Wow. It's been a while

OK I haven't posted here since august of 07. Here's a recap of what has happened since then:

• I cleaned up the rear axle and switched it out to 5 bolt rears.
• I welded the brackets on for suspension pints for the rear end.
• I cut off and re-welded the rear end suspension points.
• Then October hit and everything stopped due to new family addition.
• Yesterday I lowered the chassis onto furniture dollies and made it possible to move the project around the garage. Allowing my wife to park in there makes life a bit easier at home.
  
• Yesterday I also tacked on the trailing arm brackets to the Chassis.
• Finally, yesterday I started my front wishbone/a-arm assemblies.

Now, if I can get the time to take a photo and finish the a-arms.

Engine Mounted!

Now it is time to get the front and rear suspension done.

Seat pics

New Seats.

I picked up some seats for the car yesterday. They just fit. They are from a 99 boxster. I'll add pictures tonight.

Engine mount

So I got a little time to work on the engine mounts this weekend before helping a friend install a car lift in his garage. Below is a shot of the mount I made from a Volvo engine mount mated to a couple pieces of 1.75 box and some flat steel. The motor is the Datsun 2000 unit Dean gave me. I think these will work.

The original mounts were shot and a new set was going to run 70 dollars unless I got lucky on ebay. The Volvo units were under 10$ a piece.




This is a shot of the engine roughly aligned in hte frame getting ready for mounts.

8-12 update

My Buddy came over yesterday and we hoisted the axle engine and transmission into the frame. Makes it look a lot more done than it did the day before. Now I need to build the engine mounts. I'll post a shot of all the stuff in it later.

I know you are wondering

What has gone on in the last few days. Well last time we checked in on out fearless adventurer he had been sidelined by a sore back. Well several days of rest and recuperation later he managed to go out to the garage and start playing with the front suspension. He tried welding nuts into small tubes to try and create the lower control arm heim mounts.

In addition he has succesfully purchased some taillights for the project for 5 dollars.

latest

I just got a big box of parts from Speedway. Ball joints and material to help me create upper and lower control arms. For the uppers, I am using this kit and for the lowers I both this sleeve to build the lowers with.

I also paid a visit to jack at Kinetic Vehicles and got my brackets. I hope to have front suspension done soon.

Update

I got most of the metal ground off of the old axle mounts for the rear end. I also made a huge puddle of Gear Oil on the build table. The rear end is really heavy. Tomorrow I visit Jack at Kinetic. I need to buy some brackets.

Where I'm at

Here's a brief rundown of the project progress:

I have been investigating how to make the rear axle fit/ new rear axle. After looking at it for a while and hitting the parts yard, I decided to stay with the Ford axle. I couldn't find anything that was centered on the axle.

I'm currently looking at these upper a arms at speedwaymotors

I think I'll build the lower one though.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do about seats.

Progress - o - meter

Here's the latest progress-o-meter.


I've been remiss on updating it. I have all the frame done except for the bends in the rear. I also have the transmission mount welded in place. Now I need to figure out a new rear end and to mount the engine.

Well...

Last weekend I managed to finish off the transmission tunnel and get the rear support fabricated and installed. I think I'll be trying the inner tube trick to cushion the tranny since I removed the mount rubber.

I also started to get the engine mount cross bracing in. Not much fun there. I still need to figure out the engine mount the will weld onto the beams.

more

always entertaining

Progress

So I finished out the transmission tunnel and removed the cross brace below the tranny. It's amazing how long that took after waiting this long to start the project back up.

Next steps:

• Remove the old trailing arm mounts from axle
  
• Fashion a bracket for rear transmission mount
• Create engine mount supports and mounts

That is a few weeks worth.

Wow.

It has been quite a while since my last update. So much has gone on over the last few months that I have gotten nothing done on the project.

However, this weekend I am taking extra time off and plan to attack my project with a vengeance. First off I will get the engine alignment straightened out and the transmission rear mount welded in place. The interesting thing about the new engine I am using is that the bottom of the bell housing is the bottom of the oil pan. This will allow me to set the transmission and engine lower in the car, hopefully lowering the center of gravity even more.

I also will get the rear axle cleaned up and the new hangers welded on for the trailing arms and shock mounts. Then it's time for a coat of rust inhibitor.

New Engine

OK, after many fits and starts I have the new engine in the garage. I'll add pix of it soon. It is long and skinny. It's also a counterflow design. In other words the intake and the exhaust are on the same side of the block. Dean, who supplied this engine to me also threw in 2 sets of carbs for it. Now to begin the fitting process. Big thanks sent out to Dean for the low price replacement for the ford engine.