I shifted to working on the trunk area AL panels. A few builders added rear access panels on the back of the sidewalls in the rear to access the tail lights. The lights on the Type 65 are integral to mounting the fiberglass body and once that is permanently installed it can be a pain in the rear end to change light bulbs and check the wiring. Given I am doing the wiring myself I will probably need to access these lights at some (many) points. I made my panels over sized. I can stick my arm all the way in there without having to slice my hands to ribbons. The photo above shows the access panel from an odd angle so the cover plate for it looks much larger than the hole. It is one inch larger in all dimensions to provide a lip to completely cover it up. The black bar running along the left edge of the hole from this camera angle actually sits a couple inches away from the AL panel so it is not blocking access, veen though it looks like it does. I originally planned to size the panel with this cross bar as the left edge of it but I needed the extra space to make sure I can actually stick my hand all the way in. The angle approach worked well. I've seen a couple of other efforts on line with much smaller panels. Would probably work well if the lights were a straight shot from the side but they are back and angled down from where the trunk area is. Long term I will put a gasket between the access panel and the inside panel (same for all access panels like battery and fuel filter) and then install some sticky backed sound deadening panels on the outside of the side panels. The floor of the trunk area will be covered in dynamat or raam mat and then carpeted. I plan to paint the interior walls with either a textured paint or just use undercoating from a spray can. Same thing I used on the battery box. To install the panels I used my new favorite item, rivnuts. McMaster Carr sells lots of options and I am close to the distribution center they have in GA so for me everything ends up being next day from them regardless of how I pay for shipping. Their website is a little lacking but I can always find what I want and their customer service is excellent. Not a paid advertisement for them, just passing along a good source for weird stuff.
I think I do finally have all of the knowledge I need to wrap up the A/C work, when it is time. A male trinary switch screws into the supplied dryer. A female trinary switch is screwed into a separate fitting in the high pressure supply line. It took me a lot of digging to figure out what most people already know who have chosen to do this. The dryer in the Type 65 is mounted to the front of the engine compartment on the X-frame member in the frame. I will run the A/C lines and evaporator drain lines through the front of the passenger footbox compartment. Nothing else for the A/C will be installed until well after the engine goes in as I need to run A/C and heater supply and return lines around the lump.
As much as I keep pushing it off, installing the motor and trans for the first time is pretty much the next thing to do. But first I will paint all of the cockpit AL panels and put them in again. And then I will do the motor, maybe.
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