I called this the “Starship Enterprise”. Look carefully and you will see it too.
This is the jig that allows the body to be modified off the car and still fit the chassis. The jig is true to all the critical frame measurements and allows me some freedom in the shop with the body wheeled out.
In reply to egoman :
My fixture welds are *always* better than my workpiece welds!
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to egoman :
My fixture welds are *always* better than my workpiece welds!
YEP!
Good lord I hate doing door bars. Lots of picky fitting and tight confines. But it has to be done and it has to be done right.
What's the plan under the hood?
MadScientistMatt said:What's the plan under the hood?
Just ordered the cylinder heads today. 410 Windsor with AFR 220 renegade heads and a TFS lower intake with a custom top. Haven't decided on eagle or scat yet?
I don't have anything against LS swaps, but I'm glad to see this one is going with a Ford motor.
I love doing roll cages as I have stated before. I also stated that I prefer tube chassied cars as they are easier to work on. This is kind of a hybrid so we will have to see?
That looks like an appropriate way to make a diagonal joint to me. It may not be equally strong in all directions, but I suspect it's stronger in the direction of the uncut bar than four pie cut tubes without giving up anything significant in the cut direction.
Just a couple of diagonals stretching from the cage down to the side intrusion bars. We also ran the diagonal from the driver’s side cage node to the passenger side rear rail.
There are welders and there are welders. 30 years is a long time for a welder to sit in a damp garage with no heat and 100 percent humidity in the spring. I said once that the welder would have been better off under a tarp in my driveway. Borrowing the welder from the union hall for the weekend made me appreciate how good new equipment is.
I honestly wasn’t even supposed to work on the car today. This was all accomplished because the wife wasn’t ready to go when she said we were going. I can honestly rock and roll when working and the progress sometimes even surprises me. By the way we still made it into town to do whatever she wanted to do. Time passed made me forget what the mission was, but I am sure we accomplished it?
egoman said:
I offered to patch up the deck of my neighbor's Gravely walk behind after I watched him dodging shrapnel. "We'll just grind some paint off and patch a few spots" turned into a whole day affair. But at least I got a bottle of bourbon out of it.
In reply to _dave :
I had a local machine shop owner come over to move a wheelless semi trailer body. Our standard joke is to laugh at the people who have a 15 minute job to do. When I talked to him I told him I had a 15 minute job that shouldn't take more than an hour. Laughter ensued, LOL!
This post has a lot in it. I bought a truck for the powertrain and to use as a dummy. I also finally pulled the trigger on a Harbor Freight welder just to see if you could build a car with one.
I got a roller motor 351 with an OD transmission and assorted parts to use for mockup. I have the thank my buddy Sheldon Finkel for this find and the sprint car races for getting me close to the Harbor Freight.
Lots of pictures of the first welding project, which for everyone is the cart for the machine. It’s been a good machine so far. As much as I think they are hacks, the guys from B is for Build are who sold me on this machine.
Well just sitting here at home. Took the day off as the temp of 109 is waay out of our normal for this time of year. Plus the shop vans air conditioner barely keeps it cold in 70 degree weather. I figured that I'm a few years late with suggestions on the bender. Having bent some tubing over the years as a union electrician. I would say the base you made of wood then rollers is to short. With the benders we used it was normally 2' long to hold the pipe. I'm going to say it looks like you did manage to get it to bend after some trial and error. I like the watts link on the rear end looks like it can be adjusted for what ever it needs. I have the panhard bar on my car and it kicks the rearend over to one side in it's range of motion. So what you have done is what I was looking to do as well. I do have one question on the ride height. Is that determined without the drivers weight in the car? Being that it's set up at 5" to the frame bottom. Was there any added height for the bottom plating or is it being cut and fit in to be flush with the bottom of the frame? Been looking at finding a way to modernize the suspension of my 72 fiat spider. I like the corvette parts you have but don't think I need that much braking power. Don't need to see the dentures smash through the front window on the first emergency stop. Hope you don't mined if I borrow a few of your tricks and measurements for the front end. I might just see it I can just use the control arms and make them work with the front fiat spindle. Missed if you were going manual or staying with a slush box either way ( manual preferred ) it's going to be sweet.
In reply to brad131a4 (Forum Supporter) :
I actually have a hosfeld bender that is as good as it gets for tubing. UMMM, I just didn't use it?
The idea of using the cheap tools actually costs me money as I already own the good ones. Just stubbornly want to see if I can make them work well enough.
A pan-hard bar is just the easy button, the watts linkage is always the right but more complex solution.
Initially I will set the car up without the driver and then adjust for that fat bastard when competing. The floors are completely flat and if hitting a speed bump with enough velocity will allow me to slide straight across, LOL.
I have several detailed drawings of the Corvette suspension specs that I will PM you when you start or need them for your project. My car will also be a little heavier than a X-19 so the brake choices are hopefully adequate.
I am an old man with burnt out knees from my still unbroken habit of riding motocross bikes. SOOOO Auto it is. I am starting with the E40D and later will switch to the 4R70W for an immediate saving of over 100lbs.
By the way I am also a UA Steamfitter, Plumber and Sprinkler-fitter. I was also in at the ground level of the CSA rigging course that is starting to become the industry standard.
Just doing the front bars shouldn’t be that hard but I am kind of picky about straight so it always takes longer than it should. I am also trimming the fender wells, and because of what I am doing going forward that has to be done quite accurately.
In a previous post I talked about how precisely that the inner fenders had to be cut. The reason for that should be obvious right now. They are remaining and will be tied to the inner panel being built. This would have been a great time for a laser to guide me along.
Oh and I did some, body surgery while I was in there today. If it looks painful you can rest assured it bloody well was! OUCH. Remember kids keep both hands on the grinder.
Used that as a lesson for the kids the Monday after I did it. They thought it looked painful too!
Oh damn, I bet that finger throbbed!
You do know that they have specific tools to trim your nails with ? Right.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Just about right away!!
In reply to brad131a4 (Forum Supporter) :
Do tell what could work better than that???
If you have been following along you may have caught on that this build is behind the calendar.
We are about 1-1/2 years back as of right now. My idea is that there is always material even as the winter months basically shut me down. I would work in the cold no problem but my garage has more holes in it than Harrys barn.
Just to give you an idea of what to expect I have only posted material for you in the spring summer and fall months when I have actually added to the "bank" of stories. What that means is every post you see now has another coming down the road.
Another thing is these posts are 1 days work. That is why sometimes you will see a project that looks like it should go with the prior one but I didn't finish it in one day.
The extended winters here in Canada allow me to play catchup for those following.
I hope to be able to turn the key with you guys watching in real time!
Some days you just need to help a friend out. It also helps to work on something other than the car.
My riding buddy and good friend Chris Ryan needed some help and that’s what I do.
Just a mounting system for a wet kit tank for his truck. No splainin for these pics!
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