Be careful plowing off that pond. A guy doing that in the foothills west of Denver died when the plow broke through the ice. Of course Toronto is farther north, but this ice was at about 7,000 feet high.

And the temperature today in Boulder (and also Denver, I am sure) is in the low 70s (F).

Well, its stayed below -15 for a couple of weeks, so no problems with the ice. My neighbor and I hauled 500 gallons of water down to the pond. the surface was great, the fire was warm and we had about 2 dozen down for the afternoon.

I plowed ahead last night and today and fininshed up stitching the front pan, supports, and seams. I moved back to a rust repair needed on both sides of the read door corners. The rails are in good shape, and I have replacement panels from RD that I am trimming back and fitting.

I welded in a new section into the outer rails for more bracing and reinforcement...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1422318643.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1422318652.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1422318666.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1422318708.jpg

moving back now, I added some reinforcements to the torsion bar area. I found a number of pictures and threads here and used those as a guide.


I added gussets between the torsion bar and the tunnel...

.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1423449215.jpg



...and between the torsion bar suspension mount and the seat area....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1423449765.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1423449828.jpg

...also between the rear chassis cross mount and the chassis sheet metal behind the seats on the firewall...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1423450347.jpg

...and of course the top strut mounts....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1423450684.jpg

...still planning on some more brackets/gussets in the engine bay across the corners

I moved on to the front suspension and thought a lot about the strut towers. On hand I have a set of Elephant front monoball mounts, and I had bought a set of generic camberplates I was considering mounting to camberboxes I was going to construct.

After a lot of measuring, I figured out I would have to cut the tub's strut towers quite a bit to get the camberplates low enough to have the monoball low enough to have the shock not have a custom long shaft.

Alternatively, if I could adapt the elephant plates and the towers in a way to get another 1 degree of camber that would make a few other things easier. I wouldn't screw up the geometry by cutting out and "losing" the pivot point for the struts. It might also be stronger and less work if I could make it work...

So I found that if I grind ~2-3mm off the inside of each Elephant plate, cut the lip off the strut tower and enlarged the bolt and mounting hole I can get up to 5 degrees camber and 8 degrees castor. That will be plenty.

I then set about making patterns, cutting, shaping and welding in reinforcements. I haven't fininshed boxing in the forward sides yet, but I am pretty pleased with the results so far. I did a lot of measuring and checking so it took about 10 hours of work plus maybe another 2 hours for the rest of the boxing hopefully later today.

I will clean up the holes and corners before its finished...


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1427025977.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1427026004.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1427026033.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1427026050.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1427026065.jpg

Cut the gutters
 

So I finally got brave enough to put the car back on the lift and start cutting and welding the gutters. I have never done this before, so I was really sweating that first cut. I found I was able to cut them much closer down and get much neater welds as I went along. I cut 6-8" sections at a time, first with an airsaw, then with an grinder, then airfile. I was really careful about getting as little heat into the metal as possible. Each weld, each pass with the file or grinder was followed with a wipedown with a wet, cool rag. I also found its really exciting if you hold a wet rag AND a MIG in the same hand when you weld :eek:

THere was quite a bit of seam sealer in teh folds of the metal, so picking it out was a pain. I found on the second pass with the welder that the metal burped and blobbed a lot less as the sealer had been brned off. I was religious about keeping it cool and cleaning the metal immaculately before welds.

The welds arent pretty, but I am gradually grinding them back and neatening them up.

The wife was just about in tears when I told her I was going to leave them like they were. I had her going for about 30 seconds...

ANyway, this is about 16 hours into them, with glass blasting.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1428884544.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1428884553.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1428884585.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1428884625.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1428884642.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1428884675.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1428884686.jpg



My goal is to get the seams down to flush so very little filler is neaded.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1428885079.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1428885087.jpg

This dont really concern me much. All I am looking to see is "Does it twist and bend more or less than before." Same setup, same straps, same beam.

Isn't removing the gutters going to reduce the chassis rigidity? Help aero (A pillar, anyway), but remove what amounts to a beam section and replace it with a sheet?

Hi Walt,
I dunno, I am curious to see. Dont forget the 0.01lbs in metal i removed...that is in part why i added some gussets.

The inner steel below the roof is a continuous piece still across so I dont imagine the folded gutters adds anything. But I am not an engineer.

I think I have read here that welding the gutters are the best thing you can do for ridgity after a cage.

Well, it is fun to speculate like an engineer. Here is what the A pillar rain gutter looks like in cross section.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429057796.jpg

You can see the rain gutter sticking out to the left. That has to stiffen the assembly some, both by increasing the width of the piece compared to it being cut off, and then with the L shaped end, resisting deformation in the crosswise plain.

This stuff is spot welded by the factory. Perhaps cutting it off and mig welding continuously stiffens things? Just as seam welding spot welded members generally does (or is said to do)? But might these flanges, if seam welded, stiffen even more?

I think that the drip rails are not spot welded, they are crimped on which is where I believe the added rigidity of gutter welding might come from.

I did mine and from what I can tell, nary a spot weld to be found on any of the "lip" section

Dennis

Correct, no weld, only crimped. Ask me how I know;)

Ok, I ll bite....how do you know?

I've been there:D
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429264655.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429264662.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429264669.jpg

Nice Roland. Any more pics? How did you finish it, primer, filler, etc?

Body shop made, not me myself. So I can't tell. All I know he was swearing a lot when done.

More pics you'll find in my thread:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/911-930-turbo-super-charging-forum/634616-another-rust-combat.html

Update from 4:20
 

Thanks all for your input. Also to Freddy H for his threads.


I had a few weeks holiday and caught a race at spa, some Mosport and Cayuga playdates. With the 3rd daughter on the way I better get it in now...

I have
- finished a set of carbonfiber struts across the struts
- raised the rear inner suspension pickups
- installed the front A arms
- fit the rear coilovers
- welded in new rear arb gussets
- fabricated and welded in arb mounts
- welded in rear quarter window frames
- patched in rusted areas
- gusseted the engine area frame and rear quarterpanels
- cut the rain gutters off, welded, ground, welded, ground, welded, ground, welded, ground, welded, ground
- sanded the sunroof patch back
- Patched the floor
- braced the reat towers
- ordered tarett springarms
- rebuilt the rear arms with monoballs and stripped them bare

I'd guess 96 hours, plus or minus 15 minutes.

Tomorrow am the kids have a playdate so I have 4 hours to finish sanding, degrease, metal prep and 2K eprime the roof.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1434772001.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1434772055.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1434772069.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1434772097.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1434772116.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1434772125.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1434772148.jpg

Flush rear window
 

Here's how I mounted my GT Racing rear window flange. Cleco'd and clamped in place with 3M Automix panel bonding. I am going to fill in over the gap so its completely flush, trim back the inner circumference of the flange and bond the lexan to that. I want a completely watertight/windproof seal as this will be a roadcar.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435409259.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435409309.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435409330.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435409331.jpg

Mine is a coupe.