im ripping it all off

i realized i forgot critical anti-dive and anti-squat design principles in my suspension planning, so i will be ripping off ALL of my completed rear suspension and starting over. i have met a man who has resources up the wazoo, so i will be getting them rebuilt the right way, so that is a plus.

updates as they come....

im back

been back home visiting family for a week. got back to the shop today. good and bad day.

first off, bought the rest of the metal i need to finish the car. a piece of 1.5x3 tube for the top rails of the engine cradle to weld in to at the firewall. and a bunch a 1" 16ga pipe to go triangulation on the rear end of the car, as well as seat brackets.

i figured out how im gonna do the rear coilovers. i finally decided against pushrods on the back so i dont have a crazy firm ride. the pics show a mock up of how the rear susp will work.

at the very end of the day, i wanted to get the engine back under the chassis so i could see what kind of space i was working with for the fuel tank and also to make some engine mount templates. since i was alone, i lifted the back of the car (took the susp off so it was an empty shell) and propped it up a 4' section of metal so i could go over and get the engine. its on a little furniture roller and i rolled it over to the propped chassis. it BARELY tapped the chassis and that fell over, and for some reason the furniture roller broke in three pieces and the engine slammed to the floor. a dented oil cooler is all i can see right now. i didnt really see what happened so idk why everything broke.

pics were taken with my phone

mock up

got all my new parts in and took it in to the shop to mock it all up. the pics show a potential set up for the rear pushrods, and the seats and steering wheel in place. heres pics:

more new parts

got a bunch more parts in. these include:

seats
radiator
coilovers
steering wheel
weld in threaded bungs and tie rod ends
upper ball joints
wiring harness
some other little things

heres pics of a few of them:

one completed corner of suspension

Well after being at the shop all weekend, i have...(drumroll please....)...one corner of suspension done. thats three less than i was planning on having done. oh well. the left rear suspension is completely welded up and kind of assembled. its held on with tie rod ends and weld in threaded bungs from the unbuilt wishbones, buts its attached to the car! i moved it through its paces and it looks great. i still have to weld on the pushrod attachment, but the hard geometry part is done. its starting to look more and more like a car!

i ordered the front upper ball joints and they will be here tuesday. my coilovers should be coming late this week or early next week, so HOPEFULLY (no promises) the car will be sitting on its own feet in two weeks

here's pics

(the soda can demonstrates full bump [the car would be bottoming out] and the wood demonstrates normal ride height)







total fab time: i finally lost count. 55+ hours for sure

Suspension begins

well after looking online for four, five-foot sections of 1" pipe, i discovered it was gonna be $160.

i checked in to a local place, and they said it would be $8.32. so i doubled the order (for chassis reinforcements) and it ended up being $26 for 40ft. works for me.

so now i got more metal to continue work. first item of business was to weld in the triangular braces on the sides of the passenger compartment. to be honest, as these are just braces, the dimensions werent completely accurate to each side, but thats okay.

after that, i went in today to work on the suspension wishbones. the upper fronts are the simplest, so i started with those. i made up a jig out of wood so the dimensions would be accurate on each wishbone. i accounted for weld in threaded bungs and rod ends that will make up the ends of the wishbones.

here's pics from yesterday and today:





total fab time: 39.5 hours

Gauge Cluster

picked up this used cluster for $150.

quite a bit smaller than i thought...

cool nonetheless.

How much does it weigh?

i keep getting asked this.

i also get people saying "oh thats gonna be heavy" when i tell them im making it out of mild steel instead of some ultra low weight carbon fiber kevlar nonsense that they think it should be made out of.

well..maybe this pic helps:
weigh so far-191 lbs.
fab time so far-31.5 hours

(my shirts not tucked in...just small)

Welding

even with a crappy welder at the shop (still trying to find a better one) i was able to get out a few good looking welds. here are some of the better ones.

Milestone #1--a completed chassis

Well today was a big day for me. I spent another three hours at the shop. first item of business: welding and grinding down the faces of the firewall and the front bulkhead that the beam rails would be welded too.

next up i coped (or "fishmouthed") the ends of lower center rails that go through the firewall so they could be welded to the lower rear crossmember. this was a little tricky, and i got it wrong three times and and grind it down farther each time. i wasnt using the right tools, which would have helped.




once all of that was properly aligned, and the frame was aligned against a wall, i set the lower side rails (complete with unwelded crossmembers) on the ground against each subframe. the lower rails were tacked, then the crossmembers. next i positioned clams to hold the upper rails and dash crossmember up while i tacked it in place. all in all, after my three hours of work, this is what i have:

while it's still not 100% complete (i still need to add all the 1" pipe triangular bracing, and gusset plates), it is everything i could do with my initial shipment of metal. so everything that was once just a pallet of rough cut steel, is now a part of this chassis somewhere. next up is triangular bracing and suspension wishbones.

total fab time to date:
25 hours

-gecko

back on track.

got down to the shop today after work. i told myself as i got there that i wasnt going to leave until the compound angles were cut. after a little bit of tricky math and some creative thinking, i had two upper beam rails mounted on magnets on the frame.

i also re-blasted my gloss black cv axle and hub and sprayed it flat black. i got high temp semi gloss black on the header, and orange on the front hubs (the rear hubs will recieve then same treatment once i get the axles off).

i also got the frame in perfect alignment using a wall, and a stress line on the floor. i was very pleased to discover that every measurement on the car was within 1/8" of actual blueprints. everything was level and true. pretty amazing considering i built it on a shop floor with a tape measure and a square. i did a little happy dance. (no one was watching).

i cut the holes cut in the upper beams for the dashboard rail and called it a night.

i was a happy camper.

total fab time to date:
22 hours

i slowed down a little bit

so i was just killing it once i got the keys to the shop. well i've slowed down a little bit since last weekend. went to see the girl, and worked on CAD drawings of the suspension wishbones instead of manual labor.

got back to actual work today and cut and filed the holes for the lower crossmembers of the passenger compartment. four holes total were cut out of the two side beams that are the main rails on the lower sides of the pass. compartment.

next will be the compound cuts for the upper rails, and coping the ends of the engine cradle beams that stick out under where the seats will eventually sit.

i made one of the lower side rails too long by about 1/4" so that will be corrected as well.

total fab time to date:

18 hours

day eight

headed to the shop last night to blast and paint my hubs/spindles. spent about an hour down there cleaning them all up. i painted one gloss black and hated it, so that one will be reblasted and repainted.

thank you david lee

picked up a great deal from a guy on craigslist today.

all four hubs and spindles, plus two axles from a mazda miata. these are great because:

a) they are very compact
b)bolt right in to my differential
c) support double wishbone suspensions



schweet.

(they will be blasted and painted, dont worry)

day seven

i got the lower main rails cut and worked on cad drawings done of some other components. the main problem right now is the compound angle of the top rails. still working on that gem....

pics i took today:



total fab time to date:

15.5 hours

day six pictures