Ahhhhh flashbacks!
you’ll never have the first corvair with c5 rear suspension, but you’re likely to have the first one that runs.
Ahhhhh flashbacks!
you’ll never have the first corvair with c5 rear suspension, but you’re likely to have the first one that runs.
In reply to Patrick :
I appreciate that vote of confidence! ;-)
Is there any way to keep that rear cross member on until after you get it all stitched together? Or is it going to foul on the rest of the Corvair. A significant part of me likes how that combined with the cradle keeps everything where it needs to be. As an aside, this is the PERFECT application for one of those rolling transmission/ATV jacks. If it weren't for distance, I'd loan you mine.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Hmmm. This is why we think twice before wrenching once. I hadn’t even thought of leaving it attached because it is pretty heavy, but now I’m thinking twice.
Edit: found a motorcycle jack on CL, picking it up at 3PM today.
Also, when you do something like this:
You’ll be glad you were wearing this:
Still down with PPE?
Yeah you know me!
Aaah.... quality harbor freight cut off wheels!
(All I use too. 
)
In reply to Saron81 :
Yeah, the pilot is off-center on about 3 out of 10, so they bounce a little sometimes. But that one was because I twisted my wrist a little and side-loaded the wheel in the middle of a cut.
I don't buy cut-offs from HF anymore for a similar reason. I also wear a face shield. They're so much easier to deal with and protect more of you.
I use one of the lennox blades from lowes after a fiber wheel cut my ear with shrapnel. 15 bucks well spent
3M Cubitron abrasive wheels. Well worth the money.
@AngryCorvair, I love this build and my wife comments all the time about the guy in the pictures making the hand sign.
Got a ton of work done but no really photo-worthy accomplishments. I’ve been bouncing around a lot trim one task to another since there’s so much still to be done.
Pondered some things:
And pondered some other things:
Trimmed some things:
Bought a thing:
Unbolted some things (hint, everything in the pic below that could be unbolted is currently unbolted):
Fiddled around a bit and had an epiphany (more on this in a couple days):
And then, because I needed a little bit of joy, I pulled one of my favorite CL scores off the shelf. List price $849, I paid $300:
LT4 Hot Cam Kit from GMPP. With the included 1.6 roller rockers, lift is .525”, duration at .050” is 219 int and 228 exh. The LT1 was a good runner, but this cam (and the shorty headers I also got cheap) will really wake things up in the higher rpm range. With 3.75:1 ring and pinion in the Audi 6MT, I may have to buzz 6200-ish rpm in the autocross.
this weekend was a lot of prep work. I will have more to report as this week progresses. Think “C5 rear frame section finds a home”.
Inspired by the Corvair’s “horse collar” trans crossmember attachment to the unibody rails, I started sketching a couple ideas for making the C5 rear frame section a bolt-in. Here is my final “design”:
Then I reviewed it with another engineer and realized that this design puts all the vertical forces through eight 3/8” bolts in single shear. No bueno. Studying the load path a little more, and thinking about where I have to trim the Corvair rails to clear the UCA attachments, I realized that it will really be quite simple to react all the vertical forces directly into the same location where I’m removing the Corvair spring perch.
So, goodbye Corvair spring perch:
That took way longer than I expected. Tomorrow I’m getting a spot weld cutter; I hope it makes removing the other spring perch go a little faster.
I am seriously impressed with the clean and shiny bare steel underneath the removed spring perch. I would have expected a moisture trap rust failure there.
As someone who has dealt with a few spotwelds, I am not a fan of the spotweld cutters.
I buy good 1/8" bits to make a blind pilot hole
Then follow with a 5/16" bit that I resharpen with a flatter angle.
Then finish off with a hammer and well-abused wood chisel.
Keep meaning to pick up a piloted end mill that would fit in the 1/8" hole if I drill all the way through and then just weld up the small hole afterwards.
In reply to NOHOME :
Thank you for that post! I did not know piloted end mills were a thing. I will try the spot weld cutter, for science, but may go back to what I’ve been doing which is 1/8” pilot hole followed by 1/2” Dewalt drill bit with piloted tip. I may have 15-20 more to do, max.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
I said the same thing. Structural sections of the Corvair unibody are galvanized, but the floors and outer body sheet metal are not.
Everybody’s got a guy. You know the conversation: “oh, your dishwasher isn’t draining? Call my guy, he’s a genius with those things.” With as smart and skilled as this community is, I’m sure a lot of us are somebody’s guy. I am my neighbor’s guy. So tonight when he texted me “wife dropped her ring down the sink. You think it’s gettable?” well, that’s what I did after dinner. Got the ring, cleaned out the P trap, everybody’s a winner. Unfortunately, old PVC gets a little brittle, and I cracked the cap that pushes the compression ring into place. So that sink is out of commission until tomorrow after work.
Made a trip to The Future Hammer Store, got a spot weld cutter. God, what a piece of dogE36 M3. Went back to proven drilling method, combined with a little sawzalling, and got the RH spring perch removed.
My effort for the next couple evenings will be to get the C5 frame section trimmed down, raised into place, and measured / marked for a 2x3 cross-car tube which will tie the OE spring mount areas and the top of the C5 frame together.
I’ll probably make a junkyard run Saturday AM. Need to grab an Audi clutch MC and line from MC to slave, plus a few 5-series halfshafts to fiddle around with.
How is tomorrow night looking Patrick? Need help with anything? We've got plans Friday night and Saturday. Maybe I could swing by again this weekend too.
Like Wawazat, if you're around and working this weekend shoot me a text. No promises but I don't have any set plans.
In reply to wawazat :
tonight is still good. i'll be in the garage about 6:30. text me and i'll send you the address.
THANK YOU!
In reply to classicJackets :
AFAIK I'll be in the garage all day / night Saturday and Sunday, but that could change because wife and kids and Labor Day. Thanks!
When faced with a lot of spotwelds, especially in low-leverage positions, desperate times call for desperate measures
For those pesky under-car situations where you have to drill upwards
Pete
Sent you an email as I don’t have your digits. What are we working on and what tools can I bring?
Has anyone tried a carbide burr in a drill motor or die grinder for cutting out spot welds? Wanna try one tonight Patrick? Do you have compressed air supply available?
In reply to wawazat :
Works, but me not a fan. You can use an angle grinder also.
Keep thinking I need to make a laser-ablation based spotweld destroyer. Just hold it over the spotweld and set it to the thickness of the metal.
You'll need to log in to post.
