Viperpete

Ya like literal Armor. Taught myself over the last few years how to shape metal by hand. It's fun
https://youtu.be/Ja11dXVVHc0?si=aC7S0Zr8Gtb4Mra2
https://youtube.com/shorts/1HnwM44r9A8?si=cHxkuljo9LTVMYlr








 
Everything I make is fully wearable, comfortable, and functional. 
 
 

Been working on the car a bunch.
Here's 2 videos that sum up what I've been up to.
https://youtu.be/c7xi6lAeIog?si=7piREKf66bLOQOgO
 and
https://youtu.be/2JQDAicumKE?si=vPEpMBB9NPo-oz-W
Began dynamatting inside of rear quarters and rear structure to quiet down the car
 


Prepped for welding!




 
Not thrilled with how this panel goes together. Will have to rework it later

Ready to come off table

 
Thankfully my lift had one more lift left in it before the seals blew lol


 
Mounting the rotisserie

Mounted!





 
Still SO MUCH welding to go. But i'm having a great time. 

I use peel n seal from Lowes. Same stuff as dynamat- it's just a little thinner and like 20% of the price of dynamat or fatmat. You could always double or triple the layers if you really wanted to. Rubbery/tar like adhesive and aluminum skin. Can't rust, wont come off easily, its a water tight seal, and really works. 
Watch these vid for info for what I did:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7xi6lAeIog&t=114s
Will do inside of door skins when the time comes. Roof is also done. 
 
 

Thanks! I'm 40 but if clean shaven still get carded haha.
I borrowed the assembly table from a friend. It was great and awful all at once. The thing is just too damn high. I spent hours and hours balancing on that thing and its a miracle I never fell off. 
The TV is great its a 70". Ive got it wired to a laptop and to a 14 speaker stereo system in the shop. Its LOUD but also amazing to have Topgear/Grand Tour or any research i need to do. I've watched many many peterson restoration videos on it while im working on whatever the video is showing and it really helps to be able to see everything in detail from 15-20 feet away for sure. 

I use peel n seal from Lowes. Same stuff as dynamat- it's just a little thinner and like 20% of the price of dynamat or fatmat. You could always double or triple the layers if you really wanted to. Rubbery/tar like adhesive and aluminum skin. Can't rust, wont come off easily, its a water tight seal, and really works. 
Watch these vid for info for what I did:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7xi6lAeIog&t=114s
Will do inside of door skins when the time comes. Roof is also done. 
 
 

I use peel n seal from Lowes. Same stuff as dynamat- it's just a little thinner and like 20% of the price of dynamat or fatmat. You could always double or triple the layers if you really wanted to. Rubbery/tar like adhesive and aluminum skin. Can't rust, wont come off easily, its a water tight seal, and really works. 
Watch these vid for info for what I did:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7xi6lAeIog&t=114s
Will do inside of door skins when the time comes. Roof is also done. 
 
 

Been working on the car a bunch.
Here's 2 videos that sum up what I've been up to.
https://youtu.be/c7xi6lAeIog?si=7piREKf66bLOQOgO
 and
https://youtu.be/2JQDAicumKE?si=vPEpMBB9NPo-oz-W
Began dynamatting inside of rear quarters and rear structure to quiet down the car
 


Prepped for welding!




 
Not thrilled with how this panel goes together. Will have to rework it later

Ready to come off table

 
Thankfully my lift had one more lift left in it before the seals blew lol


 
Mounting the rotisserie

Mounted!





 
Still SO MUCH welding to go. But i'm having a great time. 

Been working on the car a bunch.
Here's 2 videos that sum up what I've been up to.
https://youtu.be/c7xi6lAeIog?si=7piREKf66bLOQOgO
 and
https://youtu.be/2JQDAicumKE?si=vPEpMBB9NPo-oz-W
Began dynamatting inside of rear quarters and rear structure to quiet down the car
 


Prepped for welding!




 
Not thrilled with how this panel goes together. Will have to rework it later

Ready to come off table

 
Thankfully my lift had one more lift left in it before the seals blew lol


 
Mounting the rotisserie

Mounted!





 
Still SO MUCH welding to go. But i'm having a great time. 

Im sure everyone here wouldn't mind $5-10 bucks a year to help out with the costs. 

Update!
 
Installed the power windows and the seals and got the windows adjusted pretty darn good. I went through 6 pairs of door runs to find some that made the window arc correctly. The aftermarket stuff just didn't work well. I ended up using a combination of original and aftermarket door runs. The windows move FAST. Unexpectedly fast. Still cool Got the doors aligned with the seals in too. 
 

 

 
Test fitted fenders and hood for the final time before welding. I ended up buying another pair of new fenders. It didn't make much sense to me to have original fenders that need work to look new, when everything else on the car was new. The new fenders did require some removal of material on the inside support and I had to shave some of the side cowl to get them to fit nicely. Overall i'm happy with them now. 
 

 
I've been doing a lot of welding. Hundreds of spot welds. Hundreds.... I unfortunately put too many holes in the outer rockers. I also don't really like how small the holes are. I would occasionally hear a POP when id move to another area to weld which means I didn't have great penetration on some of them. So, once I get the car on the rotisserie I will seam weld the rockers together for additional strength. I still have a lot of grinding to do. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Made sense to paint the inner side cowls while it's easy.
 

 

 

 
I also noticed that the outer cowls have these 2 overlapping seams from manufacturing. I welded them up. 
 

 
Passenger side torqued box was a pain. I had to slice the bottom of the inner torque box where it meets up with the frame rail because it was way too low. Could been a combination of a couple things. Poorly stamped firewall, or the torque box. Either way, I made it work. Welded it up and then painted.
 

 

 
Floor jack was very helpful to position the outer torque box and get it right against the firewall 
 

 

 
 
Driver's side went in great. Minimal cutting or shaving required. 
 

 

 
I also noticed that the front of the rocker had moved away from the frame rail and the outer torque box didn't butt up to the rocker. It was out by about 1/2". I used some tow straps (need 3 of them) to pull it back in, and then tacked in the torque box. 
 

 
Been working on the lower and upper cowl. Got the lower positioned. Drilled the holes, welded it in then seam sealed and painted. Paint, seam seal, paint, seam seal, paint. Lots of layers of protection around the hat and also where the lower cowl was welded to the side cowls incase there were any pinholes from the welds. 
 

 

 

 
I also seam sealed and painted the gaps/crevices inside the side cowls. There was no way I could weld them from the inside. At least now though water cannot pool in the crevices and is as protected as I could make it. 
 

 

 
Prepping upper cowl. Drilled holes, deburred the holes, and also gave the inside a couple more coats of paint.
 

 

 
Lower cowl prepped for welding
 

Update!
 
Installed the power windows and the seals and got the windows adjusted pretty darn good. I went through 6 pairs of door runs to find some that made the window arc correctly. The aftermarket stuff just didn't work well. I ended up using a combination of original and aftermarket door runs. The windows move FAST. Unexpectedly fast. Still cool Got the doors aligned with the seals in too. 
 

 

 
Test fitted fenders and hood for the final time before welding. I ended up buying another pair of new fenders. It didn't make much sense to me to have original fenders that need work to look new, when everything else on the car was new. The new fenders did require some removal of material on the inside support and I had to shave some of the side cowl to get them to fit nicely. Overall i'm happy with them now. 
 

 
I've been doing a lot of welding. Hundreds of spot welds. Hundreds.... I unfortunately put too many holes in the outer rockers. I also don't really like how small the holes are. I would occasionally hear a POP when id move to another area to weld which means I didn't have great penetration on some of them. So, once I get the car on the rotisserie I will seam weld the rockers together for additional strength. I still have a lot of grinding to do. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Made sense to paint the inner side cowls while it's easy.
 

 

 

 
I also noticed that the outer cowls have these 2 overlapping seams from manufacturing. I welded them up. 
 

 
Passenger side torqued box was a pain. I had to slice the bottom of the inner torque box where it meets up with the frame rail because it was way too low. Could been a combination of a couple things. Poorly stamped firewall, or the torque box. Either way, I made it work. Welded it up and then painted.
 

 

 
Floor jack was very helpful to position the outer torque box and get it right against the firewall 
 

 

 
 
Driver's side went in great. Minimal cutting or shaving required. 
 

 

 
I also noticed that the front of the rocker had moved away from the frame rail and the outer torque box didn't butt up to the rocker. It was out by about 1/2". I used some tow straps (need 3 of them) to pull it back in, and then tacked in the torque box. 
 

 
Been working on the lower and upper cowl. Got the lower positioned. Drilled the holes, welded it in then seam sealed and painted. Paint, seam seal, paint, seam seal, paint. Lots of layers of protection around the hat and also where the lower cowl was welded to the side cowls incase there were any pinholes from the welds. 
 

 

 

 
I also seam sealed and painted the gaps/crevices inside the side cowls. There was no way I could weld them from the inside. At least now though water cannot pool in the crevices and is as protected as I could make it. 
 

 

 
Prepping upper cowl. Drilled holes, deburred the holes, and also gave the inside a couple more coats of paint.
 

 

 
Lower cowl prepped for welding
 

So this is what I have been doing while I was waiting for my doors from NPD. I taught myself armoring. Back story.... I built myself a complete suit of armor (a couple years ago) for fun. Then this year I wanted to give my bosses something special for christmas so I made a helmet and stand and a pair of gauntlets. Both came out great. I shape the metal by hand with no heat. Helmet took 43 hours and the gauntlets took 19 hours. The helmet is modeled after a 13th century French Sallet style helmet. It's very comfortable. The interior is wrapped in foam and leather. The Bevor portion of the helmet is fixed to the stand but both pieces are movable. 
 
Hoping to get back to the car early next month.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow it's been a while. I've finally finished my winter/spring projects and am back on the car. The roof panel needing those cuts and the drivers side quarter panel where it meets the rocker having that gap has been bugging me since I originally fitted the parts. On a hunch I went to NPD and bought another new roof panel. Plopped right on with an excellent fit! 


I have been told that I need to get my doors fitting very very well before welding and even go as far as putting all the window guts in and being able to lower and raise the window into the seal to make sure it has a good fit. So, the passenger side went really easily since the quarter panel fitted against the rocker tightly. I also realized through lots of cursing and wasted time that the door striker can be adjusted DOH! Wow that made a really huge difference in how quickly I could get the doors lined up. Once I figured it out, getting them aligned was a piece of cake. Now I am aware that once I assemble the door guts they will be heavier and I will have to re-adjust, but I am going to take this win because the gaps are great and the lines are straight. 
I also took the opportunity while the quarter panel was off to pull both quarter's together another 1/16th-1/8" inch to get them as close to the factory glass opening width as possible. Pretty much nailed it. 








I am hoping that the door interior assembly goes smoothly and that the door glass goes into the door seal tightly. Once that is done I'll fit the fenders and hood one last time to make sure everything is straight before I take it all apart again to start welding! 

Wow it's been a while. I've finally finished my winter/spring projects and am back on the car. The roof panel needing those cuts and the drivers side quarter panel where it meets the rocker having that gap has been bugging me since I originally fitted the parts. On a hunch I went to NPD and bought another new roof panel. Plopped right on with an excellent fit! 


I have been told that I need to get my doors fitting very very well before welding and even go as far as putting all the window guts in and being able to lower and raise the window into the seal to make sure it has a good fit. So, the passenger side went really easily since the quarter panel fitted against the rocker tightly. I also realized through lots of cursing and wasted time that the door striker can be adjusted DOH! Wow that made a really huge difference in how quickly I could get the doors lined up. Once I figured it out, getting them aligned was a piece of cake. Now I am aware that once I assemble the door guts they will be heavier and I will have to re-adjust, but I am going to take this win because the gaps are great and the lines are straight. 
I also took the opportunity while the quarter panel was off to pull both quarter's together another 1/16th-1/8" inch to get them as close to the factory glass opening width as possible. Pretty much nailed it. 








I am hoping that the door interior assembly goes smoothly and that the door glass goes into the door seal tightly. Once that is done I'll fit the fenders and hood one last time to make sure everything is straight before I take it all apart again to start welding! 

So this is what I have been doing while I was waiting for my doors from NPD. I taught myself armoring. Back story.... I built myself a complete suit of armor (a couple years ago) for fun. Then this year I wanted to give my bosses something special for christmas so I made a helmet and stand and a pair of gauntlets. Both came out great. I shape the metal by hand with no heat. Helmet took 43 hours and the gauntlets took 19 hours. The helmet is modeled after a 13th century French Sallet style helmet. It's very comfortable. The interior is wrapped in foam and leather. The Bevor portion of the helmet is fixed to the stand but both pieces are movable. 
 
Hoping to get back to the car early next month.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this is what I have been doing while I was waiting for my doors from NPD. I taught myself armoring. Back story.... I built myself a complete suit of armor (a couple years ago) for fun. Then this year I wanted to give my bosses something special for christmas so I made a helmet and stand and a pair of gauntlets. Both came out great. I shape the metal by hand with no heat. Helmet took 43 hours and the gauntlets took 19 hours. The helmet is modeled after a 13th century French Sallet style helmet. It's very comfortable. The interior is wrapped in foam and leather. The Bevor portion of the helmet is fixed to the stand but both pieces are movable. 
 
Hoping to get back to the car early next month.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this is what I have been doing while I was waiting for my doors from NPD. I taught myself armoring. Back story.... I built myself a complete suit of armor (a couple years ago) for fun. Then this year I wanted to give my bosses something special for christmas so I made a helmet and stand and a pair of gauntlets. Both came out great. I shape the metal by hand with no heat. Helmet took 43 hours and the gauntlets took 19 hours. The helmet is modeled after a 13th century French Sallet style helmet. It's very comfortable. The interior is wrapped in foam and leather. The Bevor portion of the helmet is fixed to the stand but both pieces are movable. 
 
Hoping to get back to the car early next month.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this is what I have been doing while I was waiting for my doors from NPD. I taught myself armoring. Back story.... I built myself a complete suit of armor (a couple years ago) for fun. Then this year I wanted to give my bosses something special for christmas so I made a helmet and stand and a pair of gauntlets. Both came out great. I shape the metal by hand with no heat. Helmet took 43 hours and the gauntlets took 19 hours. The helmet is modeled after a 13th century French Sallet style helmet. It's very comfortable. The interior is wrapped in foam and leather. The Bevor portion of the helmet is fixed to the stand but both pieces are movable. 
 
Hoping to get back to the car early next month.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was waiting for a new pair of doors for a few months. I got them, but while I was waiting i have been doing some armoring. Looking to get back to the build early Feb. 

Thought yall might like to see this. 
[video]https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/784804116[/video]

[video=vimeo;784804116]https://vimeo.com/784804116[/video]
This is a clip from season 32 episode #4 (came out earlier this year).
I hope the video stays up. Youutube and Fbook keep taking it down. The clip is not available anywhere else. They apparently only ran it a few times on the air but then removed it. 
Was an amazing experience. FYI my Viper was running high 10 sec passes. They deliberately slowed it down for the show.... Can't have a 9 year old American car beating a shiny new electric truck! LOL. What was most bizarre about the entire thing was that they would not prep the Viper's lane but extensively prepped the Rivians. Not prepping the Viper's lane required at least 30+ runs because the driver just could not get the car to hook and he was just not used to driving a Viper (it was 45 degrees out in January at the time of filming). 
The closeup of the spinning tire was actually me doing the burnout! And you can see me in several of the shots, notably inside the truck. 
Still an amazing experience. Every one of the 60+ Topgear staff were great people and I would do this again in a heart beat. The car was driven by F1 driver Eduardo Marques. They would not confirm or deny that he is the Stig, but that he does travel with them for the show and does most of the stunt, timed driving...etc. I was fortunate enough to have Freddy and Eduardo sign the car too.  
Get my car on Top Gear- checked that off the bucket list!

Update
 
So the last few days I've been working to get the front clip squared up. I didn't like the gaps from the fenders and hood or that the front clip just didn't look right. I'm glad I kept the original front end as that was very helpful along with the Mach 1 to get the measurements I needed.
 
Overall, I'm really happy with the fender/hood/cowl gaps. Even in this rough mockup, I like the results. I'm actually quite surprised how tight the gaps are.
 
The fender apron brackets were a pain. I even tried using an original one, but that fit worse than the new ones. The metal is noticeably thicker on the original versus the aftermarket bracket FYI. I don't know how that will affect strength, but there is a significant difference in metal thickness.   
 
I ended up having to buy a second passenger side inner fender apron because the Canadian one I bought fit terribly (I didn't read the description on NPD's website, and it does mention the fit). So far they both seem to fit terribly, but the import brand (which is less money by the way) required less cutting away of material to get the measurements I needed. Neither of them hug the contours of the firewall precisely, but they will have to do for now. 
 
I tried mocking up the new fenders I bought recently, but they were not cooperating. I tried installing the passenger side one on the Mach 1 too and it just didn't fit right. The original fenders just fit better. They don't fit the doors that well. I wonder if I should try installing the original doors now too and see how they go together. 
 
The front bolt holes on the aftermarket fenders also do not line up with the core support at all. I don't like that. The original ones like up well enough. I'll try installing the new headlight buckets and see how those fit next. 
 
The hood is just laying there, no hinges installed, but looks nice and straight
 
The front end is about 1/16th - 1/8" off from being perfectly square. I just can't get it closer than that. It'll have to do. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update
 
So the last few days I've been working to get the front clip squared up. I didn't like the gaps from the fenders and hood or that the front clip just didn't look right. I'm glad I kept the original front end as that was very helpful along with the Mach 1 to get the measurements I needed.
 
Overall, I'm really happy with the fender/hood/cowl gaps. Even in this rough mockup, I like the results. I'm actually quite surprised how tight the gaps are.
 
The fender apron brackets were a pain. I even tried using an original one, but that fit worse than the new ones. The metal is noticeably thicker on the original versus the aftermarket bracket FYI. I don't know how that will affect strength, but there is a significant difference in metal thickness.   
 
I ended up having to buy a second passenger side inner fender apron because the Canadian one I bought fit terribly (I didn't read the description on NPD's website, and it does mention the fit). So far they both seem to fit terribly, but the import brand (which is less money by the way) required less cutting away of material to get the measurements I needed. Neither of them hug the contours of the firewall precisely, but they will have to do for now. 
 
I tried mocking up the new fenders I bought recently, but they were not cooperating. I tried installing the passenger side one on the Mach 1 too and it just didn't fit right. The original fenders just fit better. They don't fit the doors that well. I wonder if I should try installing the original doors now too and see how they go together. 
 
The front bolt holes on the aftermarket fenders also do not line up with the core support at all. I don't like that. The original ones like up well enough. I'll try installing the new headlight buckets and see how those fit next. 
 
The hood is just laying there, no hinges installed, but looks nice and straight
 
The front end is about 1/16th - 1/8" off from being perfectly square. I just can't get it closer than that. It'll have to do. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

oof that sucks. i've been welding for years. i always wear a auto darkening hood, long sleeves, boots, jeans and gloves. Ive been burned plenty!

Nice update!
 
So I had a flash of inspiration the other day.  
 
I unscrewed the firewall from the passenger side of the floor pan and used some ratchet straps to first pull the floorpan downward, then and used another 2 straps to get it positioned to where it looked right and level. I am happy to report that it is positioned really well now! I also fitted up the rear quarters, extensions and tail light panel. There are still gaps here and there but I think so far I have been really lucky with panel fitment. It would appear that aftermarket panels do fit well to each other. I have to take pics, but I also was able to fit the piece that goes between the back glass and the trunk. I used the original 69' for measurements and got it really spot on. Will post pics of that later. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I figured out why I was getting an incorrect x2 measurement. Wrong hole! ... my wife hates it when that happens LOL.
The new floor is pretty much spot on according to those datum line measurements