Gt-12

[gwaii]

thanks


it's a slow go....spent about 3 hours at it today.
messed up at first,tried cleaning the surface with a scotchbrite pad,it put so much contamination in the weld i had to grind it out and start over.
recleaned it with a wire brush and all was fine.

i also got some new taillight lenses coming from ebay,looks like i'll be spending a bit of time and money there in the next little while.

speaking of money,those sidepipes are over $600 for the pair by the time i get them here.
i hope this thing turns out good,there's a lot of cash flying out the door on it's behalf.

 

[martin]

nice work on the tank. Wow! six hundred for pipes, another small fortune for wheels and tyres, this thing is starting to get really expensive. If you add labour into it (calculated at about two bucks an hour) it's going to be worth about as much as a new lambo, maybe more.

 

[gwaii]

nice work on the tank. Wow! six hundred for pipes, another small fortune for wheels and tyres, this thing is starting to get really expensive. If you add labour into it (calculated at about two bucks an hour) it's going to be worth about as much as a new lambo, maybe more.

ya,i don't even want to think about all the hours going into it.

so far,i'm looking at 1500 for carbs,
400 for materials for the headers,
1500 for metal,
1000 for tires,
1100 for rims,
600 for side pipes,
a bunch on welding supplies,
more on grinding/sanding supplies,

and a whole whack more to come(think paint/interior/wiring/random little expensive parts)

i'm thinking that by the time i get it done,i'll have about $12-15,000 in cash and about 3.7 million in labour into it.

good thing the car and engine were free.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

good thing the car and engine were free.

Damn good thing

Richard

 

[gwaii]

ya,i don't want to come across like i'm bitchin about it-i knew this project was going to cost a bit....but at the back of your mind you're thinking....jeez,i got a pretty cool free car..,and a pretty cool free motor.i'll put some work into it and have a cheap hot rod!shouldn't take more than a week or two.

that's why those thoughts are in the BACK of the mind.it's the storage place for thoughts that just don't work.

well,i'm committed now(or at least i should be committed)
can't wait to drive it!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Yeah, it's the "nickle and dime" that I always underestimate I should know by now, to double my estimate and add 20%. That works for both material AND time a large percentage of time, it's the rule of thumb I use when doing house reno estimates, and if I come in under budget, the customer thinks I am a miracle worker/god [not really, but you get my point].

Richard.

 

[gwaii]

you get my point.
Richard.

that i do,sir...that i do..

 

[gwaii]

so,i figured it's time to get the floor/belly pan sorted out.
yup...more aluminum fab.

when doing cutouts that need radiused corners,i like to start out by drilling the corners out with a suitable holesaw.this leads to a more professional looking finished product.

i cut out the wheel opennings with a zipcut.i will often use a circular saw or a table saw on aluminum,but when i need precision this is the way i usually go.
when cutting aluminum,lubrication is essential to prevent the tool from getting clogged up right away.i give the disc a quick shot with wd and it cuts slick.you will feel it starting to grab after a few inches of cutting,this is when you need to stop and shoot some more oil on.
this also applies to using fiber disks,bandsaws,and even files on aluminum.

this is another press i made.it's much cruder than the other one,but works well and has a capacity of 4 feet,rather than the 2 feet of the other one.i don't use this as much,and it spends most of it's life collecting dust and rust in the corner of the shed.

after forming,i have the step at the rear where the belly kicks upward behind the rear axle.i have a bend to do on each side of the pan to form the ouer flanges,but these are 57'' long and will not fit any tool i have now.i will need to make arrangements to use the hand brake at the army base in town,it'll do the job fine.

with the pan set under the car and clamped to the frame,you can see why i didn't want anything sticking down under the frame rails.i want a smooth,clean bottom on this car.

this is where the kick up is.the pan will be a smooth surface from the very front to the very back of the car.putting it on a hoist won't give you too much access to anything.

looking under the back you can see how low this car will be-and it's still about 1'' higher than it's final ride height will be.
one thing i need to give more thought to is how i'll attach the pan.my original idea was to use a bunch of countersunk stainless bolts through the pan into the frame,but i don't think i want to disturb the smooth surface.i'm now leaning toward welding uprights to the upper surface that can bolt to the vetical sides of the frame rails.for this,i need to be very careful not to get any warpage in the pan-that would look worse than the bolts in the bottom.

 

[TheTopher]

Neat. Wish I had all the work space you do.

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

A brake press powered by a Johnson outboard.......................only you my friend!
(for all you overly serious people................its a joke)

 

[gwaii]

Neat. Wish I had all the work space you do.

space is still a bit tight.the shed is my job space,so i don't get to use it too often for myself.but when it's free for a bit i try to take full advantage of it.

A brake press powered by a Johnson outboard.......................only you my friend!
(for all you overly serious people................its a joke)

overly serious people?not here!

actually,that's a motor i had to get running for a customer.i don't know what's up with some of these shops,but like other's i've had to deal with,this was at two other shops before it was brought to me,they couldn't figure out it's problem.took about 10minutes to determine it needed a new ignition module.runs fine now.

 

[martin]

It might be an idea to think about jacking points at this time. Don't want to get that nice shiny bottom all scratched and dented the first time you have to jack it up. You could of course install built in jacks, perhaps I should have not suggested that.

 

[gwaii]

It might be an idea to think about jacking points at this time. Don't want to get that nice shiny bottom all scratched and dented the first time you have to jack it up. You could of course install built in jacks, perhaps I should have not suggested that.

jacking points are already figured out,i just need to make sure it's me that's doing it.
and don't worry about giving me ideas about built in ones....i've already thought of that.
jury's still out.

 

[TheTopher]

I love a smooth sexy clean bottom....

The dirty ones just don't do it for me.


Back on topic, that's a neat looking brake setup on the rear axle. Never seen one with the rotors right at the diff like that. Neat!

 

[gwaii]

Back on topic, that's a neat looking brake setup on the rear axle. Never seen one with the rotors right at the diff like that. Neat!

inboard discs were real popular on racing and high performance cars for quite some time-it reduces the unsprung weight,allowing the wheels to follow the road better.i just think it's cool.