VauxSport - Vauxhall advice and chat forum

alistairolsen · Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 11:29 pm Post subject:

Two weekends at home in a row is a rare treat nowadays and last weekend feels like yesterday. Got home about half past 3 on Friday and set to. The first job was to shift the chassis forward and mock up the top cross member which will take the rear shock mount, seatbelt mounts and roll cage.

Once this was in place I could start building up the supporting framework and triangulation in the side frames.

Brief interlude while I changed the plugs and leads in mums car. Plugs were properly fucked with the ceramic insulator eaten away. I figure at 62k with buggered GM branded plugs they’re original.

Then the new torch for the welder turned up. The old one was dead, the outer cable was broken, liner worn and kinked and the swan neck got the threads damaged with the last tip. Welders done sterling service so Machine Mart supplied a new torch and hose complete for £58.

After fixing that I did a test piece

From left to right; 1min, 2 min, 3min and 3max:

Settled on 2 min. 2 max gave a better weld on a flat piece but the risk of burning holes in awkward places was too great.

Gratuitous welding shot:

Frame on one side complete:

And the other:

you can see the difference from the standard frame layout as shown here (courtesy of Bob Carter)

And then we started on the rear cradle to hold the fuel tank.

Tomorrow I want to get the remaining cross members in and start on the diff cradle, grind back all the welds , finish the rear frame and then get it all oiled so it won’t rust till I’m next home (12th of December)

stupink · Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 11:45 pm Post subject:

I can't wait to get stuck into my next project now.. shame its nearly winter and the horrid cold. so its a summer job now..

If you're not happy to have the heat up, try turning the wirefeed down a bit and welding slightly slower with a bit more weave smile

shoudl stop it building up quite as much and give good penetration yada yada without blowing through smile

don · Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:33 am Post subject:

I wish my welds looked like that frown

Looks good mate Thumbs Up

_________________
VauxSport Stickers Here

alistairolsen · Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:36 pm Post subject:

Slower progress today doing a lot of small detail things.

First of all I wanted to make some long studs to mount the diff with so I found some 12mm high tensile bar and got out my tap and die set

And another pic with the rubber bushes I want to use to mount the diff. It’s solid mounted to the subframe in the sierra, but the whole subframe is rubber mounted to the car so solidly mounting it to my chassis wouldn’t be a great idea from a vibration point of view.

In the meantime I gave dad a hand lifting stuff around so he could make a start on the second car transporter (twin axle, 2000kg gross)

I decided that the top plates which take the shock brackets should have captive bosses to take the rollcage feet and realising that I wouldn’t be able to fit these afterwards I set to.

Welded some nuts together, winding them together on a bolt first:

Ran a tap through them to make sure the threads were nice and clean:

Had an early lunch, mum’s a legend!

Then walked passed the rear disk that dad got medieval with last weekend, he cut it in situ to get it off without damaging the shoes etc as the lip was enormous

Both trailer beds joined into 12 foot lengths and laid out in the garage, called Turbo Transit to find out what width his land rover is with mud tyres on it. Total bed width is 1840mm.

I cut and jigged the cross member at the rear of the scuttle to take the steering column bracket, and the cross member which will form the front of the upper wishbone mounts, top of the diff mounts and the back of the tunnel. (held in by red welding arrows in the pic)

Having cut and filed 4 plates 100x100x3mm I marked these and drilled them and then bolted pairs together to weld on the bosses.

Helped dad hold the big stuff in the drill so he could make up the front cross member

Then I had a look at how the lower wishbone mounts could be done. I’m going to make the bottom frame out of 25x50 as shown, gusset the front end to close off the box section and prevent lozenging and then cut the back off at an angle and close that off too.

This will keep maximum clearance under the back end for getting it up ramps onto a trailer and make the whole assembly as strong as possible. Ill fit a removable bolt in diagonal in the lower frame to allow me to drop the diff out.

Kinda forgot to get more pics but the trailer now has a drawbar and real cross member and we had a look at axle location and positioning and the top cross member of the locost chassis has clearance holes to allow me to weld down the plates I made.

Away now until the 11th of December Sad

alistairolsen · Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:25 am Post subject:

I've been on the lookout for a new jack for a while, always had 2 tonne ones which are quite narrow and high. I'd looked at the low level clarke ones bu heard reports of them breaking far too soon for a £130 jack.

Following this thread:

http://boardroom.wscc.co.uk/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=1;t=77381;hl=jack

I set off to costco.......

The sort of incredible place where one can buy

1100 pack of Tetley PMSL

I found the jacks:

At which point I called Turbo transit off here, a call which ended in "can you gt me one too" LOL

Further down the aisle I found a nice brushed stainless toolbox for £75 so I had one of those too:

Then took the whole lot home by taxi
PMSL

And sat down to a well deserved pizza, the full size of my oven shelf

Mark RA · vauxsport.com Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 259

That's a highly productive mate. Got a cosco in Reading and a card in my pocket. Just need some money to spend Cry

What tyres do they hav there?

alistairolsen · Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:22 pm Post subject:

I didnt even look tbh mate, I was soaking wet and wanted to get home.

GarySRi · Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:33 pm Post subject:

thanks al ive just had to spend £85 in costco for a jack some swarfega and some handywipe things because of YOU! Thumbs Up

_________________
Speeding is like masturbation, everyone does it but, it's not something you should record and put on the internet

coolamasta · Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 4:25 pm Post subject:

Coming along very well mate clap

FYI - I have an Evo 6 turbo sat about with a perfectly fine core and compressor housing but with snapped studs in the exhaust housing (although I suppose they could be drilled out) if you want it later on pretty cheap so you can mate it up to the exhaust housing on yours then give me a shout, no hurry though as its just sat on a shelf in the garage... Thumbs Up

_________________
Daily work horse: 1.8 Focus Diesel
Expensive Weekend Toy: Franken-Evo IV
2010 Cheap Vaux Track car: TBC!...

Mark RA · vauxsport.com Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 259

What size exhaust housing you got mate 10.5? Big Grin

alistairolsen · Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 1:53 pm Post subject:

Yeah the turbo I bought for mocking up was a 10.5,only thing I wanted was the housing,but good for the cash.

Rob, will certainly bear that in mind. Funds are a little tight and mainly allocated till May time though. How much did you have in mind?

LMAO Gary! Kev did say its the kind of place you go into for one thing and come out £300 light. Theyre good jacks tho by the looks of things!

Rich_j_Williams · Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 8:12 pm Post subject:

quality mate Thumbs Up

_________________

DavieLET · Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:32 pm Post subject:

alistairolsen · Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 12:10 pm Post subject:

Following on from this thread:

http://www.vauxhall-sport-forum.com/phpBB2/i-want-to-order-some-seats-today-t11356.html

I have ordered a pair of High side seats from Triton

Ive asked them to reduce the mounting centres of the bosses in the seat bases by 30mm to 290mm so that I can put the bolts up through tags welded to the seat rails I have:

£198 delivered and they're going to do their best for pre Christmas delivery.

clap

Rich_j_Williams · Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:07 pm Post subject:

seats look nice mate Thumbs Up

_________________

alistairolsen · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 3:22 pm Post subject:

Made an order with 3GE Components today, known for making bits for the Haynes roadster. (www.3gecomponents.com)

I was going to get my bushes from rally Design (PB122, £28 for a set of 8 ) but on realising that this was plus vat, and £6 delivery, and that I would have to shorten every bush and crush tube by 2mm, I decided that £5.18 per bush from 3GE was pretty favourable.

I ordered 8 bushes @ £5.18:

8 bush housing tubes to use for making my wishbones (front) @ £0.95 each:

I had a go a few pages back at using the existing pedals to make up pedal box, then I found the Haynes design and thought I could copy that. I'm fed up filing and grinding so when I found this kit of laser cut parts for £16.53 I couldn't resist:

to make this:

They're going to chuck in the bushes, housing tubes and pedal faces for little extra cost.

Hopefully I now have everything to get the seats, pedal box, steering column, wishbones and engine mocked up and bracketry made and fitted Thumbs Up

chip · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 3:26 pm Post subject:

That pedal box looks great for the money, one of the images hasnt worked though.
_________________
Under 400bhp makes baby jesus cry.
(so my boost leak at the jamsport day must have had him sobbing like rich j williams watching a chick flick)

www.totalvauxhall.co.uk

Nova - 457bhp - Mid Engine - RWD - GT35 - Autronic SM4

alistairolsen · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 3:30 pm Post subject:

yeah, I need something i can space to fit my application, and use with non standard donor maser cylinders so its ideal for me, Ill make up my own back plate.

Which one? Theyre all showing for me?

Mark RA · vauxsport.com Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 259

Top one mate