Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Thanks again Denny. Yep, I do want to learn more about how to run this computer and do some of the neat tricks you guys do on it. I will try that program you gave me.


I mentioned I was starting on the driveshaft loops yesterday. Today I went over and did some more work on them. Didn't get a whole lot done as I had a little flu bug last week and still don't have all my strength back. I figure I will go over tomorrow since I am off for Labor Day and , well, labor. We hot rodders must like pain, because we could be cooking some hot dogs or fishing, but instead we use holidays to work on stuff made out of steel.


Today I bent up the hoops that are going to surround my driveshaft. They are going to serve two purposes. First of all, I am sharing space with a driveshaft spinning at 2-3000 rpms going down the road. If the driveshaft decides to break (I've had it happen) I want it contained by more than a fiberglass floor. Secondly, the hoops will help form the shape of my driveshaft tunnel. I will lay fiberglass up over the hoops and form them into the plywood floor.

Here are what the finished hoops that I bent up look like.


They are made from 3/8 inch x 2 inch flat stock that I bent up.

Good idea, don't need that driveshaft wacking you in the bean haulin' down the road at 100mph. Actually at any speed!

To shape them, I looked around the shop and found a pulley off of a water pump that was exactly the right diameter to form them around. I clamped it and a piece of angle iron to the welding table, heated the flat stock with a torch until it was cherry red, and slowly kept bending it around the pulley. I had to do a little hammering with a sledge to get it to the exact shape, and when I was done I had to use my floor jack to open up the legs just slightly, to tweak the sides exactly parallel to each other.

Here are pictures of the pulley jig I made and the bent up pieces before they were trimmed to the right size.

Finally, I am using 2 x 2 wide, 1/4 inch thick angle iron pieces (2 of them) to act as supports for the hoops. Angle iron sometimes has an air of being "shade tree" in a car build, but in this case it was just what I needed to shape the tunnel. To make them look better, I rounded the corners. The reason I am using angle is that it will give me a support for the plywood floor to butt up against, and the other wall of the angle iron will hold the hoop and form the tunnel.

I will weld the angle iron pieces to the crossmembers, and weld the hoops to the angle iron. For the bottom I am going to make up 2 flat steel plates to go across the bottom and bolt on, so I can remove them to remove the driveshaft when I need to do so.

Here is a picture of the mocked up hoops and angle iron supports. I purposefully made the hoops high for plenty of driveshaft travel when the car hits bumps, plus the tunnel will make a nice armrest after it is carpeted and/ or upholstered.

Thanks for looking,


Don

Originally Posted by DennyW

OK Don. Since you have xp, it's already on your system.
You go to start, all programs, Remote Assistance.

The hoops look good. Did you bend them around something(other than a regular bender), like another pipe ? OOps, I didn't wait long enough, sorry.

Yeah, I'm kind of slow at posting. No problem. Oh, and thanks for the info on the program already being in there. I'll play with it.


Don

Originally Posted by brickman

Good idea, don't need that driveshaft wacking you in the bean haulin' down the road at 100mph. Actually at any speed!

No, you are right. I had one break on my Mustang bracket car one time, and my two sons were sitting in the back on the aluminum interior with pillows under them (they were about 8 or 9) When it broke it sounded like a bomb went off, but luckily the driveshaft loop contained it.

My kids haven't been right since. I wonder why they are motorheads too???


Don

Don,
I don't mean to disrupt the flow of your thread but I believe you might need to revise your debit accounting.

If I'm not mistaken, you purchased the body and frame as a combination.
Once you found the frame unusable for your intentions, you purchased materials to create a new one.

I therefore submit to you the following;
"Under the HotRod Builders Assessment Act of 1984, any project budget overruns in materials due to faulty, improper fitments, or brain flatulence may be deducted from the build at fair market value..."

Can I also deduct alimony?


Actually, I did just sell some parts off of the build that I didn't use, like I got $ 135.oo for the T bucket bed on Ebay. Interesting thought Tom. The frame became a base for our metal brake, so that should count for something.


I like your thinking. You must work for the Law Firm of Dewey, Cheetum, and Howe.


By the way, cool comment about the DNA being twisted too tight. (Inbreeding)


Don

I too like that law, that would cut my build cost in half if I can drop the cost of learning!

Today was actually a pretty productive day. I just got in, and it is Midnight, and I started about 12 noon, so to say I am a little tired is an understatement. But I really got some work done today.

The first thing I did was finish up the driveshaft hoops. I welded the hoops to the angle iron supports, and made two plates for the bottom. The bottom plates are held on with grade 8 3/8 bolts, and when I need to service the driveshaft I can remove them and drop it out of the bottom. Finally I got the whole assembly welded to the crossmembers. Man, this thing weighs like 30 lbs, so it should add some strength to the frame also.

Here are some shots of the final assembly and after it was welded in place.


Don

After that I began work on the underdash steel support framework, which also supports the windshield. I decided to tie the windshield into the 1 x 1 bar that runs under the dash, and to do that I welded a couple of flat stock "ears" on either side of the crosspiece, made out of 1/4 inch thick stock. These ears are shaped like the inside of the body, right up under the dash.

I drilled and tapped these plates for 3 bolts on each side, which match 3 holes I drilled in the windshield post I built out of flat plate. When the bolts are torqued down the windshield is supported by the steel skeleton, not by fiberglass.

After I got the dash support made my Kid offered to weld the windshield posts to the plates I had made up, so we built a jig to hold everything straight and did the final welding on the windshield posts. So, for all practical purposes, the windshield is done. We got so involved working on the jig and making the posts fit that I didn't take any pictures of that phase, but here are some pictures of the final windshield mounting.

I also went to Autozone and picked up a 68 Mustang master cylinder for a car with manual drum brakes, so this week I can start making up the brake pedal and master cylinder mount.

Thanks for looking. Time for a shower and late night dinner.


Don

Car is really coming together. Looks to be completed way before Thanksgiving.

Looking forward to see you and the car (completed, of course) at the Turkey Run. As of now it appears that we will be at the B-W la Playa at Belaire Plaza, W - Sun.

Great looking drive shaft hoops. Wish I had that metal fabricating talent. I need three hoops for my car. One for the driveshaft and one each for the half shafts. Unlikely problems could occur, but my luck this year has been in the negative numbers, and I am no risk taker. Gettting the hoops not a problem, betting them mounted another story.

I don't know what happens when they list on Ebay, but sometimes there is just no reserve on a tranny, and other times there is. Perhaps they list so many that the forget, or maybe on some units the begiining bid is what they are happy to take.

Whatever, it's amazing that they can sell a transmission for this money, and if they didn't have that 100% feedback rating I would be suspicious. But this is # 3 for me, and the only place I will ever shop for one.


Yeah, I'm really trying for Daytona, but I am sort of doubtful. My real goal is to get my Kids '29 there. Poor kid missed last year, and he has thousands of hours in it. I really only care if he gets his there. If I have to divert some money to help him get his done, I would rather do that.

We'll stay in touch to see where you are and where we will be staying, and hotroddaddy has that great idea about us CHR guys and gals meeting somewhere.

Take care.

Don

Don
I think I paid DOUBLE that to have mine redone. a few years ago and had to buy the converter extra.