Thanks all.
Weld. Weld. Weld. 4 hours worth.
TIG welding in front of the main hoop is complete. Call that 60% of the TIG welding remaining. I'm probably about 25% done with what was left on the MIG welding.
Tonight I am going to have several hours. I think I will weld...
Bottom-pivot pedals present unique hazard in that a pebble in the wrong place can prevent the pedal from pedaling. Please consider this in your design.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
I will consider it. This brings up a reasonable point I have been thinking about. I'm not sure how much side panels/footpanel I need. It's not a firewall so I'm not sure it's required.
I had planned to put an enclsure around the pedal pivots though.
Porsche's use a pedal board:
Gaze with wonder upon Dozens of Inches of Adequate welds. There are some REAL NICE welds, and some that I would like a do over on, but the chassis has achieved that "Finish Welded" point where I will find 1/2" long missed welds over the next few build days.
*Above picture was taken before I was "done" so some welds are not yet complete.
The rear subframe is not 100% welded. I got it to where it is "stable" and will remove it from the chassis to finish on the table.
I added the reinforcement plates to the lower front bulkhead and I am very satisfied with how they turned out. I do have 2 small triangles I need to add to the rear chassis where the subframe attaches and one of the captive nuts got destroyed by some moron who was in a hurry when they were trying to make roller day happen.
Soon it will be time to decide do I paint the chassis and end up having to attach dozens of tabs for mounting things to a painted chassis, or do I reassemble the car and assume that I can do a quick break it down and paint the chassis after it is a running roller before the challenge? Who am I kidding.. You probably are getting unpainted Subaru Glory..
+4 HRS, +$1.29 for the plates added.
Have you, or can you weigh the chassis? That's just me being nosy because I like light things.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
275 lbs (Weight shown incudes 5lbs of rotisserie adapters). It's not "light" but it's a few lbs lighter then the MG chassis which was 285.
I wasn't expecting it to be much under 280lbs based on the estimated tubes. The main roll structure and NHRA required tubes are ~120lbs of that weight. I know some Locost chassis claim weights of ~150lbs so I'm somewhat dismayed at the heft but it does have what should be a W2W compliant SCCA/NASA cage.
In reply to nocones :
Well, you're about 60 pounds under mine, so you may think it's a little hefty but I think that's pretty svelte.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
And your chassis is 17lbs lighter than mine...Brad is a fatty
Part of me ( the optimistic/stupid part) would like to build another car without the Challenge budget constraint to see how light I could get it utilizing 16 gauge and 0.090 tubing for the chassis and cage respectively. I was looking at a couple of GT3 cars earlier this summer and they were 17-1800 pounds with driver, I believe.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
Nothing in my cage is thicker than .083
It's the production framerail that did me in. All yous starting from a production body to skin the chassis made the correct weight decision.
In reply to gumby :
But your body will make that up and more compared to my all steel Corolla shell. 90% of my chassis is 0.125 wall, even the tubes supporting the sheet metal floor.
Don't paint it yet. It will slow you down every time you need to attach something, and it will tempt you to drill/tap or rivet right to your frame.
but dang that looks good.
In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :
You're right. I've painted mine and I'm already seeing areas where I need to weld little bits and I may not even be able to get the disc grinder in to clean off the paint. I should have waited.
Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:Don't paint it yet. It will slow you down every time you need to attach something, and it will temp you to drill/tap or rivet right to your frame.
but dang that looks good.
x2 on all this. I forgot to weigh in on paint. Chassis paint is a big mental step(analysis paralysis) as well as a time suck. We already know LMP360 is coming back apart post 2021 Challenge, I wouldn't cross the paint bridge till then.
Weld thru primer? Might be a good option, probably not very budget friendly. Steel It gets good reviews by the offraod guys and is weld through.
2nd Steel it.
EDIT: NOT budget friendly though.
I tend to forget this car is for the Challenge. This is full on race to me and I love it.
Is Steel it better/different than cold galvanizing compound? I've decided spraying zinc on things I'm going to weld isn't a good idea and doesn't even adhere very well.
In reply to Shavarsh :
Supposedly its a "stainless" spray.
You have convinced me no paint is the answer.
Last nights adventure was to weld in the headrests assemblies:
And fabricate the steel panels ($7.94) that go on the bottom of the chassis offset. These will get plug welded from the outside on the long sides then seam welded on the short sides and some stich welds from the inside of the chassis.
These panels are steel for 2 reasons:
1) Because of the seat design there was not space to put diagonals through this area so a welded piece of 18ga should act like a shear panel and do the triangulation.
2) The low point of the car is basically your Hootus. I want more then .063 aluminum protecting it from debris in case of an off.
Also in other news I went through my accounting spreadsheet and found several things I had counted twice and I had over credited myself on the sell back of the Brighton by a few dollars. I'll get specific in the 300 HR update (@289 hrs today) but total spend so far is $823.XX.
There is a chance.. a small one... That this year I am <$1000 depending on how much I use money to overcome the time constraints. Things like the Fuel system, door latches, body mounting are all easy to save HOURS of fabrication by using $$ and that probably is more important now so I won't be surprised if I'm carrying $250-300 of Laziness that I will be able to Fabricate back off the car in 2022.
+1.5 hours, +$7.94.
nocones said:1) Because of the seat design there was not space to put diagonals through this area so a welded piece of 18ga should act like a shear panel and do the triangulation.
2) The low point of the car is basically your Hootus. I want more then .063 aluminum protecting it from debris in case of an off.
Those points were one of the big takeaways for me, from reading Kurt Bilinski's Kimini/Midlana builds: Don't under build your floor plates.
Floor panels are welded in. They are basically bongo drums now.
I also addressed this little corner of the chassis with a tiny piece of scrap.
I put an order in for Rivets from McMaster Carr so once those arive I will install the aluminum floors.
I got the harnesses out and mocked them up.
Do you think this mount is NHRA approved?
Mounts are going to be short sections of tube welded across the 1" and then with some plate reinforcement. I'm basically using the harnesses as "short" as possible. I will have to look and see if there are shorter formula car style harnesses but these are the cheapest RCI cam locks. I think I prefer the G-Force harnesses in the MG but they where substantially more expensive.
Anti sub mounts are done. I also got the concept down for the lap belts. The anti subs are Two plates separated by 3/8" with a tube through them. All mounts will be single shear, but the hardware is 1/2" which each one can handle like 45Gs of load.
I'm not sure why but for some reason these where a struggle. I knew what I wanted to do but for some reason fabrication just fought me the whole way. I'm talking little errors like welding a tube in and then despite checking it repeatedly before finding it was out of square, drilling holes in two plates and having them off by .050 and stuff like that. I fought through but overall it was a disappointingly unproductive weekend.
I'm wondering if it's just stress and trying to rush. Work in the next few weeks is going to be 1 of 2 types. Some parts are temporary and I just need to get it done, for these I need to remember to move forward and I can fix less then perfect later. But for parts that are staying on the car forever I need to remember doing it right 1 time takes less time then redoing it. I definitely need to know before I start on a part which situation I'm in.
+3.5 hrs, $3.15 for metal for anti subs
nocones said:
I'm not sure why but for some reason these where a struggle. I knew what I wanted to do but for some reason fabrication just fought me the whole way. I'm talking little errors like welding a tube in and then despite checking it repeatedly before finding it was out of square, drilling holes in two plates and having them off by .050 and stuff like that.
If you think it's frustrating with your skill set you ought to try it with a lesser set....like mine ! Great work and I look forward to seeing the car one day.
nocones said:Anti sub mounts are done. I also got the concept down for the lap belts. The anti subs are Two plates separated by 3/8" with a tube through them. All mounts will be single shear, but the hardware is 1/2" which each one can handle like 45Gs of load.
I am only butting in because you mentioned being in a rush and it might end up as a safety issue. Are those just setup bolts or are they the final bolts? They seem to be only grabbing about a jam nut's worth of threads.
Awesome build and a perfect use of a Subaru 360.
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