HM 1081 NorJak Hurricane

[Fuzzy]

Finally got the body off the body buck, first time since it arrived in May of 2007.  Washed off all 6 years of dust and left it outside.  With luck we will do our first trail fit on Thursday.....

[mandmGuys]

Need pictures of your crew or what ever ingenious way you decided to get the body on the car.

Good luck. It's one of those exciting times.

Mark

[Fuzzy]

Had all these great intentions of filming the first time putting the body on but forgot to turn on the camera, usual thought process, even had it all lined up and on a tripod.  Anyhoooo, here are the finished pictures, all the help left as soon as we were done as it was mid-day and everyone had to get back to work, only four of us, followed the tried and true mounting method and it went right on. Now need to try bolting it in place as it was all in pieces when it first arrived.

[Dusty]

Well it looks like its really coming together now! Great job and keep up the good work

[Paul Proefrock]

Fuzzy
Starting to look like a cobra.  Congrats

Paul

ps: looks like the distributor is on the wrong end. Do you have the engine in backwards? 

[Fuzzy]

Ya know Paul, we've taken that sucker out twice now and we just can't figure out how to put it in the other way around.  Was thinking about putting a little black fiberglass box over it and buying a dummy disti and just glue it on the front.

ken

[mandmGuys]

Looking good - like a cobra should 

Mark

[Fuzzy]

If you are thinking of ordering a kit or waiting for it to be delivered and have  read through all of the HM 1081 thread, read on.  However, remember this is a kit from the  old molds and much has changed for the better.

Some recent lessons learned through no one's fault and 20/20 hindsight:  When HM 1081 was finally delivered to the house, it was all in pieces, so when we started assembly we picked up the manual and started on page one.  When most of you get your kits, its in a sort of assembly with body mounted to chassis to save space and easier shipping.  You take it apart and hopefully note how it all goes together.

This is what we should have done,  a partial assembly with the chassis, front sub frame,  tub and mounted those things together to see how they fit, including the bumpers and such for our car. 

What has happened:  I started assembly last week or so and I find the rear bumper is 1/2" narrower at the mounting points than the uprights and we don't have any bolts or spacers. In addition, the bottoms of the uprights interferes with the lower part of the roll pan and will need to be trimmed. (I have 1" x 2" uprights)..cont'd

[Fuzzy]

Part 2

The front uprights have to be forced on over the aluminum sides and the frame as the width is a smidgeon too narrow.  The passenger's side (your driver's side) 2 x 2 mounting block for the front bumper is jammed against the side of the airduct so hard it seems it needs to be relocated.  The finished distance between the upright mounting holes and the front bumper mounting holes is about 3/4" too narrow and the body holes do not line up with the mounting holes. 

Now all of these things can be fixed or sorted out and are part and parcel of assembling a kit car.  The point here is:  make sure you do your trial assembly prior to installing all the running gear and such as its easier to modify or wiggle or sort out things early while its easy to move around.

Sometimes you are going to get frustrated and let it sit for a while, but in the end, after the labor of busted knuckles, scratched shins and copious amounts of liquid and hanging out with your friends and brainstorming , its all worth it when you first fire it up and  go for your maiden go-kart ride.
ken

[s_reynolds]

Ken, not sure I understand all of the issues you mentioned, but a couple I did experience. The bumper uprights at the rear that contact the rear lip of the body also happened on my body so I just ground a little off the bottom of the upright to get clearance and repainted. Also, one of the front bumper uprights was tight against the brake duct, but I was able to grind a little off the side of the brake duct to correct. Hope all the other stuff works out for you.

Sam

[Fuzzy]

I've got it under control as best can be....was a bit frustrated when I realized I missed a better opportunity to do things but it will all come out ok, or least no one will notice as no one here has ever a real one or a replica.  Its all good !  and i love my Hurricane.

[cobraspit]

Dang Fuzz still going at it, looks way cool, sure missn' being on here just don't got nothin' to contribute.
read every thing done everything just still got to get her Registered. My biggest Hot Wheel.
any way God Bless.
well the sunny side is it's sunny here today
ems

[mandmGuys]

Hey Fuzzy, hearing lots of news out of Indonesia, Flooding, Volcanos, High Murder/crime rates but no new Hurricane (1081) news. Hope all is well.

Mark

[Fuzzy]

It's been a while since I posted.  Been on another thread trying to figure out a starter problem.  Haven't been able to get the car up enough to pull the starter so that will be the next major project.  Meanwhile, wired the lights front and rear so they all work as they are supposed to.  As I have a street roadster, I have double rear lights on the back, those funky round ones.  Naturally when they sent the body, it was cut out for the rectangular ones so had to fill and fiddle and grind it back until it was wide enough to fit the lights.  Will attach some photos here of the left side.  Also did one of the head lights, can't believe that Hurricane used the junk they did back when they made 1081.  Sure hope the new ones are using a different system.  My holes were way off and lucky for me, there was a fix posted here on the forum. Still slogging along.  Got a lot of shaping to do around the lights now so it doesn't like a frying plate.  I had built up the behind the light cutouts so I could grind down enough to get a wide surface so plenty of meat left.
ken

[Fuzzy]

attached is a shot of my right rear set of lights.  I am in a bit of a quandary as to what to do to blend in the body work.  I drew some redlines where I have thought about blending in the body so there are two clear round areas, one top and one bottom.  As it is now, it looks like a flat iron griddle with a couple of half tomatoes on it.  If any of you are around a street cobra with two similar tail lights, could you take a quick snap that shows what they did it on their car and post it for me here?  There aren't any in Indo except one that has the usual flat tail light so no place to have a look see.  Hurricane built one street roadster with the dual taillights but you can not tell from any pictures posted on line.  I also have not been able to find exactly any place that describes how far about the lights should be apart so I did what I thought looked good.  Please send me any comments or photos, will welcome any comments or critiques...
thanks,
ken