Looking good homie.
Send me that trim piece already!
Looking good homie.
Send me that trim piece already!
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
No offense taken. I post the good and the bad because I appreciate the feedback on both. I also post the good and the bad so veterans can chime in with pointers and noobs can say "I could do that."
and here I am constantly thinking "I could do that"
haha.
In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :
I'm definitely an inspiration to the next generation.
Looking good. Check this out for some inspiration.
Carry on.
Stepped up my machine game a little bit, for only $100:
Horizontal / vertical band saw, pretty small but big enough for now (now = current needs and available space). it's on a 1" plywood base with swivel casters, but 2 of them were E36 M3sauce so I replaced them for about $4. Switch was broken because PO didn't have drop stop and OFF tab coordinated. I "fixed" that:
Then I drilled and slotted a 6x6x1/8" plate to replace the missing table for vertical usage. Lightweight for sure, but it beats the death wheel for noise, stink, mess, and accuracy.
So I'm working on rad support design. Using crib blocks to hold C4 rad and fans in place while I check clearances and ponder the simplest solution:
I was thinking about going forward from front crossmember since it has good places to bolt to. Could attach forward ends to valance, and attach ducting to it. I could also make it with scraps I have on hand. Spent too much time pondering, moving, clamping, etc, before abandoning this idea for more traditional cross-car design. Will be simpler to build, and won't get damaged if I pull too far into a parking spot.
Using C4 mount cushions, need to make the seats that retain them. New saw coming in handy here. Split a piece of 1" square tube a little off center:
then cut those pieces off center to end up with a seat 1-3/8" wide, with one side 5/8" tall and the other side 3/8" tall.
hoping to have the rad support done today, then will work on the ducting this week.
Cool saw. Those can be really beat up, depending on how hard the PO ran it. Maybe check bolts for tightness and all the bearings and blade-guide blocks.
I had a similar one and it cut like crap. Needed a bunch of work to get going again.
In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
The machined surfaces all had light surface rust, so I hit them with some fine sandpaper followed by a wipe with acetone and then a rubdown with machine oil. It's got a little bit of bearing noise so I'll check them out as well. The blade has a wobbly spot in it that will snag the work piece if I don't back off.
Ugh, hot as balls in the garage all day, 8PM it's still 91 in there so I'm throwing in the towel. Will update tomorrow. Rad mount 75%.
I agree Patrick! I was cooking all afternoon in the garage working on the Cougar. Made a bit of progress but then got stopped by worn out 50+ year old Ford parts.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
A good blade helps quite a bit.
That and ensuring the wheels are straight and true, you may need to lightly run them through a lathe to fix them properly.
Made some solid progress on rad support this evening, got the C4 fans mounted and the complete assembly mocked up including how it's going to attach to the chassis. It came out pretty slick, just needs finish welding and paint.
I started by trimming most of the C4 duct off the front of the upper rad support, only kept the cushion seats and about 1" flat across the front, to which I'll attach new duct. Across the back is a row of bolts which secure the top of the fan assembly. Bolted fan to this top piece, and turned it upside down, then put the radiator in place to figure out how to tie the bottom together. I grabbed a length of crappy angle iron, 1.5"x1.5"x.125" and marked where it crashed with fan. Band saw and flap disc resolved crashes, so I clamped it up and tacked the lower cushion seats to the angle:
then marked and drilled lower fan bolt holes, and welded nuts to the angle. Again the red Solo cup of C4 fasteners provided the hardware:
here is the complete assembly. One of the reasons for using the C4 upper support is the sweet emissions control and tune-up decal:
Blocked up in car, as far back as it can go while still allowing service of lower rad hose and steering rack, plus clearance between fan and front bar:
and as low as I care to go, with the bottom 4" of core exposed to airflow:
I plan to front-feed with a duct entrance 24" wide x 4.5" tall, or about 1/4 of core area. The only rule of thumb I could find says air inlet should be minimum 1/6 of core area, so I'm good there.
and here's where my big brain shines. I used angle iron because it gives nice flat horizontal and vertical surfaces to which the chassis mounts can attach. With the rad and fan package in this position, I clamped a short scrap of 2x3 tubing to the suspension crossmember and to the rad support:
with a little marking / drilling / welding of nuts, the rad support will bolt in through existing holes, no doubt with more fasteners from the red Solo cup. as an added bonus, I can trim off the 3" of angle outboard of the lower cushion seats on each end. I love it when a plan comes together!
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Instead of trimming off the support extensions, I would install a hefty but slightly deformable horizontal sheet. Double purpose, protection and air flow direction.
Hot as balls again tonight, didn't do a ton but made some progress. Cut a 5" length of 2x3x14ga tubing (leftover from engine crossmember), then cut it lengthwise on opposite corners to make a LH and a RH part. Clamped in place and removed crib blocks:
scribed existing holes, then disassembled it all for drilling, cleaning, and welding. 3 easy-access bolts across the bottom:
and the fans lift right out with the top shroud still attached, with no interference from rad hoses in their planned orientation:
Rad stays in place, so fans are removable without opening the cooling system:
Not shown here, but the rad is also removable without removing the fans. Simply remove 4 bolts along top of fan assembly, remove top shroud, and the rad lifts right out with the fans still in place. Because engineering is more than making it fast or making it fit. It's gotta be serviceable too.
and here's the bare rad support still in place, giving a better view of how it attaches to the suspension crossmember:
I'm going to get up early tomorrow to drill, clean, and weld the pieces together.
Well done
5AM, both dogs want to be let out. Both go outside and puke. WTF did they get into last night? Slept through alarm, went outside at 9:15AM and the heat+humidity was too much. berkeley it, I'll work on them later. For now, I'm staying inside!
Angry: "probably 2021 likely, berkeley it sense of urgency is gone, a little heat is too much"
In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :
I'm proud of you, most old guys don't know how to screenshot
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
That's a nice breeze though, what are you complaining about? 
Thursday: didn't do E36 M3
Friday: shop-vac'd several gallons of rain water out of my basement carpet, set up fans and dehumidifier. At least I got to listen to my buddy James' race Anybody watching GT4 America? He's the Am in the Pro-Am team. His Pro is Bill Auberlen. And they're fast. James started 18th (quali was horse-berkeleyed by the weather so they used practice times to set the grid), and pitted for the driver change 6th overall and 1st in class. Auberlen ran down the 5 cars in front of them and brought it home 1st overall. It's a good series, and it's streamed live at https://www.gt4-america.com/watch-live James will take the green flag in Sunday's race at 11:30AM Eastern.
Saturday: yesterday's rain broke the heat, was 70 and sunny at 9AM. So I went back to bed. Then got up, drove an hour to the nearest Waffle House with AK2, crushed the All-Star (scrambled well, bacon chewy, covered chunked peppered, raisin), got home about 1:30PM, fell asleep til about 4.
Then got up and got to work. Listened to race #2 of the weekend (Bill started P2, won the drag race to turn 1 and led at the driver change. James slowed down the last several laps of his stint (I haven't yet heard why), and got passed on the outside of turn 1 on the final lap, brought it home 2nd overall and 2nd in class). Marked and drilled a couple holes, bolted and clamped rad support together in car, and tacked / burned nuts in place:
As planned, this means only one tool is required for rad support R&R, and all four fasteners are accessible from front and center. No holding a wrench on the blind side, no moving around to reach everything. Simple. Here's the current front view:
and here's the top view:
It's mostly just tacked, only a few full beads at this point. Popped my breaker and decided to bolt it back in and call it a night. I'll finish welds tomorrow AM. Also gonna trim off some dead weight, maybe add some speed holes, and hit it with some cheap black spray paint.
It's not exactly pr0n, but I'm improving:
With the rad support fully welded, I installed the rad and fans and fired up the CAD:
radiator core is about 24" wide by about 18" tall, with the bottom 4" hanging in the air stream below the front valance (which at its lowest point is about 12" above ground). here's a view from below:
Horizontal distance from valance to core is 5-1/2" at the ends and 7" in the center, and is the full 24" width. At the top, there's 2" from the duct to the core. And again, nearly 25% of the core is exposed to airflow below valance. I think it'll cool just fine.
Especially for a minute at a time!
Ok, next big task is to locate and attach driver's seat. Once that's done, I can locate the shifter and check cable lengths, or maybe it's actually "put the trans ends of the cables where I need them and see where the shifter base falls relative to driver's seat." Either way, it's gotta get done so let's get to it.
Corvair buckets attach with studs and nuts on inboard track, and bolts into weld nuts on outboard track. C4 seats (using another chunk of that buffalo!) are narrower than, and have longer tracks than, the Corvair seats. This means that, best case, only one attachment point lines up. Naturally, with the C4 seat centered on the Corvair steering wheel, zero points lined up. Time to make sparks!
death wheel made quick work of opening up forward inboard track mount, which allows me to attach to the stud and clamp down via fender washer and nut. Now I could see how far off the rear mounts would be, and form a plan of attack.
(ignore that square tube for now)
FWIW, I chose to align the forward track mounts with the Corvair points because: (1) C4 floor is flat, Corvair floor is higher in front; (2) C4 floor is closer to cowl height than Corvair, so C4 seat bottoms are too low in Corvair; and (3) C4 tracks allow the seat to move really far forward as is. No reason to bias it even farther forward.
ok, about that 1" square tube. I cut and drilled it to sit on the flat floor areas and attach to the rear inboard stud:
and bolt down to the outboard point. These points are straight cross-car, so the extensions will be the same 1-13/16" for both C4 mounts. I salvaged a chunk of 2x3 tubing leftover from engine crossmember:
and laid out the extensions:
they are 2" wide x 2-3/4" long, and tapered the height from 1" (where they'll attach to the square tube) to 3/8" beyond the bolt hole. The height gives them bending stiffness, so they don't flex vertically. I drilled the bolt holes before cutting. Here it is, tacked together and bolted in place:
after welding, it will be plenty strong and reasonably light. might get some speed holes someday, but I'm not burning time on that right now.
Check out the roomy cockpit, made possible by using the Audi transaxle:
that's a 48" drywall T-square for scale. Seat is all the way back. There's 42" from seat back to brake pedal, and about 16" from seat back to steering wheel rim. Shifter is a little too far forward here:
but that means I've got some flexibility in routing the cables. I'm going to elevate the shifter base about 6", currently pondering a "center console" which will really just be an air duct from base of windshield to engine compartment. Some of the air will feed the engine, and the rest will blow through to help with heat rejection out the back.
Loving the fab work.
I saw a corvair wagon for sale in the last few days, and thought of you! Would love to have this same setup in a wagon.
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