v8teenhundred

so...i have been a lazy member the past year, and haven't posted much other than to say that i finished some aspect of my v8 1800 swap. this time i have a digital camera ( christmas gift) and i WILL document the latest project. extensive rear end swap/ tubbing.

i wrecked the rear end (stock dana 27) which necessitates the latest project. i could do a dana 30 and it would hold up for a while but i want the cheap parts and easy gear swapping of a ford 9". that is what i am doing.

i am installing a whole new rear frame from competition engineering ( their standard 4 link setup with 150lb spring coil overs with 3 way adjustable shocks).

the stuff i got isn't prewelded but here is a link to all of the components as they will be assembled. its the yellow set up (2nd down from top of page)
http://www.competitionengineering.com/catalog/CategoryDisplay.asp?CatCode=23002

this means i need more rubber in the rear so i am going to mini-tub it, and i will be recieving some 275/35/18 azenis 615 tires tomorrow afternoon along with all the frame rails, coil overs, 4 link stuff, cross members, etc. etc.

the wheels will be konig beyond wheels 18x9.5 +25mm
17x8 on the frontwith something like 215 or 225/45/17 azenis
http://www.konigwheels.com/catalog_product_details.cfm?CategoryID=1&ss_id=431
its hard enough to steer the car around town with 205/40/17 on the front so i don't really want very much rubber on the front.

i hope to get the rear window out and interior stripped tonight or tomorrow and start cutting the fender wells and floor out tomorrow or sunday. this weekend should see a lot of progress.

a local shop can do a shortened 9" with disc brakes within 2 days notice. i just need to give them the measurements next week.

it has taken 5 times longer to do any part of this car than i planned but this should go smoother than any of it so far. the trickiest part will be tying the frame into the body so that it is rigid enough. it has become a body on frame car but heavily tied into the uni-body structure still.... the best of both worlds.

i will have pictures tomorrow when everything arrives and before i start cutting/ removing gas tank, window, interior etc.
stay tuned.

james

those wheels ARE SICK@!!!! what bolt pattern does your 1800 have? the latrer ones has 5x 108 the earlier ones same as thunderbird(not sure what that is)

can't wait for the pics!!!

Gene_Gatech said:

those wheels ARE SICK@!!!! what bolt pattern does your 1800 have? the latrer ones has 5x 108 the earlier ones same as thunderbird(not sure what that is)

can't wait for the pics!!!

Click to expand...

its 5x114.3

I ordered the rear wheels today, but they are going to take at least 3-4 weeks to arrive from konig, which means i will be strictly tubbing for now. no suspension work until i get the rear end shortened first, which i can't do until i get the wheels of course, which means no welding any frame rails either. what a tangled web-we-weave.

The rear of the car is 90% stripped now, and i am drawing up a plan of attack for bracing the chassis to prevent shifting when i cut basically the whole back floor/ axle tunnel out.

turns out the gas tank is going to have to go. looks like i will have to go with a fuel cell, and mount it in the trunk. i am not satisfied with that option due to the poor effects it would have on handling being that high up. still trying to find another option.

here are the first "BEFORE" pictures.


the tires, old and new.


ignore the rust bubbles on the lower quarter panel they will go soon enough. the top of the tire is flush with the outside of the lip, and is touching the inside of the fender well. needs at least a good 5 inches of widening inward.

from the inside ->back; ( still lots of tar paper and glue to clean off the wheel wells etc).



here are the frame rails i will be using. my shoe is pointing to the front of the rails. the backs will be trimmed at least 10" so they don't hit the back of the car.



i have all day off school/work tomorrow so i should be able to do another update with more pictures. hopefully with some actual work done.

james

i didn't get as far as i had hoped today.
frame rails are set in place to get an idea of how much width i have to play with...turns out there isn't much. 28" for the coil overs to mount between as opposed to the original 40" where the stock springs mount to the body.






the rails have to move about 3 inches further back. as they sit now they would hit the back of the seats!!


that's it for tonight.

james

i have had some major issues going on the past month so i hvaen't gotten much further on the car, until today. a lot of the work so far has been planning and measuring so nothign to talk about really. i wasn't sure anyone was still interested but if there is anyone this is for you.
here are the new pictures.

http://www.pbase.com/jiminy1414/rear_halving&page=3


here are the highlights;


wheels arrived about a month ago. and yes i slept with them. they are the nicest finished wheels i have ever seen. the painted part of the spokes is textured like teflon. it sounds bad but i like it.

the floor is removed!!!! its scary how fast it was cut out ( took maybe 5 minutes of actual cutting).

rear end is removed obviously. after chipping off the factory undercoating everythign looked good. jsut some minor surface rust on a couple spots. it is all getting cut out eventually anyway. hahaha but its nice to see clean metal that is forty years old.


the weather got warm here and i have been so antzy to get the car done that i think i should get lots done in the next 4 weeks. i kinda have to get it done fast since i am moving in 6 weeks.

james

jiminy14 said:

the weather got warm here and i have been so antzy to get the car done that i think i should get lots done in the next 4 weeks. i kinda have to get it done fast since i am moving in 6 weeks.

james

Click to expand...

DAMN! You've definitely got some work cut out for ya... Missed this thread the first time around... That thing's gonna be insane! I already thought it was insane back in the days of just a turbo'd b20... But oye! Those wheels are SWEET though for the car, can't wait to see it finished!

And yeah, just a little bit of tire there... BAM!

klr142 said:

DAMN! You've definitely got some work cut out for ya... Missed this thread the first time around... That thing's gonna be insane! I already thought it was insane back in the days of just a turbo'd b20... But oye! Those wheels are SWEET though for the car, can't wait to see it finished!

And yeah, just a little bit of tire there... BAM!

Click to expand...

thanks!!! i think insanity is a good hting hahhaaa.
my work has literally been cut out for me ....ROFL


i liked the wheels. i wish my stupid garage was bigger. i can't even set the wheels in the wheel well and get to step back enough to get a look. i think they will look ok. i am happy with tthe 275's but i figured that if i was goign to this uch effort to make it handle and get some traction i wanted to go way over teh top....just make it rediculous. so the 275's are almost conservative. i do want it to handle though...no just a drag car.

james

ok it doesn't look as dramatic as last night but i cleaned up my cuts to the floor along the original crossmember so i could put the new one flush to it as a reference point before welding it in.

i made 1/4" thick plates to reinforce the inner rockers at the points where i am going to weld the new crossmember. most of the metal on this car is only 16gauge so i want to make sure this will last, and be strong as hell. i cleaned up the inner rockers and tacked the plates in place. this doesn't seem like a lot of work for a night but believe me it sure is when you discover your car wasn't even perfectly straight from the factory. i used the crossmember as my reference point for most measurements to make sure the car was semetrical, but i triple checked using the lower seat belt bolt hole and the front subframe.
turns out the car is not semetrical. teh old crossmember is straight and good, but the driver's side seat belt hole is 1/2" further forward, and many other parts of the car are slightly crooked by a few 16ths of an inch. this surprised me but luckily i have a coupel good reference points to stick by.


the plates!

where they will be used to reinforce the rockers.

and this is the new crossmember that i roughly whacked sorta into place. nothing is welded yet. i live in a townhouse and i am not allowed to make noise after 11pm so i had to leave it here but really wanted to see the crossmember in there ..sorta.
this crossmember is a critical part to get in. once i hve this in i can remove most of the stock sheet metal and weld in the new frame rails.

should get somemore work done tomorrow night.

james

damn thats gunna be sexy

I wouldn't expect the body to be straight once you remove the floor...

Looks great!!

How strait does it really need to be? If you're not taking it over 150mph around a track you should be ok with it being a LITTLE off. The only real way to fix the problem, if it is off a lot, is to put the car on a surface plate and use hightech equip. to get precise measurements and straighten it.

Keep up the work.

Rob

klr142 said:

Well, not necessarily, it does have 40 years of wear and tear and flex into it, so it might've been better when it was first made, but who knows.

Are you going to try to straighten it out at all?(dunno how you would, but maybe) Or just make your stuff work with how it is now?

Click to expand...

i need to take pictures to explain myself i think. i can' t really do it with words. the lower seat belt hole in teh inside of teh rocker on teh driver's side is 1/2" further forward. if it had moved 1/2" frutehr forward there would be a tear in teh sheet metal at the back of the inner rocker where the crossmember/ inner fender well are welded to it. does that make any sense? i think i still need to show pictures. its more that the hole was drilled in a different spot i think.

for all i know teh subframe was tack welded in crooked so. since everything else seems perfectly straight i am going to assume the body is straight and that the subframe has either shifted over time and rust or it was not installed right origianlly.

i finished welding in the plates last night. i have to make sure the new crossmember is stragith and then weld that tonight.
hope to get more pics up tonight.


james

Vee_Que said:

I wouldn't expect the body to be straight once you remove the floor...

Click to expand...

well removing what i have DID NOT cause any movement...trust me. that was my primary goal when working out the procedure to remove what i have. everything was carefully measured before and after and the order of operations was well htought out. the sections of teh car that are un-symmetrical have not moved adn were as is from the factory.
the floor pan that i cut out was a section between two of teh sturdiest parts of teh frame. keep in mind that there is already extensive frame that i fabricated from the seats forward. furthermore a hole drilled in the rocekr panel can not move forward without everything shifting...trust me it did not shift.
i had a meeting at work tonight that lasted 5 hours so i didn't get anything done. should get the new crossmember welded in tomorrow. after that i should be able to get the rear frame rails in place relatively quickly. then measure the width of the rear end i will have made and then its the home stretch to getting it drivable again.

the rest of the work will be smaller things like plumbing a new fuel line and mounting the fuel cell which still need to figure out dimensions for.

james

jiminy14 said:

the sections of teh car that are un-symmetrical have not moved adn were as is from the factory.

Click to expand...

Well, not necessarily, it does have 40 years of wear and tear and flex into it, so it might've been better when it was first made, but who knows.

Are you going to try to straighten it out at all?(dunno how you would, but maybe) Or just make your stuff work with how it is now?

OK . its been a while since i have posted any update. there was a death in the family recently and a bunch girl drama ( as always).

i can' twait to get home to post pictures...i have to post. i got my rear end today. its all shortened. all that is left to do is finish welding the housing to the axle tubes but i first have to tack and weld my 4 link brackets on the tubes. it the heat will warp it and then it will be re-aligned before finally weldign the tubes. my frame is almost done. i have to get a cage installed to get the stiffness i require. the frame rails i am using are sorta thin and flexing. i called comp engineering today and they sid 99% of people using the frame rails use them in race cars only with a full cage. so i have to do at least a 4 point cage now. sinc ethe rear end is done sooner the project deadline has sped up a fair bit now. hopefully a few more weeks and it'll be driving.


i have made progress since the last time i posted.
www.pbase.com/jiminy1414
pics to come tomorrow.

james

just picked up the 9" yesterday;



the frame is coming along nicely. i have to do a 4 point cage still though. i am goign to make templates with cardboard or something like that and have a shop bend the tubing for me. then i can save money and weld them in myself.



james

Schweet! Can't wait for it to be finished!

Looks great James! As per your seat belt bolt hole being off by 1/2 an inch, that doesn't surprise me at all. While it's a Volvo it's still 40 odd years old and acceptable tolerances were a lot different back than as I'm sure you know. Speaking of which my buddy rearended a car in his ~90 integra a few weeks back and shortened the front end by a couple inches at the middle of the rad support.. I had to make elongated holes to get his "re-shaped" hood far enough back so that it would latch again.. apparently tolerances on hondas are so tight they don't allow for alignment/adjustment on many pieces..

If you ever need/want a hand with something let me know. I'm super busy with school at the moment, but that's done on the 28th and after that it's just work and major/not so major house chores.

hudson said:

Looks great James! As per your seat belt bolt hole being off by 1/2 an inch, that doesn't surprise me at all. While it's a Volvo it's still 40 odd years old and acceptable tolerances were a lot different back than as I'm sure you know. Speaking of which my buddy rearended a car in his ~90 integra a few weeks back and shortened the front end by a couple inches at the middle of the rad support.. I had to make elongated holes to get his "re-shaped" hood far enough back so that it would latch again.. apparently tolerances on hondas are so tight they don't allow for alignment/adjustment on many pieces..

If you ever need/want a hand with something let me know. I'm super busy with school at the moment, but that's done on the 28th and after that it's just work and major/not so major house chores.

Click to expand...

thanks a lot for the help offer. i can usually use at least one other set of hands. today for example i need help lifting the 9"out of the back seat of my sunfire and into a packed garage.

if all goes well today i should have the car rolling around. it will be nice to get it outside and maybe wash the metal dust off of it, but i don't think i want to get water anywhere near the bare metal.

the plan was to use POR-15 to paint the frame. the por-15 rep told me i should hose the bare metal down and let it sit outside fora day or two to rust. that woudl draw the oils out of the new metal and give the POR-15 something to adhere to. that is nuts sounding and i am not sure i am goign to do it. i might sand blast it first to get a textured surface.


i haven't seen the car with the new wheels set in place really. my garage is too tiny to even stand beside the car. i haven't gotten a look at the new tiers from teh rear either so i am realyl hoping to get it rolled out of the garage today to get some pictures of the new stance.

more pictures tonight!!!

james