Needs more wheel.
Needs more wheel.
pres589 (djronnebaum) said:Needs more wheel.
Needs moar low!
Weld the doors, cut the rockers so the front apron touches pavement with the body on the floor, radius wheel opening to fit.
Yup. Bring body down, increase tire size.
But not sure what it would do to dynamics.
My vote is don't increase the tire size, but cut the bottom of the body off until the tops of the tires are practically rubbing the underside of the fenders- probably 10" or so. It'll be a lot lighter, you won't have to patch that rust, and it'll probably look completely insane.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:My vote is don't increase the tire size, but cut the bottom of the body off until the tops of the tires are practically rubbing the underside of the fenders- probably 10" or so. It'll be a lot lighter, you won't have to patch that rust, and it'll probably look completely insane.
^^^This
gumby said:¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:My vote is don't increase the tire size, but cut the bottom of the body off until the tops of the tires are practically rubbing the underside of the fenders- probably 10" or so. It'll be a lot lighter, you won't have to patch that rust, and it'll probably look completely insane.
^^^This
They aren't wrong.
That might work, yeah.
This is why I'm reluctant to use a bigger wheel and tire package. Yes, that is a baby scale.
In reply to Robbie :
I'm with you. But it can never be too low. How high is the lowest part of the body right now?
In reply to Stampie :
About 3 inches off the ground, pretty consistent along both rockers between the wheels.
Today was a big day. I had the day off work (presidents day, nice!) And therefore got about 7 hours in the shop. Bringing the current total to 76. But, I got the frame back together!
First I laid it out and took lots of measurements. Lift up. Lift down. Lift up. Lift down. This would really suck without a lift.
Then I marked and made my cuts.
Then I prepped the front suspension stubs for welding.
Test fit, and take hundreds more measurements. Also do some more lift dance.
Tack. Take more measurements. Then hold breath and weld. But don't actually hold your breath that makes your welds awful.
Checked the measurements a final time and everything was Bang on. Sweet.
Then I started filling in the front. Mainly, I just don't want to have a flat front of the frame rail that could slam into a pothole or something, so I did the ramps. My welding got really crappy here, welding underneath something is very different than welding on top. I still have more work to do to fill it in completely so I'll probably clean up some of the welds.
Next I switched my attention to the rear suspension mounting points.
Holes marked, drilled, ground, and sanded (no one likes a race car that bites you when you are bolting on the suspension). These holes needed to match the mounts on the rear swing arm, which aren't attached perfectly semetrically. Apparently I totally blew the marking part however, because I totally screwed up all the perfect measurements I had been taking when welding on the front. Grrr. It won't be hard to fix but dang I felt like a dummy.
This side free of sharp metal:
So now here we are, the car is one big single piece again! Current weight of rollerskate is 260lbs. (And it does still fit the body, in case you were wondering haha).
I'm stoked with the progress.
Robbie said:
Just wanted to bring this to the current page.
In reply to AAZCD :
Those came in my grmer New year's game box!
I'm not sure I'll put a tape deck in the datsun but I am going to get one functional in the 87 jag. And then proceed to rock.
Ps, I'm pretty sure the datsun was drinking age before those tapes we're we're made.
Here's a question, what's the prevailing best strategy for moisture and frame rails?
Initially I thought i'd make sure they were fully welded up so that no water could get in, but then I thought maybe the better way is to just plan for water getting in and drill holes in the bottom to let water drain out.
Note that I don't plan to drive this daily in a Midwestern winter, but it's likely to see rain/snow either at an event or while towing.
Holes on the bottom. Then the Eastwood spray stuff for the inside of fraim rails. Thags what id do.
Couple more hours today, 78 total.
First I raised up the frame so I could crawl under to start making plans for mounting the body.
I think I have my plan. First the easy part, the front.
The two holes at the bottom corners of the radiator area are the front body mounts. I will cut my three frame bars, and weld a tube in. Then I'll be able to put a smaller diameter tube through the welded tube, and then fix the ends to those body mount holes. Boom, mount plus also super stout hinge.
The back might be a bit more involved.
My current plan is to cut the floor longitudinally near the tunnel. Then I'll fold the floor down, and I'll be able to fasten it to the side of the frame rails.
I also spent some time removing all the hardware from the doors. I didn't take any photos, but I also have plans for cutting up the doors and welding them in.
A terrible ms paint of what I was suggesting:
About 81 hours in. (Two hours Sunday one this morning).
I sort of haven't made big progress since I'm noodling on the next direction to focus. I think that will be engine mounts, I think.
Anyway, I removed all the hardware from the soft top mounts on the body. I removed everything else possible that unbolts from the body (except hood and trunklid). I fixed the threads on one of the motor mount bolts that was a bit buggered.
I put the cleaned steering gear back together. When I removed this from the car, there was some slop and some "stiff" areas in the steering motion.
With some playing, I figured out that most of the slop came from a loose key in the shaft, and that the stiff spots came from a mismatch in the orientation of the ring and pinion gear (ie flip one over and the stiff spots go away). I was able to re-orient the key, and flip the ring gear, and now I have smooth motion with very little if any perceptible slop. Excellent. I haven't greased it yet, since I don't want a greasy mess until the car is much more ready for it. But overall huge improvement.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
That looks BA.
That has to be one of the simplest steering racks I've ever seen. This car's simplicity is really interesting me.
As for tapes, I think we can all agree these need to be added to the list and should be easily found at any local thrift shop:
In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :
I listen to the top gun soundtrack on YouTube in the background when at work sometimes.
There's actually a comment in there that makes me die laughing, something like this:
"My chicken listened to this song and is now a bald eagle"
Progress from this morning. I crudely added a spacer to the near side plate (I had been just sitting it on a 3/4 inch board), and rough cut some angle to start prepping the bottom mounts.
At this point chain angle is coming into play so I need to start mocking that up a bit more accurately. This engine I'm using now is just an empty case because it's much lighter to move around. As such, there is no output shaft to put a sprocket on. I think I have a solution up my sleeve. 82 hours.
Questions re: rear suspension:
Have you considered how much the old chassis was flexing as part of the overall suspension, and how the now significantly stiffer chassis will effect that compliance?
Would you consider small air springs in place of the "pucks"?
bluej said:Questions re: rear suspension:
Have you considered how much the old chassis was flexing as part of the overall suspension, and how the now significantly stiffer chassis will effect that compliance?
Would you consider small air springs in place of the "pucks"?
I've sort of considered it in my idle time. I'm not too worried, as I think the tires were most of the suspension before and will be after my frame mods. IF it's too stiff, I do have some ideas for adding a suspension.
There are two problems for adding suspension however. One is that the current suspension is opposite of a normal spring, they are effectively "pull" springs. So bump travel is extending the spring. That means I'd be rearranging stuff to fit anything more normal.
The other problem is if I start allowing things to move, I need to start worrying about geometry. And that's opening a rather large rabbit hole I don't want to open currently. Maybe in the future, though!
You'll need to log in to post.
