JULY
Alas, it was time to finally get the fuel door mounted. From when I first made the door back in March, I was researching hinge solutions that I could possibly use. I tried retrofitting an entire hinge assembly from the junkyard and aftermarket hinges that hot rod guys used, but they just didn't work out for me.
My eureka moment was from watching a Chronicles Vlog that I knew exactly what to look for:
I asked around, and Varis doesn't supply the assembly by itself, but I did find cabinet hardware very similar to it--I now had my hinge decided on.
To secure the door, I planned on using a magnetic pop latch, which is also found within cabinet hardware. To utilize it, I panel bonded sheet metal to my fiberglass fuel door.
Next, I mocked up where I wanted the fuel door to sit and taped it secure from the outside. From the back side, I located where the hinge would mount, and where it would attach to the fuel door.
First I bonded the hinge to the fuel door. After that, I mounted the assembly back onto the overfender, positioned it and secured it with tape, then drilled holes and cleco'd it so I can easily adjust it as things went on.
The same mounting process went for the pop latch. With everything fastened with clecos, I had a working fuel door!
BUT WAIT-
The pop latch needed to be pushed in before it popped out, but the hinge I used closes at a hard 90 degrees and didn't have the pivot I needed--I couldn't use my pop latch.
Another trip to a woodworking store and I grabbed a magnet latch and a ball-catch latch. The magnet latch was ugly, so it was my last resort. Thankfully the ball-catch was adequate and still pretty stylish!
Victory.
