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Spider Veloce from 1985 - 5 |
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Clic on the PICTURE for a 640*480 resolution |
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The restauration of the Spider Veloce from 1985 of Brock Brinkerhoff from Alabaster. |
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Since I didn't work much last night, I'm not considering this a full day - So this update will be 12.5. Scott (ScottJ175) came over and gave me a hand as I cut down the rear end housing. I've already ordered the axles from Moser and they should be here today. I actually had gone out and bought a 3" pipe cutter just for this task, but in the end, the cutter ended up being worthless as it wouldn't cut a straight line. So I went to plan "B". Plan B was to use the chop saw. In order to do this, I had to come up with a way to get everything in position to make the cuts. I ended up enlisting the help of my welding table and an old, beat up, washing machine. ...ok… Once you stop laughing, continue reading Now considering that I have to subject myself to the scrutiny of this crowd ( ), I was considering conveniently not showing any pictures with the washing machine in them. I finally decided that in the interest of full disclosure, I’d post them anyway and hope that I wouldn’t be mercilessly flogged for it Here was my reasoning (right, wrong and indifferent): a) I’m not Chip Foose, nor do I have every tool or shop implement that one could own. b) Since I was removing 5”, the main focus was being able to reproduce the cut. c) The chop saw went through the housing like a hot knife through melted butter (well, thick melted butter anyway). The final results were very satisfactory. Very nice cuts that when the section was removed, fit very nicely together. |
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| * Here is the rear when I started - Out of a late model Explorer. * Once everything was in place, I started cutting. * ..... * Then ground down the results. |
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| * And this is with the 5" section removed. * The housing after both cuts. |
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I also spent a good deal of time working on my son's dirtbike this morning - Very finicky Austrian built machine (read KTM). Never did get it running. It is a LONG story but this bike has been NOTHING but trouble for us. So, long story short, we won't be riding tomorrow. Instead, I'll be welding the rear back together. Recap I am at the point where the rear end needs to be finished. To do this, I had to prep it for welding. This includes cleaning etc. I recieved the new custom axles from Moser, and I must say, what a thing of beauty! YOu could decorate with them they look that good! |
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| * Stripped the rear down and removed the diff. * The axle looks good inside - Nothing is really worn. The only downside was that I had let a lot of metal enter the housing while cutting, so all this has to come out. Here's a shot from he side. * The gears, bearings and clutches all looked really good. * Once I cleaned the entire housing (took about 2 hours), I slid the new axles in to check the spline fit. |
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| * I pulled them back out and put the whole thing together, along with the new axles. All the clearences looked really good and the welding should go well. * ....(And don't mind the gap you can see above - There is nothing holding it together so the axle shaft lets it hang a little.). * Here's a preview of what is to come - I got a bunch more parts in via UPS and FedEx - Mostly related to the rear. I should have a rolling chassis soon. * And here is the front end of the 4 link brackets. |
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First off, a big thanks to my friend Klay and his dad. Klay owns the TIG machine I've been using and his dad Kenny owns the Smithy machine I used today. "4 Link Brackets" To start off, the 4 link brackets for the axle housing were too small. I knew this when I ordered them and there wasn't anything I could do about it. They came with 3.100" holes when I needed 3.275" holes. I ended up going to 3.278" to allow for any gnat spittle on the tubes. |
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| * Kenny & Klay bolted the brackets together so that we could make a single pass through them. * Then we started cutting - We had to be careful because the orginal stamped holes were nowhere near true. * Then we proceeded to make pass after pass. * As we got further, I was nice enough to break the tips off of a couple of the boring bars - Kenny fixed them up on the grinder. |
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| * Here's what they looked like once we were done - You couldn't see a seam between them anymore. * "Rear End" - Here they are on the axle housing - Notice how close they are?. * Once the brackets were done, Klay & I started working on the housing itself. The idea was to put everything together and then tack it in place - Then we got it worked out to where nothing was binding and everything was square. * Since the bearing races are flat on an 8.8" rear, the best way to tell when everything was square was by trying to slide the axle in and out of the end bearing. Since it was VERY intollerent of the wrong angle, this became the best way to judge things. Once I was happy with the fit, I worked my way around the housing, doing about an inch long bead at a time. Given the material's thickness (3/16"), I didn't want to put too much heat in it. We kept going 180 degrees doing 1" long beads. |
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| * We followed suit on both sides until the result was that we could easily pull the axles through the outer bearing. * Although it appears dirty, the inside of the housing was very clean. I'll be sandblasting th exterior so I'm not too worried about that. * I've left the 4 link brackets loose until I can get the axle into position to finalize their exact location. * When measured flange to flange, the new rear end came within (actually slightly less then) 1/16" of what I had intended. Not too shabby. I need to pick up some lug nuts to get the wheels mounted - But next week I should be busy mouting the 4 link. |
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| * Here's a pic from the rear to give you an idea of scale. |
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Today I wanted to get the rear end and 4 link worked out. My plan has been to run a 4 link and I designed the chassis around that. This should be even more visible now. |
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| * Here's the freshly narrowed rear with the wheels bolted on - I'm hoping that's enough rubber to put some power down. * Although it looks BIG, the total height of the tire is only a little over an inch taller the factory wheels. The width - well, that's a different story. * As you look at the rear, notice the factory mounts where the Explorer's sway bar used to go. I kept these thinking that may become my coil-over mount point. As it turns out, it should work very well. Also - Somehting I wanted to mention as the car comes together - When I'm building and fitting, I don't worry about the finish of the parts - I save this for a later time when the fabrication is done. That rear-end won't look like that when I'm finished. Once under the car, you can see how nicely the wheels fill the wells. * I was shooting to get the pinion at the same height as the main frame rails - Here, the pinion is not in it's final position. |
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| * In order to mount the rear, I started working on the 4 link brackets. The brackets on the axle housing have been left unwelded so that I could get a final position once the rest was worked out. Here's the chassis side 4 link bracket prior to reworking it. * I wanted the brackets to connect at the 4"x4" member off the main rails. My thinking in designing it this way was 2 fold - a) Put the power to the main rails b) Put the power to the side rails. To do this, I reworked the brackets so they would have a lot of surface area to weld on the 4x4. I also reworked the bottom to have a nice curve instead of a corner. * Once I had the brackets done, I started on the 4 link bars. The bars needed to be shortened 3" and re-threaded. This meant all 4 had to be cut, and rethreaded by hand (3/4" fine thread no less). * The re-threading took almost a hour by itself!. |
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| * Once the bars were cut down, I bolted them to the brackets to get measurements for welding. * Then I bolted them together to get ready to weld - I did this to get a measurement to offset the inner mount from the outter. * This is right before I welded the first bracket. * After the first side was welded, I got everything else into position. Here you can see things taking shape. |
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| * The passenger side after welding. * Then I moved on to the drivers side. * The finished and welded brackets. Should give you an idea of how strong this car will be when finished. * Once the chassis side was done, I started to dummy things up for the axle brackets. |
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| * Here you can see that I've got the links pretty close to where they'll be for final ride height. I did this so that my measurements on the axle housing were good. * With the axle pulled back out, I cleaned the paint/crap from where I was going to weld and got everything lined up. * After a lot of work, the axle brackets were done.. |
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| * Then it was time to bolt it together. |
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| * This shot is pretty telling - The axle centerline intersects the frame - Should make for a VERY strong, tunable ride. * And a shot from the rear, with everything bolted up. * And if you look close enough through the wheel, you'll see the 4 link - I pity the unsuspecting Porsche or Vette driver. Since I don't have the coil-overs yet (needed to get to this stage first), I plan on putting in some dummy bars so I can roll it out of the garage tomorrow. |
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Today was a milestone - The car rolled again on it's own, only this time on a fully tricked out 4 link rear end and 315 tires riding on 17" wheels! This is the first time the car has left the garage since the project began. In order to do this, I had 2 main things I needed to accomplish today. I had to cut, thread and fit the diagonal bar, and I had to fabricate some frame stops to take the place of the yet-to-be-ordered coil-overs for the rear. As an added bonus, my friend Travis helped me out today - He made the cool mounts for the frame stops. As a side note, I couldn't work all day because I had to get Indy's bike running, so this isn't a full days work. |
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| * I started the day cutting off the remaining legs from the main frame rails. * Travis got to work cutting the peices for the frame stops. * The new diagonal is responsible for keeping the rear located from side to side. * If you look under the diff you'll see the @#$%$# diagonal in place (I say that because the stupid, damn #%#$ thing took over an HOUR to thread! Long story!). |
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| * Travis was getting fancy with the brackets. * Once the brackets were done, I zip-tied (as a safety) to the frame. Although they shouldn't come off the rails, they only overlapped it by an inch or so top and bottom (for those who have never done this, these peices serve to lock the ride height so that I can roll it around - They'll only be on there until I get the coil-overs). * And here she is in the driveway - WOW - Looked MEAN with those big damn tires!. * Another cool shot. |
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| * And since there is no weight in the front, it's a little high. * And only if you get really low can you sneak a peek at the tires. * And here's a few of the rear in the daylight. |
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| * And a close up of the wheel well - I am really pleased with how the rear has come out to this point. * And now - On to the front end!!!. |
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Today I wanted to work out the trunk area for use with the fuel cell I plan on putting back there. Although this update doesn't look like much, it is the result of an entire long day working. |
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| * I started out on the wheel wells. If you'll remember, the rear section of the well has a frame member that wrapped around it. When I removed what i did, it left this open. * In order to strengthen the rear and to carry the weight of the trunk area of the car, I needed to fabricate plates to act as a cap for this section. * This is with the passenger side tacked in. * Here's what it looks like prior to capping it on the drivers side. |
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| * And with the plate tacked in. This is prior to grinding to fit. * After fitting, grinding and welding the new caps in place, my intention was to use the caps as a logical tie from the rear of the frame. Here I've welded in the new cross bar. * To tie this into the rear frame horns I recessed them. I did this for a couple of reasons 1) Larger cross section for welding 2) It would look better when finished Here's a picture after it was welded but before capping the 4x2 and grinding. * Then I ground everything smooth. |
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| * Then I started on the other side. * I started capping the rear frame. This shot is with the cap still just roughed in. * Angle grinder bit me - Didn't even know it - My buddy fixed me up with electrical tape. * Still rough, but getting closer. |
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| * The whole back - All side sections capped. * Since the fuel cell will sit at trunk floor height, I had to drop straight from where I was in order to create the new floor area. The added section in this picture will tie, via diagonal bars, to the rear section under the trunk lid (boot) mechanism. * The new hand formed plate to cap the rear section. * Cleaning it up for welding. |
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| * The factory steel in this area if REALLY thin! Took a while to get a good bead. It didn't help that I was using a thicker plate material (.120") than what i was welding to. * Better shot of the area. * The finished plate. * Making all the plates and all of the cutting and grinding took a while. In the end, the rear section should be EXTREMELY strong. I hit the lower 1" section with a framing hammer and the whole frame resonated! Nothing budged. A hint about tomorrow: There is an engine block and transmission involved I have my transmission now - It is a Tremec TKO rated at 500ftlb. I was going to use the T5, but couldn't pass up this one for the price. Also, with the engine, I have a SFI rated Lakewood bellhousing. |
