If I've learned one thing...it was that the offer of a complete front clip from Art Morrison for about $5K all done and dusted to the rear cross member as a weld in clip was a COMPLETE bargain. I didn't have the money and was thinking I could do this for a lot less money. Well, I was wrong. Sure I end up with a "better" suspension and I've learned a lot.

In this day and age, this...what you're seeing here, is completely unnecessary.

I have a sneaking suspicion that you wouldn’t be satisfied with the likes of Mr. Morrison’s effort. I think it’s perfect that you’re building every millimetre of this car.

Those who can, should.

QFT

I had to look up what QFT meant! I was thinking QED...but we're a ways back of being able to say that.

Ever have one of those weeks where you're out in the garage daily working your tail off and seem to get nowhere? That was this week. With the frame tacked together, it was time to make the reference jig to get the thing grounded on the frame table. This next phase is critical as getting the subframe square and centred in the car is important.

I designed and build that basics of the jig and just couldn't get the level of precision I think I need with the tools that I have. So I had to spend a few nights working on some tools.

I needed some big squares...like really big.



This of course means a trip to get steel and the usual fiddling around to get the parts square. So it took 3 days.

That got me these done - the larger of the two is 12" tall (smaller is 8") and they can be used like a planar gauge or a set of right angles. I needed these to get the uprights positioned on the beams across the jig - they have to be dead square to get the correct measurement at the top. Now, normally, I'd just cut a top bar - but with the stuff in the way, that wasn't going to work.



Started the first quick mock up - pretty clear that there was some pull during the welding...had to take a night to straighten that out.



Looks like it will work once I figure out how much of the back bar to cut off.



With the rails up and level...a new problem.





The rail went a little further up than planned - I double checked, but once installed, this is what we have.

So the pedal box has to go up the firewall a little...good thing I haven't welded it in yet. It does need to be welded in before the rail goes in for welding.

That caused the former complex shape to bind and cause problems.

That gap isn't going to work.



The gaps to the floor are worse.



So that's going to need some work. So I grabbled my flow-forming tool and bashed the floor sheet metal around a little to get some relief.



Make up a cardboard template and get some sheet metal bent up.



Then I'll mod the front to fit better.

A little cutting and folding later and we had this.



It fits like this.



And with the pedal box front lip all fixed up...it all goes together like this.



That's where the weekend went. Still have some final trimming to do on both parts and then workout where it all fits. I'll get that worked out this week.

I'm still amazed at how quickly you whipped out those squares on a whim. Have I ever moved that fast? I doubt it.

I'm very excited to see this thing sitting on all fours again. Soon!

Ya, from a morning conversation to an evening welded up and ready to go. Making the jig took the other two days of last week. God that was stupid. Probably didn't need to make them, but it was nice to have them.

The latest installment of the video series is now up!



You know you want to see if there is another train wreck!

For future reference, would there have been a way to cut off the rail a couple inches long, shape those end pieces into the gussets, and then pinch them in slightly to end up with a few less welds?

So, if I understand your question correctly, could I have just had a single bent rail, then just join that into the rail. Sure - why not. The issue would be one of aesthetics at that point. You'd have the curve on the upper part flowing into a sharp return. There is another guy doing an 1800 right now and his front suspension was done by Ron Sutton and he just welded up the rails with straights. Very race car (which is what Ron does) - I'm not sure how they're joining to the original rail or what they're doing there. I only saw that they were going straight out to the A pillar out rigger. So I assume the old frame just weld onto that.

It may be all it needs, but I wanted to get rid of the potentially rusty frame rails to the rear cross member. I made the decision after my adventure on the track where the passenger side door was noticeably tweaked after 8 hours on track. It still shut and the car "settled" but a day of beating on it did show signs. I suspect that this was due to me being on the bump stops and my inner sills are suspect.

So I overbuilt this part.

In addition to others, your efforts in documenting your progress are highly appreciated. It's an education to me, and entertaining as well. I'm following on the social medias, and tune in to every episode. I am sensing t-shirts and stickers next

BTW, love the "Chopped" flag of MCM in a previous picture, nice touch!

Whew - what a stupid weekend. It took all day on Saturday to get the pedal box sheet metal to fit perfectly again. Sure I could have just welded and smashed it into place, but that's not how I roll. I didn't take pictures. It fits - enough said.

Next up was pulling the frame back out of the car and onto the bench to fit up the K-member. Took all day Sunday. All damn day. Never would have believed it. Would have gone a lot faster if, say for example, the damn clip could come out of the jig without having to lift the frame every time.



Again, not snapping a lot of photo's of the process. You grind and fit until it's perfect in every dimension.









No joke...this clip came in and out of the jig at least 30 times today. I'll tack it in when my head's back in the game.

It's Monday - I'm making progress. Finally moving on to the welding of the front clip.

Frame jigs finished.

OK - Time for an update. Honestly, I'm hammering on this thing like a drunken blacksmith but it just doesn't look like I'm making progress. One of the problems is that I keep running into little snags related to how much time has passed between purchasing and installing parts. I started writing a separate build journal for all the details several years ago, but most of this predates that (or precipitated) effort.

Exhibit A - The Case of the Buggered Steering Rack.



In one of the videos I mentioned the surreal experience of talking to Tony Woodward of Woodward Precision Power Steering. Great products but you'd better be ready for the oddest conversation. Maybe all steering guys are like this? So I called on the 15th of Feb, 2012 with the need for a custom power steering rack as I wanted to get the rack lower so the engine would sit down in the chassis. The old rack was up around the crank and an inch really was going to matter. So with some string, I "measured" where the rack pivots should go (he'd need this measurement, and I try not to waste people's time.)...picked up my phone and credit card...and made the decision to buy this rack. The Canadian Peso was riding high, so buy it now and "save" later. So I get the boss (Tony) on the phone. I try to have a conversation where he would educate me on my options. He's on the shop floor working on things...we have about a 15 second discussion. It goes sort of like this:

Me: Hello. I'm building a Volvo with a Corvette C4 suspension...
Tony: Yes, I know exactly what you need. What are your pivot dimensions.
Me: What sort of rack do you think would be best?..oh and 21".
Tony: You don't want to steer too quickly for a street car - 2.36 turns lock to lock is fine.
Me: Interesting. What kind of servo or parts and things will I need to put this together?
Tony: Great, I'll pass you back to the billing people.

That's about how it all went. Parts come in. Look fantastic. I don't need them for years. Sit in the basement parts stash collecting dust.

Scroll back to the picture of the bill - decoding the part number is critical...GLM is the style of rack, 236 is the turns lock to lock...C is the cylinder, 2700 is the pivot to pivot in inches, 950 is the servo.

I noticed this about 3 months ago when I was trying to look up the mount details and spoke to Tony on the phone again. I was wondering if the online instructions that required 3/8" plate for the mount was required. It is. I asked Tony about the rack as it wasn't supposed to be 27" pivot to pivot. He had no clue...I told him that I measured it and it was 21 - he reply's with "Well, it's 21" then!"

This is what causes stress people.

Alone on an island with bad paperwork and not enough knowledge.

So I just put the rack on the bracket and tacked it on the frame.

Well, after I scribed a few layout lines.







I was very careful with these fits...in fact the parts only go in one way as I didn't square up the laser kerf. You have to tap it together when installed.

I'll cover the how's and why's on a future video.

Then it was back to the string to check the pivot positioning and a little test of centre with the square.

It should be 2" from the frame rail to the pivot. Yup...that'll do.





Now it's on to the coil over mount check. The design says 15° inclination.



That also...will do.

So that was where we were at about a week ago. I've spent the last week working out the suspension dynamics to buy anti roll bars and coil overs. I have stumbled and fumbled around with this as I'm working through it long hand, don't like witchcraft, and need to be able to understand what I'm doing (I'm not a software monkey - I'm a scientist dammit). So that's taken some time.

I may post the method when I understand it - but also understand that it's pretty niche market on the who cares scale.

So now you're caught up.