In reply to wawazat :
Sure thing man! Shoot me a PM and we can talk details. You're super close!
In reply to wawazat :
Sure thing man! Shoot me a PM and we can talk details. You're super close!
PM'd you whiskey_business.
Poke.
Been neglecting this thread a bit because Patrick did such a good job documenting in the cars for sale page. Let me start to fix that.
In response to my ad for a free circle track chassis on the cars for sale page, AngryCorvair reached out to me with interest in various parts of the chassis for reuse on the Monzora, specifically the front clip, crossmember and cage. A plan was hatched between him, and local GRMers AdrianThompson, wawazat, R4CECAR, and Jason who I do not have a forum name for. Odd meeting people in person before chatting here for a change!
But before the work began, we had to oggle Ian's new daily driver!
After some eyeballing, Patrick determined the cage was too small and that only the front clip pieces would be used. So, the cutting began.
Todd and Ian introduced me to the wonders of non-Harbor Freight reciprocating saw blades, which made quick work of the front clip frame rails and tubes. These things are awesome!
Half the group sawed large pieces off the chassis cart, and the other half broke it down into short lengths of tube to be scrapped. It went surprisingly well, and my neighbors were amazingly unphased.
Found out Adrian should by no means be trusted with a sledgehammer. . . Unless you want to quickly disassemble something and supervise from afar.
And just as quickly as it started, all the blades were expended.
And the frame was totally transportable to the scrapyard.
In an attempt to recoup some of the purchase price of the circle track chassis, I set about removing the lead ballast from the frame rails. We started this process during the sawzall party, but despite Adrian's percussive enthusiasm were unable to free a number of the ballast bricks from the inner frame rail. As these 50lb bricks are worth about 50 dollars a piece, the remaining bricks would contribute significantly to recoup. So, the cutting tools reemerged.
Using the sawzall with the adamantium magic blades, I was able to take a thin slice of the inner rail out to get closer to the bricks. This was in the hopes that they could be massaged out with the pictured sledgehammer. However, this rail was tweaked from the crash that took the chassis out of commission, so they stuck fast. More cutting ensued.
However, the sawzall was a limiting factor, as clearance is required on the inside of the rail to cut effectively. An angle grinder was porches and deployed to split the rail further, and a large hammer used to bend it open.
All in all, a pretty massive task, but well worth the $400 dollar recoup.
This is where it starts to get interesting. As you might have noticed from the offset car's pictures, it is extremely asymmetric. The chassis, the suspension, all of it. Even the height of the spindles from side to side. That would not work well on a symmetric GM chassis. Time to make it all line up.
Not pictured here, but traded my 9.5in left spindle and 7 in right spindle to a guy with a set of symmetric 9.5in tall Lefthander spindles. Technically only needed one side, but the straight trade to spindles from the same company made me feel better about it.
Even with the correct spindles, the issue becomes apparent when the suspension is bolted up.
Right side turned out pretty well, with minumum camber angle at about +0.5 degrees and adjustment up to around -6 degrees. All reasonable alignment specs for a race truck. The other side did not fair so well.
Even with no camber shims in the upper arm, there is a solid ~10 degrees of positive camber in the driver side front. That will not work. Off to find out why.
Ahh, theres the problem. Driver side lower control arm is 15" long, and passenger side is 17" long. Since the passenger side worked out well enough without modification, even matching the track width of the rear end, the driver side arm goes under the knife. A little bit of degreaser and a lot of sanding would be in order.
They cleaned up pretty nicely, and I marked the center of the tube portion for reference.
Located and ordered a tube size that was .005" larger ID than the control arm OD for a nice tight slip fit. Also helped to draw a perfect circle at the midpoint for cutting.
No turning back now! Cleaned up the ends a bit and cut a piece of the sleeve tubing to extend the arm 2 inches and have 1.5" overlapping each side. Clamped down in angle iron jig I made for this purpose exactly, with the close supervison of welding expert Tiggie Smalls.
Tacked. . .
And welded. Not the prettiest tig work in the world, but she'll hold. Had a couple concerns about making this thing live on a race car, so went a little overboard welding it.
Drilled and plug welded at each end to tie it all together a little better. Increased my confidence in it quite a bit.
And now they match! A quick test fit on the truck was in order.
Much better. Upper drivers side arm is just a touch longer, leading to the excessive angle it sits at in the above picture, but that will be addressed later. Onto the other leg of the A.
More foreshortening to do. The rear leg of the lower a-arms tied back to the chassis near the roll hoop on the circle track car. Far, far too long. Angle grinder time.
Eyeballed and cut down the tubes, and prepped some sleeves to tie the halves back together.
Jigged it all up. . .
And went for a celebratory test fit on the truck.
And that is a lot of tire for this thing. Very happy with the results so far, except that I think my bodywork plans have to change slightly. That is a solid 7 inches of wheel poke.
More to come. . .
Tiggie approves!
OMG, Tiggie Smalls made my day. The patron saint of tig welding should probably be posted in my shop somewhere too - your welds look great, and your demolition party looks like a great time.
Got the other front corner finish welded up and mounted, but don't quite have enough washers to mock up both fronts. So, this is what the pretty side looks like. Judicious use of ratchet straps was needed to keep the steering aligned.
Got a nice little shot of where the coilover mounts are going to end up as well.
The rear end geometry is nowhere close to done, so further use of ratchet straps and jack stands was used to get it approximately into place.
While not of much practical use, having the axle lined up like this allowed me to get the beauty shot. Holy E36 M3 it almost looks like a truck again!
Open issues are tire clearance to cab at full lock, heim joint spacers, third link and panhard for rear, and shock hoops all around. But, she'll be on her tires again soon!
That.
Is.
Absolutely.
berkeleying.
GLORIOUS.
I love this truck on so many levels! Keep chipping away at it!
Sweet.
So you can help us weld up our fiat axles when we need to then eh?
On the tires: american racer and hoosier offer a ton of different slicks for a 15
In reply to Robbie :
I'm no expert, but I'm happy to help you guys try to stick some stuff together!
whiskey_business said:Found out Adrian should by no means be trusted with a sledgehammer. . . Unless you want to quickly disassemble something and supervise from afar.
That was a fun day, right after I found I was loosing my job so yes, your comments on my destructive ability and poor aim are all fair!
BTW, where locally did you get the square tubing that you made your gate from? Any cheap local suppliers as I want to do something very similar to what you have.
In reply to Adrian_Thompson :
I've had good luck with Federal Pipe and Supply for larger quantities and Alro Metals Outlet in Livonia for smaller stuff. Alro would be much first choice because they have a ton of remnants for really cheap, and the guys there are always helpful.
Very cool!
whiskey_business said:In reply to Adrian_Thompson :
I've had good luck with Federal Pipe and Supply for larger quantities and Alro Metals Outlet in Livonia for smaller stuff. Alro would be much first choice because they have a ton of remnants for really cheap, and the guys there are always helpful.
Annnnd now I know where I need to stop next time we go up to visit
In reply to Patrick :
Definitely, I got these guys for another project for 24 bucks including the cut!
It appears that I remember how to operate a lathe. Two rod end spacers down, many to go.
Unfortunately, I forgot how to measure so each of these guys has to lose 1/16" of thickness before they are installed. Bummer.
In reply to Adrian_Thompson :
Adrian,
If you need 1x2, 2x2, or 1.5x3 tubing, look for "steel tubing" on Craigslist. There's a guy in Monroe (Leroy) who regularly advertises 10 foot lengths for $10-15. He sometimes has some rejects that are incompletely welded or slightly warped that he may be talked down a couple of bucks .
https://monroemi.craigslist.org/grd/d/monroe-steel-tubing-2x2x10-ft/6872472648.html
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
Thanks for posting that!
If either of you guys make a run down there, let me know! I'm sure I could use some of that as well!
Edit: Or are down to ride-along, my expedition can take 10ft lengths (but it will limit your armrest usage from the passenger seat!)
classicJackets said:If either of you guys make a run down there, let me know! I'm sure I could use some of that as well!
X2 i would buy like 3 dozen of those
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