Gt-12

[ranger_mclaren]

Hey hey! Updates! Now my weekend is complete.


I just spent 3 hours learning the hard way that Ford Focus front brakes are poorly designed pieces of shit.


It's nice to end my day watching a thread of someone who actually knows what he's doing (most of the time)

The front brakes are nothing. designed better than a cavalier I hate working on the F'in drums.

Sweet tubes dude!

 

[TheTopher]

The front brakes are nothing. designed better than a cavalier I hate working on the F'in drums.

I agree, drums are considerably worse. I just wish they had decided to use bolts instead of those allen keyed pins. The reason I say they suck is the actual pad retention on them is horrible. The caliper is built bigger than the pads and then uses pins and springs to hold them in place, as opposed to my old Acura that simply had a caliper built to exactly the size of the pads giving them nowhere to move to.

With the recent snow we've had, snow got inside the wheel and the pad came loose and ground the rotor into a similar profile as the stock market.

 

[ranger_mclaren]

I agree, drums are considerably worse. I just wish they had decided to use bolts instead of those allen keyed pins. The reason I say they suck is the actual pad retention on them is horrible. The caliper is built bigger than the pads and then uses pins and springs to hold them in place, as opposed to my old Acura that simply had a caliper built to exactly the size of the pads giving them nowhere to move to.

With the recent snow we've had, snow got inside the wheel and the pad came loose and ground the rotor into a similar profile as the stock market.

One thing I do like about the rear drums is the fact that they are held in place by the bearing and a bolt no more spraying wd40 and letting it soak then try to fight the drum loose.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

unless the bearing fails and the inner race gets fused to the spindle, then the drum becomes a real pain in the ass to get off!

 

[gwaii]

just a quick report...while i've been at it still,there's not much worth taking pics of.i made the other wheel tub(the right side one)and i'm getting the firewall fitted up.

there's also been some more welding on the hood going on,i'll take more pics when it's looking interesting

 

[ranger_mclaren]

cool gwaii look forward to it.

 

[BONES]

144 pages!!!!!!!!!

Good job btw.

So is it possible to "heat shape" uhmw? Like in 1/4" thickness? Like in the vacuum box jobby you were talking about before?

I've been thinking about doing a set of fenders like the wide Fiberglass ones, only using uhmw heated to the shape. I have some here but it's 1/2" thick 12"x20" chunks and I heated it with a torch and it melted, lol. Too much heat, lol.

Mind you I haven't priced out a sheet of this yet, it could be costly. I bet I could get all 4 fenders (2 fronts 2 rears) out of a 4x8 sheet tho.

I have a buddy that owns a powder coating shop and I could ask to use his walk in ovens.

 

[gwaii]

144 pages!!!!!!!!!

Good job btw.

So is it possible to "heat shape" uhmw? Like in 1/4" thickness? Like in the vacuum box jobby you were talking about before?

I've been thinking about doing a set of fenders like the wide Fiberglass ones, only using uhmw heated to the shape. I have some here but it's 1/2" thick 12"x20" chunks and I heated it with a torch and it melted, lol. Too much heat, lol.

Mind you I haven't priced out a sheet of this yet, it could be costly. I bet I could get all 4 fenders (2 fronts 2 rears) out of a 4x8 sheet tho.

I have a buddy that owns a powder coating shop and I could ask to use his walk in ovens.

i've never tried heat-molding uhmw....it would be interesting to find out if it's possible.

hmmm......

 

[martin]

That would be quite a large piece to vacuum form, whatever you were creating it with. The plug would also be quite a challenge as it would have to be smaller in every dimension by the thickness of the material (the thickness will change depending on how far it has to be pulled). The plug will also have to be pre-heated or the material will harden in some places before the pull is completed. Oh! it will also have to be quite rigid or the vacuum will distort it. I'm not trying to put you off doing it I'm just pointing out some of the things that need thinking about, in case you've not thought about them before.

 

[--weezl--]

i saw a thing on how it's made, today, about carbon fiber... doesn't actually seem that difficult...

take your mold, cover it in some type of glue, not sure what it was, i missed that part... 7 layers of carbon fabric, a permeable fabric on top of that (looks like tissue paper kinda) then a plastic mesh, butyl tape around the edges of the mold, plastic bags overtop of that to make an airtight seal, vacuum pump the air out, then put a hose from a resin into the far side of the vacuumed area, while still pumping, and wait for everything to be fully saturated in the resin, then let it cure...

 

[martin]

If you look at some of the stuff Gwaii's made, he's made that look easy also. Experience goes a long way, especially experience learned the hard way.

 

[gwaii]

If you look at some of the stuff Gwaii's made, he's made that look easy also. Experience goes a long way, especially experience learned the hard way.

ya,a lot of stuff ended up in the trash before i got all the details right.

now that i'm old and don't have as much time left to waste,i'm a lot more carefull about the little things.

 

[BONES]

LOL, I know the feeling man.

I guess I should do a little online research on vacuum box's. Something like a front fender wouldn't take up that much room but a whole rear quarter is definitely another story.

The plan would be a one off and not a reproduction type set-up for me. Would still need to make lefts and rights of each. and have them very close to the size needed so the product fit well after.

 

[BONES]

After youtubing DIY vacuum box, I'll definitely need a bigger oven than I have in the house.

Sticking a piece of plastic slightly larger than a front fender in an oven would be difficult but a whole rear quarter? Haha, yeah right. I might just have to talk to my powdercoat buddy.

 

[7.5L_STX]

wheres the updates!? im jonesin lol.

on a side note would you mind poppin over to my build thread when ya get a chance and givin me a few pointers on headers?