Spent a few hours mocking up the front end after work.
Looks like I haven't screwed up anything serious just yet, so at least I know I can move forward.
It will be nice to come out to this tomorrow. You know, right before I take it all back off to finish the cowl and mock up the core support.
Got to squeeze in a little time this afternoon.
I still don't know how to make all the different elements in the cowl/door post area come together, so I started making the panel between the door post and the bulkhead.
I'm not big on templates but this seemed to merit it given the complexity of the bulkhead profile. I traced the template onto my last piece of scrap 18ga.
I'm getting low on cut off wheels so I pulled out my rotary shear.
Stop. Hammer Time.
I don't have a bead roller or anything, so this was all done the old fashioned way. Still needs a flange.
Then a little trimming and I can do my first test fit.
No, really, that was my first test fit.
The step/flange took way less material than I was expecting so my notch for the little section of tubing ended up being way off. No big deal, but annoying.
More tweaking, and some hammer/dolly work to define my corners...
It fits to the bulkhead profiles pretty well.
Of course I'm going to have to cut giant holes in it but it's at least a decent starting point for the cowl vents/drainage.
Loving what I see. Car looks nice and straight looking down the sides.
Pete
Literal LOL. I appreciate the compliment, but that picture is very deceptive.
If you look at their relationship to the drip rails you'll see the front door won't close all the way and the rear door needs to come out quite a bit at the top. Although, at least from the side the body lines all line up which is all I needed to know for now.
Well berkeley me...
All 4 cars got some pretty serious damage.
My Xterras hood is ruin't.
Is that a piece of 2 inch hail? Holy berkeley.
Little over 3" at it's widest spot.
Jeebus. That'd kill a man.
Dude, that is the suck!
berkeley!
That's some big balls, and not the good kind.
Sorry to see that. I feel your pain, I also work in an open air garage.
Fortunately I had the hood off the wagon and the roof was partially protected by all the E36 M3 I have stacked on top, although I do have several bent trim pieces.
Everything else was hammered pretty much as bad as the hood on my Xterra.
Only damaged glass was the already cracked windshield on Sheila, which is pretty much undrivable now. (Short of doing Ace Ventura impressions anyway) Which sucks, because it's also loaded up with Uncle Ben's scraps.
I'm currently researching PDR kits, mostly for SWMBO's Dakota. All my junk was in need of paint anyway. I figure I can experiment on my junk before attacking the only car we have that doesn't already need to be completely repainted.
Anyone who has ever used clecos, or been in a shop that uses them, knows they invariably end up all over the place.
I'm trying to incentivize myself to put them back in the bin.
I'm not 100% sure this won't just make things worse.
We generally made brackets with holes drilled in to hold the clecos. Some people I know just used a piece of sheet metal. Others would get fancy and bend a U shape with holes to hole the clecos.
Having to put them away individually would almost certainly make the matter worse for me.
If I was looking for a small project (and not inundated with them) then I'd make a metal catch can for them with and angled top and the hole in the side.
This way you could just toss them in the hole, and the angled top would ensure that if they ricochet, they still end up in the bin.
That's how I used to store a lot of my small parts.
So I have the core support mocked up within around 3/8" of where it belongs.
I thought I had it pretty much dead on until I got the front valence bolted on and the fenders shifted up slightly. So it has to come apart again and the notches around the frame rails opened up so it can get shimmed up/down with the valence in place.
My new fuel tank came in today, so I can finally mock that up and attach the rear of the frame to the body.
With that done I'll only have a few solid days worth of sheet metal fabrication work, and it will be done enough to put together for inspection/titling purposes.
Until then I still don't know what kind of car I'm building. LOL
You’re welcome to come up here and work on sheetmetal with(for) me. I have mig/tig, brake, railroad tie anvil, etc. please
In reply to Patrick :
You forgot to mention it's indoors. Maybe if you were a little bit closer.
It looks like both our cars have about the same amount of fabrication work left to do. I'm not really sure if I'm going to want to do this again, but if I do it will have to be indoors. I'd sell (or rent) body parts for some decent shop space right now. LOL
I know it's hot down in TEAXS.....but what the E36M3 have you been up to......'sides shoein' ponies?????
I'll try this again.......you get stepped on or WHAT!?!?!???
Funny that others have sent up flares, cause I have been wondering where this got to?
Pete
Bump. Looking for an update now that your back. How 'ya doin?
Crackers said:Anyone who has ever used clecos, or been in a shop that uses them, knows they invariably end up all over the place.
I'm trying to incentivize myself to put them back in the bin.
I'm not 100% sure this won't just make things worse.
One of Allen's Drag cars we found Clecos still holding the firewall in place years later during a refit!
Damn, I didn't realize I haven't done anything since April?!
I really haven't done much since my last update. Mostly fussing with hardware for the wipers, which I basically need to start over. All the geometry works still, I just need a new approach for mounting the posts.
IIRC, I needed to get the brackets for the wipers finished so I could mount them and build the inner cowl around them before finishing off tying the Lexus firewall to the Rambler cowl.
In May some shiny happy person crossed the center line while texting and plowed into my work trailer. (Then fled the scene, but was found later limping down the highway. No insurance, suspended license. (vehicular manslaughter/DUI, a real winner)) So most of my Uncle Ben money went into patching it back together so I could work.
Unfortunately I had also just dumped a bunch of money replacing broken windshields (plural) after that hailstorm last year, and continued rainy weather throughout the year has had a negative effect on local economy (rural Texas) especially as it applies to livestock feed prices which have a direct effect on my business.
I have an unexpected warm afternoon off today, so I may try to unearth it and make some noise over the weekend, weather permitting.
In reply to 759NRNG :
Did you ever get my email? I responded, but never heard back from you.
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