Picture For Now
There’s a lot that’s been happening, so much in fact that I’ve really been slacking with the blog. In due time, for now, picture….
Holy Shit He’s Alive!
That was a long break huh? Winter testing for Toyota is a travel frenzy it seems. Baudette, MN and Sault Saint Marie, MI can be some very interesting places if you ever get to go. A different way of life is all. Anyway, I decided to tackle the job of making brackets for the e-brake tabs in the rear of the car.
After getting that taken care of I made a new throttle cable bracket to take up the slack that I had at the pedal the last time I drove.
I finally have the fuel cell in the car temporarily. I just want to get this thing running for a quick drive and systems check. Once everything is operating properly I’m going to get the real fuel cell and finish with sheet metal work.
Tire shredding will commence shortly.
Closer Still
Made some strut tops, cut out some templates to start closing off the rear firewall and bent some tube to help brace the rear structure and create a more stable area for the rear struts.
Step Back
I found today after moving forward that I have to go back. In order to design the rear cage section and mock it up I need the rest of the cage completely in the car. SO, I cut all the tacks I had in place and started finish welding everything forward of the roll hoop. I should be back to the truck conversion/rear section this weekend.
Back To Business!
Gone for two weeks of business trips in the midwest and a weekend with the family, I came home and went HAM!
I decided that as a practice car, the Fleur De Lis really doesn’t have to conform to any specific rule book as it will never see professional competition. As long as I can go a foot deep into a wall and only damage tail lights and easy body repairs I’m happy.
The fuel cell will be located right after the rear firewall which should also help some with weight distribution. Don’t know where to put the nitrous bottle yet though…
A couple more bars and a lot more cutting and this bad boy will be ready to touch the ground again!!! Smash Brothers Unite!
Good Saturday!
Got an early start today and accomplished enough to make myself happy. That damn tubing notcher from Harbor Freight is designed to wear out quickly I swear. I can already tell I’m gonna have to make one myself with ball bearings and such. Brass bushings just dont cut it when trying to burn through DOM tubing. Anyway, I fixed that shit….
So the thing is made for a 1/2 inch arbor and comes with an adapter to go to 5/8. I’ve gone through two adapters now as I went back and bought another kit. When the second one fractured I just said screw it and got busy…
That’ll teach her to break on me!!
Anyway, after overcoming that little obstacle I got the passenger side door bars done, the harness bar done and the diagonal brace. Tomorrow is the driver side and I may start cutting into the rear for the truck conversion. I still have to figure out how I want to brace everything back there before it get’s too flimsy.
More Bars
Finally got around to cutting some more bars for the cage. I’m finding lately I don’t even touch this thing during the week and try to get as much done as possible on the weekends. Some of the other aspects of this business are starting to pick up. Thank you to anyone who has come to visit my site thus far. This kind of started as a journal I could look back on when I’m older but it may turn into something far greater, hopefully. Anyway, pictures!
Cage Work
Front down tubes that go over the door and down by the a-pillar…
Boxes getting tacked in so I can trim the bars to size…
Mint Green Two Tone
She still exist, patiently waiting her turn to reach a level of glory she has yet to know.
Lesson Learned
It’s okay to fail as long as there is a lesson learned. Last time I learned the importance of practice material and understanding how a radius adds to length. This time I learned that I should use the tools available to me. I forgot I had a digital angle meter. The meter is very useful when calculating angles of B-pillars and uprights to horizontal bars. Finished product has been deemed acceptable for crashing!
Doh!
Lesson learned = Less bender, more measuring tape. Mr first attempt at the roll bar ended up two inches too long on the horizontal section.
Current State Of Things
Happy is the feeling as I start the roll cage. Things have been slow since the return from Japan, jetlag is no joke! This will be my first go so I’m moving a little slow because of the cost of DOM right now.
Much Needed Progress
Well, I finally have the chassis dolly completed. I’ve already noted a few things that will be changed if I make another one in the future but this one will serve it’s purpose well. There’s one more caster to add to the front bar and then she will be truly complete. The weight is distributed pretty well as I was able to get in the car and rock it side to side with no movement. The most surprising thing so far is how much space it actually frees up. Being able to move it around the shop makes it much easier to get my Datsun inside. Anyway, pics! Thanks for the lens Dave, I feel like I need a 50mm 1.8 now!
There’s so much more space for activities!!
Chassis Dolly 50%
I figured that cutting out a bunch of material on the car would weaken the chassis enough that the subframes could shift. This would be bad so I decided to make a dolly that would locate the subframes in all axis and still keep the car mobile. Wait ’til you see the casters!
Low Car is Low
Raising the car is never an option. It doesn’t look good and that’s about the only reason you need. When your low profile jack can’t even make it under the car, you only have a few options. You can do the wood plank dance or what I’ve done here, unless you’re ballin out of control and buy air jacks.
Drifting Has Happened!!
Two weeks later, after a work trip in Ohio, I get around to this. Made it to the track with time to spare, drove the entire time, no over heating, nothing broke, went off track multiple times and didn’t break the kit (needs lower) and made it home safely by 3am. The clutch sucks, I’m down on power (obviously), wheels rub in the fender wells and the e-brake is almost useless. At least I have a plan to fix things, when’s the next event?
The Goings Ons
Two weeks until the infamous Trial By Fire Night Event in conjunction with NASA Arizona. This is one of the biggest events of the year so naturally I registered without the car even running…
Tonight after work I got the brakes bled, the clutch bled, the e-brake and shoes adjusted properly, put the car back on the ground and prepped for some engine work.
I’m a chassis guy. It’s what I do at work and what I prefer to do if someone ask me for help with their car. So of course I decided there was a bunch of useless crap on the engine that wasn’t going to make the car any faster, it was just stuff getting in my way….
like the EGR tubes and such. I made some block off plates.
But as it turns out, the KA really doesn’t like to run well without these things. Most importantly, Idle Air Control parts (doh!). Anyway, that is what’s on the menu for next week. Get this thing running enough to do some Hooliganistic street antics and make sure all my T’s are crossed.
Bunch O’ Wheels (and other stuff)
There really is nothing like going to a drift event, helping to pull it off and watching all your friends have fun while your car is sitting on jack stands haha!! Anyway, I went directly to the shop after the event around midnight and resumed work on the green two tone car. Continuing on Sunday, I installed the new SPL toe arms. These are some really quality pieces and you can see in one of the photos that when installing, it’s always a good idea to have one disassembled so you can approximate your thread engagement better. The alignment on the green car was really close so I haven’t adjusted them to their exact position as of yet. I also started to transfer the fuel tanks as the practice car, which from hence forth will be known as the “Fleur De Lis” had a lot of rust inside it’s tank. Other than that, a few wheels have shown up things are progressing normally. I’m in the process of picking the paint colors for the shop and the bench is almost finished. I can’t wait to get a stereo in there, music from the Driod doesn’t quite get it done.
Peace
Practice Car : Prep work
Finally getting around to working on the Practice Car. I’m swapping the suspensions between the two S13′s as the two tone doesn’t need anything other than stuff to roll around on and get painted. I need a name other than “Practice Car”….
Moving Forward
I put in some decent work at the shop today after working on a friends car Saturday. The bottom portion of the workbench is done and the top level will be done next weekend after picking up some more materials. I also picked up the kit I ordered from IntensePower.com (sexy time!!) Don’t mind that practice car, it’ll debut in a week or so.
The BottleRocket : Garage Clean-Up
Mostly just getting the garage in a condition where work can have a better chance to be done right.
Finally found out what was in that KA. JWT flywheel and RPS 6-puck sprung clutch. It was about to take a shit though so good timing on my part huh!
If there was a way I could just combine the two I’d have almost as many cylinders as I need to be competitive yo!
