, but if the passenger can't see (God forbid), then I have to endure the verbal harangue that ensues ("I can't see where we're going....Shouldn't we stop to clean the windshield?? Aren't you going to stop?? Blah, Blah, Blah, Yadda, Yaddah........)

And if I put it on the passenger's side, then I run the risk of serious, even mortal danger in not being able to see where the hell I (and the heretofore bitching passenger) am going.

This is the only Lowe's withing a three hour radius. Should I just hope that some under-paid-but-concientious Lowe's, stock replenish-er sees that the box is empty and puts in an order for a few more "4-1/2 inch floor attachments"??? And where the hell did all of the other ones go, anyway???????

But then, will the new ones be the same or different?. Should I install this one, or wait to see if the new one is slightly different?

I'm so cornfused.

Signed:
Acidic Stomach in South Carolina

Those chamois/sponge thingies you made for give-away a couple of years ago work quite well, actually.

You're so right, never buy just one in hopes that, they'll get more of the exact same in....... bewaaahahaha~

I found my shop-vac thingies in my local True-Value store. Also, I got aluminum defrost vents that screw to the topside of the dash from Carey Hines. They look really nice, add a classy touch, but you will see them reflected in the windshield. It doesn't bother me at all, I don't even see them now.

I used 3/8" house weatherstripping as a gasket and screwed them to the underside of the dash.

BTW Greg, REALLY nice work! I don't have the patience to make something like that, but I thought about it for a sec and said NAAAAH!

....somebody say beagles??

Danny,
How do you get to the underside of the dash without disassembling all that is underneathe?? Little or no airflow at all from defrost vents now.

Bob

Wild Bill - cool dogs! We had a couple of beagles...Sherman and Peabody.

I'll have to dig out some ducts I got years back. Always too chicken to disturb the w/shield to remove same. One task I need to do and place studs for a tonneau cover also.

Jim: Both rescue hounds...they r the best.
I get it....Mr. Peabody!

Winner!

Bob, I didn't remove anything. I have a Spyder, and installed a gas heater under the dash and added always-on defrost vents. I figured if the heat is on I probably could use a little defrost air too. I had removed the windshield though for a paint job, so cutting the defrost ducts was easy from the top.

Are you, like, the only guy with a heater in a 550?????

No, there is a guy in MA with an ESPAR in a Beck Spyder. Besides that, I don't know of any others.