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Post by airforceone on Apr 23, 2013 7:26:07 GMT
Agree with you on the front facing supports. As I am broad shouldered I would be a bit restricted also it must affect getting in an out of the car.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2013 7:50:26 GMT
I specified the forward facing ones on my chassis based on the racew car RTR had in at the time. I wanted a degree of protection from a side impact. I know its not much really, but it may divert an impact over the occupants, or away from the faces. Hopefully, ill never need it, and it does make getting in and out a little awkward, but not much. As a trade off im happy
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Post by kiwicanfly on Apr 25, 2013 7:16:09 GMT
I will make a final decision on the front roolbar supports later, intend to mock it up first then have a think / deliberate / procrastinate over it. Tidied up a couple of outstanding jobs today. Never been happy with the ferrules on the handbrake cables, they didn't fit too well on the outer and tended to let the outer pull out or twist at an angle so made some longer ones. You can see the improvement in the above shot, believe me I did not deliberately set the old one at that crap angle. This is at the caliper end, now the brake cable runs so much smoother and easier. Also made the infamous spacer for the bump steer correction, I had forgotten how hard 4140 is and my plan to knock a couple out at lunchtime took a little longer. Worth it in the end though and so much more likely to pass inspection than my original setup
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Post by jacksdad on Apr 26, 2013 17:13:53 GMT
nice jobs, looking good
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Post by kiwicanfly on May 5, 2013 4:41:50 GMT
A little progress but doesn't seem much in the grand scheme of things. Converted my "cover of randomness" into a "cover of reasonable snugness" and removed the tank fouling that was happening before, it is sitting in a aluminium caravan awning extrusion which raises it about 20mm. Still could be better but going to leave final fitting until final assembly as the temporary floor is not as good a datum as the aluminium floor will be, going to use some rubber edging in the channel on final install, maybe hold it all down with an aerocatch. Got the tunnel sitting better and cut the holes for the poky through bits to (hopefully) final size, again will leave final fitting until the floor is installed. Also mocked up the dash to see how I feel about positioning. Dropped on the Momo steering wheel as the Ford was so big I couldn't hop in and out easily, well still can't hop in and out but it's a bit easier. Seat is not installed properly, still going to be tight but I am determined to lever this one in, bottom fixing of the seat belts is going to be an headache.
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Post by kiwicanfly on Jun 16, 2013 7:52:01 GMT
Progress has been slow lately due to outside influences equalling a lack of effort but back in the groove now. Finally got my seats in, both are Racetech Saker seats, quite laid back in style, The one on the left is a 'jig shell' used for setting up, sort of a sample to check out fits etc.. Now I am sure it is ok it will be swapped for a nice shiny new one. Going to have some small mods on it for mounting and maybe a skim off the outer edge as it is pretty close to the tunnel. Doesn't actually touch at the moment but will rub when covered so a few mm off will be worth it, could possibly squeeze it out a little more as will. The one on the right is an older model which fits real well but is no longer obtainable Will be making the mounts myself, current fabricated from thin aluminium angle and hardboard, intending to use 6mm aluminium angle. Forgot to photograph seatbelt mounts but they are also installed. Also made a mount for expansion bottle. Have spent some time making a variety of little brackets for brakes and exhaust quite time consuming but nothing radical or overly exciting.
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Post by kiwicanfly on Jun 29, 2013 4:35:03 GMT
Big day at Rocket Central here in New Plymouth - Now have a Rocket with little more on it than when it came out of the box but......... had all (hopefully) the welding done. Here's Steve under the car attaching something. Here's what he did. Roll bar completed, decided not to use the front braces. Exhaust Brackets Rear brake brackets for the transition from copper to flexi. Same at the front. Inner seat belt mounting points drivers side, also had to have a nut welded on the inside as per NZ regs. For the passenger side I had to put a piece back into the box section. Accelerator pedal bracket. All in all a good afternoons work even if I spent most of the time loitering while Steve did the work.
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Post by kiwicanfly on Jun 30, 2013 6:02:42 GMT
So today was spent doing what most people do on day one - cutting the floor. Tried a couple of ways of marking the profile but in the end found that tracing the chassis with a knife blade held square with a piece of angle worked a treat, the angle kept the blade perfectly square. Was then able to peel off the protective film leaving a nice well defined line for cutting too. Also cut some lines along inner chassis tubes in the same way, again I will peel this area away to make finding tube centres easier.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2013 7:44:25 GMT
When I marked the outer cutting line that distinguishes the floor section, I cut the along the line. Now, mark the off cuts to which side they came from Measure the tube diameter, and divide by 2. Mark the floor section at that measurement at each longways end of the floor. Now, using your nice off cut template clamp it to the floor, using the marks as reference. This off cut now becomes a template showing the centre of the tube underneath. Mark every 10cm on that line
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Post by kiwicanfly on Jun 30, 2013 8:08:40 GMT
Steve my initial reaction was that I knew how to work out a tube centre........then, after reading the whole post I thought Steve you cunning b@&?!@)d that is clever.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2013 8:43:25 GMT
Steve my initial reaction was that I knew how to work out a tube centre........then, after reading the whole post I thought Steve you cunning b@&?!@)d that is clever. Lol.. Always found it strange that rocket owners cut out the perfect shape floors, and throw the templates away... I nearly did too!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2013 8:44:30 GMT
Maybe you can photograph the procedure for future builders.. I got too carried away
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Post by kiwicanfly on Jul 2, 2013 8:00:15 GMT
As requested by Steve, a photo of the CB-Hadron (CB = Cunning B......) method of marking the side rail chassis rail centre. The edge pieces cut from each side were clamped back in place but moved 1" over (25.4mm to you young people) and the edge used to mark a new centre line. I had also used the knife and aluminium angle to trace the cross rails and pulled of the protective tape leaving a pair of lines to mark central to, I would only recommend using the knife system if you intend to cover the floor though, as no matter how light the pressure, there is always a witness. After marking out all the holes centres I then drilled the first three holes along the back rail in order to give me some datum holes to set to before drilling the rest, I wanted to confirm all the holes would hit all the rails pretty much on centre and also see whether seat mount holes would clash with rivets. After placing the floor in position and clamping it into place I then drilled these holes and secured with my new toy which arrived today - Clecos. These are real cunning, they are used in the aeronautical industry for setting panels and are effectively removable pop rivets. The first image shows the Cleco closed and the second image is open, you open them with the pliers, drop them in the hole and release. The pin retracts splaying out the two wings and securing the plates. I bought 50 of the 1/8" units which is just the right size for tapping to M4 later. Will now be able to finish jobs which require the floor in position, such as the tunnel, tank and tank cover, but I am easily able to remove it when I send the chassis for painting.
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Post by kiwicanfly on Jul 3, 2013 9:33:56 GMT
Fitted the floor tonight, well not permanently, just with my new friend Mr. Cleco and his little helpers. Had enough to put one in every other hole which should be enough to comfortably bear weight as long as I don't do a Duke's Of Hazard. Will smooth of some of the less than perfect cuts then flick her back over and start reassembly.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2013 11:26:26 GMT
Amazing how all the holes go perfectly through the centre of the tube
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