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By the way, I think if you made a modification, you could get your diy dimple die to work better. I think the issue is the pipe is too thin, and doesn't match the angle on the socket. Real dimple dies are machined to match. If you got a thicker tube as the receiving end of the die, and ground a bevel or chamfer to more closely match the socket, I bet it would work. See my chicken scratch paint sketch for reference. If you had access to a lathe, this would be even easier to make. I need a lathe. Until then I have a set of 4 dies from Trick tools that I like a lot.
I'll see if i can get a hold of some .120 wall and test your theory. A lathe would be stellar but it's a bit out of my price range at the moment .
Installed the rear X in my car today. I snapped yet another pinion gear on my notching drill. I welded it back together and it snapped below the weld a few notches later. I don't think I post flowed it enough and it become brittle.
I start out with friendship bracelet string to get my notching angles spot on.
Some close ups from today's spotlight
*Inserts stereotypical leaves in the driveway fall picture
Now that the rear X is in place it can be gusseted. After my first go around with gussets I decided I needed a better way to fold them around the radius of the tube. About 15 minutes of looting through my scrap pile I came up with this.
It's rather simple. Just some cinder blocks sandwiched between the garage door frame and a scissor jack to compress the "die".
I was pretty sure it was a galvanized piece of tubing which was why it welded so terribly. I stuck a magnet to it a short while later and it turned out to be aluminum. I'm pretty surprised it actually held.
It worked pretty well once you got past the initial bend.
And ended up with this. I still have to weld it but I've got to refill the mig bottle. And I've got another job tomorrow.
I also finished up a customer's tube front for his s13 coupe over the weekend.
Goodies arrived today. Time to test fit for the tunnel.
Edit: The initial test fit was eye opening. The seat bases sit wider than stock but I didn't think they would be this wide. No big deal, just have to change the tunnel around a bit. It won't be as obtrusive into the cabin now that's for sure.
And now for the dessert. I've got about 7 inches of head clearance with the seat on the floor. Assuming I halve that I'll still have plenty of room with and without a helmet.
Last edited by Teddy-2000RS; 11-08-2016 at 03:13 PM.
Woohoo!! Awesome updates!! Keep it up man! This car is going to be S.O.L.I.D.!!
That's the plan!
Originally Posted by Blackj98
this build has my full support
Thank ya sir !
Originally Posted by FlatBlack
Love the poorman's press/brake!
Haha it certainly gets the job done.
Now that I knew the relative location of where my seat brackets will land it was time to prepare for the tunnel.
Once up in the air I could move around comfortably inside. I cleaned up the remains of the original tunnel.
The area where my tubes were to join the body was on the small side to be a structural member. After a bit of thinking I came up with this.
A torque box of sorts. It distributes the load of the tunnel tubes across a much larger surface area and ties into the rear seat cross member that goes from rocker to rocker.
Then I dropped the tubes into place.
On top of seat mounts, I'll be able to integrate a driveshaft loop and have a solid foundation for the new floor and sheet metal tunnel.
Now that the tunnel tubes were in place I could start the seat mounts. I opted for a roughly 10 degree lay back which was where I set all my seats according to my angle finder. I ditched my idea for a one piece mount after seeing that the mounting locations on the seat don't sit on the same plane.
I added a seat tube below the rockers side of the seat to bridge the gap.
There's still about an inch gap between the seat and main hoop X in the event that it ever collapsed and deflected towards me.
I've also got about 8 inches between my head and the nearest cage tube. If I hit my head on a roof tube I'll be dead already from my neck stretching that far.
And the second seat is in. Alot less of a pain this time around being that I only had to mirror the driver side. It's definitely not a one person job trying to level and position the seat correctly.
I just spent a solid 45 minutes at work doing a speed view of this build. The words AWESOME and WOW were going through my head a lot of times. I have a good friend that I've helped build some circle track cars, as well as having a background in machining and some fabrication, and you sir have some natural talent, a ton of dedication, and a great creative mind. I really enjoyed, as others said, The improvement in your weld quality from beginning to end. Stay on it I want to see this thing done!
I didn't notice if it were said or not during my speed read and mostly picture viewing, but I hope you are going to school for something related to this.
I just spent a solid 45 minutes at work doing a speed view of this build. The words AWESOME and WOW were going through my head a lot of times. I have a good friend that I've helped build some circle track cars, as well as having a background in machining and some fabrication, and you sir have some natural talent, a ton of dedication, and a great creative mind. I really enjoyed, as others said, The improvement in your weld quality from beginning to end. Stay on it I want to see this thing done!
I didn't notice if it were said or not during my speed read and mostly picture viewing, but I hope you are going to school for something related to this.
I appreciate the kind words! I'm currently majoring in High performance motorsports at the University of northwestern Ohio. I graduate in May If you know of shops hiring!
This thread should be a good enough resume/email to some local shops...
Feel free to show them my thread!
Originally Posted by doktor b
finals week is almost over.
let's get an update!
Ask and ye shall receive
I've been fairly busy with the car. Small quirks with my front subframe were starting to annoy me, so the only logical thing to do was start anew. Tinkering with designs I came to the conclusion that the benefits of a dry sump setup weren't worth the added weight and cost for what I intend to do with car. For better weight distribution and easier clearance for the rear sump pan I moved the engine back another four inches.
With the engine back the steering rack could stay in line with where the stock mounts would have been. Drop knuckles will be in the near future to correct any potential bumpsteer.
I boxed the control arm mounts to the engine mounts and back to main potion of the subframe. This greatly improved the rigidity of the LCA mount as whole. Taking advice on some my MIG welds, I played with techniques to gain some aesthetic appeal.
The fitment is spot on. No issues with control arm binding or alignment issues. Hopefully the added four inches of engine shift towards the middle of the car pays off when the car finally hits the scales.
And since I can't leave anything alone. Scored this for $20 bill. Stay tuned
I hope you take this criticism as constructive. Your welds are getting much better, but you're still undercutting pretty badly in some spots. Push more rod into the puddle. Work on you fit-ups more so you don't have to fill such big gaps. Use a flapper wheel instead of a rockwheel and grind with the direction of the tube instead of across it.
10-26-2016, 08:32 PM
Time... 
