The engine and transmission are now in 2 separate pieces. It appears the clutch is non-hydraulic. That is a nice thing and will make the pedal box easier to deal with. The clutch plate still had life on it, but I think the speedo cable is broken. I imagine it's not supposed to be in 3 pieces. Now to strip the rest of the car....
-C
I took the bra off the car....eeeeewww. Leprosy of the paint.
Here's the car right before removal:
Here's the result.
...one heavy lump. Plus if you look closely you can see the valdez sized spill where the tranny dumped the fluid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9UVV0XuiDk
Not positive what version of a 7 car it is, but it's cool. This was one of the things that got me interested in this project.
3 more tubes. 12 inches of steel.
I did manage to weld a lot of the tacked parts up.
I picked up a hitch-hiker and took him for a spin.
Only progress so far is the tranny tunnel.
I would say the most difficult thing about this build has been finding the free time to do it. 2nd would be the compound angles with a cheap harbor freight cut-off saw.
If I build another one of these frames in the future, and I might, I'd liker to have a dedicated shop, because jockeying the motorcycle and M out of the garage every time I want to work gets a little old. In that shop I would place a metal band saw and a plasma cutter along with a large bench grinder.
All in all, I am happy with the amount I have done in little over a month. I will have to begin donor surgery soon. That will also cause a cramping of space as I extract parts and have to make room for them.
Got some stuff done yesterday. Not as much as I wanted to. I spent a while trying to figure out how to do the bends. No luck yet. I'm gonna build the bender myself, I think. I'll post a pic of it if it is successful.
Much of this week will be un-productive. I am out 2 nights for a biz trip.
Stopping and looking back. It's been a month since I started fabrication on this thing. I have gotten a lot better at welding, but I would say that my biggest issue is getting the pieces cut right. My Harbor Freight Chop saw is not a precision instrument and I have to cut long and grind to fit. I also need to figure out my tube bending. I may get a bender this weekend and this will be a moot point, but if not I think I'll be back at HF buying something.
I still have the donor dis-assembly ahead. Some of that is going to be fun, but I don't expect it to be smooth. I can't remember the last mustang I disassembled.
Overall I am glad I started this. It keeps me busy and it is a constant source of fascination. I find new and cool sites all the time that are related to Locosts or car fabrication in general. I'm going to spend a few minutes and update the site. I have a lot of bookmarks that need to be organized.
I won't be getting much done this weekend since I need to go to Portland for a family affair. I need to get actual pictures of the frame up here soon.
-Chris
I've changed the base image to add the tranny tunnel tube for the progress meter. I am still quite a ways in to it and have about 15 more tubes to go.
See if you can find the differences. If I could round up a bender I'll be in great shape. I am debating adding all the Australian mods for frame stiffness. I also need to figure out what to do about front uprights.
