The excitement is building

AusBucket said:

You could save that front beam by sand blasting and powdercoating Island Girl.
Regards,

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If I lived someplace normal, I agree, but this is an 80 square mile island with about 55,000 population, in the middle of the Caribbean sea, so alas, no powder coaters here . . . . and it's not just the axle tube, it's the radius rods and everything chrome just goes to hell in a hand-basket down here and I just don't like the look of painted/powder coated front end parts that traditionally are chromed.

Nearest place that might have one would be Puerto Rico, and by the time I set up shipping to and from, and hope I picked a reputable outfit, I'm still miles ahead just going with a new stainless steel kit that has everything, (axle, radius rods, clevises, heims, shackles, hardware, etc.) in stainless . . . (except the actual spring itself)

Sometimes living in paradise has its gotchas

Island Girl, I can identify living near the ocean with the high humidity and salt air. Flash rust here on the coast at the beach is something else. I pulled my unpainted firewall off the T and couldn't believe the flash rust that has appeared magically with in the last 2 months. The air near the water is so humid and add a little dash of salt and presto instant rust...

Stainless steel is definitely the way to go.

Understand where you're coming from IG, the Stainless is going to look wicked, a little polish now and then will keep it all like new.
Regards,

If you could afford to duplicate your mild steel frame / chassis with stainless steel , it would be in your best interest. Your T would be almost completely rust free.

DonnyRay said:

If you could afford to duplicate your mild steel frame / chassis with stainless steel , it would be in your best interest. Your T would be almost completely rust free.

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That would be wayyy more than I could manage for sure . . .but an all stainless frame, maybe polished from the get-go, might be an interesting look, as well as a practical set up for climates like here.

I fortunately had the forethought to order my kit with the frame,and grill shell, already finished and painted . . . I knew if I didn't, it would be a rusty pile of junk by the time it arrived on the island and that it would all be down hill from there.

Getting past the ridiculously low ground clearance this grill shell had with the extra weight of the BBC to where I can be able to drive it on normal roadways with speed bumps and driveways has been a depressing journey that's at least, almost over . . . if my Speedway items do as I think they will.

Part of the catch 22 is that while the standard eye spring will get about an inch of additional ground clearance, it has to relocate the lower shock mount position in the process, which means I still don't gain any more suspension travel before the shocks bottom out, so to gain suspension travel for the shock, I have to space the spring below the perch . . . . The pics show a 3/4" spacer block in place, but I'm going to a 1" block for a little more travel. . . . . Will get some pics up soon . . .

I'm hoping that once it's a roller again with reasonable ground clearance, I'll have the positive energy to get in a groove moving forward . . .this 1 step forward and 2 steps back isn't exactly having an Excitement Building effect . . . .

You’ve been on this journey for almost 3 years. You might catch up to Spanky
(15 year build) pretty soon if you’re not careful!

Neshkoro said:

You’ve been on this journey for almost 3 years. You might catch up to Spanky
(15 year build) pretty soon if you’re not careful!

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Ahem . . . I resemble that remark!

PS - The only non-stainless items on this NTBA member's car are the body, tires, and interior.

I sure did enjoy his Canada trip pix.

Looks like I'm moving in a positive direction again . . . .

Changed out the 3/4" spring perch spacer block for a 1.25" block and that may just be about the sweet spot, possibly another 1/4" . . . . With the weight sitting on the axle and suspension, wheel hub centers at 14" off the ground, just about right for 29" tires, I have about the right amount of shock extension (approximating the new shackle plates) and with the grill shell in place, just over 6" of clearance under the chin and a near reasonable amount of clearance above the axle below the grill shell sides.

Looking from the side, there's still a nice forward rake, so I'm still really happy with the overall look.

I'll drill the 1.5" spacer block so I can compare how everything looks to the current one and then make a final decision. . . . I wouldn't mind a smidge more clearance above the axle below the grill shell sides . . . My Speedway order should be here tomorrow, so I can, hopefully, actually mount the shocks and check clearances and travel . . . and see how close my approximation for the shock mounting point actually turned out to be . . . I also have some longer spring mounting bolts coming from Summit, so if I want to go with the 1.5" spacer block, I'll be good to go.

When I first stared out, I could barely clear a flat 2X4 with almost zip for suspension travel and room for the axle to rise . . .

Now with the same 26" tires, I should be able to clear about three 2X4's and with the 29's, slightly over 4 . . . . all with what should be adequate suspension travel and clearances.

Hoping my wheel studs come in this week, they should have shipped Friday, but no such luck . . . I'd like to get this whole front end nailed down so I can start getting the body mounted and the driveline in this coming week while I'm still on vacation.


Anyway, here's a few pics of where it was at the outset, and how it's progressed:





Almost no shock travel left and almost zip for space above the axle below the grill shell sides








And yes, I did put a new heavy duty tarp on it today. . . . .

Darlene, that's gonna be one handsome beast when it hits the road. Can't wait for the video!!!

Spanky said:

Ahem . . . I resemble that remark!

PS - The only non-stainless items on this NTBA member's car are the body, tires, and interior.

View attachment 21067

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1. Thats a super cool looking frame
2. Its amazing how Spanky always has a photo for everything.

Darlene - I realize that you do not have a garage. Would a Carcapsule help? Outdoor CarCapsule/Boat Series - Shop Boat Protectors

Wow you are moving right along on this You Go Girl... That is going to be a pretty rod. I love the color..

Wow . . . another sideways jolt . .

Checked to see the order status of the wheel studs which were supposed to ship on 6-18-21 . . and didn't . . . .

Come to see that the new ship date is now 8-2-21 . . . just skip July entirely . . .

Might be worth putting the old ones back in temporarily so I can see how the new wheels&tires are going to look with the revamped front end setup.

If it ain't one thing, . . .it's another . . . .

Island Girl, I so understand that "If it ain't one thing it's another"

Wellllll Shittttttt

The new stainless shackles and shock mount plates from Speedway came today, and beautiful, solid, polished stainless they are! . . Ready to start putting stuff together I was . . .

But they don't have quite enough offset so the shock mounting eyes clear the T's that attach to the batwings . . . .

Anyway, rather than let it totally discourage me, I went back to the drawing board and did what I thought about doing in the first place . . . . Ordered a 4" by 12" piece of 1/4" 316L stainless plate from McMaster and shopped Amazon Prime Day for a plasma cutter.

Snagged this little beauty with 20% off:
Lotos LTP5000D 50Amp Non-Touch Pilot Arc Plasma Cutter, Dual Voltage 110V/220V, 1/2 Inch Clean Cut, Brown: Power Plasma Cutters: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

I did have to split the cutter from the consumables as the cutter wouldn't ship to the freight forwarder in Miami, and the consumables wouldn't ship to my work address with the cutter, but each still got the 20% off pricing.

While I'm waiting on the new toys, I'll put the shackles in with the plain side plates, not the shock mount plates, and then i can use some acrylic to make a pattern for shock mounting plates that fit exactly as they need to.

A rip roaring pain in the ass for 2 small parts, but a reasonable excuse to buy a new plasma cutter . . . gotta keep looking at the bright side . . .

Might be cheaper to relocate to the states!!

Sooooooooo . . .

I took another run at this *&^%$%^#$#@%$$%^&%*&^*&%^%$%$^ thing today, keeping in mind what I had initially thought about doing . . . . and that was to add another leaf to the spring to help manage the additional weight of the big block.

I took the old spring, eyes up, apart and noticed that the smaller two leaves are the same as on the new eyes down spring, but the 3rd leaf is slightly shorter than the eyes down spring's 3rd leaf, so I added that one and it made a considerable difference . . . more arch to the spring now and doesn't flatten out near as much with weight on it.

It looks good now with the 3/4" spacer block between the spring and perch, and gives me the same front frame height with the center of the wheel hubs at ~13" . . . . This would give me comfortable ground clearance even with the smaller 26" tires

I still have to make up custom shock mount shackle plates, but that's tomorrow's task . . . . I'll mock up what I need in acrylic. since it's so easy to work with, and then when it's right on, I'll duplicate it in aluminum and use that as a pattern when my plasma cutter and stainless plate come in.


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Island Girl said:

It looks good now with the 3/4" spacer block between the spring and perch, and gives me the same front frame height with the center of the wheel hubs at ~13" . . . . This would give me comfortable ground clearance even with the smaller 26" tires

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That's some good back yard engineering on your part- what makes this hobby what it is. Also, as I recall, I had to do some juggling with the shock mount brackets on mine. Seems the ones from Speedway didn't fit, but the ones from ______ (I think it was Spirit, but not sure) worked perfectly. They looked similar, but the hole for the shock mount was spaced a little farther from the shackle bolts, allowing room for the shock "eye."