I enjoy this part of the game where the envelope is established. The wheel and tire size is picked, the ride height at the pinchweld is set and the track limits set as narrow as they can be.
No gamestoppers so far.
I enjoy this part of the game where the envelope is established. The wheel and tire size is picked, the ride height at the pinchweld is set and the track limits set as narrow as they can be.
No gamestoppers so far.
Diving into the disassembly. The front end on these is torsion bar and a hoot to remove. Came off pretty easy for as much rust as it has.
The plan in broad strokes is to remove the main frame rails at the front of the car and replace them with a 2x3 length of steel tube that will run front to rear of the car. To these will be attached the lower control arms at each corner to establish the track and wheelbase and the location of the engine. The car will use the same control arms at the front and rear. After that it is a simple matter of locating the upper control arms and strut mounts.
retropower did a full frame, miata swapped minor, sticking with the miata track width and remade the arches. It has a seriously tough look now
Let the fun commence! Mustang on the plasma cutter and a spark show for the camera. And YES that is OSHA approved PPE for close quarter flames. Or maybe its not, good thing we are in Canada eh!?
After a few well earned smoke breaks (gets real smoky burning tin and tar) this handsome devil was on the floor.
Leaving all kinds of room for activities or engine transplants
The same started in front, but due to the floor consisting of three or more layers of tin, the going has been a bit slower. Will resume tomorrow and if all goes well the underside will be gone bumper to bumper.
In reply to NOHOME :
The torsion bars in these cars were quite often used in older sprint cars for the suspension. Also where in Canada are you located?
In reply to egoman :
London ontario.
The front suspension from this car will probably feature in some future refrigerators from China.
All kinds of room now.
Engine is pretty much where it is going to end up. There is room in what used to be the backseat for groceries or what not. There will be room in the trunk and also in the Frunk.
First non-demolition step in the project.
The goal is to have all the pieces located or at least represented, in 3D space to that the final positions can be litigated and resolved. To that end a jig was tacked together that holds the suspension components. Ignore the width since it can be slid side to side to study what fits and what needs to be mitigated.
Since the axles will be custom lengths to suit, the game being played is "How far in can the suspension/wheels be tucked without the strut mounting interfering with the engine?" I doubt that it can all be stuck under the stock fenders, but maybe close enough to use e-bay fender flares?
The even goodlier news is that whatever works in the back will transfer directly to the front as the same Honda parts are going to be used for front suspension and steering. The Morris even has a rear-steer rack to give a good starting point.
Cool stuff dude. Fitting the stuff under stock fenders is tough. I mini tubbed the midget- only in the sense that I brought them in a small amount- like 2". It's super fun and cool that you are doing the middie- I've done measures on another midget and I'm sure I could do one there. It's just silly though.
Lest anyone think we have been sidetracked. We are moving ahead again.
These kind of projects take some head scratching, and sometimes the way to the end is not evident until you take a step in SOME direction so that you can see the next step from there.
In this case, we wanted to see how to fabricate the Honda suspension on to the square tube frame that we have settled on. Rather than tack-weld a bunch of fabricated brackets, these plates were plasma cut by the owner and he just dropped them off .
This allows for the lower A-arms to be located on the frame rails with some degree of solididy and precision, yet be movable and removable as the design develops
With the lowers firmly located, attention can move to how the upper a-arm is going to be located. What became evident by getting this far, was that we could expand on the square-hole-in-a-plate technique and add the mounts for the upper a-arm. So ut comes the lumber template (cause everyone doing carboard) and we take another step forward. Hopefully.
That should work. Will get the wood drawn up as a drawing and transfer to plate. May or may not make one big plate to join the two sides in bulkhead fashion, or maybe just a strut tower bar. To be decided.
What has been decided is that this will be built as a Kart and the body added at the end.
In order to start welding the cart together, need to pick a track width.
The plan, (subject to change as always) is to use the Morris rack as the determining factor to set the track. If the rails are spread apart such that the rack inner pivot points align with the inner pivots on the lower a-arm, then bumpsteer should be manageable. Will pause at that point and see if that actually works and adjust as needed.
At the rear, the decision to be made is if the same suspension components will be used at all 4 corners or if the Macpherson suspension from a newer Honda will be easier to package. There is a donor waiting to donate the later suspension, so stand by.
While still firmly in the positional mock-up phase, things are starting to gel.
The double a-arm suspension has been replaced by the strut version. The track width has been established to fit that of the Morris and the engine will fit in the space.
Design of engine mounts and strut mounts are next
Great project. I'll be following
Fantastic, carry on
This is my old sprint car that is currently being restored by another driver of the car.
If you look below the top frame rail that rusted round bar is supposedly a morris minor torsion bar.
The picture below is where he is at with that resto.
Starting to fill out the envelope now that the rear suspesion and engine locations are fixed.
Bit delinquent in updates.
The perimeter frame for the engine and suspension is tacked in place.
Been checking frame to body fit and verifying that the wheels will fit in the stock envelope. So far so good. Needs more sidewall to the tires. These are 40 series, going up to 55.
The suspension upper locating points for the McPherson strut are verified to fit inside the bodyshell. That was a big relief
The engine pretty much sits in the area that was meant to occupy passengers. Original measurements had it further back, but this is better; more room for everything and more access to service parts. Bonus.
Still on target to make the chassis a self contained go-kart with the body acting as a burka and not a stressed member. 
That's looking fantastic dude. I had a passing thought questioning why I didn't just build a tube frame for mine. I like the burka idea- and higher profile tires.
The Honda/Morris has gone to live in a new shop that is not mine so no more updates.
That's to bad I was hoping to follow this one but oh well. If you ever see it again let us know how it's going.
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