solder_guy Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted March 8, 2008 Author Share Posted March 8, 2008 well, we're up here in wonderful WV tacked the rollbar back in http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/966412997_CIMG2164.JPG new tunnel tubes tacked in. Arya's digital level started playing tricks with us and caused us to cut one short... :toetap: http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1337098495_CIMG2169.JPG Braces between tunnel and lower roll bar support tacked in. The angle gives extra clearance for the seats without interfering with the driveshaft. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1346176597_CIMG2170.JPG I've been so worried about the extra engine height, we slapped the dash on there - it does not look much different than before in terms of driver view. My friend is taking her for a spin http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/781076627_CIMG2168.JPG And, while we were in the garage, to our surprise, mother nature was busy as well. This is what I saw 10 minutes ago. This morning, it was 46 degrees. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/662250672_CIMG2172.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHKflyer52 Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Hi Mazda, You know when you are done you will have built or should I say re-built your car as if you had started from scratch so besides being called "Franklin 7" will it still be a Rotus or just in spirit and registration. I vote for "Franklin 7 MazdaEbrahimi" as a new designation instead of Rotus. I know it is kind of long but it is definitely unique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobDrye Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 ;: the earliest Rotus still in existance. This weekend we (Arya and I) started disecting my Rotus. The car is now gutted (again ), and this time the center tunnel, rear section of the frame, pedal box and shelf are all gone. So after this round, the car is not really a Rotus anymore. I have to find a new name for it. I will post pics later, but after much hacking, the engine passenger compartment, and roll bar will move back in the car by about 4". The engine and tranny will also move up into the chassis about 4", which finally gets the oil pan in line with the lower frame tubes, allowing me to drop the ride height of the car (and center of gravity) significantly. The center tunnel will get narrower and taller in the back, allowing for more hip room, and slightly wider in the front to accept the bellhousing better. Also, the tunnel will now be fully triangulated at its front and back as it ties back to the rest of the chassis. The dash will be redone and tied in with the center tunnel. Dash will be narrower and slightly higher (due to higher hood line), Trunk tubes will be beefed up to make for a much stronger trunk area and support the rear members of the roll bar. Raising the engine within the chassis also allows frees access to exhaust ports, so we will make a set of long tube headers to free up some more ponies (approx. 40hp) Seat supports will properly accomodate my seat belts. Pedals will be switched to floor mount Battery and PCM will be relocated from the passenger side shelf to the area directly in front of the passenger footwell. With all this, new rear skin and hood / nose will be fabricated. There are many more details. I will post pics later... Maz: (due to higher hood line) I thought we were both going naked. Are you covering your jewels :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted March 8, 2008 Author Share Posted March 8, 2008 i might be naked for this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
locostv8 Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 i might be naked for this year :ack: :ack: More information than we NEED to know.:ack: :ack: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted March 23, 2008 Author Share Posted March 23, 2008 Since the car is far away, I'm starting work on a bender for the dash tubes. These are big arches that go from the tunnel to the outside tubes, sort of like the CSR dash http://www.autocar.co.uk/Car/Caterham/CSR/171055115440.jpg So step 1 is to make the bender that makes the bend (since this type of bender is about $1000 + dies). Step 1a is to make the dies. I got the inspiration for this bender from JonW. He used some hard wood dies (And eventually an aluminum one) to bend 2.5" tubing. I only need to bend 1" 0.05 wall tubing, so I'm hoping wooden dies will do. Since I don't have a lathe, I had to get creative. With the help of my friend's drill press, made these dies: http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/2005434285_CIMG2200.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1610240855_CIMG2199.JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/75237067_CIMG2198.JPG I still have to make a 3rd die, and if they don't work (they're pine), make them from oak. By next week I'll make the frame for the bender and give it a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eVox Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 Oh drill presses...the poor mans lathe. Great for remodeling that .001" tolerance I just paid the machine shop $30 for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
locostv8 Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Mazda you might do a search on the UK board for"bending beam". http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=48785 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 Mazda you might do a search on the UK board for"bending beam". http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=48785 Well, after trying multiple ideas and ruining a couple of perfectly good DOM tube sections, I am about ready to make one last attempt at doing the large radius curved dash tubing. I tried the bender board idea. I was able to bend a tube about 30 degrees before getting a nice kink. Should have gone a little slower - but even then, it does put slight dimples on the inside of the tube. Next I tried making dies for the harbor freight bender I have laying around... again, slightly kinked bends, which I'm not interested in. I'm going to try the proper way to bend it next... If this doesn't work, I'll move on to doing smaller radius bends with a flat dash bottom. I need a couple more pieces to try a bend with this thing... Since the tubing is .050 wall, hopefully MDF is strong enough: http://gickr.com/results4/anim_e4275fbb-3737-99f4-ddd5-73fe2fecdf2a.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
locostv8 Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Mazda You might try packing the tube with sand before trying to bend this will help with the kinks. Look at about the middle of the page http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1503&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45 If you talk nice to JonW he might help out. http://locostusa.com/forums/files/2007_02_11_12_184.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 Mazda You might try packing the tube with sand before trying to bend this will help with the kinks. Look at about the middle of the page http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1503&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45 If you talk nice to JonW he might help out. http://locostusa.com/forums/files/2007_02_11_12_184.jpg Yes, I had seen his bender. Pretty nice. And that's what I started to work on. My bend radius is only 8" though, so it will be tough with that style of bender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert O. Urfer Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Find an exhaust shop that has a mandrel pipe bender. Usually one that does exhaust for semi's. They can make smooth bends. It may cost you 50- $100 but it will be done right and done quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 I doubt they have 1" dies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert O. Urfer Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 you could always do it in 3" or 4". LOL!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted April 6, 2008 Author Share Posted April 6, 2008 Oh, the small things in life... So I finally rigged up my contraption and tried it with one of the already destroyed pieces of tubing. I only had a small straight section to work with. So far so good. I guess tomorrow I'll try to ruin my other good 8 foot section :lol: Here is a pic of tonight's results: http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1674167425_CIMG2298.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 Finally some success :party: I've never felt this much satisfaction over a piece of tubing http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1105382058_CIMG2314.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locost 5.0 Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Looks great, its nice when it finally works! Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arya Ebrahimi Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 First let me apologize for the crappy phone pics. We both forgot our cameras this weekend. One of the major things I still need to make was the new transmission mount. I decided to go with the lightweight approach. Only took me an hour and a half to make, including modifying my sheetmetal brake http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1157568942_picture0001[1].JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/744880961_picture0002.jpg And, the chassis as it sits now. We added a few more tubes to help stiffen up the tunnel structure and modified one of the cross tubes that was interfering with the trans placement(the bent round tube in the middle of the pic). http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1585725529_picture0005[1].JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1004299210_picture0004[1].JPG And we loaded up the car yesterday and Mazda took it home. The theory is that he will have more time to work on it when he doesn't have to travel 4.5 hours each way to work on it. We'll see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobDrye Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 If he is not a "Slackard" then he only sleeps from 4:01am till 5:59am and will be finished by the 1st of May. ROL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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