Cheetah inspired build continued - Page 3

john chesnut · #41 (**permalink**) 01-31-2018, 01:46 PM

Thank you very much.

My friend that is doing the final body work called me last night. He asked me to come to his shop to approve/sign off of the work he's done. This morning I made the round trip from near Lake Placid, NY to Newport, NH. I think that he's done a great job. Now he will block sand some more then spray another coat of primer, wet sand and buff out. I'm excited to know that the complete body will be ready to pull molds from when I return from vacation in March.

I'm molding in a small trunk that will be accessed from an opening between the seats.

You'll notice that the there is a small area at the rear bulkhead corners that we're not finishing. To do so would create a negative return. I wouldn't be able to get the body out of the mold. There will be separate pieces to fill in those 2 areas.

1795 · #42 (**permalink**) 01-31-2018, 02:23 PM

John,

Looking real nice. Your friend does nice work! I may have to take a spin up to the Adirondacks to see your car this summer.

Jim

john chesnut · #43 (**permalink**) 08-02-2018, 04:17 PM

A friend of mine and I finally have finished the body work. Lots of work! I'm taking the body to a fiberglass company in a week or so to have molds pulled. I can't use this body as it's way to heavy and fragile. It's full of foam, wood, and body filler.

The gap between the tub and the flip up hood will be tighter when I build the car.

Side pipes fill the space below the side of the tub.

1795 · #44 (**permalink**) 08-02-2018, 05:34 PM

John,

Looking real nice. You guys did a great job. Can't wait to see the new body. Keep it coming.

Jim

john chesnut · #45 (**permalink**) 08-15-2018, 06:04 PM

Thank you Jim.
I made the trip this week to drop the body off at the fiberglass company that I'm using. I am going to be gone for most of the month of Sept to Oct 1 selling my coin banks at the New England State Fair. The plan is to pick up the plug and the first bodies the first week of Oct. I have a couple of people that want bodies so I'm having 4 made to start. Now to decide what color Gel Coat to go with for mine. I'm thinking Red.

1795 · #46 (**permalink**) 08-16-2018, 01:59 AM

John,

Absolutely red, can't go wrong with a nice red! Good luck selling those coin banks at the New England State Fair. Is that the one to the west of Springfield, MA? I went to that once when I was going to college in Springfield. Looking forward to seeing the progress in Oct.

Jim

Ozzie Goat · #47 (**permalink**) 08-16-2018, 08:14 AM

Hello

This build has been amazing. Good luck in the fall.
Thought of you at Goodwood FOS - saw this guy:
(DOH, can't get the image to work, oh well)

[IMG] https://goo.gl/images/aTkHhH [/IMG]

john chesnut · #48 (**permalink**) 09-06-2018, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozzie Goat

Hello

This build has been amazing. Good luck in the fall.
Thought of you at Goodwood FOS - saw this guy:
(DOH, can't get the image to work, oh well)

[IMG] https://goo.gl/images/aTkHhH [/IMG]

Thank you for your input and picture!

Work is getting started on the molds. The plug has had 5 coats of wax applied. This is to keep the tooling Gel Coat from sticking to it. In addition the plug will be sprayed with a releasing agent (PVA) before the Gel Coat is applied.

To keep the body from being locked into the mold it has to be made in several pieces. It's imperative that seams and parting flanges be placed in the correct locations so the body can be removed. The flanges are glassed into the mold. They bolt together. Once the body is laid up and cured the bolts are removed and the mold taken apart. Hopefully the body will come out easily at that point.

Here are a few pictures of laying out the flanges.

john chesnut · #49 (**permalink**) 09-21-2018, 09:23 AM

Here's a picture of progress on the full tilt front mold. Flanges have been placed and the top has been sprayed with tooling Gel Coat. We tinted the orange gel coat with black. This will give us more contrast between the mold and some colors of the Gel Coats used for the part. The first body will be Red.

The next step is applying fiberglass to the part that is in orange.

With the first layer of glass

john chesnut · #50 (**permalink**) 11-02-2018, 07:00 AM

The first nose was pulled from the mold yesterday. The mold for the body will be done early next week. With in 2 weeks I should have a complete body! Finally!

john chesnut · #51 (**permalink**) 11-27-2018, 12:37 PM

The body tub came out of the molds today! I have 2 noses made and now the 1 tub. Another one is being laid up tomorrow. I'm picking up the 2 complete bodies on Friday or Saturday.
I can't believe that it's been 2 years since I started this build. Thankfully the hard part is over!

I'm going to do my car in Red. Here is a photo shop of the car Red during the mock up stage.

john chesnut · #52 (**permalink**) 11-27-2018, 03:35 PM

I'm having fun.

1795 · #53 (**permalink**) 11-27-2018, 03:38 PM

John,

Red will look real nice for the first one.

Good luck with building the future ones and make sure that you keep having fun.

Jim

john chesnut · #54 (**permalink**) 11-27-2018, 04:02 PM

Thanks Jim!

john chesnut · #55 (**permalink**) 12-01-2018, 04:29 PM

I started this build 2 years ago. Today I picked up 2 bodies and my plug/frame. I was able to get them all into my 24 ft trailer. JUST BARELY!
My son is coming home next weekend on college break. We are going to work on building it together. Having fun.

SFSDFGT · #56 (**permalink**) 12-02-2018, 06:13 PM

I love following your build. Nice work! Keep it coming!

john chesnut · #57 (**permalink**) 12-06-2018, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFSDFGT

I love following your build. Nice work! Keep it coming!

Thank you.

I was mistaken about when my son comes home. It's on the 12th.

I started on a second frame yesterday. I have a nice jig. But, I want to have a complete one on hand at all times to reference when I build a frame. Once this frame is done I will start on my build.

My original intention when I started with Mr Bruce's Cheetah skins was to modify them and use that body for my car. I had a bunch of parts left over from the years of me building stuff. I figured that I could throw a car together on the cheap.

My mods to the body became so many and so much filler and foam was used that the body wasn't usable. It became a plug and I needed molds just for my body. My son wanted one and my friend that did the finish body work wanted one.

I've been feeling better health wise. So, I'm going to build some component kits as a hobby and for fun. $7900 gets the body, frame, aluminum skins that get riveted to the frame, steering shafts and components, and coil over shock mounts. Once my car is built I'll have a website. I've obtained the domain name: www.chesnutmotorsports.com. My son is a racer and an engineering student. He wants to be in the racing industry. I figure the domain might work for him in the future.

My Trademark attorney did some research and says that I can obtain the Trademark "Chesnut Wildcat". Cheetahs are in the Big Cat family. Wildcat keeps my car in the Big Cat family. I didn't want to use the Cheetah name because my car is not a replica. And, I didn't want to infringe on the Bill Thomas history or intellectual property.

I'm still going to use the parts I have for my build. It will not be one with a fancy, high performance engine. I have a slightly built 305 SBC with, I think, about 285hp. (Vortec heads, 9.5 pistons, cam, aluminum intake, and a Demon 625 street carb). The trans is a Richmond 4 speed, C4 Vette diff with a 2:59 ratio, C4 independent suspension and gauges that I've had for years. I'll be trying to use off the shelf shorty headers that will attach to the side pipes.

I'm going to post my build. I'm wondering if I should post it here or start a new thread under Chesnut Wildcat.

If anyone has friends that are Chevy guys and wants a Cobra like driving experience I think my car fills that void.

Having fun