2021 Challenge.. Blind "bugeye", Riggamort

Stampie said:

Any concern about V8 torque and wire wheels?  What's the bolt pattern?

GM intermediate 5x4-3/4" low backspace.

With the rear wheels and brakes sorted (wheel cylinders were clean and not stuck, yay!) I moved to the fronts. Had a bugger of a time getting drum off and, as soon as it was clear of them, the shoes jumped towards me as if their hold-down springs were missing.

Only this brake design doesn't use hold-down springs. PO assembled with return springs on outboard rather than inboard side of shoes:

so I flipped them around and struggled for a few minutes to get the springs over the hub, until I remembered how clever I am, and pulled the hub. I got it back together pretty quickly without the hub in the way, gave everything a wipe down, and called it good enough. Second side was the same, but went much quicker with all the experience I gained on the other side.

Our wheels are same bolt pattern and documented free to budget if you need another set of back ups.

Did I ever tell you about the time I sheared all the drive-side wheel studs on Mom's 59 Olds?Somebody gave me a set of mag wheels, but did not supply the correct lug nuts, and being oh so very much younger and ignorant of the difference I put them on.
Also really enjoyed the big Olds wheel spin capability.

Yes, there is a relevant point, I have some concern over how much unsupported wheel stud you have with the spacers? 
Obviously you do not want the shoulders to bottom out, but you do want them to use as much stud as possible for best strength. You may want longer shoulders on the lug nuts.
Big smokey burn-out is probably guaranteed and a crowd pleaser, but not if the wheels fall off.
OK, actually the crowd would probably hoot and applaud even louder if the wheels fall off. 
But you would be bummed out.

In reply to RichardSIA :

I would be very bummed! Compared to what Angry took a picture of, we'll gain back 0.25"+ on each side by reducing spacer thickness. That should, hopefully, be a very nice amount of thread engagement.

It will have more than 1.5x stud diameter of thread engagement. Yes, there will be about 1/2" of unsupported stud, but that's no different than most cast aluminum wheels.

I went out to "clean up some" and "have an early night" but the idea juices were flowing.

Did you know this radiator is exactly as thick as a filing cabinet drawer slide is tall??

I got to working on a top mount using the same kind of idea. I made this "doubled-up" idea with the bolt plate that will weld to the tab underneath. Then, I thought that if I replaced it with a nut, and had a loose bolt fasten from above I could actually create compression on the radiator as a whole and lock it in place. It will take a few extra nuts (or a small spring) on top to keep the bolt from backing out, but I think it'll work? I'll have 1 or ideally 2 little supports of bed frame or filing cabinet out from the upper "support"

I also added a few retention beads to the water-line contraptions as a just-in-case. They are all pretty tight fits.

In reply to classicJackets (FS) :

So, here's my radiator upper in pieces. The tab with nut on bottom will be welded to the "cradle" plate, so that threading down will push separation between my blue arm and the radiator/tab.

Bounced around some today and knocked out what will be a very basic but good battery hild-down once I pick up some all thread tomorrow.

Found that what I had built to be the base of a seat has a good overall shape for a seat back (won't use this one without extensive modification if at all), and got a good seating position to measure harness bar height.

Printed templates online, measure and think a bunch of times to ensure cuts will be aligned, and go!

.... Aligned the template at the wrong point for width between bars. Whomp whomp. Time to start again!

Pipe 2 is currently cut too long. I also think my notches are slightly offset.

I initially cut with an 84° angle based on rise lower in the bar, scaled back to 80 for some file work on bar 2, and now (after measuring from my marks in the bar) it looks like it might be closer to 70 at the point the bar will run. So, will try on a fresh piece tomorrow.

Why fresh piece if too long?
Easier to take more off than to stretch steel.

In reply to RichardSIA :

I will absolutely check and see first if I can "rotate" one cut back to where it should be. That would be easiest. I got 8 of these pieces for $2.50 a piece, though, and have no plans for them after so I don't mind being a little reckless (just a little)

" I got 8 of these pieces for $2.50 a piece."

WHERE on earth ! ? ! ? !

I desperately need some of that ! ! ! ! ! ! 

In reply to MuSTANK :

They are 52" chunks, so kind of funky sizing.. I paid $20 for 8 of them, otherwise they were $4/per haha.

In car news, a mental step forward today was using the correct hardware to actually bolt in the roll bar and the harness mounting plates. I didn't have to do any additional drilling, which is great.

Next up I'm going to cut the 3/8" all thread to length and be almost ready to wrap up the battery install. Last things will be installing a few more mounting tabs for the firewall and notching out the underhood cover for the cable -> cutoff switch.

Battery hold-down knocked out.

I also went and got trans dipstick/tube and wheel spacers from O'Reilly's today. The 0.25" spacers were in 5x4.5 only, so I went with 5/16" spacers instead. Still gets me an 1/8"  better than what's on the one side now. I also may decide to return these and just slot the other ones 

I also picked up a new belt, but it turns out it's a few inches short so I'll have to swap it.

None of this is challenge budget friendly, but without the disc brakes on I have a ton of theoretical money to play with. 

I just thought of something,  do you have padding for the roll bar?  Might be worth a stop at summit racing in Atlanta if not.

Let me know if Sleepy sees your battery hold down. I can bring my hole punch if so.

Stampie said:

Let me know if Sleepy sees your battery hold down. I can bring my hole punch if so.

Is this not-passing-tech thing?

I do have 2 36" lengths of SFI padding, so I should be squared away there.

In reply to classicJackets (FS) :

I think Sleepy well be there this year. It's not a tech thing but you don't want him walking away from your car shaking his head at the extra weight.

In reply to Stampie :

Ahh I see! I'll try to take a grinder or hole saw to it before leaving, if I can get the rest of this stuff squared away. I am gonna have some help from out angry friend tonight and tomorrow to run some fresh brake lines, semi-plumb a bias adjuster for the rear brakes. I need to get a seat back in and figure out gauge placement and then it'll be about ready to turn the key.

It looks like I won't have a seat bottom, just sit on some foam in the floor and let the harness do the work from there.

"They are 52" chunks, so kind of funky sizing.. I paid $20 for 8 of them, otherwise they were $4/per haha."

WHERE ! ? !  ? ! ? ! ? ! 

Seriously—

It would cost me twenty bucks for just one around here . . . 

Regards that battery hold down.
Course thread single nuts with no lock-washer?
NyLock really are not that expensive, or a second nut to lock the first.
Yah I know, picky picky.

In reply to RichardSIA :

Picky is good, and a second nut or nylock is easy to add. I appreciate the extra sets of eyes/opinions and that's part of why I'm posting all this stuff still, especially so close the challenge.

Angry and I worked on a couple things tonight but focused really on getting a seat in. I got a ton of this foam for no budget hit, and same with the "slats" of 16 gauge. I am expecting to weld them to the kick-up in thr rear floor, bolt/screw to the rear of the cockpit, and weld to the main hoop at the top for rigidity/strength for the "seat back."

The foam can then be my cushion to the metal.. not shown but obviously needed is the harness bar, which I have to figure out) fix in place tomorrow.

Much better fit so far, will need a little further tweaking to get it even across! Then I will have to reconfigure the seat back, since my dumb self set it where it's set a decent ways behind the harness bar. I have ideas..

Edit: harness bar fits now and seat frame shouldn't be too tough to clip to the other side:

Can you put the harness bar behind like maybe to the rear legs?