Lift block height

[Uberoo]

So I've been doing little things here and there, but Ive been busy fixing everything else in the 'hood.So I cut out the driver side floorboard for its tube,I wirewheeled and ground away all the crap that was on the metal.Welded seams left over from cutting.Got the new tube fitted into place and tacked in before I ran out of CO2,and all the welding shops are closed on weekends,terrific. So I guess I will play video games and drink beer this weekend rather than work on stuff.I did remember to take a pic of the tube tacked in but thats all I got.looks remarkably similar to the passenger side except its on the other side.

[Uberoo]

I was pretty bummed about not being able to get anything done over the weekend so I went and bought 50' of 1 1/4 schedule 40 pvc to mock up the rollcage.I tried heating it up and bending it but it would kink or not bend very precisely even with the tube filled with sand.So I decided to try my hand pie cutting the bends, its a stupid amount of work but hopefully the "bends" will resemble smooth curves enough that I can give the complete PVC sections to him and he can bend up some tube with minimal time involved.Otherwise it would be cost prohibitive for him to make a cage from all the math involved,bending tube is easy when you have a jig to check it against.

[pontoontodd]

You could use electrical conduit (EMT) instead.  1.5" conduit is almost exactly 1.75" OD, you can buy the bends and straights and tack weld them together for your templates.

 

If you want to stick with the PVC, you can get elbows that will probably be close to a tubing bend.  A quick search shows Home Depot has these for $3, they're called long elbows:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/1-1-2-in-PVC-DWV-90-Degree-Spigot-x-Hub-Long-Turn-Elbow-C4807LTHD112/100347073

You can chop off the outer part of the collars to make it fit flush with the inside of the car if that's a concern.

[Uberoo]

For better or worse I was just going to use 1.5x.109 for the cage because its not a racecar but a slow offroader So the cage just has to protect against slow flops onto the side or roof.The cage will also be tied into the structural parts of the car body as well, not to mention tacked to the sheetmetal at various places So hopefully the body its self will add some strength to the cage.

[Uberoo]

So I worked on more of the mock up today.Once I figured out the process for making pie cuts the whole process ended up fairly smoothly.Took about 6 hours to make the Main hoop.Pie Cuts Suck.After making one side I had to finish everything to see how it turned out.In my case the top ended up 4" too short,and the upper left bend needs a slight angle adjustment.If you are doing this this yourself you will most likely make mistakes,but they are easily corrected in the pvc.

 

My first attempt.

[Uberoo]

About 20 minutes later I came up with this:

Its not 100% perfect but its workable.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Uberoo

[Uberoo]

I might need to revise the upper bends for that main hoop they look a little too tight,Need to get ahold of my friend with the bender to see what his smallest radius die for 1.5" is.

[Uberoo]

So from looking online it seems tubes are strongest with the largest possible bend radius, so I will rework the mockup to use 6.5" CLR on the top bends rather than the 3.5" CLR it has now.Also from searching the internet it seems the common consensus is to go with 1.5x.120 wall tube for vehicles from 2-3000 lbs. The importance of mockups I guess,changes now are much cheaper and easier than if it was made out of metal.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Uberoo

[Uberoo]

So in prepration for making the rollcage mockups punch through the roof and also to seam weld the existing roof structure I removed the windshield.The old rubber seal was very hard and brittle so I cut it to get the glass out rather than risk breaking the windshield.The seal itself didn't want to come off the roof so I ended up burning it out with a propane torch.So much for the "pristine" roof paint-lolz,the roof paint was so crappy I had zero issues about laying body panels on top of it from the start of the project..

 

On the plus side, the window rail was perfectly preserved with no rust,sweet.

 

Taking the glass out really isn't picture worthy because it really doesn't change the look of the car much.Especially when most of the burn marks/discoloration from the torch rubbed right off.

[Uberoo]

In my quest for more suspension travel I found out that EJ rear struts have almost twice the travel as EA front struts.Then at the same time I decided to use 1st gen legacy or impreza front suspension under my 83 rx7 to get rid of the recirculating ball steering and relatively fragile front suspension construction.I ended up finding a 93 impreza parts car to rob stuff from and have most of the parts I needed from it.

 

Now that I have some of the parts next to each other I am a little unsure how to proceed. The EJ rear strut is much bigger than the ea81 front strut both in length and diameter in addition to mounting style.Rather than try to modify the ea81 knuckles to accept the EJ struts it seems easier to use the EJ front knuckle with the rear strut along with an ej front tophat .I'm just wondering if it is possible to use EA 4x140 hubs on the EJ knuckles for bolt pattern reasons because it is easy to find offroad wheels in 6 lug not so much for the EJ 5x100.While the bigger brakes would be awesome I can always swap in some toyota brakes on the EA stuff.Here is a picture of the two struts side by side so you can get an idea of what I'm dealing with.

 

I first thought of removing the ej mounts and welding on some EA style mounts but that ended badly last time I tried in addition the struts are a full 1/4" bigger in diameter so the EA knuckle wouldn't be very strong with that much material removed.Then I thought about cutting apart some EJ rear knuckles to use the mounting ears but I'm not sure if there is enough meat to build up the EA knuckles, to say nothing of welding cast iron.What do you think?I would like to use those longer struts because they are about as long as any that I can find before going to coil overs,but I would still like to use the 4/6x140 pattern for its availability.

[pontoontodd]

In my quest for more suspension travel I found out that EJ rear struts have almost twice the travel as EA front struts.Then at the same time I decided to use 1st gen legacy or impreza front suspension under my 83 rx7 to get rid of the recirculating ball steering and relatively fragile front suspension construction.I ended up finding a 93 impreza parts car to rob stuff from and have most of the parts I needed from it.

 

Now that I have some of the parts next to each other I am a little unsure how to proceed. The EJ rear strut is much bigger than the ea81 front strut both in length and diameter in addition to mounting style.Rather than try to modify the ea81 knuckles to accept the EJ struts it seems easier to use the EJ front knuckle with the rear strut along with an ej front tophat .I'm just wondering if it is possible to use EA 4x140 hubs on the EJ knuckles for bolt pattern reasons because it is easy to find offroad wheels in 6 lug not so much for the EJ 5x100.While the bigger brakes would be awesome I can always swap in some toyota brakes on the EA stuff.Here is a picture of the two struts side by side so you can get an idea of what I'm dealing with.

 

The EJ (Legacy and Forester at least) rear struts definitely have a lot of travel.

Can you put an EA hub in an EJ knuckle/wheel bearings and see if/how it fits?  It sounds like you have both.  My guess is it's smaller than the EJ hub, do you have access to a lathe so you could make sleeves?

I can't remember, are you using an EJ engine/trans for this?  Wondering what axles you're planning on using and how that would work with your hub choice.

[Uberoo]

I was planning on using EA81 axles because they are short and stout enough that I *theoretically* can get long travel out of them just by moving the inner control arm pivot points inward to reduce axle plunge.Power wise EJ22/DR 5 speed through a divorced transfercase feeding into 4.11 diffs.

[Uberoo]

I need to get better tools before I can take the front knuckle apart.Broke my 1/2" craftsman socket wrench trying to get the axle nut off, and my impact wrench didn't have enough power to get it broke loose.

 

Now I need to return that socket wrench and see if the pawn shops have a 1/2 and 3/8" breaker bars awesome.

[pontoontodd]

I was planning on using EA81 axles because they are short and stout enough that I *theoretically* can get long travel out of them just by moving the inner control arm pivot points inward to reduce axle plunge.Power wise EJ22/DR 5 speed through a divorced transfercase feeding into 4.11 diffs.

 

So you're going to run EA rear axles all around?

 

You should do a little more digging on struts, maybe you can find something that would be an easier fit or have even more travel.  When I was looking, Monroe had some info on their website but it looks like they've taken it down.  KYB has this for shocks:

http://www.kyb.com/knowledge-center/shock-tech-for-pros/dimensions/

If you click on the link you can look up by application and then see length, stroke, etc but I couldn't find a chart with strut dimensions.

 

If they do have one, let me know!

[Uberoo]

I'm not using EA81 axles all around per se. The front I was hoping just to use front ea81 axles,the rear on the other hand uses EA81 axle shafts with legacy DOJ's on both ends.If the ea81 fronts are not strong enough after optimizing the geometry I will play around with axles to see if I can get ea82 or EJ CV joints on the ea81 axle shafts.The best axle would be an outer CV at each end for lots of flex,but the suspension would need to be very optimized so that there is no axle plunge at all.

 

I found out about the long travel ej rear struts from monroes website,volvo 740 front struts are also pretty long IIRC.

[Uberoo]

I had another thought from the dumb idea department.What if I converted that long  rear strut into a long  front coilover by converting the suspension to a dual wishbone suspension? Then I just have to figure out how to mount a balljoint in the knuckle where the strut went.

 

 

I mocked everything up and there is enough space around the brake booster to mount those as coilovers....the cogs they are are turning...and shearing teeth.

Edited July 22, 2016 by Uberoo

[pontoontodd]

I had another thought from the dumb idea department.What if I converted that long  rear strut into a long  front coilover by converting the suspension to a dual wishbone suspension? Then I just have to figure out how to mount a balljoint in the knuckle where the strut went.

 

 

I mocked everything up and there is enough space around the brake booster to mount those as coilovers....the cogs they are are turning...and shearing teeth.

 

We did that on the front of my car, fitting a ball joint and making steering clearance was a real pain.  It basically worked but the subframe/body definitely wasn't designed to be loaded that way.  You're constructing all that from scratch so you wouldn't have that problem.  If you do that there's no reason to use a strut, just use a shock.  I'd recommend something adjustable even if it's cheap.

 

Overall I'm much happier with the long travel struts than the a-arm setup we made.

[Uberoo]

So I've been so busy with work and other bs that today was the first time in the last 3 weeks that I have been able to do anything other than look at it.

 

So when I cut out the floor for the driver side tube I left far to much of a gap to even think about filling up so I cut out a patch panel.I like to try to follow the three R's so I try to use used metal whenever possible.A friend had me cut the top off a 55 gallon drum so I cut the patch panel out of its lid..ground off the paint for about 1/2" from the edge on either side and welded it in place.

then I welded the tube to it from underneath. 

 

After that I had enough of upside down welding on my back so I switched gears for some upside down welding that I could actually sit upright for. WINNING!!!

So to make the A pillars as strong as possible and to better support the rollcage window hoop I started stitch welding the seams of the unibody as well as tieing the roof skin to the structure as well.

 

I only got the driver side seams welded and 1/2 way across to the passenger side before the radio said it was 10:30 so I decided to call it night because I really don't enjoy being told by the cops to call it a night.So until next time.Dont worry.In 50 years when this is finally done, I will put a pics into a nice dedicated thread.

[Uberoo]

So today I was able to finish welding the roof skin the the structure as well as seam welding the other side.I had to remove various pieces of trim,the weather striping and the piece of tin that goes across the roof to help take out some of the booming that the roof does.Then I removed the passenger side door and wire wheeled/welded the seams that were behind the door.Painted all the various welds and put most of the pieces back on except for the driver side,still need to do some welding over there.

 

So the entire roof feels alot more sturdy using my highly unscientific method of banging on the roof and trying to lift the car by its roof.It feels more solid and attempting to lift it there is no give when before it felt like it had a very small amount of play.I guess the big test will be when I can drive it and see how much the body flexes.

[Uberoo]

So with the body reinforcement done the the next part of the project is to connect the tubes up front and re-make the tube front end.A major hurdle for that is the fact that because I was able to move the engine rearward, and there is no radiator up front, the entire front end needs to be shortened for a better approach angle and a slight weight reduction.

So today put the engine in place and mocked up where it was gonna sit.Then I hung the front sheet metal. With everything in place there is 8.5" from the crank pulley to the back of the grill so I decided to remove 6" so there should be *just* enough room for the radiator hoses to snake down past the engine,I may or may not have to clearance the back of the grill for the upper hose but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

 

So with an amount decided on to remove I painstakingly spent the next couple hours laying out tape and measuring the hood and front fenders to find the material that needs to be sectioned out.

fender:

 

I will cut the marker lights out and weld them back into the body where ever they fit best once the fenders have been shortened.

 

hood:

 

next up is cutting the hood and fenders and splicing them back together sans 6",hopefully my measuring and layout lines are correct and the body lines will still line up,if not its an offroader so I might just have to keep it extra dirty.

[Uberoo]

So I today I went out into the garage and with some advise a friend gave me in my head that "its only metal" I began slicing up the front sheetmetal with my 4 1/2" angle grinder.I cut up and spliced the passenger side  fender together without any pics except at the end as a test.

 

 

Then I thought someone might be interested in the process so I took a bunch of pictures of all the various steps on the driver side fender.

First off I cut off the front edge of the  fender along my cut lines:

 

 

Then I cut out the marker light:

 

 

Then I cut out the section to be removed,here is a picture with all the various pieces so far:

 

 

Then I ground off the paint near the edges,deburred the edges and began test fitting the pieces back together:

 

 

After a bit of grinding to both pieces so they fit well I started tacking the pieces together.I started at the top edge near the hood and then tacked it various places where the metal was shaped differently.Then a few more tacks in places.The bottom leading edge of the fender did not line up because of the vastly differing shapes,so I cut it off from right under the bumper to the wheel well opening:

 

 

Then it was time to put the marker light in.So I put down a piece of tape vertically from the rearward most point of the corner light cut out,and set the marker light where I wanted it,the leading edge on the tape and the top edge lined up with one of the body lines.Then I traced around it,and cut the metal out of the fender:

 

 

A few tacks latter and bada boom bada bing, the marker light is part of the fender again:

 

 

I started working on the hood, but it wasn't too long before my cutting disk was all burned up from cutting through the hood skin and the supports, so I need to go get some more for next time.In addition to that my grinder burned up when I went to start cutting up the driver side fender,so i had to get another one,ended up finding the updated model of my old grinder with more power so I'll see how long it lasts,last one lasted 2 -3 years which I thought was pretty good for a $20 cheapo grinder.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Uberoo

[Scott in Bellingham]

nice sheetmetel work , when I do that kind of stuff on a wheeler I usually overlap it a bit say 1/2 , makes cutting work more forgiving , if you still want a butt weld overlap first then use the first cut as a guide to mark for the 2nd cut , oh and try not to trip on the floor

Edited October 18, 2016 by Scott in Bellingham

[Uberoo]

Yea, i know my garage looks like a bomb went off in a junkyard.I have parts everywhere from different projects and all my shelves are full of old parts from cars I no longer have.One of these days I'll declutter it.

 

I want a shed to put parts into,right now my garage has all the parts for the brat on the ground next to it,as well as a driveshaft for a mazda and dodge pickup for another project,then I also have a box of honda 90 parts I would like to get rid of.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Uberoo

[Uberoo]

So today I was able to get the hood done,it took by far the most time.

So I first started by cutting out the sections to be removed:

 

Then I cut out the rest of the hood:

 

Next up I test fitted the pieces of hood:

 

Then deburred the edges,removed paint,test fitted it,trimmed it to fit, then I started tacking it together:

 

Then I started welding 1" sections all around the cut, jumping around to try to avoid warping the hood:

 

After the hood was entirely welded along with the supports I put my flap wheel in my grinder and got to work smoothing all of the welds.Then after it was smooth I shined a flashlight under the weld and started marking the areas that had holes.Then I welded those up,and ground it smooth again.I ended up repeating that about 10 times until no light shown through.Far more work than I wanted to spend but I wanted the hood to be somewhat structurally strong.After all that here is the hood:

 

Finally I spray painted the weld seam on the skin and the supports just to keep it from rusting.

 

After all my careful welding I still ended up warping the hood slightly,If someone wanted to they could rework the metal and put a small amount of bondo on the weld and no one would ever know it was messed with unless you told them,but I'm not putting that much effort into something that will likely be smashed against a rock or tree when it hits the trails.I will still try to minimize warping the fenders,but after welding I will use the flap wheel to knock them down,and as long as no gaping holes open up on the weld seam thats how they will be.In case your wondering,just the hood alone took 6 hours from start to finish,while each fender took only about an hour each to get them cut down and tacked together.

[pontoontodd]

Have you saved all these pieces you've been cutting out?  I'd be curious if you weighed them all at the end to see how much weight you've removed.