D91-92: Floor

I know I haven't been posting much recently, but training has been taking over my time. I've also been working on a new bike rack for my daily driver. Maybe I can post on that later.

Here's a quick update on the the last couple days of work. I've been collecting 16 awg sheet for a while now every time I go to the yard for scrap. I miscalculated a little and ended up with enough for 3/4 of a floor. I know it's likely overkill, but I'll feel comfortable knowing nothing is going to pop through while driving. Plus, if you are going to add extra weight, might as well be as low as possible. I've fully welded one side, and will weld 1" sections on the top side as well. I'm still trying to figure out how to best eliminate the "bong".

With the frame upside down, I've taken the opportunity to continue finish welding the frame. It always surprises me how much time it takes to finish weld everything.

On a random note, I found out that a guy I work with used to run a fiberglass shop in another life and offered to help whenever I get to the body work.

D88-90: Firewall v2 + Unpowered Brakes

I haven't had a chance to post from the last few days in the garage, so here's a quick update. I've wanted to redo the upper firewall for the driver side since the first one went in. Here is my second go around. I think it turned out much cleaner. I also moved the mount for the steering shaft up a little bit to simplify the final weld and move the steering u-joint away from the engine mount.

After removing the brake booster, the master cylinder sat a little close to the firewall. I build a "shim" to move it out by about 3/8".

Here is the new firewall with everything attached. I'm so much happier with the way this version turned out.

With the brake booster removed, I had to shorten the push rod from the pedal to the master cylinder. Here is the shortened version.

Below is the brake pedal with the new push rod installed. Now I just need to figure out how to make sure that the brake pedal doesn't swing back and the push rod come out. This was all held in place by brake booster before. Oh, and I hope that I don't need that booster. Ha.

D87: Steering Column + Mount

Today I spent some time working on my new steering column. I wasn't thrilled with the first attempt, and kept thinking it was too weak. The drilled out 3/4" tube seemed too thin.

Here is my second attempt. I cut the end off the donor column which happened to be .47" on the inside which is close to the size needed for a 1/2"-20 thread. I threaded the end of a 3" grade 8 1/2"-20 bolt into this end. The smooth end would slide nicely into the 3/4"x.120 DOM that I'm using for the column. The smooth end had a little bit of slop, so I used a piece of paper to ship the bolt to keep everything tight and straight for welding.
Below are the two pieces assembled and then welded and ground. With both pieces .120 wall, and the joint being supported by a 1/2 bolt, I feel MUCH better about the strength of this design. I also plan on drilling a couple of holes on either side of the weld and then welding them up. I'm hoping this will add some torsional strength by transferring some of the load onto the bolt.
With the new column together, I need to check the clearance with the engine mounts. I got the engine back in and THANKFULLY everything fit just fine. It's definitely close, but I don't think the engine is going to shift side to side. In theory it'll more rotate which shouldn't interfere with the steering linkage.

Knowing the new column would fit around the engine mounts, it was time to get the drivers end mount built. I'm using a 3/4" steering shaft heim joint to attach the column to the mount. Below is the mounting hole for that heim. I cut a 1" hole in the 2"x1" tubing and used some of the 1" DOM from the a-arms inside.

I plan on adding at least one more piece to reinforce the mount.

I also played around with placement of the turn signals and ignition switch. I haven't settled on anything that I like yet.

D85-86: Frame Supports & Ride the Rockies

It's been a while since I've posted, mostly because it's been a while since I've worked on the car. Partly the weather and partly because I got into Ride the Rockies.

Ride the Rockies is a Colorado bike (bicycle) ride through the Rocky Mountains. The route changes every year, but this year it's 6 days, 442 miles, from Gunnison, CO to Ft. Collins, CO. What does this have to do with building a locost? Well, riding 442 miles takes some serious training which means I have and will be spending an increasingly greater amount of my free time on my bike instead of in the garage. I still plan on continuing the build, but it'll likely be at a slower pace than usual.

This weekend, I found myself motivated to get this frame finished. I've past my one year anniversary and I'm still working on the frame. I know everyone says it takes the majority of the build time, but I had NO idea it would take this long. With a few free hours I got almost all of the remainder frame supports cut and tacked into place. The two picks are the rear bulkhead behind the seats and the side of the frame (both sides are finished).

D83-84: Upper A-Arm Mounts

I got a little time tonight and a last weekend in the garage working on the upper a-arm mounts and here is (hopefully) the final product.

I replaced the rear vertical tube with 1 1/2" square tube. This should allow for a stronger support of the upper mount. I'm mounting the upper a-arm to a piece of 3/4" DOM (.120 wall) tubing. This mount allows me to use a 1/2" bolt.

The front mount is 3/4" DOM through a piece of 1"x2" tubing. I tried to align the mount so that the tubing was horizontal, but more importantly that the mount is 9" above the lower control arm. I'm still trying to figure out how to add sufficient support to this mount.

Here is the finished product with the upper a-arm "installed". One thing I like about this design is there is plenty of space to fit a coilover shock and spring.

The last part of the front suspension is modifying the driver side steering rod end. Then it is on to final welding the frame and building the cage.

D82: Front Suspension Rebuild #4 D2

I built new mounts for the upper a-arms. I've got the mounting bolts vertical now instead of horizontal. I wanted to try this out and see if it would work better than the old design.

With the new suspension design, I needed to move the steering arm from mounting on the bottom of the spindle to the top of the mount. This required a new steering arm. I've used 1/2" rod ends on the spindle side. On the steering rack side, I cut the threaded portion of the factory arm off and used it as an "M14x1.5" weld bung. Saved me having to buy a random metric tap.

A picture of the completed lower control arm and the upper a-arm along with the new steering arm all assembled with the tire.

D81: Steering Rack and Column Updates

With the newly redesigned front suspension I needed new mounts for the steering rack. Below is the design for the new mounts. From the previous post, I knew how high above the lower control arm pivot I wanted the center of the rack to be and from the original design I knew how far in front of the front cross bar I wanted the rack to be. Thus, the design below.

Below is one of the two mounts for the steering rack that will attach to the front cross member.

Both mounts tacked onto the front cross member and the steering rack in place.

The new design I have for the steering column required a few mods to the firewall. The first was installing a firewall mount for the steering column. I replaced part of the firewall with this 1"x2" piece of tubing.

With the firewall mount in place, I wanted to make sure the the column cleared the brake booster. From the pick below, there is plenty of space.

The new steering column connected to the steering rack. Getting rid of the extra piece of linkage makes for a clean install. I also think it'll be a safer/stronger design.

The last pic is the steering column next to the pedal assembly. The new column will come almost directly out at the driver instead of the previous design where the column was at an angle. Again, a cleaner design.