1996-06-25

Stupendo Goo!

It's a pity I have such a hard time getting a good photo underneath the EV, this one hardly does justice to the utter gloopiness of the situation. Remember my idea of using triple expanding foam insulation for filling in the big gaps? Well, we had *real* fun on Saturday trying to execute that plan.

Looks like the scene of a two year old with a big bowl of oatmeal and no supervision. Some notes from my limited experience in dealing with triple expanding foam underneath an automobile (the can actually says "can be used to fill rust spots in cars"):

Gravity sucks, even when using a sticky stupendo goo!
Stupendo goo is sticky, I mean, S T I C K Y ! !
It expands triple the size: but you don't know when and in which direction
Using a product that says "hold can upside down" while you yourself are "upside down" and underneath something else is not only confusing but awkward.

I quickly modified the plan and made some quick molds to spray the goo behind and hold it in place while it tripled in size. There was goo expanding into all sorts of interesting places, a prime candidate for a B grade sci-fi movie.

What you're seeing here is after some cleanup. I've trimmed off the excess goo, primed it, and painted it black. The upper middle of the photo is the finished section while in the background you can see the goo from the white lagoon hanging down.

Here's the topside results. I cut a strip of pool plastic to cover the remaining gap. This also shows the hold down brackets with the 5/8" rods in place. I insulated the rods with long sections of heat shrink tubing.

I even had enough goo left over to make a dorsal fin for the dog...

Good boy, Zeke