Project Unfinished Business: 95PGTTech's 1998 Cobra build...

[1bad95]

here is that place for dry ice:

Airgas Dry Ice
(215) 256-1189
1500 Gehman Rd, #5, Harleysville, PA 19438

[95PGTTech]

here is that place for dry ice:

Airgas Dry Ice
(215) 256-1189
1500 Gehman Rd, #5, Harleysville, PA 19438

Thanks I'll try and give them a call today.  Been a real hectic last two days.  Hit horribly by the snow here in the northeast, and my wife will not drive in this, but it is mandatory for her to appear at work.  So I've been stopping whatever I am doing around 2:30 to take her to work and then waiting around until midnight to pick her up.  Sometimes she runs over and isn't done until 3-4am.  To make it worse, when we were driving home at 3am last night due to PA state emergency all the bridges were closed so we had to turn back and drive another 45 minutes to my parents house and then the kids get up at 6am :x

Wednesday I reported to work like normal after picking my wife up from work at 3AM in the morning.  It had already been snowing good but I got there ahead of time.  As usual, everybody else was smart and called out.  I told my boss I had to leave when I got there at 2 to drive my wife to work but I could come back if necessary.  I ended up standing around all day miserable and getting one job.  It got real real bad (white out) about 1PM so they actually ended up closing the whole store again at 3.  The last snow Sunday or whatever it was the same thing happened - drive through horrible ****, end up being one of very few who came in, stand around get no work, go home at noon.  Complete waste of day.

I drove her to work but was determined I was going to make something positive out of the day.  I asked as I crossed the PA-NJ like (she works in NJ) if the bridges were going to be closed.  We had packed change of clothes just in case and the toll booth person said yes they would be.  I dropped her off and knew if I went home I'd be stuck in PA and she'd have to sleep at work or if I stayed in NJ we would be stuck there.  I called my parents and made sure I had a bed, dropped her off, went and picked up some tools from Harbor Freight (poor employees, only other company open in this crap), and then went to Princeton.

I've driven through some bad stuff this winter and winters past, but this was right up there.
Look at the snow on the top of my black Escape - keep in mind I already cleaned off the car once, that's half the storm.
More is coming tomorrow and Monday possibly   






Harbor Freight had the spot weld cutters in stock.  I bought two, luckily.  They are double sided so when you wear one blade out, you can flip it.  Just like any metal bit, control the speed (keep it low) to keep it sharp.  Honestly, it's nothing special.  It's a tiny hole saw.  It is supposed to help cut damage to a minimum but there is really no difference.  It's just more convenient than using 3 different bit sizes.




So I continued drilling out the spot welds out of the passenger side of the front seat mount and eventually got them all.



I pulled the driver side seat and began scraping the sound deadener away to reveal the spot welds, then the power went out.
I would not be denied!



Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain.



Got the corner bracket out with some fighting.



And eventually, the entire front seat mount.






The transmission crossmember brackets that I said I removed.



With the front seat mount out, continue drilling exploratory holes through the front channel and follow it backward with the hole saw until you see the end of it.




Then fight the war with the rear upper seat mount.



The rear also has two brackets that you need to get from underneath the car.  You're going to hate spot welds even more when you're lying on your back looking up and red hot metal shavings are raining down on you.



Remember the jackass that claimed he remembered where all the sensitive stuff was on the underside and he didn't need to pull it yet?  Yeah, that was me.  Well, what happens is you skip a step like that and you forget.  Then you go to remove that front seat mount, and you drill holes in your brake and fuel lines.  Good job, stupid.




Then again, looking at these rear fuel lines, maybe it was a blessing in disguise.



Start the rear channel by smacking out the weather seal.  It's hard plastic, smash the center out then use a prybar to get the edge pieces.



You can't really see it, but I'm using a laser pointer here.  See the marks in the sound deadener that looks like there would be another channel below it?  There isn't.  But you use the inside line as a reference guide where to drill your exploration marks (see the line of drill holes?).



Viewed from underneath, put some drill bits through the holes.  You should be aligned with the center of the rear torque box (well, the big section that forms one side of it).  These are no Mickey Mouse LCAs kids, they directly tie the rear torque box into the front subframe.




Drill the holes.



Better have marked the rear bulkhead with that laser pointer, you're going to need it.  Just one exploratory hole and hole saw needed.  See how it's off just so slightly (missed right, towards inside of car)?  Since we're smart and using 1 7/8", we'll be fine.  When we cut the hole to 2" for the tube, we'll cut just the left side.





[SIDE NOTE]
I build my car to AI rules.  Where possible, I also try and meet NHRA tech.  Not that this is an AI car, or going to be an AI car, but it is a very modern and safe class and something to aspire to.  If I ever decided to go full race in the future, I would not want to have made permanent modifications to the car that would require purchasing a new vehicle or cutting out and re-doing difficult things.  That being said, I try and keep up on corner-carvers and NASA forums often for rule changes, see how people are building new cages and chassis, etc.  Someone posted an image of his cage and one critique was it would not meet AI tech because he had cut the floorpan so he could run a cage bar straight instead of with a bend.  After much debate (and PANIC by myself, as you can see my floorpan is modified!), the conclusion was made that it did pass tech due to

a) To facilitate the addition of safety equipment such as subframe connectors and roll cage bracing (i.e.
roll cage may extend through the firewall to strut towers);

I think I'm good.  I'll check with the local NASA tech that I know.
[/panic]
[/SIDE NOTE]




I wake up at my parents this morning and grab some tools, have some coffee.  Call my boss, and flat out told him I'm not coming in.  The bridges are now open, but I'm not coming in a third day this week to stand around.  Went and worked on the slowbra.


Drill the last two spot welds out of the front channel.



Cut that mofo off where it pinches at the end.  Now the only part of the front channel left on the vehicle should be the uniform straight section so the 2x2 will lay right in.




I began digging for the new rear seat mount.  No real need to move it too far.  Use a scratch awl and protractor to scribe a straight line through the center of the old two bolt holes and end perpendicular to the door sill.  Look close.  Make dimples for drill bit in the line.



Fire!



Same story on the front one, but there are no old bolt holes (they were studs for front).  So freehand it where it looks flat and as painless as possible.



I was going to drill some holes but Harbor's drill (new) started making some odd noises.  I picked up a cheap corded drill while I was there for other stuff because my cordless stuff dies QUICK.  Somebody threw a grenade into the gear drive I guess.  For once, I have the receipt, it's one day old.  We'll see how well they handle warranty issues.




Moving on, lets make some header plates for the door-sill-to-seat-mount.  I never end a tube-to-body connection, whether it be cage, frame, or whatever, straight to the body.  You can fail tech for it, and it's generally just not a strong connection.  As thick as that door sill looks, it is still pretty thin.  Rules state no plate may be larger than 100 square inches, no smaller than 2 inches any dimension, no greater than 12 any direction.  Must be at least .080 thick (see side note below).  Generally, if I'm making a plate, it's twice the dimensions of the tube mounting to it (2x2 tube goes to a 4x4 mount, 2x3 goes to a 4x6, etc.).  Clean at least a four inch wide area on the door sill and floor pan above your scribed centerline.  I'd suggest 8 inches or so.  Scrape away all that bodysealer.  Drill out the rivets in the centered 4" area.



This helps.



Cut out the section of the floor pan that was riveted (the part that goes up/down).





Get underneath and clean the area out.  Again, you will hate anything from the underside infinitely worse.



Fabricate yourself some 4x4 mounting plates, or as you will inevitably hear me refer to them as header/footer plates.  In this one, four holes, 1/2" diameter.



Slide in the footer plate.  Straighten out your pinch weld underneath as best as possible, then vice grip.  Tack top.  Tack 1/2" holes.  Go underneath, tack, remove vicegrip.




[SIDE NOTE]NASA CCR updated the spec for mounting plates to .080 thickness.  I used to use 16 gauge for small stuff like this and 11 gauge (1/8") for the cage, etc.  So great, I get to cut this plate out.  Luckily I had to leave to drive wife to work.[/SIDE NOTE]

That's it for today.  I need to catch up on some sleep.  I won't have a chance to go back unless we get hit by snow again and work gets closed until my normal days off Monday/Tuesday.  For now, I'll toy around with the trans at home, I think I have some shift linkage issue to chase down.  A trip to get dry ice and a trip to pick up the metal are in order so I can start cutting out the channels and laying new steel.

[95PGTTech]

Saturday I was supposed to have off, ended up being called in.  So my normal Monday/Tuesday off.  Monday I did some stuff around the house, made a million phone calls, and was generally lazy.  I really didn't want to go work on the car because a question came up about whether it was legal to cut the floorpan for the seat mounts.  To cut for the cage in NASA AI is OK.  To cut for the SFCs is OK.  The National Director Todd ended up giving me the green light on cutting for the seat mounts as I stated it is legal to tie the SFC into the cage in AI and I really want the seats tied directly into the cage and not the unibody for safety purposes.  He also clarified that I do NOT need footer panels where my new seat mounts would meet the rocker panels, I only need foot mounts on cage-to-body junctions.  I will use them anyway, though.  If I decide to go that route.  Another builder gave me the idea of using a different design to utilize side mount seats to get them even lower in the car due to my out of the ordinary height.  We'll see, that's a bridge for another day.

Cam degree stuff came in.



OTC 4v holding tool kit.



Wild Rides upper and lower battle box bolt or weld in torque box reinforcement kits.
I may upgrade to the s-boxes...another bridge.



Summit bolt-in driveshaft loop.



Comp Cams adjustable cam gears.  They come highly recommended from my cylinder head guy Lorenzo.



6 foot 2x3 .125", 2x6 foot 2x2 .125", 2x6 foot 1x1 .0625", 2x6 foot 1" .0625" round, .125" drop-offs
got a killer deal from Metals Your Way, all ERW tubing wish I would have asked that question and gotten DOM...oh well.




Cut one of the 4x8 drop offs in half at work the other day and redrilled them.  The new footer plates.  16 gauge vs. 11 gauge.




First order of business was making sure the Cobra was as level front to back as humanly possible.  I didn't worry about left-right so much but also got that close.  This will really help putting those tubes in and getting them aligned with each other.



I had only tacked that one footer in place but it was time to remove it.  You know your welds are solid when you just tack something and it's a half hour war to get it out and it ends up looking like this.  All in all the surface is flat and ready to take welds again.




Since I knew I was going to have the most excess of the 2x3 I cut the abuser square out of it.



I chopped out the rear section so the abuser piece fit into it and fits into the rear subframe.  Remember how I said I missed on this one?  Not terribly bad, but you can still see I am going to have some gaps to fill.  I did not go over the top with the cut just wanted a visual reference point better than a row of circles.




I started into the front channel by removing the two brackets that are inside the channel and in the way.  One for the bolts for the transmission crossmember mounts and one for god knows what in the front.  Two spot welds in the front one.  The rear one is welded in.




I did a real basic start cut up the entire channel.  Then I switched from a cutting blade to a grinding blade and slowly started grinding the edges until I could see the edges of the channel.  From there, I just kept test fitting the abuser piece until it fit.  It should be snug at all points, but not bind.




This is what I mean by ERW.  See the weld in the tube?  DOM is drawn-over-mandrel.  Which basically means it is one piece as opposed to welded.  Most racing bodies require roll cage tubing to be DOM, saying it is stronger as the weld is a potential weak spot.  All I know is it costs DRAMATICALLY more.



Chopped a 36" piece (god I need a band saw, or at least a chop saw...) and laid it in.  Scratch awl marked the rest of the cut.



The front needs to be angled based on how the front subframe ends.  Poor man's protractor.  Put one ruler on the bottom of the channel from underneath the car.  Put one on the front subframe upwards angle.  Clamp together with vicegrip.  Transfer angle onto metal with scratch awl.



Making endcap out of one of the .125" drop offs.  Holy cow it is easy to MIG new steel.  Grinded, it looks almost like I know what I'm doing.  Almost.



I guess I did not take a picture of how it sits in the channel.  Pretty damn good.  Inevitably, your channel is dented upwards (towards the interior) from being jacked on over time.  Ballpeen hammer, that abusing block, extensions/sockets, whatever you need to use to bang it back out and as flat as you can get it.  Ideally, when you're done, the new 2x2 sits just as level as your car measurement was.  Next, drill periodic holes into the channel downward.  We will weld the channel to the tube from the underside later with these holes.  It's nearly impossible to drill holes in the side of the channel, but there are a few stock holes in the sides we will take advantage of as well.  I made one hole with my hole saw about 3" from the front of the subframe.  This is for my matrix.




At this time I will seam weld the front channel and anything I think the SFCs, jacking rails, or matrix will get in the way of and not allow me access to later.  When you install the new tubing, if you just weld it from the interior you're really just welding it to the thing 16 gauge floor pan.  By drilling the holes in the channel, you're now truly welding it to the thicker channel material which is connected to larger parts of the front subframe.  Seam welding the channel to the front subframe and the floorpan helps make everything one working unit.  Eventually, I'd like to seam weld the entire car.  For now, I'm just doing what I won't have access to after this installation.  Unfortunately for seam welding, it is imperative those seams are PERFECTLY clean.  I started off with a 24 grit abrasive wheel and the abrasive wire wheel pictured earlier for harder to reach places.  The seams were still in the edges filled with paint and seam sealer, so as if grinding upside down didn't suck enough, I busted out the chemical stripper.  I don't even want to talk about how much the fumes, the mess, and getting that stuff on bare skin sucked.  When you're done, use the ballpeen end of your hammer along the seams to get them as tight together as possible, there are some sizeable gaps you can close up.  Since we drilled the spot welds out of the back of the front channel, I used vicegrips to hold it back tight to the floor pan until I tacked it.







Adam had a chemist's lab coat around the shop that we never use.  I found it makes a good fire blanket to protect the bit of wiring I have left in the interior.



Got about half of it welded up good before it started to spatter really bad and make an ugly weld.  Then I realized I was out of gas.  As clean as you get the car, there is still some crap in there, and getting used to the correct settings takes some time.  I welded with a little slower wire speed and a setting higher heat than I normally would if this was brand new metal and that seemed to work best as the extra heat and slower hand motions I guess burned through what was still left there.  Expect a lot of small fires, blow them out.  Check your interior every once in awhile.  I hit the half I welded with some primer.  The bare metal will last a week in the conditions I have, but the welds really attract rust fast so I covered them.  It's thin enough it will wire wheel off quickly if I need to re-do something.  I usually do my seam welding a 1" weld and then a 1" gap.  But I don't go in order.  I'll do a 1" weld, move down like 6", weld again, move.  The metal here is of a good size but it's good practice to move the heat around.  Then when I get to the end of the subframe I go back to the start and do the next 1" weld, move down 6", keep moving.  So by the end of three passes I have 1" welds spaced 1" apart but I didn't really build too much heat up at any one point.






And when I got home, RockAuto had delivered.  Pilot bearing, u-joints, caliper rebuild kits, caliper pin kits and boots, new emergency brake cables.



I also managed to drop by the powdercoater and drop off the fuel tank straps and the driveshaft yoke and pinion to be done in an aluminum/silver.  He had not gotten the calipers back from sandblast yet but he knows I don't need them anytime soon.  He cuts me great deals because he knows my stuff can wait forever until he is really slow and he uses the leftover powder from other jobs as I'm not really color picky.  Do this "red whatever" and do this "silver whatever."  And I managed to drop by Harbor Freight to exchange that drill that I grenaded last week.  I kept the receipt for once (actually, I tossed it, and the box, but since I broke it within 2 hours of unwrapping it, they were still on the top of the trash).  They gave me a new one.  Which I promptly broke in the same manner.  I guess I'm just going to return this one and buy a few new batteries for my cordless.

Next day off is Monday and Tuesday.  I have some parts errands to run during the week.

[Ciotti]

Wow...  I don't even know what else to say, I'm blown away man, I love that you're using AI rules as a guide and the attention to detail is fantastic.  Keep up the good work man, hopefully you'll have it all dialed in for this year's autocross season so you can come out to one of my South Jersey SCCA events

I wish I had known you've been getting all down and dirty with a T45, I have an extra one here that I would have offered up for parts or as a guinnea pig or something.  It got rebuilt a few years back and a handful of aftermarket parts were put in but then after a year of hard shifting it started popping out of third so it came out of the car and has been sitting in my spare bedroom ever since :(

[MustangChris]

you know what they say about harbor frieght:
They have great products, until you use them.



as for the build, good progress.  keep up the good work :-)

[95PGTTech]

Well it's not a Monday or a Tuesday so I didn't get any work done on the car, but got a few other things handled and a big break.  The powdercoater just called and said the pieces are done so I will try and swing by there Mon/Tues.  I did locate a place (thanks 1bad95!) to get the dry ice.  Not that location but another one of Airgas's stores about 10 minutes away from the garage so in case I need to get more for this project or future projects...

Box from LRS came in...more weatherstrips, e-brake clip, driver side door cup (going to have to figure out how to paint to match), headlight knob, stock T45 transmission mount, e-brake center bracket.



And I landed my first sponsor!  Wild Rides!  The products are self explanatory, the welds are pretty slick.





For reference (someone asked), the lower two s-boxes weigh a combined 25.2 pounds and 13.0 pounds on the upper.  I tried test fitting the battle boxes I got from them last week and the more I looked at the lower driver side the more I started thinking I already damaged it.  These directly replace both upper and lower control arm torque boxes for those that are severely damaged or severe duty.  The three mount holes give you different locations for helping set up the rear suspension (the middle is the stock one for stock-suspension classes).  I am not worried about the weight adding a few pounds to the rear and down low in this car is a GREAT thing.

Gene is a really nice guy and is basically a one man band.  I got these on a KILLER deal in exchange for the battle boxes back and running some stickers and helping develop a real good set of install instructions to appease the internet warriors.  He had a Fox in the shop that he was able to show me basically final installation on and answer a ton of questions I had about their function and install.

If I can get the funds together quick enough, I'll also end up having him do the work to my rear end.  He had one half done in the shop that I may trade him for.  Maybe I'll work up enough courage to approach him about an internship.  Maybe.

[95PGTTech]

Errands:

post office
dry ice
powdercoater
harbor freight


Powdercoated stuff turned out f'ing incredible.  He sandblasted, masked off, powdercoated.  Didn't even need to tell him where not to get coat, that's why I use this guy (Powtek Trenton, NJ).  Not only got the obvious stuff like do not get powder in bolt holes and the piston area but got the small stuff like the ABS sensor ring on the caliper plates and the e-brake ring on the calipers.











Replacement pieces for my Delta bench grinder that I bought at a yard sale now 2 years ago...been using just one side of it since.  Finally found the website online and got a tech on the line and ordered individual hardware for the other side.  Now I can mount the grinding and wire wheel at the same time!  Yay!



New toys



Dry ice pellets (10lb).  Turned out to be near useless.  Definitely got the floorboards cold (there was icicles on the underside) but didn't make pulling off the sound deadener any easier.  Pictures and stories online say just lay this stuff on for a few minutes then hammer off the deadener it cracks off easy...yeah...okay...







Put my new welding blanket to good use.  I was standing there trying not to spend TOO much and looking at this blanket 5x5 for $14.99 and passed on it initially.  I later came back after I asked my wife if it was worth it and she asked how much it would cost to find a mint black dash for our car.  Good point, dear.



Finished seam welding the tunnel.  Oh the irony.  Keep reading.  Fought the same wire feed issues I've been having with it since day one.  Hobart 125 MIG.  Strongly considering replacement spool/feeder or replacement welder.  Problem is, only have 110V in this house.  That takes away a lot of good tools (big MIG, TIG, plasma, lift, oven for small powdercoat projects...).  You can see how hot it gets in the cabin in the last pic, I guess that blanket was worth it.






I used red Rustoleum primer this time.  That flat black looks like poop and makes my welds look really bad.  Not that they're good, but...




Really put my nose to the grindstone on the whole sound deadener issue.  Hammer + scraper gets off top hard paint layer.  Scraper for the black stuff.  Sharpen often on grinder.  Tried to get two scraper width on both sides of the tunnel really clean, then went back with the electric grinder with the coarse wire wheel.  If any tar is left it just spreads it around you need to have 99.9% of it off before using that.  I took about the first half inch on each side of the tunnel down to bare steel even through the factory off-grey bottom coat.  Ready to weld.  Seam welded the floor pans up front where I thought I might not have a chance to get into again once the SFCs are all in the way.




Car is still level.



Initial measurement of front SFC.  Fail.  Rear is way too high.



Even how I cut the front it still wants to ride up a little bit.  I had to constantly check it was where it needed to be.  That hole I cut in the front really helped.  Also not pictured is the hole I drilled in the end of the tunnel (front) for welding later, helped me make sure the tube was all the way forward.




If you'll remember I did a lot of banging out of that tunnel because it does get jacked up on often and that bends it out of place.  I continued banging down dents I found in the back hoping to lower the back.  No dice.  Impact chisel + blunt tip didn't do much either.  I considered heating the tunnel with my torch and doing the same thing but decided it would be too risky for the person heating while I hit.  So at this point, I called it close enough.


Ummm....no.





Closer...



More cowbell makes it SOOOO close.




So...






Now, I am satisfied.  And covered in little metal shavings.



It was time to go coach track.  Tomorrow I begin my journey on the rear one.  We'll start with cutting out the factory lower torque box to give me some room to work.

[95PGTTech]

I have come to the conclusion that at my current pace I am not going to finish the car before it's nice enough to drive out, so I'm going to have to figure out a way to get over there more often.  I normally get off around 5PM and my wife not until very early morning so what's the point really of being at home?

Pulled the rear seat back and rear headrest.



Pulled up my battery wires and nitrous lines so as not to end up burning/drilling through them.



Checked still level.



I needed to move my jackstand to access the rear torque box area.  This was my best idea.  I am not going to win any OSHA awards anytime soon, but I was smart enough at least to weld the areas where the jack stand was sitting on.



I began removing the passenger rear torque box.  This is what you start with.



Make a reference for later measuring the rear LCA bolt hole location.



Drilled out the two spot welds on this bracket.



Prybar, vicegrips, cutter and it's out.




The one just forward of it showed no signs of getting an advantage of drilling the spot welds first, so I just cut first, then went back and spot weld drilled second.






I then cut into the rear subframe to begin laying SFC.



Cleaned the seam sealer out of the pinch weld to see where the panels overlapped and where to get an idea to cut.  Interestingly, there is no overlap.  I don't understand why there is seam sealer in this location.



I chopped out the big flat area of the torque box to gain more room to work.




I took this picture of the front SFC while I was at it.  I got some lame pictures yesterday, this more accurately shows what is going on.



I shot this picture trying to show that the rear subframe is actually on an angle.  It points very slightly inboard.



Cut a 12" section of 2x3 and cut the floorpan slightly more to clearance.




Another shot showing the angle.



I ended up having to cut my rear hole just a tad bigger.



Since I am installing the lower S-boxes, I don't have to go through the rear subframe all the way to the LCA bolt.  But if I did, this indent into the rear subframe would need to be cut out.  I'll use it at a stop point.



I measured the distance from that indent to the rear subframe and marked it on the 2x3 to let me know when it was deep enough.



I used a laser pointer and pretty much good guessed where the tunnel was beneath the rear floorpan and drilled a hole big enough to get this extension down.  When you put the 2x3 in the rear end is going to want to go upward on you.  Put the extension through the hole and you can smack it back downward.



How it wants to ride up versus where it should be.




Time to make some bare metal.  Chemical stripper, wire brush, hammer, scraper, electric grinder with coarse wire wheel again.






On the front cut of the torque box, it's problematic.  I cut it, but there is still a piece left.  The rear bulkhead comes down and is spot welded to the floorpan.  The problem is, the front of the torque box is sandwiched between those pieces and also spot welded.  I did the unibit method with these spot welds due to the 3 layer issue.





Seam welded the rear bulkhead to the floorpan from top and bottom.





Checked level.  In order for the rear of the tube to sit flush in the tunnel, the front is way up.



So I tack welded the rear from the bottom.



Then smashed the **** out of the front end downward until it was level.



I started final welding back where I made the tack.



Then began making the bulkhead base plate.  I made sure to cut and weld such that I may still remove the upper rear bulkhead if I chose to do so.  Foxes only have the lower piece and I think I will remove the upper to get a better spot to mount the cage.




And finish welded the rear tube.  The only area not welded is tube to floor pan, that will come when the entire SFC is done.






Laid out the center tube for next time.  Before I begin on that, I'll weld the front of the front tube solid and make a bulkhead plate for it so it's level and not moving around while I'm trying to fit the problematic middle piece.  Final measurements - from the floor to the bottom of the front tube and the bottom of the rear tube are within 1/16".

[MustangChris]

very nice.   thats pretty accurate to 1/16"... (at least i think it is...)

what is the jumper cable for?  to ground the metal your welding?


also: im glad your jack-stand-stand didnt fail on you... i would have hated you forever had something smashed you and i never got to see the end of this thread.

[dafizuck]

This build is amazing man.  No idea what most of the stuff youre doing is for, but it looks awesome!  Nice work.

[Xronin]

ok school me if im just being dumb but is that how all sub fram connectors go in ??? cutting through the floor and welding em in ?

[95PGTTech]

Chris:  yep, MIG ground cable.

ok school me if im just being dumb but is that how all sub fram connectors go in ??? cutting through the floor and welding em in ?

No.  Most are an hour install welding from the bottom of the car.  This is above and beyond the amount of work for even most through-floor installations.  The advantages of this method are far increased rigidity and ground clearance; the disadvantage is a lot more difficult install.  Cost ends up being about the same if you're doing the install yourself; cost to do through-floors is way higher if you're paying someone to do it for you.

[MustangChris]

thanks for the info.

also, your bandwidth is exceeded...

[duh09]

Photobucket PWNED.

[95PGTTech]

Upgraded to a pro account (long overdue).  They are back up.
I guess a lot of people are viewing.

[got5.0]

Nice build man... seems like lots of work lol

[Xronin]

this build just give me the ability to look foward in time to what im probably gonig to do to mine (as far as body)  VERY nice build so far

[95PGTTech]

Now that I have a "PRO" photobucket account, one of the many treats is being able to upload in high resolution.  I still picked 800x600 because that is still what the majority of people displays are set at and most forum rules, but is there any noticeable difference to you guys?  I'm still shooting with the Canon Powershot A480 - I'm not bringing the 450D any more for car stuff it gets too dirty and paying to get it cleaned sucks.


New toys.  The day my tools arrived from Summit someone put nearly the same exact stuff up on Corral used, and also the clutch.  He cut me such a great deal overall that it makes sense for me to return the Summit stuff.  I only eat the shipping within the first 60 days no restocking fee.




My cordless sawzall also arrived but I did not take a picture of it.  According to the slip on my door, my cordless impact gun is also here.  I stopped by Harbor Freight as I found the receipt for the second drill and attempted to return it, this time I just wanted store credit.  Apparently, the 30 day warranty only extends to the first item, not to any replacement items.  Humph.  I'll stick to buying consumables from them and nothing else.


I got the driveshaft done at work this week in some spare time.



And the brake caliper brackets.



Upon arriving at the garage, I verified that the chassis, and then the front tube is level both vertically and horizontally for the 128,228,573rd time.



Slid under and welded the front of the front tube.  Welded the underside of the tube to what remains of the channel.






Then cut and welded in the firewall footer plate.  4x6.  Pretty thick sheetmetal along the bottom and sides but thin up top, watch it.




16.5" center section.



Cut the floorpan, angled both ends.



Tacked it in checking level in both directions.



Finish welded it, as well as the floorpan to it.





Of note, the weld where the center section meets the front section.  A triple pass to ensure I got good penetration.  This weld lands directly in the middle of where the seat would mount and in an effort to get the seat as low as possible and have as much clearance as possible this weld will be ground down.  Therefore the overkill.



Front section welded to floorpan.



At this point, the sacrificial bracket can be removed and the rest of the front section bottom welded to the tunnel.





The replacement 4x4 seat mount/rocker footer plates installed.  Much grinding/hammer/vicegrip was needed on my mangled pinch welds.







I wanted to start cutting the seat mount rails but I was running low on time and on argon.  I wanted to finish off the tank so I could take it with me and pick up more on my way to the garage tomorrow since it's 5 minutes from my house and an hour from the garage.  So I just finished 90% of the rest of the welding of the SFC to the floorpan, being careful not to weld the areas where the seat rails still needed to go and causing myself more work.

There were some serious gaps in areas and it's hard to figure out how to go from wanting good penetration (hot, high settings) of the .125" thick tube and not blowing through the thin 18 gauge floorpans (typically slow, low settings).  I found it best to start welding only on the tube and use multi-pass welds to create a shelf to extend almost touching the floorpans on the highest settings (think creating a bridge one plank at a time).  Then turn it way down and use a series of tacks to bridge the last small plank to the sheetmetal so it did not burn through.  I welded both top and bottom from the same points.  Once the bridge was created on one side, it was pretty easy on the other side to just leave it turned up since the welds are very thick and would not blow through.

I fixed the welder earlier in the day.  I have been questioning myself lately if I need more classes I could not figure out where all this spatter and rough welds that stand way up are coming from.  It turns out I had the feeder set way wrong, causing intermittent flow of wire, therefore spattering, therefore BBs and jams, and therefore poor heat/poor penetration/poor laydown/standup.  Another interesting thing I noted was that in my rush, and emboldened by my now insanely hotter welds I blew right through the paint that remained on some of the rear floorpans and it made little difference.  I simply used a little bit hotter setting than I normally would with very slow handspeed...the intense heat and slow movement seemed to melt the paint off an inch or so ahead of where I was working.  Also, on areas where there was still sound deadener, I welded from the bottom first and intentionally made very hot, long passes.  The intense heat allowed me to go topside quickly and using the scraper peel back the deadener.  It was extremely easy one light pass got down to bare metal when it was hot.  It practically boiled itself off.













Tomorrow I hope to get both seat mount rails into the passenger side and make some headway, if not finish the passenger side rear torque box.  If I am really moving, I'll be able to get the jacking rail and matrix completely mocked up.

Overall, I am extremely happy with how it turned out so far.  I don't know how I want to close off that opening at the top of the rear tube, this is the first time I have used the combination of 2x3 and 2x2 (I have previously only ever used one or the other).  I have a simple idea, which would look ehhhhh, and a difficult idea, which would look much more aesthetic.  The attention to the measurements and keeping everything level in both dimensions really payed dividends...when I layed the center piece in and lined up the bottom of it to both the front and rear tube it was perfectly level in both directions, I didn't need to install it on an angle at all.  In the end, that looks better, and provides better strength.  Is all this worth the PITA?  That's your call, I'm already too far down the road to even entertain that debate now.

[MustangChris]

nice bro. glad you got your welder problem figured out :-)

[Dalamar]

nice work PGT, that iced up shot is pretty cool.
Got a pack of the same welding holder thingies last week as you show a few posts up, they're handy.

Powder coating finish is awsome isn't it!  I got my front Cals, and brackets coated about 8 years back and they still look new.


Suggestion: when welding - like on your sub frames, you should take a wire wheel on your grinder, and take off the paint.
you'll get a much nicer looking weld and it will be stronger because you're not burning paint into it.

I'm also curious, and maybe I missed it in the reading - why do you do all the hole-saw cuts - why not just cut it out with a cut-off wheel in a grinder?


and like I said, nice progress man

[Zackqb2]

Great Work...Man

[95PGTTech]

Suggestion: when welding - like on your sub frames, you should take a wire wheel on your grinder, and take off the paint.
you'll get a much nicer looking weld and it will be stronger because you're not burning paint into it.

I'm also curious, and maybe I missed it in the reading - why do you do all the hole-saw cuts - why not just cut it out with a cut-off wheel in a grinder?

I've been doing that in places and skipping it others.  It really seems to make no difference.  Some joints I've gone so far as to wire wheel, then chemical strip, then wire wheel, then clean off with a rag and parts cleaner and the weld still seems to be contaminated with the tiniest bit of foreign material in the joint.  These last few welds do not appear as great as the first few because I haven't taken the wire wheel to them pre-picture.

I use the hole-saw method to visually help me sort everything out.  It also leaves a lot more material in the floorboards in case you miss a bit, meaning smaller gaps to fix.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess.  After I have the piece cut to fit in said hole, I go back with the cutoff wheel and cut them straight, then the grinder and take away little bits until I get the tightest fit I can (given my timeframe and available patience...).



Well, you know I got a lot done when I'm not even uploading my photos until 10:30PM.  Wow - I normally have 20-30 pictures on a normal day.  I have 73 today.  Corral is going to take forever to upload when I do on there.


Toys!  Turns out I'm an idiot, again.  That's an impact driver, not an impact gun stupid, read the auction better next time.  Oh well, the driver goes back up on eBay, and I keep the two new batteries and charger, worth the price anyhow.  Saw works pretty good.  The LEDs are neat.  Picked up some .030" wire for the welder and tips.  First time I've used it with MIG.  The .023" allows me to go down to 22AUG sheet but the .030" cuts wire speeds down from the high 80s into the 20s.  So I should consume it a lot slower.  Also the weld pool is considerably wider and stays hotter.



Finished that welding I was supposed to get to on the underside of the center section.




Before I really get into it, a comment about the welder and what I meant.  Because the wire was feeding intermittently, it gave a pulse type effect.  Think of holding the trigger for two seconds and then blipping your finger off, then two, off, two, off.  Some guys do this on purpose to create TIG-appearing welds with MIG.  First picture is effect.



When you're intending to do it in the car world, if you're selling welded products it can help you sell your product as the general public assumes TIG is superior to MIG and assumes all welds should appear stack-of-dimes like that one does.  Typically TIG gives this effect.  In reality, MIG is just as strong of a process (both, if done correctly) and the final appearance of a weld is really irrelevant so long as they have no contamination and good penetration.  But, consumers are stupid and think TIG = better and stack of dimes will definitely help sell your product as the general internet audience is going to look and say OMFG look at those welds want want want.  Unfortunately, when you can't control the pulsing, you get these type results...high build, poor penetration, no heat buildup.  So essentially fixing my junk makes my welds look worse in most cases, but actually be a lot more sound.



Outlining and cutting the front outside seat brace cut.  I think this was 9 1/2" or something like that.




Getting this bastard to go where I wanted it to, level in both directions.  Also note, check level (in relation to car left-right) both at the center of the brace, and at the overlap of the brace to the SFC to ensure the brace is flush with the SFC.




After tack, weld.  Top, then bottom.  Or vice versa.  I'd suggest weld the hardest welds first, the ones deep in the corners, and work your way out.





In the above picture, note the high bump in the floorpan.  I determined (same reason I ground down those welds...) that since this bump was higher than the highest point of the seat braces or SFC it could become an intrusion into seat mounting or movement and had to be pursuaded.  Recess cut, hammer, weld.  Real light settings, something like 2/15 I was using.





You can still get nice results welding correctly.  This was a 15 push C motion.  What I'm using on most of my welds, but this one turned out especially good.  It just comes down to practice practice practice.  Fabricate well, get good tight gaps, then be consistent with your hand motion and once you have it going don't stop.





Onto the rear outside seat brace, this one intersects the centersection which is on a slight angle so it's a bit trickier.  I think something like 9 5/8 on the short side and 9 7/8 on the long side.



Same deal.  Draw.  Cut.  Fit.  Grind.  Fit.  Grind.  Fit.  Grind.  Fit.  Grind.  Magnet.  Level.  Level.  Level.  Grind.  Level.  Hammer.  Level.  Hammer.  Level.  Tack.  Clamp.  Hammer.  Level.  Level.  Level.  Tack.  Weld.







Now, if we put the big level across both outside seat braces...Baddah bing!




Time for the inside ones.  11.5" piece cut in half.  Measure 6.25" flip it over and measure 6.25" from the other side.  Cut and you end up with just about a 45 degree angle.  Weld endplates on, cut to size, grind the edges down.  On one of them, account for the 1/4" taper that the center section has.





Same process for the rear one (the tapered one).



Front one, same thing.  Can be a bit tricky you'll have to cut the floorpan and spend extra time grinding this one due to the way the floorpan comes up the center tunnel.




Very low on gas (did I get a full tank, that went fast?) so I did not finish weld the last three.  At this point it was a good time to run out and get my haircut (first in months) since the hardware store is right next to it as is Dunkin Donuts (I should get a sponsorship, I've spent $3-$6 every day, sometimes two and three times a day, since I've had a driver's license and a car).  Came back with some goodies.  Always need more trash bags, hardware for playing around with side skirt mounting, and my personal fetish another magnetic tray.  I think that brings my total including the ones I have at work to six.  So useful.



So back to that passenger side lower torque box.  This is where my night got really, really bad.  Started on the piece that was still attached to the pinch weld with the new recip saw, prybar, and vicegrip.




As Gene said, there is no correct way to remove all this metal.  Just start cutting.  Recip saw + vicegrip cut out a random triangle.  I was trying to be organized about this at first but you really just need to cut it into small, bite size random shapes.  As you go more and more you get more room for your tools to fit in.




The decent sized center fin lost to the cutoff disk, vicegrip, plier, and recip saw.  I was trying to be relatively quiet in respect to Princeton noise laws (after dark STFU).  So I tried to use the cutoff disk as little as possible although it would have made some steps faster.




Random little strips left where the LCA actually bolts to.  Here I finally had enough material removed I could get in there with the cordless drill and my new step bit (the real skinny one I love).










This last MOFO, the thickest piece that forms a U shape that the LCA actually goes into, that is spot welded to the floorpan and the frame rail, single handedly took longer than all the other pieces combined.  Not only does it have an insane amount of spot welds to get out that are in impossible to reach spots and angles, it holds on for dear life after you get them out and it's stupid thick, it takes SO long to drill through them pushing upward with everything you got.  I think my guns grew a full size doing this project.  Anyway, it's all cleared out now.






I need to finish grinding down some of what is left of those spot welds and then chemical strip the area to deal with that rust.  I'd like to chem strip it all then use the wire wheel to see how deep it goes.  For crying out loud, it's on the inside of the main frame rails (not as bad) so it's nothing I'm going to cure now but it will give me an idea if I'm ever here again whether I'm going to need new floorpans or just to completely strip and sandblast this chassis.  The passenger side inside lower rear seat belt bracket now falls under the "unnecessary interior bracket" rule.  Luckily you can see the spot welds from the interior of the car so I started the drilling in there and finished it underneath.






Unfortunately my favorite unibit was killed in the line of duty.  He will be missed, he was the most useful of the bunch and an insane timesaver.



Tossed up the Wild Rides lower S-box for a quick look.  Tell me that does not look completely germinating bad a*s.



This is a picture of the ten million metal shards I was laying in doing this job, which turned this job from hellaciously difficult to absolute, pure hell.  Everything from the tiniest little BB you get when grinding to razor sharp pieces as big as pencil shavings.  Down your back, on your neck, in your hair.  Not to mention you are laying in it, looking up, having new pieces RED HOT rain down on your arms, face, neck, hair.  For once I was in full safety gear - wet hat, full face shield, welding gloves, long sleeves...and I still have some pretty nasty burns on hands, arms, and face, one a half inch or so from my eye.  Totally worth it though, those S-boxes are INSANE.  Just more motivation to get a lift.  Or a house, with my own garage, with a lift.



Yanked the passenger side interior C pillar trim, speaker panel, sound deadening, and rear seat belt.  Took a few reference pics for this week when I'm deciding on stuff that needs deciding on.










That is all.  Stupid UPS is trying to deliver something that requires signature so I have to come home tomorrow after work no choice.  I need to start getting over there more on days where there is little work and I leave early and getting projects done at work and at home (such as trans) on days where I leave at normal time (no sense in going over there if I get out at 5-5:30 since I'd be there at 6-6:30 and it's already dark.

Corral has a 20 pic/post limit.  This is going to take a minute...

[SRT Handz]

I would be scared to do this..... Crazy build.

[Dalamar]

Before I really get into it, a comment about the welder and what I meant.  Because the wire was feeding intermittently, it gave a pulse type effect.  Think of holding the trigger for two seconds and then blipping your finger off, then two, off, two, off.  Some guys do this on purpose to create TIG-appearing welds with MIG.  First picture is effect.

That is a nice looking weld, and I do that technique you're talking about.  it actually has beter penetration than just running a straght pass.
in this picture I can see from the edges and the heat marks that you have good penetration on both sides.
the key it to not let it cool too much, it should stay glowing hot as you go.

Same deal.  Draw.  Cut.  Fit.  Grind.  Fit.  Grind.  Fit.  Grind.  Fit.  Grind.  Magnet.  Level.  Level.  Level.  Grind.  Level.  Hammer.  Level.  Hammer.  

A day in the life of a fabricator  


I've never broken a unibit - props on that!

[US Soldier]

yet a nuther epic build. good work man

[95PGTTech]

I don't know how I forgot this picture.  The look of the seat rails when it's all "done."

[MustangChris]

it took 20 minutes to load this page in my hotel room... (yes, thats a good sign)

the seat rails look great.  I cant wait to see you start putting it back together :-)

[95PGTTech]

I was a lazy pile of **** this week.  Monday I showed up late and have to leave early due to track anyway so I only put 5 hours in total and I took Tuesday off.  I left work early the last two days due to lack of work and just sat around the house again so I need to break this streak before it becomes another long cycle of nothing done.  I don't work until 430 tomorrow so Adam and I are going to try and make it over to the garage to make some progress.

I picked up some spray-on chemical stripper being as I had to do the torque box area straight up.  Just doing the small amount I did under the car already the paint on stuff is very messy.  This is "aircraft grade" so it should be stronger, right?  One is paint remover the other is base coat remover.  It's still a giant, messy ordeal and really gets very little off.  If anything, it just weakens it up for the wire wheel to come blasting through to the bare metal.





I removed the last of the rear seat belt passenger side mounting tabs.





Fully (as best as I could) stripped torque box area.  The brown is that primer I was using before.  Honestly, the rust is not that bad.  It did get under the factory primer and peeled and chipped it off in many places but the rust is not beneath very far.  The wire wheel got 99% of it and I'm hoping a good coat of primer will slow it down to get me through another year or two until funds permit a larger-scale restoration...there's a scary thought, eh?



I finished seam welding the area that the replacement torque box would go into and not allow me access to anymore.  This gives you an idea of what even my small welder is doing for heat.  This is the wheel well area of the rear wheel.  This is the inside of the wheel well - I was welding on the other side on two 1/16" thick pieces of metal and all this heat still came through that and peeled up the undercoating in the wheel well.




A piece of undercoating still on fire decided to drop down onto me and give me a new access hole through my sweatshirt.  Thank goodness for crappy work clothes and 3-4 layers - it was a good 30 seconds of burning before I noticed due to smell.



The rear lower control arm bolt access hole needs to be opened up to allow you access to the new highest mount.  I chose the hole saw and it made pretty quick work of the job.



Primer!



Ground down the edges of the torque box clearancing it (my seam welds got in the way) then ground the paint off the edges I think I need to weld eventually.



Bottle jack ftmfw, these are heavy and I'm a small guy!



Trying to show the clearance between the new torque box and the rocker panel on the outside of the car, then the new torque box and the rear subframe rail.  There is a notch you can see in the rear subframe rail.  According to Gene's direction, this needs to be extra clearanced to fit the torque box even tighter up to the floor pan and to the rear subframe rail.  Not understanding, I called him and I think I understand what he means now.







That is all.  Yeah, I know, suck a*s update.

In other news, new toys!  (Not pictured Hobart 10lb spool conversion hub) two 10lb reels of .030", a new gun liner to hopefully finish off the last of the ****ty wire feed issues, nozzle gel, nozzle brush.  I didn't spend that much this week, got her camera fixed, and made DOUBLE my normal paycheck = happy wife.  We'll push our luck next week with new parts.

[95PGTTech]

Put 7 hours in cars today...pretty cool since it wasn't a scheduled day.  Didn't touch my car at all but made a lot of headway on Adam's car and worked on the welder.  Put the 10lb spool kit in and the new gun liner.  Out of gas so couldn't test it out but just running some wire through the gun felt much better.

[Duff Daddy]

hobart makes a nice product, ive always had good luck with my lincoln and the Miller we have here at work (220)  but either way, nice progress,

[95PGTTech]

Sigh.  Another day where I got little done.
Found a bunch of wiring issues in Adam's car and got it started and running though.

got a couple more seam welds done





cut a 10 3/4 piece for the middle part of the jack rails.  beveled both ends to clear the welds from the rocker panel footer plates to seat mount tubes.  added 1/8" plate to take up the gap between the jack rail and pinch weld.  jack rails serve a few purposes - strengthen and straighten the abused pinch weld and tie it into the SFCs, provide a higher clearance, easily accessible area to lift the car with floor jack or car lift, and for me, securely mount side skirts.




I'm going to cut it back out.  Apparently I moved it between tacking and welding and I don't like how far the front part is away from the footer plate.  I don't know WTF is up with the brown dust it looks like I ARCd.

[95PGTTech]

Fought the welder through that piece again today (eventually figured out I needed more wire speed) and made some welds I'd rather not have any human set eyes on.  Drilled the first bolt holes for the side skirts.  The following pictures convey the general idea.




Cut the section for the front, I think it was on the order of 24" or so.  Ground out all the seam sealer I could with the wire wheel (messy!), then went back with the paint stripper, more wire wheel, then a scratch awl, and finally a pick.  And in the end, still didn't get it all.  Seam welded this section.  Also cut and flattened a front portion I was not able to earlier.





Got my drill press working again!



Tacked the front tube into place after requiring six notches for clearance.  I did add the 1/8" plate spacers just like the last one to account for the seat rail to rocker panel footer plates.  I drilled the holes (above) into this one prior to welding in the car so I should have a pretty easy time drilling straight up through the holes as a pilot for the easy through-floorpan hole.  Five bolts per side skirt should suffice in helping mount them sturdier than they were previously.





My welding is still extremely hit or miss.  I'm signed up for another adult education class to find out if it's man, machine, or both.  The tricky part for the front jack rail tube is that the front fender mounts to the pinch weld at the very front.  I ground off the two nuts that the bolts go through and planned on drilling through the tube once installed and installing longer fender bolts and tacking nuts on the end.  We'll see how that plays out.  As you can see in the pictures, I need to really bend and hammer the pinch weld in this area closer to the jack rail, that's how bad mine were messed up.  It was a bit late to be doing that so we cleaned up and called it a day.  Adam got a lot of work done again and we both were able to sell some used parts but the car is not moving along as quickly as one would hope.

[Pete k]

in my experience  75% of the time its the man not the machine. however welding on old previously painted thin metal isnt the best thing to master your skills on. however props man, looks like your getting it done !