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Post by perthwa on Jan 14, 2021 9:44:37 GMT
Floor is coming but not sure when. I am just making sure that I did not need to put it on and then take it off and because I am a 'shite' welder I have decided to put it back on the rotisserie and go over a few of my original bracket things. I was actually considering an expert to come in and tidy up the tacks I have put in place.
A friend building a exoskeleton electric Trike did that, he went to a metal shop and was asking about a welder and the owner recommended his Brother in Law. The friend, thought that the owner was recommending an expert who could completely go over the exoskeleton in the Trike.. The brother in law of the owner was not even a qualified welder.... My friend was bl o o dy angry when he found out and told him to go away!!!
So, in the scheme of things, screw the body to the frame, allowing for floor in the sandwich, and then take off the body; finish brake lines, radiator pipes support for electrical wiring. then put body back on to see how it all fits. Then Fire wall as that will be easier to do without the floor in place...
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Post by perthwa on Jan 14, 2021 9:48:43 GMT
Today: I hate it when I start to criticise my own work. I decided that the couple of screws that I was about to add to the door cards was a lazy attempt to do a job properly. So I added some more rinuts to the frame, cleaned up a couple of Aluminium strips and did a better job. Here is the drivers side with the extra metal. Much nicer. And here is the same for the passenger side. There is a little overhang below the floor line that needs trimming when I do the floor. Here it is with the fuel tank cover in place. and here a a few views of the side gaps, keeping in mind that seatbelts run between door card and fuel tank cover. Right hand side with screws and Al strips now missing. Left hand side with a few screws missing from fuel tank cover. as fuel tank is not inside yet. You can see the black rubber that I have used to seal the gap between door card and fuel tank cover. This is where the fuel lines, filler pipe and wiring will pass into the tank. and the view from above to show the nice smooth gap for the seatbelt. In fact, it doesn't look that smooth in the photo, but it is all nice and smooth with curved edges to keep DOT happy... they don't like the seatbelt to be compromised. The roll bar has been removed at this stage. SO enough self guilt... I did clean it up, and yes I am happier. In summary for the interior of the car: Door cards, seats, seat runners and adjusters, seat belts, roll bar, centre console, handbrake cables, handbrake switch, headlight switch all done.
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Post by wishful4444 on Jan 14, 2021 14:04:14 GMT
A thought about the floor fitting. Steel chassis, aluminium floor. I don't know if you have seen it mentioned on this forum but there is suggestion that fitting the floor directly to the chassis may result in galvanic corrosion. I think some have fitted plastic damp proof material (as used in house building) between the two.
I have no experience of this others can help.
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Post by skyquake on Jan 14, 2021 23:49:56 GMT
Aluminium and steel are sufficiently different on the galvanic series to result in corrosion, but to be honest, the risk is not huge. Most of us will be popping our steel structure full of aluminium rivets without a second thought, and the chances are, for the next decade or so, we proably won't have a problem.
Don't forget that you have to have the presence of an electrolyte for galvanic corrostion to occur. Hence in heavily salt laden environments like offshore, or immediately by the coast, yes, you'd be avoiding it like the plague (or Covid-19, for example!), but for fair weather vehicles away from the coast, it'll take a while before anything starts to happen. Unless you happen to be planning regular jollies on freshly grit-salted roads, in your open topped sportscars, then you can probably stop worrying.
At the end of the day, all you need to do to prevent galvanic corrosion, is ensure that there is no conductive contact between the two materials. In the case of floor panel to steel structure, I'll be using tigerseal (other brands are available!) between the two surfaces, which is more than sufficient to seperate them and prevent galvanic corrosion. Rivets you can dip in primer before you fit.
Whatever you do, don't switch to stainless rivets in the hope of solving this issue. Stainless steel is further away from both mild steel and aluminium on the galvanic scale, so while it may be more 'noble' (less reactive in itself), when combined with either steel or aluminium it will cause the other materials to corrode in a more aggressive fashion.
Here endeth today's sermon..
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Post by wishful4444 on Jan 15, 2021 18:33:28 GMT
Good day skyquake
Many thanks for a vey informative post. The 'stainless' point was particularly interesting
Given where perthwa resides I doubt there is much salt on the roads. If he lives close to the sea that may be different. Whether perthwa will be dipping his rivets.....I couldn't possibly comment
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Post by perthwa on Jan 16, 2021 5:40:59 GMT
5 km from the Indian Ocean should not be a problem until sea level starts to rise. Definitely NO salt on our roads and other clubbies on our Friday nigh Zoom meeting suggested one of the SIKA Flex type fillers just to help it stick, cut down the noise and prevent as much of the corrosion as possible with out going over the top..
Speaking of floor; should I use 2mm or 3mm Aluminium for the floor. Has anyone screwed the floor? Or are the rivets the go to?
I will be adding some Automotive (thin) carpet as my brother supplied some from an unfinished car that his son was working on.
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Post by perthwa on Jan 17, 2021 10:53:12 GMT
Got Distracted... again. I decided that I didn't want to trim the excess door car plastic that over hangs the floor off until I was ready do the floor. The real reason is that I hate crawling around upside down on the floor. Solution - make a creeper. Located a metal shelf that I rescued from a skip, trimmed some 1/2 inch Plywood offcut from my son's 4WD slide out shelf install, trimmed a piece of carpet and found 4 casters that my Father-in-law had previously purchased but never used. The head rest is some medium density foam that I used for my airbag steering wheel replacement. Carpet is glued on but head rest is not yet fixed. Now the plastic excess is actually trimmed off. That's right, no more excuses. Why didn't I make one of these before? Cost: $ 0 ; but I do need some more contact adhesive... Excess plastic from both sides all gone. More distraction After my trimming, it was getting a bit hot in the shed... So I found some white, metal outdoor paint primer and I painted the East Facing shed doors... No more heat seeking BROWN doors. I took a corner shot so you can see the difference in the colours. And here is a long shot. For the umpteenth time. now Rivnut the Side Pods on to the frame.
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Post by perthwa on Apr 23, 2021 14:01:32 GMT
It has been a long while since posting ...but ... i have been doing some jobs. Made some suspension bushes ... 50 of them. Then I could install the suspension and get ready to measure up for a bearing housing. So I had to remove the Bearings... well, I should have pressed them out... But I am saving money and figured that the old upright was scrap... Now for a nice engineering diagram and a new bearing housing. Then I can strengthen the upright and then back end is almost done... Need to make up two of these as they were not supplied in my Aussie kit. This one has two of my bushes installed. Used some wood to CAD up a missing bit of exhaust pipe. Cut it out of Stainless pipe and welded up the headers. Not finished here but on the way... Mounted a switch for the Hazard lights. Cut up the fuel tank to fit and then rejoined the end plate... Had also to mount the Filler tube and the breather pipe... not quite finished. Got distracted by the Sports Car Builders club of Western Australia and went to a car show. Sonic 7 in the left hand row... Not mine... p.s. I am club secretary.
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Post by buildityourself on Apr 25, 2021 19:19:51 GMT
Are the threads on those bolts for the suspension eyes long enough? They go really far in, and need a nut on the inside. Sure you have a plan, but would hate for you to spend time fabricating if overlooked.
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Post by perthwa on Apr 26, 2021 14:11:01 GMT
Thanks for the heads up. I saw one of the sports car members Sonic the other day and he only had a nut on the Wheel side. So I am not sure that the thread has to have a nut on the outer side... I understand that it makes sense, but this part can not un-thread although it could strip the thread, so I guess I just need to see what ADR rules here say. Actually they are for the lower rear arm adjusters... The two shown threaded here are actually the missing upper ones not shown in the picture. They can only have 5.5 cm of thread that threads into the pipe end. I have two already supplied for the top arms and they are threaded all the way to the weld area.. One of the sports car club members said that welding all the way to the thread was a bit risky engineering wise, so I was looking for a bolt... The ones I have found only have about 4.5 cm of thread which will probably need me to find a die to thread a bit more length and still leave some non-threaded metal to weld to.
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Post by perthwa on Apr 26, 2021 14:26:21 GMT
Spent another 4 hours trying to stop a few leaks in the fuel tank filler pipe connection, overflow pipe and end plate where I joined it. DONE... I can push it under water in a pool and I get no bubbles coming out.... so I figure that is a start.
Then i sat it in to the fuel tank housing and put it in the car as a test fit. I have the electrical connector attached. now for fuel line etc. Not sure about return line... I didn't pay that much attention to the setup when I pulled it out of the focus... Think I took a few snaps...
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Post by buildityourself on Apr 26, 2021 19:55:08 GMT
If your upper wishbones tubes are threaded that makes sense. The current kits use, what I believe are infinite camber adjuster tubes that slide into the wishbone tube so the outer nut is needed. These allow the camber to be adjusted without taking the suspension apart.
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Post by perthwa on Apr 28, 2021 10:58:19 GMT
that makes sense. thanks
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Post by perthwa on May 30, 2021 10:56:56 GMT
Another eclectic lot of tasks. Decided to mount the front mudguards; Did a drawing and discovered that the tyres would hit the braces attached to the guards. So I split the bar and added a sleeve and made them 1cm longer. Now I can get tyre clearance so the next task was to cut up the wings, well drill two holes in each. Here the left one is in place albeit shafts have not been welded and wing is just sitting in place. Here is a close up of the inserted bar into the wing. Sorry for the dirty wing... I used a wet cloth to spread the dirt and it dried weirdly. Then I decided, as I was already itchy, to look at the rear air intake. I decided that I would get fancy and split the intake into an IN side and and OUT side. This is the exit side which will hopefully vent hot stuff out of the engine bay. And here is the intake side. NOW I hear you ask, how will that work? I have added a 'cardboard' centre DIVIDER that stops the two from mixing, but this will become some 3mm Aluminium when I get the shape correct. Where the tape is located will be the divider; it will follow the original bonnet step and be sealed up against the top of the intake cowling. I figure that air will be forced in when moving and then hopefully the back taking some heat with it. ... and when stationary, it will exit out of both set of holes. The air entering is forced down vertically just at the rear of the valve cover and the exit is above the exhaust manifold. If it doesn't work I will cut holes in the divider and seal up the rear exit...Time will tell. I will add more photos when I cut the holes etc and add the divider... Also adding air intake ducks to the side pods. Not sure whether these go on the outside or inside to sandwich the wire mesh in position. either way, I will need something to hold the mesh in place... Also picked up a 18mm Fine Tap and Die set from a friend as one of the front suspension arms had a dodgy thread where the weld had partially broken through. 1 minute on the Tap and all was fixed. I have finished making the two new toe in / out bushings. This required sourcing these 18 mm fine metric bolts, and some appropriate pipe for the housing. cut and tacked in place. This view also shows my homemade bushes. The reason I need the DIE is that I need to just add about 1cm of extra thread length to the bolts.
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Post by perthwa on May 30, 2021 11:44:14 GMT
Now another though? Where the front uprights bolt to the wing guards the centre hole is for the bolt that holds the entire front wheel on. This concerns me a little as I am not sure that this is a fantastic idea. I know many have done it and never had a problem, but, if I have a spare spot on my Brake Support brackets, could I use this, as well as the two bolts on the steering arm to support the wing stays? I have shoved a piece of shaft in the spare hole in my brake support and it will line up well with one of the stays. I intend to weld it to the support end and then use a bolt onto the stay. Otherwise I won't be able to remove it. This will mean that I can use the specified BOLT for the hub attachment and torque it up without the use of the spacer etc. What am I missing here? Has anyone just used the two steering arm bolts?
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