bgkast
Dork
3/13/14 11:22 a.m.
Thanks for the offer, I really don't know enough about reamers to know if those would work for me. I ordered a set of chucking reamers, and in particular need a 0.5000 reamer to make the suspension brackets. Hopefully they will arrive soon, but I have other things to keep me busy on the project.
Last night I finished up the front/steering rack mount as much as I can until the front suspension is done.
bgkast
Dork
3/14/14 11:57 a.m.
Well my reamers are stuck in Illinois somewhere (thanks UPS ) so I am trying to keep busy with other things. Last night I set up the media blaster I inherited from my neighbor when he upgraded and cleaned the steering rack brackets, shift arms and my rear engine mount bracket. I was hoping to powder coat them last night too, but cleaning took MUCH longer than expected. I was having issues getting the media to feed to the gun reliably.
My reamers arrived! Hopefully I can get the front pick up brackets on the car this weekend. This afternoon I powder coated the parts I cleaned yesterday. I'm sold on powder coating! So much cleaner easier and faster than painting!
ronholm
HalfDork
3/14/14 11:22 p.m.
What are you coating with?
I haven't moved past the HF gun, and an oven... But I did build a pretty neat "spray booth"...
bgkast
Dork
3/14/14 11:57 p.m.
Harbor freight gun and a turkey roaster for an oven.
bgkast
Dork
3/17/14 11:33 a.m.
I didn't get as far on the suspension brackets as I hoped this weekend, but I made some good progress last night. The square tube brackets take quite a bit of labor, but I really like the design, they should be much more solid than the standard "tab" type of brackets.
bgkast wrote:
Harbor freight gun and a turkey roaster for an oven.
I just would like to get a little more info on this....
ronholm wrote:
What are you coating with?
I haven't moved past the HF gun, and an oven... But I did build a pretty neat "spray booth"...
I like my eastwood gun. Wish I had a booth and an oven bigger than a toaster. Like the powder color you've got going on though :)
Thinkkker wrote:
bgkast wrote:
Harbor freight gun and a turkey roaster for an oven.
I just would like to get a little more info on this....
Half way down the page: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/i-blame-you-dr-boost/71475/page2/
bgkast
Dork
3/18/14 11:50 a.m.
The forward most suspension brackets are complete and jigged up!
Tonight I will tack them to the chassis and try to figure out the rear brackets.
bgkast
Dork
3/19/14 12:18 p.m.
Last night I got the front suspension brackets tacked to the chassis and moved my jig to the aft position. I also rigged up another jig that will let me angle the rear suspension brackets to line up with the A arms.
The two jigs will be set up and the pedestal jig will be fixed to the build table with the rod end in the correct spot. I will then remove the threaded rod that passes through the rod end and rotate the spherical bearing in the rod end to the new, rotated alignment position. The rod end will be used to hold the suspension bracket as it is welded to the chassis. Hopefully that will work...
I also got a big box of Moog, and some brakes!
Last night I took it easy. I finished the second suspension jig and fixed it in place. I then made a cardboard template of the suspension bracket. Discussion on the design of the bracket can be found here: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/critique-my-suspension-bracket-design/81399/page1/
I also was working near a Truck store today and saw that they had an LED light display in the window. I went in to check it out on break and picked up a awesome set of tail lights.
The red outer circle glows as a halo for tail lights and the white center lights up red VERY brightly for brakes. Very reasonably priced at $18/each. Now I need to decide if I want to use two more for turn signals, or use an amber light.
http://www.optronicsinc.com/theater.html
bgkast
Dork
3/25/14 12:54 p.m.
No work on the car in the past few days. I picked up a cold last week which, combined with the start of allergy season made my head feel like it was about to explode. I didn't think power tools and metal dust would help me any.
My thread has almost fallen to page 3, so I'd better get to work tonight!
Gah, tell me about it. Stupid allergies = sneezing fits + a treadmill desk = thank god there's no video cameras in my office.
The Cherry blossoms are so pretty to look at, but it just means I'll be sneezing, wheezing and itching to beat the band. Time to break out the medical cocktail to stay somewhat functional.
Looking forward to seeing progress!
bgkast
Dork
3/26/14 12:22 p.m.
I got back out in the garage last night and made my suspension bracket out of metal.
I used the same zinc weldable primer that I have been using inside my tubes between the chassis and bracket overlap. I still need to clean up the overspray and tack the bracket in place. Tonight I will do that and start on the lower A arm.
I got the lower bracket tacked into place last night. I also made all of the "tabs" for the lower control arm. I changed the design slightly so that I can mount the shock perpendicular to the car without it hitting the upper A arm (I'm going for outboard suspension). I need to find a M12x1.5 bolt so I can bolt the tabs to the ball joint and weld them together.
tuna55
UltimaDork
3/27/14 8:37 p.m.
It makes me very happy to see a fabricator using a castle nut properly.
bgkast
Dork
3/30/14 12:19 a.m.
I'd love to take credit, but that came with the ball joint.
One down, seven to go!
jgrewe
Reader
3/31/14 2:50 p.m.
I started out with an HF powder gun and then found a used Hypersmooth 02 on CL. Spoiled now. I skipped the small oven stage and went right to the biggest oven I could spare room for. Inside dimensions are 4'x4'x8' tall. Pretty much anything you can bolt to a car will fit in it. I started doing little side jobs for friends and it pretty much pays the rent.
Of course, the second guy I did a small job for asked if I could do a '32 Ford frame...
Now anything not bolted to the floor in my shop is at risk of being coated. I love how you can assemble parts as soon as you can touch them without getting burned. Gone are the days of the old Rustoleum coated parts with fingerprints in them.
I really wish I had 220v in my garage for a real oven!
jgrewe
New Reader
3/31/14 4:17 p.m.
Propane! I use a Reil style burner I made from about $8 of black pipe.
http://ronreil.abana.org/design1.shtml
Scroll down about 1/4 of the page and start reading. I made mine from 1" pipe. It will take my oven from ambient to 400F in about 14 minutes, calculations put it at about 250K Btu!
Hmm, I thought gas ovens and powder coating didn't play nicely. I have some reading to do.
I spent most of my evening disassembling the engine of my riding mower to remove a mouse nest (they do this every winter! ) and mowing the lawn in the dark, but I found some time to cut out all of the plate pieces for the other front LCA and measured for shocks at approximately 1" of droop and 4" of compression.
This weekend is the big automotive swap meet. I'm hoping to find some deals on shocks, gauges, another seat, steering wheel and hub and an intercooler.
In reply to bgkast:
Any progress is good progress!
I have a large Volvo intercooler (with plastic end tanks) and a stock Dodge Daytona intercooler (Blackstone)
I can take some measurements and/or I can bring them along if you're interested.