Here we go again! Zuffenhaus MS RSR project...

[eimkeith]

Originally Posted by santagrant

Where did you find the jig to align the top? Wonder if one could be rented from someone in the SF Bay Area.

By the way, your project is coming along very nicely. You are very brave!

I couldn't find one to buy or rent!

(but I'm in the market if you come across any.)

[eimkeith]

More work on the shifter today (need to get back on welding, but it's hard for me to transition back & forth in the proper frame of mind, so I'm seeing the design work through)





There's enough going on in the wacko G50 shift assembly as it is; much respect for Wevo and JWest for tackling this for such a small number of cars.

I'm making it worse for myself by putting a 915 shift tower on top - I've got to limit shift lever movement accordingly to work through the vertical 'tube', but still get the travel and angles needed in the tunnel.

The photos above are my 3rd version, 2nd revision (shown without the 915 tower installed.)

I'm printing revision 3 this evening.

Closing in on it.


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Ok, revision 4 is a winner. Full fore/aft travel, ample degrees of rotation on the gear selector shaft.



This is what it will look like with the 915 shift tower installed over it:



(Imagine a 915 shift lever installed, with boot.)


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[DaddyGlenn]

I am so envious of you, Keith. To be able to spend your days doing design and fabrication on these cars .... and get paid to do it.... nice!

I know you must have bad days from time to time. But I sure it beats the hell outta my desk job.

Keep it up. I'm living vicariously through your posts.

[eimkeith]

Lol, glad you're enjoying the thread.


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Quick Tuesday morning update:

I couldn't locate a good original RSR transmission cooler (the end of the road for the hard lines on the driver's side of the Mary Stuart), so I got started on converting an RS-style trombone cooler.

Here's the cooler and the reference photo (photo of '74 RSR):





Right-hand brackets/tabs de-brazed.




So far, so good!


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Back on the roof welding (1/2 completed)





keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Cleaning up some rocker rust this morning.



A little disappointed with the patch panels available, though:




keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[em78911]

Would you mind posting any pictures you had of the sunroof weld up job you performed?

[eimkeith]

The previous time (welded in sunroof panel) or this time around (replaced roof skin)?

I don't have photos of the first time it was done (I wasn't the primary on this project until the carbon bodywork phase) - but I don't recommend the weld-the-sunroof-panel approach.



keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Almost wrapped the driver's side rocker repair today (misplaced the lower quarter panel face piece I removed several weeks ago, can't finish this until I find that damn thing!)

Here's some pictures of today's work.












(Had to slit this piece to narrow it to fit)







Now to find that missing piece.. >


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[em78911]

Originally Posted by eimkeith

The previous time (welded in sunroof panel) or this time around (replaced roof skin)?

I don't have photos of the first time it was done (I wasn't the primary on this project until the carbon bodywork phase) - but I don't recommend the weld-the-sunroof-panel approach.

keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

Hey keith,
yeah , was wanting to see the first plug up.. when you welded a plug in the sunroof... not so much the reskin... thanks.

[eimkeith]

Originally Posted by em78911

Hey keith,
yeah , was wanting to see the first plug up.. when you welded a plug in the sunroof... not so much the reskin... thanks.

sorry; I don't have any photos of that previous work.

I can tell you that filler strips were used, and a lot of forming is needed to control distortion - that method requires welding in the middle of a relatively flat plane, no natural curvature to resist drawing of the heat affected zone (plus there are two closely spaced parallel lines of weld around the sunroof - making the draw worse.)

hope that helps in some fashion?

[eimkeith]

Worked on the passenger side rocker today (funny how the one with less rust took longer; didn't quite finish it)



Down to the good stuff


Fitting the patch







Fitting the top layer


Didn't get a shot of that welded in, but finished the day with welds that need to be ground & finished, then primed.


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Working on the 930 trailing arm mount conversion today, but never posted the finished rocker repair on the passenger side, so here it is:



OK, trailing arm mounts.

You'll recall that we're using 930 trailing arms (wider track, massive bearings, etc.) on this build, so we need to modify the pickup points on the chassis.

I modeled up a conversion that visually references the RSR solution in 1973:




I started making the pieces today, using templates I'd printed out to mark the material for drilling & trimming.



Make a pilot drill jig






Similar tolerances to original trailing arm bolt holes.


Here's the fitting work on another G50 housing:






keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

My (symmetrical) installation tool doesn't line up with the transaxle mount on one side of the mock up torsion bar housing, surprisingly.



I'm assuming there are deviations during manufacturing so I'm modifying the file and printing another install tool, this time with slotted holes at the transaxle mount.

I've also concluded that I will in fact need to cut welding access holes in the rear seat pan (thought I could avoid that) to install these mounts properly.

Such is life!


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Alright, back at it with new install tool (12 hr print)




Hard to see here, but ample clearance for locating hole now.




keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Access!




Fitting to the cast portion of the torsion bar housing:





More work needed here for proper fit.

keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

And tacked in.



Now to mock assemble the suspension and set up the car to verify alignment before finish welding and adding the bracing.


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[jjeffries]

Fascinating, superb and overall uber-cool design and workmanship. John in CT