getting there, looks good! what are you going to re-undercoat with? Lizard skin or similar?
Leaning towards the Upol Gravitex for the outside. I may spray something different inside, perhaps Lizard skin like you mentioned. Unsure yet. I may mix up my own creation. Sounds like most of these products arent much more than paint with microballons.
Dan
All these jigs are the best part of this build… This is awesome man… you remind me a Dan who works for my dad, he comes up with the craziest jigs to save time down the road.
Thanks.
Not much progress, been very busy with other stuff lately. I did manage a little time last night to scrape / wheel some more.
Dan
So Ive been swamped with 873498 other projects but Ive managed to get in a couple nights scraping undercoating lately. The floor is just about done now along with one and a half wheel wells.
Dan
Got a bit more done last night.
Removed all of the metal clips that held the fuel and brake lines to the chassis. Im glad I did as each had a bit of surface rust under it.
Also finish up most of the area under the rear seat. I just need a new wire wheel to get the last bit in the corner.
The rear wheel well is about 90% done. Just need to get around the edges.
Dan
Finished up the few areas I was previously unable to get to last night (under the seat, between the pinch weld and floor), and the rear wheel well, and the front and real “roll pans”. So now the floor and the drivers wheel wells are done for the most part. I have a bit more to do around the spare tire well, which honestly, Im dreading trying to get in there, so Im going to ignore it for now.
Then I started mounting some critical features (front swaybar, gas tank, axle beam) so I can work on the subframe bracing which I ordered metal for yesterday.
Hopefully the next few updates will be a little more interesting.
Dan
Flipped the car the other way and got the pass front wheel well and rocker stripped. I finally got out my vibrating multi-tool with a scraper blade to tackle the scraping, and oh how do I wish I had sooner. It was SO much easier and faster. I scraped a big portion of the front well in 15mins. Anyway heres the boring results after wire wheeling and wiping down.
The tubing for the subframe bracing also showed. Im hoping to be done with scraping this week so I can start on that next.
Dan
Very nice. Do you like your Jet bandsaw? I fought mine for a little while on cutting out of square but it is better now.
Ya, its pretty good. I got it used from work for $250 so I dont complain much. It did take a bit to get it cutting square, adjusting the stupid bearings, but its good enough. At some point Im going to replace all the bearings as a few are quite beat. I sourced them by the bearing p/n for like $3 ea (vs whatever stupid $ Jet wanted), just need to order them.
Dan
They want a fortune for them! Man $250 is a steal for that unit though. Nice score.
Ya, I was def happy. Its pretty old, but it didnt get a ton of use. Hell the coolant pump has never even been used.
Heres a link to the bearings https://www.motionindustries.com/productDetail.jsp?sku=00040118
Dan
Almost done with the pass rear wheel well. Just need a smaller wheel to get in around the gas filler. And the part Im dreading, around the spare tire well. Its totally going to suck trying to get in there, so for now Im going to ignore it and start on the subframe bracing.
Started trying to get a rough idea of tube placement before I start cutting. Looks like Im going to have to either notch the tubing to get over the little oem subframe braces up front, or notch the braces themselves (then plate over or something). Im basically making a box with an X through it, except there will be no front straight across tube (although, looking at it now I suppose there could be). I also have plans (in fact I already rolled the tubing to clear the trans) to make another X up front on the control arm mounting points.
Dan
Finally, some real progress.
I rolled these bars months ago when the car was still together to be sure they would clear everything so it was mostly a matter of notching and cutting them to length.
The rear cross bar will be welded to the LCA / swaybar mounts. I was out of tubing so Ill need to grab another piece this week so I can finish.
Trimmed the drain holes on the lower rocker so that the tubing could fit tight along the entire rocker. (no pic), and tacked the tube in place.
Notched the OE subframe brace for the x brace tube. Im going to brace that area with a U shaped piece of 12ga to tie it all together so its not just welded to the edge of that OE brace. It looks like the x brace will be able to weld to the floor in quite a few areas, which was the plan.
Dan
Finished tacking up the front brace last night. Still need to add some flat stock in a couple places to beef up the OE LCA/swaybar mount that I welded to, but I need to blast the rest of the powder off first.
Then I tackled the large X brace. The basic structure is all tacked up. Im still debating if I want to add a front lateral tube or just leave it as is. Up next I need to add jacking plates and some plates here/there to tie it into the floor.
Dan
Switched gears and went back to working on the engine bay since I really want to get it in primer before the middle of winter so it will be easier to keep it hot for 24 hours.
I only have one pic but I did all sorts of random stuff including:
-removing more undercoating/chip guard
-grinding smooth OE spot welds
-welded up a couple holes in the trans mount
-grinding smooth the edges of panels that didnt align 100% correctly at the factory (for example inside the holes for the tie rods - the inner and outer panels were misaligned by 1/16 to 1/8" in places , not now :)) or that were deformed near the edges from overzealous spot welding etc.
-hammered out a few of the square recesses in the firewall and other random dings etc
-stitch welded a few small seams
-and put a few dozen more tacks on the lower core support panel. Which is my only pic.
Dan
[sarcasm]Your builds are really nice but could benefit from some attention to detail[/sarcasm]
:tup:
Finished playing connect the dots on the lower core support piece and ground it smooth.
Then tackled the top side.
Still need to do two small pieces on the vertical part of the core support under the frame rails, as there are a couple holes there I dont need or want seen, then I think it will be ready.
Up next I need to pattern the wiper box / heater area so I can sheet over it in one smooth piece.
Dan
Worked on the wiper box a bit last night. Trimmed the lip off of the heater box hole, and cut out the one bump above the pedal area.
Created a paper template and transferred it to a piece of steel. Hopefully if we have enough dies Ill bend the edge today after work.
Finished welding the other end of the core support to the frame rail. Didnt get a chance to do the small pieces under the frame rails yet.
Overall shot looking forward.
Dan