Flex joints for the axle beam came in yesterday. At first I thought maybe I could just split the beam and then slip them in, but it just wasnt happening. So I cut the mounts right off the beam and will weld the new joints in as pictured below. I may wrap another piece of steel over them to weld to the beam, but Im just not sure its necessary.
Welded in the rear beam flex joint tubes. Im going to weld in an angled piece of tube next to them to fill up the rest of the space, mainly so it doesnt look goofy. Im sure they are plenty strong the way they are in the pics.
Started tinkering on a suspension positioning setup. This is my first prototype of the pot and arm assembly. It will connect to the suspension via a 8-32 endlink setup (similar to a swwaybar endlink).
The pot is a sealed honeywell 1/4 turn unit. Should provide some pretty decent feedback over a small range.
The pot will mount to a plate and a nylock nut will hold the whole assembly together.
While Im waiting for all sorts of metal to arrive for the rear suspension, I thought Id start removing some other metal.
My stock decklid arrived at VFN last week. I was told friday that they will be pulling the mold off of it and making my new lift off lid in the next 2-3 weeks. I figured that was reason enough to cut the trunk hinges and brackets out, and pull out the torsion springs. All said and done 8lbs removed. I still need to grind the welds smooth, touch up the paint and vacuum up all the chips. The new lid should be around 12-14lbs. Between the stock decklid and the hinges and crap I should be down about 30+lbs.
Then I pulled the front end all apart and started cutting. Plan is to have the front end come apart with two assemblies to here in <5 mins and shave off aobut 25lbs. The plan is for the bumper cover to come off first, then an assemly which will consist of the bumper support, headlights and upper core support second.
I dont have a great before shot, but I removed the upper core support, the panels behind the headlights etc (~10lbs). The stock bumper support (25lbs) will be replaced with some sort of aluminum frame (ya ya it wont be a “real” bumper).
I had to reroute some wires for the EGT sensor, EBC solenoid and the fan and alternator (which Im still working on). Also mounted the EBC solenoid to the radiator, instead of the core support.
Welded in the swaybar brackets to the axle beam. This is where the endlinks will attach to, multiple holes will correspond to various holes in the swaybar arms (for different rates).
Also, not shown yet, I made some sleeves for the lower shock mounts, so I can use 3/8" bolts instead of 12mm bolts. This will allow me to use the shock mount hole as one of the swaybar endlink positions.
Thanks man. Im getting fairly decent. Normaly I cant TIG steel worth a shit, and would rather TIG aluminum. :shrug: maybe I figured something out recently.
The swaybar and arms showed up xmas eve day but I just got it unpacked over the weekend. Cant wait to get the brackets welded to the car. Maybe wed night.
I need to cut about 6" off the arms (they come 17" long) and drill and tap the holes for the drop links.
I also recieved all of the aluminum for the new core and bumper supports last just before xmas. And today ordered some parts to build the adjustable lower ball joints for the front.
