They've gone up... or I bought them on some sale...

These are Fine on 16 Ga

I'm gonna make some stouter ones myself for 1/8 and up... Like the JMR ones

http://vansantent.com/sheet_metal_ma...lare_tools.htm


The whole sheetmetal page...

http://vansantent.com/sheet_metal_ma...es.htm#forming



Enjoy

 

I'm gonna have to order some stuff there, that stuff is much cheaper over there than here..damn1 Those dimple dies simply are the ticket for a nice custom interior and it'll match the seats.

 

This is what I got done today, the trans mount is finished apart from final welding some stuff, I didn't get to finish the floor structure, I ended up short on material 2" short..on Sunday, no steel yards open

The trans mount is now very easy to remove and with the angled removable center it aligns itself when dropping the rans tailshaft down.
Also visible where I welded the new crossmember to the frame, using the stock mounting brackets I cut the sides and hammered it down because there was a 1/2" gap since the new crossmember sits lower.

The whole structure is pretty sturdy and it ties in neatly with the subframe for the rear suspension

 

Looking very good... nice work as usual.

 

I was going to do the same diagonal removable crossmember design for my 68 manual but got lazy and didn't feel like chopping it up. I know I will regret it when my first clutch replacement occurs. When that time comes maybe I'll just weld in like TT did, what dimensions is that tubing you made your xmember out of TT? looks much more compact then the stock one and much easier to cut and fabricate with. The stock one was wide and tall and very thin metal.

TT, now that you can't drop the transmission straight down b/c of those diagonal mounting brackets on the crossmember, are you going to have enough clearance b/w the shifter and trans tunnel to slide it back a few inches till those diagonal mounting plates clear the xmember?

 

Hey TT...

As I was laying under my 75 today... I got to wondering why you couldnt do a lift kit via the body mounts.

Raise the body, raise the T-tops... lower the floor. Would look a lot like a C4 inside, with those huge sill plates to step over, but why not? More tire clearance too.

Would be a piece of cake to make, if you are retaining somewhat stock mounting points.



Edit: That is... if you havent already tied the birdcage to the frame/cage.

Edit 2: Why not gut the doors, and nest the birdcage to the cage... and recess the door bars... into the door panels. Straight down to the top of the sill plates. More leg room!

 

Not a bad idea but in TT's case he's trying to build a time capsul. Raising the body would raise the cars center of gravity which would cause more body roll which could hurt his top speed thru turns. If he doesn't break the sound barrier he can't go back in time and save Doc and get the almanac!

 

What is his source for the 1.5 million gigivolts?

 

His secret...but I bet he has a CAD 3D drawing of it

 

The tubing is 8x6cm 2mm thick. It perfectly into the mounting brackets on the frame. I lowered it so it's flush with the underside of the frame. It is much easier to work with, just a section of rectangular tubing, the stock one is a PITA sice it's made from multiple pieces...and this looks a lot cleaner too. I like clean stuff, hate the double U sections welded together. If I could (can't because of car registration) I would probably have redone the whole frame from scratch using this kind of tubing, just like the nascars..it looks so nice and clean compared to the stock cluster F

The trans drops out just fine if the center section is removed, after removing the trans mount to c-beam mount adapter thing that I built. It's a 2 pc mounting system, the center section with the diagonal plates is held in w/ 4 allen heads, remove those and the whole center just slides out. The rest w/ the red urethane bushing remains stuck to the trans tailshaft. It's a matter of pulling the 2 long bolts on the top to remove this whole mounting bracket (trans mount to c beam mount adapter thing) and then the trans drops out just fine.

The body is seperate from the cage, I'm not going to weld it in, I'll just use the normal body mounts. The body is still stock height. I'm not going to space it up, that would mean I'd have to drop the susp. even more and decrease frame to ground clearance (and exhaust clearance with that) It's really not the t top that's the problem, I gutted those..there's enough room there, it's roof liner behind your head, I was always hitting that with my head...very uncomfortable Part of the problem was using a power seat on a non power seat floor board. using a non power seat rail solved most of it but I felt more and more disgusted when looking at the floor. It was dented from when the driveshaft went through 1 side and I had cut it up for the trans, even after welding some new metal in it just looked patched, gawd awful & ugly..... I just had to cut it.

I have plenty of leg room, it's not the width that's the problem, I'm probably going to have to do some custom door panels anyway with the door bars, I never had the arm rests on the doors (never liked them) and all the stuff that goes with them (lock unlock button), just a flat custom panel:



Should be fairly easy to have the upholstery guy do a notch just like glenn mr blue smith has.

 

Very nice welds Marck. I know you are keeping the floor supports level with the bottom of the frame but will this not cause a problem with laying down the aluminum floor pans. They will not sit on the floor braces? The tranny crossmember is higher so you will have to build up the supports.? I thought you would leave everything level on the inside?

 

The floor panels will be flat, apart from the section over the trans crossmember, it'll be a little "hump" The crossmember is in front of the seat anyway, somewhere under your knees so it isn't a problem. The floor will be completely flat apart from that area. All it takes is a couple of bends in a sheet of aluminium not that big of a deal. I could have lowered the crossmember to be flush on the top with the rest of the beams but then it would stick out under the car and I would have to notch it for the exhaust, didn't want to do that since there's less height in this crossmember anyway.

 

That with work great. The little hump in the aluminum floor pan will and interest to an otherwise flat surface. It will also give you maximum head room.
good plan

 

Can you access/remove the two top bolts of that U-bracket that mounts around the pass side of the trans tail shaft with the body on? Sounds like you might not even need to take that whole "U" bracket off the trans, just unbolt the driveshaft from the yoke once the center section of the crossmember is gone and the trans should drop right down. Nice design.

If you had some dimple dies you could make some sweet door panels to match your seats! I can't remember the cats name on here but he has a red car with similar seats as you and has the door panels dimple died to match. They looked
Amongst his car pics he had a pic with his radiator with x-bones painted on it.

 

You mean litevette, his door panels have holes but are not dimpled, that was actually something I had been thinking about but then with a black suede covered backing panel so you don't look directly on the ugly door innards and then somethig similar for the center console sides

The u bracket on the tranny stays on place, it's just a matter of unbolting the red uretane mount just like how it's originally, jack up the tail shaft a tad, pull out the crossmember section and the tranny should swing down

 

a man with a plan!

That would look neat with the black backing. The door internals aren't very pretty to look at. Sounds good!

What are you planning to use as sound/heat insulation if your running an under car exhaust with the aluminum floor?

 

T, post 11:02 am first photo will yor seats rails attachments sit on top of the structural supports or down in in the well? Under attachment of the floor pan gives the car a smooth bottom, rails setting in the well gives an additional 2" headroom

 

do you mean post #43? The times are different here (CET)

The floor will lay on top of the beams, not under it, the seats will most likely go on top also or there must be an easy way to mount them from the side or something, when I get them I'll have to play around with the mounting height and decide. I may be able to put a large belly plate under the smooth bottom, that would really increase the under car aerodynamics, I had been wanting to do something like that but only after the rest is done, not sure how it will coe out. The rear susp & battery box and all also line up with the bottom of the frame so it should be easy to do. This could then also insulate the floor a little. I purposely removed all insulation, not too worried about heat. I can always put insulation around the pipes or between the exhaust and the floor. Sound insulation? what is that foul word LOL ?

 

haha. I use to have loud speakers in my cars and now I need to save my hearing as best as I can so i sprayed Lizard Skin sound/heat ceramic insulation on the underbody, interior and inside the doors for my side pipes.

I wanted to do a belly pan too, not so much for aerodynamics but more b/c I'm putting so much effort into rust prevention and detail that i figured the belly pan would keep out dirt and road grime. Problem is it will also keep things in, was thinking about some drain louvers that would allow water to drain but not spash in.
The belly pan is still in the brainstorming stage and will occur at the bottom of my list of mods.

You could easily fab some brackets coming off of the frame supports to create a solid base for your seats. I would do that and then lay the aluminum so you know your **** is planted securely!
Still haven't received those seats?? Hopefully they didn't find their way into one of these at the shipping yard....

 

Yes, the seats will bolt directly to the steel structure, most likely I'll need to weld some small standoffs on the sides to bolt the seat to, and the back of the seat will be secured to the roll cage w/ a bracket w/ a bend in it (so it's not rigid during a rear impact), who needs a movable seat anyway

Yeah, still no seats...getting parts here is crazy, complicated, slow and frustrating...imagine the seats being the wrong ones...then what... I would love to be able to step in my car, drive down the street and enter the summit store, just like GKull', they wouldn't be able to kick me out..I'd probably get myself locked in LOL