That panel work in the 914, wow!
That panel work in the 914, wow!
Jesus. Talk about power to weight ratio.
I get a chubby when people cut up German cars and graft other breeds into them.
The Vette rear suspension is assembled on a set of factory frame sections and we're all set to start measuring. This as the starting point to see where the Benz needs to be clearanced / where I'll have to bridge inward. These frame sections won't be used, they're just to determine the upper A-arm and top shock mount locations. Those positions will be duplicated on whatever gets grafted into the Benz chassis. It won't be long before the surgery begins!
In reply to tygaboy :
That looks awesome, and I never would have thought to mock it up like that.
I've been focused on the 914 for the past little while but RacerBenz is now back on the front burner! Boring stuff in this post but:
- the Red Barn is tidied up and the Benz will be rolling in soon
- the roll cage tubing is here. 1.75" .095 wall DOM is currently $4.00/ft, at least through my supplier. Ouch.
Today, it'll be remove all the stock rear suspension and subframe. Once that's out of the way, the C5 suspension grafting begins. Hope to have it rolling on GM parts next week. Pics as the fun occurs.
Well, that didn't take long. I'm always amazed when I'm doing the disassembly: Remove four subframe bolts and the shock mounts and out it falls. Thank you, Engineers! Now, could you please do something about making it that easy to customize stuff and put it back in? 
Glad to see this pop back up.
tygaboy said:mdshaw said:I like adding lightness. Wonder how light can it get? Does it run? Guessing no.
Me too, on the lightness. I'm hoping it lands, track ready, under 3000 lbs. It did run and drive. Not no mo' tho! The drive train is out and gone, replacement engine and trans still being noodled on. It'll be a manual, that's all that has been nailed down at this point.
In keeping with the lightness comment, I pulled a splash mold from the sunroof and made a quick carbon fiber filler panel.
Sorry you can't use carbon Fiber in Champ car. I'm reasonably sure it's not allowed in LeMons either.
Initial eyeballing suggests this may actually work. Now all I need to do is lower the body about 9.5" and "connect the dots". I mean, how hard can that really be? 
In reply to frenchyd :
Re: the carbon filler panel. No worries, the target series is Lucky Dog, not Lemons. And that panel is pretty quick and dirty so I may give one a go in al-u-MIN-i-um.
I love it when a plan comes together! CL500 to C5 Corvette comparo of overall width at the tires is that they are essentially the same. I knew that going in but seeing it verified in the flesh / in the car is satisfying. Granted, the subframe isn't exactly centered but I'm calling today "so far, so good".
Overused and likely expected, but still fitting: "We have clearance, Clarence." Just a first cut to get the trunk floor and factory cradle support cross member out of the way. Hard to tell from the pic but I'll need to remove sections of the Benz frame rails to make room for the 'Vette's upper A-arm mounts. But the rest of the 'Vette frame section looks like it'll fit nicely inside the Benz rails.
This gives a bit better perspective. The car is about 9.5" high, relative to the 'Vette components. The 'Vette frame rails will also be shorter than pictured as I need to tidy up the cuts on both ends so I think I can get away with removing a fairly small section of the Benz.
Connecting the rear of each rail should be pretty straight forward as all the parts that need to be joined are parallel. At the front, the 'Vette frame section ends start to turn down and outward. I think I can tune those cuts and get things aimed at what turns out is a very similar shaped area in the Benz frame. Separated at birth?? 
Anyway, my awesome technical rendering shows how I currently think things may get stitched together in the horizontal plane.
Lawd!
A bit of cut-off wheel and Sawzall and we're close. The 'Vette suspension is (nearly) sitting where it needs to be. Next is to set the chassis at the desired ride height and work out the exact X, Y and Z position the rails/cradle need to be. I ended up eye balling the target fore/aft position and swapped in the spare cradle so I wouldn't have to deal with all the suspension and brake components. Way easier to get this assembly in and out for all the "check fit, remove, cut, re-fit, check again, cut again, repeat again..." process. I have a bit more trimming but in all, it was a productive day.
Today I opted to focus on the cage. Start with template making, do a little CAD, cut the parts on the plasma table, fiddle with fitting/tacking in the car then finish weld on the bench. A few hours later and both the main hoop landing pads are done.
Fitting
Bench welding complete
Assembly complete, ready for main hoop fab and fit. These will be temporarily tacked in place so they can be removed and the cage lowered for final welding of the areas that can't be accessed with the cage in it's final location. But you knew that, didn't you? 
Other side
Oh, and before I forget: For all you other folks who're building CL 500 race cars, I'm happy to share all the CAD files I create for this build...
tygaboy said:
I was really hoping this was the starting point for some sort of wacky Segway build...
Main hoop trimmed for final fit, halo almost there. Will likely replace the 2x4 with some metal a-pillar bars.
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