I can donate two stainless 1/6bbl kegs to you for $free if you wanted to GRM this. It should be around the right diameter, you'd just have to chop/weld/mount.
You just gotta hide one of my brewery's stickers on the hotrod somewhere :p
I can donate two stainless 1/6bbl kegs to you for $free if you wanted to GRM this. It should be around the right diameter, you'd just have to chop/weld/mount.
You just gotta hide one of my brewery's stickers on the hotrod somewhere :p
maschinenbau said:While IRS or custom links would be sweet, this Challenge car will have a hard time staying under budget as it is and every dollar will count. A major part of my $2000 Challenge strategy for this build is using all I can from the parts car.
I have a C4 Corvette complete IRS laying around that needs to be gone and could go reeeaaally cheap for the cause.
Before:
After:
I can make this work.
I think next I'd like to mount the powertrain to help guide floor fabrication, so I removed the engine mount brackets in order to reposition them rearward. Now I'm thinking about how to clean up the front of the frame. I might bridge between the two rear LCA mounts, which would make the 2nd cross-member unnecessary. Steering rack may also have to rotate down to straighten out the u-joint angle since the steering column will be further away. Frame horns will need to be shortened like the rear. The radiator and grill shell should live just forward of the steering rack where the front cross member is. I should probably find a radiator and grill shell.
I just happened to spot a '29 Chevy at lunch yesterday with a similar leaf spring setup and rear-mounted gas tank. Pretty neat!
Shuffled the shop around last night and got the powertrain sitting on dollies for some fitment and positioning. I am debating between a flat firewall or a concave one to set the engine even further back. Keep in mind the frame is sitting several inches higher than target ride height.
The OEM Atlas engine mounts are pretty easy to work with. Just a simple vertical rubber donut bushing with a bolt through it. Some massaging of the brackets and they will be ready for welding.
Hard to tell from the interior shot- is the shifter somewhere reasonable? Is there a crossover point where the shifter starts being in the right place but the footwells begin to shrink? Visually the engine looks about right where you have it, but there may be major advantages, or major drawbacks depending on geometry, to setting it back further.
No idea yet. I have to build more of a floor before I can crawl inside and make vroom vroom noises
Low and further back is usually better, but I know your dilemma with getting further long with one part before knowing if something else will work...
Other than shifter positioning, I know you mentioned the possibility of one day finding a 5-cyl to replace the 4-cyl with. That should require further back as well, yeah? Or is that idea shelved?
Why stop at 5? Looks like you could maybe achieve enough setback to get an entire other 4cyl back into the stock location and couple them together.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
5 cylinder is ideal, and that was the original plan: project "555" 5-cylinder, 5-speed, 5-window coupe. If I blow up the 4, a 5 should bolt up in its place just like in a Colorado. LS is also an option with a $300 AR5 adapter kit, but that's over Challenge budget.
The more I look at it, the frame rails sticking out past the trunk line might as well be a quasi bumper mount. Weld in a round tube as a spreader bar and call it done.
maschinenbau said:In reply to Mr_Asa :
5 cylinder is ideal, and that was the original plan: project "555" 5-cylinder, 5-speed, 5-window coupe. If I blow up the 4, a 5 should bolt up in its place just like in a Colorado.
Feels like that answers, or at least influences, what you should shoot for? With the appropriate linkage, you can reposition the shifter wherever you need it.
Is the additional cylinder in front of, or behind the motor mount? I'd think that would have an effect on it as well
In reply to Mr_Asa :
In front of. The Colorados have the same trans crossmember and engine mount positions whether they are 4 or 5-cylinder, from what I can tell. In other words, the transmission is always in the same place. The motor just changes how long the fan shroud is. I think there's still room to grow the engine out forward without affecting the "hot rod proportions", but we'll see.
I said in the zoom last night that my godfather had a 33 that I grew up playing in in the garage. Here is the only pic I could find today. I have more pics of it sitting in the garage somewhere. One of them shows the pipe rear bumper filled with concrete! I know the bumper was one idea on the back so I’ll keep digging.
In reply to NY Nick :
That is so freaking cool, including the C10 pulling it
Engine is stripped down and mounted to the frame. Trans still unsupported but I wanted to get a feel for the proportions. Driveline angles are looking okay so far.
I like how the engine looks with AC and PS removed. I also loosely positioned the alternator in the low spot where AC normally goes and I like that much better than the high spot near the intake.
Engine mount brackets cut out of some scrap
These mounts put the oil pan flush with the bottom of the frame. Engine could probably safely go lower but this is looking good so far.
I put some wood blocks in place of the front springs and I ratchet-strapped the rear suspension down. Removing the UCA revealed a potential modification to the double-wishbone geometry.I can simply re-drill that UCA bracket to get a more aggressive camber curve. Hmmmm.
Front is a bit too low but it was fun to see it here.
Playing with the loose UCA, camber set to autocross kill mode. I haven't touched the LCA adjusters yet.
The rake is a bit extreme, but in autocross mode the rear and front tires will probably be the same size. But, I like it.
Heck, even looks good from the back
It's starting to look like a hot rod to me! It just need the front raised back up a little bit and maybe some lowering blocks for the rear leafs. And a radiator grill shell. And the roof chopped. And a high-mounted turbo with the exhaust pointed up...
Proportions do look good, the intake does something against the hot rod look, though
Weird thought. Smoothing an intake is easy enough, but GM designed the intake that way for a reason and removing the exterior bracing then throwing boost at it feels like a bad recipe long-term. Maybe 3D scan it, then 3D print exterior "shells" to go between the bracing and make it look smooth? JB weld them in place, then smooth and paint?
Cheaper than welding something up.
Fantastic! Once again, your ability to see the art between disparate parts/etc. comes through. I even like the steelys, and think they'd look keen as is with big n' little wide whitewalls (though I understand that's not the plan for the challenge).
A square big and wide setup is gonna be cool for autocross.
Out of sheer interest in your project, I looked in to grill shells the other day, including tractor grilles and the like. Not cheap. I'm sure this is no news to you. Love what you do. A thought I had on styling. Note, A big ass spoiler would fit in nicely with this:
This thing is screaming for banded steelies and dirt track slicks.
It's berkeleying AWESOME!!!
In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :
Indeed, grill shells of this vintage, car or tractor, are not challenge friendly. But fiberglass is. I like that idea for the hood. It removes the need for a grill shell entirely. I'll find a solution whatever it is.
The intake is pretty ugly and it's hard to reconcile with the aesthetics of the build. It actually had a foam lines plastic shell that looked "better" but mine's broken. Filling the gaps between fins and smoothing is a great idea. The best Challenge intake is the free one that came with the engine. I'm also open to building a front facing intake but that has fabrication costs, especially time.
What did Andy Nelson do to create the grille shell on the yellow VW rod that showed up at the Challenge one year. If I remember correctly, he used as much of the leftover Bug sheet metal as he could.
Maybe junk square body stepside Chevy would work?
I wonder if there is a technologically cheaper way to smooth it. Spray foam on top, shave it down, smooth, coat, paint? Its hard to beat how cheap in materials 3D printing is.
Paint it. That intake is funky enough. Grind down the unused studs. Paint it dark graphite. Highlight the ribs with bright silver.
If rustoleum hammered finish will adhere to the intake, that'd be a good way to fake a "cast" part which would fit the aesthetic better.
I once saw a pretty good rat rod grill made out of an old radio flyer wagon.
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