FiberFab Avenger build

Wiring is about 50% completed. Man there is alot of wire. I am getting my second full 100 foot roll of grounding wire tomorrow and I had about 60 feet left on another roll. I am staying consistent with my past practice of running all the ground wires to a common place. Its so much easier to chase ground gremlins that way.

Had a set back last night that frustrated me. Has finished detailing the dash and brought it up onto the bench to start getting it wired. Drilled a few holes for the switches, a couple for the indicator lights, installed the tach and speedo then BAM! The smaller gauges were to small for the holes that were cut out. Geez,..should have checked that earlier huh?

So I started fabricating a steel plate that I could put over the gauge holes. It came out decent. I wasn't happy that I was going to lose the recessed look of the gauges though. I didn't have a 2" hole saw to cut the plate so I called it a night. On the way back in from the shop I thought "why don't I use the plate behind the recessed holes? Like a backing plate? That way I can keep the look? Hmmmm sounds good.

But then in bed...as I lay there ruminating...it comes to me. Just press some plastic cups into the gauge cut outs, flip the dash over, and glass the back of them solid. So thats what I did. 5 plastic cups wedged and taped into the recessed holes, flipped it over, and laid down 3 or 4 layers of matt & resin. I let it set up, popped out the plastic cups, and they are filled and relatively flat.

I will use my little angle grinder to flatten them out tomorrow and then my rotozip to cut out new holes. And best of all I didn't damage the paint.

It made my 3 hours out there wiring a much easier time knowing I had solved that issue.

Wiring is 2/3rds done. Dash is now all wired with plugs for the circuits so dash can be removed. All plugs are coded and I have a 5 page wiring "book" that will go to the new owner so they can follow the wiring sequence.




The plugs to all the wires from the front are also connected so I now have 20 something from the back that need to be terminated and installed in their plugs.


I also installed the rear tail lights. The flash makes the red show more but they look black in regular light.




I also got a neat little real (amplified..not a silly stick on one) shark fin antenna. I was going to go power but this little antenna will fit right on the roof line and is black so it will blend with the strip.

Lastly, I picked up a pair of Vitaloni "style" (ie: knock-off) California mirrors that I am debating on using or not.

Bob,

The dash is SEM texture paint covered by Duplicolor trim paint. Wasn't too impressed with the SEM paint. Didn't give the texture I was looking for. Its all an experiment I guess!

All I have to do is run my speaker wires and mount my new little shark fin rook antenna and the wiring is done!

Then I will carpet the floor and then in goes the dash! Then steering, then doors need to go back on, then the windows need to be installed, then the weatherstripping, then door panels, and interior panels, and seats and and and.....!

An amazing build. Thanks for sharing.

Tried a bit of color correction using the spec for Performance Yellow. Still too much green fringing. Sorry.

Just got in my "California' styled mirrors. They are smaller than expected which is good. I think they will look gret. I also mounted my shark fin antenna on the roof. That looks good too.

trying to finish the wiring up. I realized a small mistake at work today for the headlights and need to run the speaker wire and then finally the ground supply lug & wires. I also need to run the contact switches I am using for the front & rear hatches.

Hopefully tonight.

It really depends on what switch you are using as to how they are wired.

For mine I used a DPDT switch. On a DPDT switch you have 6 terminals. 3 on the left and 3 on the right. the one switch is actually 2 switches in one. There is a lfet side and a right side, and each are seperated.

I ran power from the headlight fuse into the center right tab and jumped it over to the center left tab. Now both sides have power.

From the upper right tab I split the wire (you can do it off the tab or run a short section of wire then split it) and ran one wire to the low beams. The other wire went to my hi/low beam selector switch on the floor. There are 3 tabs on that selector. From a tab on that foot switch I ran 2 wires. 1 going to the high beams and one going to the high beam indicator on the dash.

So here is how that circuit works:
power comes from the fuse to the switch. When you flip the switch up (DPDT switches are off in the center and on in the up & down directions) power goes out to the low beams and to the foot switch. The low beams light up. Normally the foot switch switches between high and low beams (on a 2 headlight system...not a 4 headlight system). In my application I use it to turn the high beams on and off. So, low beams are on and you hit the foot switch, this lights up the high beams as well and turns on the high beam indicator. Hit the foot switch again and the high beams and indicator go off and the low beams stay on.

For the parking lights I do the following:
Working off the left side of the switch I run a jumper line from the top tab to the lower tab. From that lower tab I run a wire out (splitting as required) to the dash lights, front marker lights, rear marker lights, and plate light.

This is how that works:
If you flip the switch down, then no headlights come on as the bottom right tab on the switch is unoccupied. However the parking and dash lights come on since they are wired to the left lower tab. If you flip the switch up, then the headlights come on (from the upper right tab on the switch) and the dash and marker lights come on since the upper and lower left tabs on the switch are connected.

Now like I said, if you are using a different switch there are different ways. Let me know what you are using and this system can be tweaked.

jspbtown great job on the Avenger!! Also great job explaining your headlight circuit. And it is a well designed circuit! The switch used is a DPDT 'Center off' switch. This is a small difference I know - but a DPDT just goes up or down with no off posistion and therefore would leave headlights or park lights on. Sorry to be picky I only hope to avoid confusion for someone buying a switch for this purpose.
Jon

Got my rear frame horns clearanced as well as the underside of the body for the starter. Re-installed the tranny and axles last night.

Got the sides of the interior (behind the seats) finished and now am working my way forward with the carpeting. I am making poster board templates of all the sections and then cutting the carpeting. Once that is done the dash is going in. After the dash its on to the steering, seats, and doors.

Having a tough time finding a nice set of wheels for it. I wanted to go black, with a machined or chrome lip. Finding a nice used set for a 4 3/4" bolt pattern is not easy. Lots of that style out there for a price I want to pay, but they are all 4 bolts or smaller 5 bolt patterns.

I think the wheels are awesome! As far as black or gold, I am a steelers fan so I say go with both Ok, seriously, gold on those kinds of wheels makes me think of young kids trying to look like gangsters. I would have to say go black, but I would really need to see them mounted on the car to make up my mind for sure.

Got the dash installed tonight and only 1 issue with the wiring. I had the rear bear claw latch releasing when the rear hatch was coming down. It needed to release when its going up. Cut two wires, reverse them, and all is good.

So everything on the wiring works. I can't believe it. 18 or so circuits (power windows, electric bear claws, 3 linear actuators, wipers, headlights, etc etc) all worked. I was stunned. I evn plugged in the Flaming River column and it all worked.

Well I took some interior shots. The flash certainly shows off all the dust!
The bolts you see will be replaced with stainless button head which are used throughout the car.

Hey, Jeff,

Very cool. I always enjoy seeing your impeccable workmanship - as well as your enthusiasm for such a variety of subjects.

V-8s, center-mounts, EP conversions and all the rest may be fun and challenging for a gearhead, but to me, no kit car has charm, charisma or appeal without VW power.

The VW format keeps the fun level high and lets this shadetree wrench twister actually get a project finished reliably.

Warmest....

Don't know the inner structure of the Tenzo seats, but back in the day I had a BMW 2800 and loved the seats. At one point I took them apart and it was not overly difficult to take a section out of them to make them narrower, modifying the cover was easy also since it involved removing a few sections of the pleat & roll. You've gone so far with all of the difficult parts of the build, it seems like the seats would be a walk in the park!

Ordered some Mamba Baby Cub seats from GB Car parts. They were on sale for $199 a pair and about $115 to ship. They are 16.1" wide and my floor pan width is 16.25" so they should fit.

Also ordered up all the new vent window parts and rear window trim that I need for my painting day this weekend. I also removed all 112 bolts from my wheels, separated the inner section and will be prepping those for paint this weekend as well.

Also got my weatherstripping for the windows (needs some paint) and the weatherstripping for the doors and hatches.

Should have this thing on its own legs and available for pre-sale by mid July.