Project Journals

Here is a link to "Part 1" of the project:
[forum.britishv8.org]

Please note: The photos in this thread are displayed at 600x450 pixels. If you see a little box-in-a-box logo in the upper right hand corner of the photo, click anywhere on the photo to blow it up to full size - in a new window. This new window can then be maximized for a still larger image.

Time to mount the bosses for the Watts Linkage on the rear crossmember, "end rails", as I call them. These are a 1/2"x13 threaded tubes that extend through the 2x3" rectangular section, welded both sides. I added 10" long, adjustable rear suspension bump stops while it was on the bench. That's a lot easier welding than trying to do it on the frame.



Detail of Watts Linkage boss:



Lower control arm bump stop:

Next, they'll be welded to rear crossmember:




Ready to assemble the frame. I'm down to four major chassis components, that being the IFS, two side frame rails and the rear crossmember. A fifth is a 2x2" tube section connecting the two frame rails together at the driveshaft.
I set them on the floor, off the chassis table, got out the bathroom scales and recorded their individual weights.

Crossmember, frame rails and connector, set in place, not welded:






HOW MUCH DOES IT ALL WEIGH?

(the answer coming soon)

Brakes
In order to use the Wilwood calipers on the IRS, I needed to fabricate a bracket to mount them to. Simple enough. The vented rotors required another adapter or "hat" which needed an offset in it and access holes for removal. I could have turned one out of a piece of billet aluminum but decided to turn down the original Jaguar brake rotor and adapt it. A little extra weight but much easier to fabricate.
The collection:

Backside of rotor and hat, (temporary bolts):

The Wilwood emergency brake or "spot caliper", I think, are strange. They're a floating caliper design that are held captive with a slot at either end. I searched the net endlessly looking for mounting ideas from others and this is the best I could come up with. It's an aluminum assembly that bolts to the differential and the steel, main caliper bracket, to give it stability. These spot calipers don't hold the best of reputations so I'll be keeping it in mind when parking in San Francisco.
Assembly:

Backside:

E-brake detail:

Mounted on differential:








Frame Assembly
With the four main frame components mounted on the chassis table, it was finally time to stick them together. Despite using a slow and careful welding process, I still had one corner lift up of the chassis table by 0.047' of an inch. I corrected that by fastening that corner to the table and using a hydraulic jack to lift the other corner until it all came out level.

I flipped the frame over to weld areas underneath that I couldn't access when it was on the table.



Busy end of frame:









Done:




Just for the record, the weight of the frame without the IFS was:
38 lb - rear crossmember
34 lb - left frame rail
34 lb - right frame rail
6 lb - frame connector
112 lbs Total weight as pictured above.

Engine Mounts
I fabricated aluminum adapter plates so I could use Energy Suspension GM motor mounts on the LS1 block. From here, I set the engine in place at my calculated height and at the determined 3 degree driveline angle. I made the connecter tube underneath the engine removable and set up a temporary transmission mount. The final support for the transmission will be two tubes extending from either frame rail and the transmission tunnel itself, much like the original Jaguar E-Type design.
Placing the engine in the frame when it was on the chassis table went well. I had to build leg extensions for the engine hoist.

Engine hoist leg extensions:



With the engine in place, I came off the frame rail with a flat plate:



I fabricated the connector tube and boxed around it to compete the mount:

Tacked in place for now:




I'll take the frame off the table to finish the welds:

Calculations for my driveline angle were done with full size cardboard cutouts of the engine transmission combination and the differential, both layed out on a large sheet of cardboard. The differential was fixed at 3 degrees due to the lower control arm mounts. With these representaions, I shifted them around until I found the best numbers. Others would have used CAD on their computers.
Full size layout:

Engine:

Differential:


On all Fours
I used the engine hoist to lift the frame off the chassis table to finish the engine mount welds. Assembled the IRS underneath it and got it on all four wheels.







I'm thinking I should take it outside for some fresh air.

Rolling Chassis
After putting the engine in place, I was anxious to see the rolling chssis in full daylight. I have struts in place of the coilovers to keep the chassis at ride height. Ground clearance is 6" at the frame rails. The chassis may look a bit spindly here, but the coupe body, transmission tunnel and floors are all to be welded in giving the car torsional strength.

(Click anywhere on a photo to blow it up to full size - in a new window. This new window can then be maximized for a still larger image)








Struts in place of coilovers:

Watts linkage/anti-sway bar interference close:

Anti-sway bar installed:




Video to the music, "My car won't go".
(for full screen, click bottom left corner)



Preparing the Body
What remainded of the original floors, footwells, transmission tunnel and boot floor would all have to come out before the body could be mounted on the new frame. Before I started cutting, I diagonally braced the body on the inside, everywhere I thought was important. The main feature were two channels running between the two inner sills. These would be my main lifting points, close to the A and B posts. To drop the floor, I supported the body from those channels on 3/4" EMT stands.

Body on cart as it's been sitting in the driveway for what seems like forever:

Two channels between sills:

Boot area has a channel with support stands:

Just before surgery:

Body on stands:



Floors and footwells dropped:

Removed a lot of metal. Especially over the IRS area:




Test Lift
I built a "spreader bar" type affair to be used above the roof to pick up my four lifting points. With a simple engine hoist and low garage ceiling height, it all needed to be quite compact in order to get it up and over the frame on the table.

Combined the two channel iron lengths between the sills into one lift point per side.

The rear lift point was from above the wheel wells.

Did a test lift:



C of G was changed by moving my lift point along the center 4X4:

Ready to install:


Installing body on frame
This went really well, just myself and the engine hoist. I had to "walk" the body over the high points of the frame with the engine hoist boom nearly touching the garage ceiling rafters.
The outside inner sill dimension and the inside frame rail dimension are both 48"across. I installed supports on the frame for the sills to sit on. With the body comfortably sitting on the frame rails, it was then just a matter of adjusting my fore and aft position setting the firewall at a measured point within the wheelbase.



Clearing high points on frame:

Tight squeeze on garage ceiling:



Body in place:




Welding Body to Frame
I was relieved to see the body checked out level and center on the frame. It showed the body was pretty straight, at least what was left of it.
Happy with the body placement, I raised it again, applied weld through primer on the mating surfaces of the inner sill and frame rail. These would be plug welded along the full length of the sill after the body was again confirmed to be level and on center.

Checking cowl for level:



Checking boot area for level:



Checking body for center on frame:



Preparing plug welds along inner sills:

Supports along sills:


Reworking Firewall
The original Jaguar E-type firewall and bulkhead is a heavy, complicated structure. It provided all the strength for the front "space frame" mounted to it. It also ducted air for the heat and defrost functions. For now, I cut back enough of the firewall to get the engine transmission in, keeping in mind, my plan was to replace the firewall anyway. I kept the windshied wiper motor mount.

Slicing and dicing the A post compromised its integrity so I plug welded a section of sheet metal on the inside of it to tie all the horizontal layers together.

I installed a 2"x2"x .065' wall tube between the two A posts to build the new firewall off of. The tube has an offset to accomodate the pedal box.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Prepared A post with weld thru primer:

Sheet metal installed:

2"x2" tube between A posts:

Offset for pedal box:

Engine now slips in:


Pedal Box
I had three sets of brake/clutch pedal assemblies to choose from for this build, 2002 Pontiac Trans Am, Nissan 240 Sx and Triumph TR6. I selected the TR6 unit because it's self contained, therefore easier to mount. The drawback to this unit is the extreme angle that the brake master cylinder sits at. That's OK if you use the TR6 master cylinder but with my Wilwood M/C, it becomes overly tilted up at the front. I went at the TR6 pedal box with a zip saw, decreased the angle and reworked the geometry to get the same stroke for the brake and clutch master cylinders This also required remaking the pedal arms.

Cardboard test patterns with original pedal arms after rewoking the sheet metal assembly:

Angle of M/C and brake booster reduced considerably:

Finished assembly with offsets in pedals and switches mounted:

Switches control anti-theft, cruise, engine crank and of course brake light circuits:


Steering Column
With the pedal box mounted, I could now install the Pontiac Fiero steering column. I welded 3/4" square tubing along the underside of the cowl and built a frame work between it and the 2"x2" firewall support tube to bolt my steering column to.

Channel welded to base of column:

Frame work fabricated for column mount:

Underside of frame work with aluminum bracket bolted to column:

Assembly welded to cowl:

Tilt up:

Tilt down:


Thanks for looking.

Here is a link to "Part 3" of the project:
[forum.britishv8.org]
Ken



Edited 13 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2013 09:54AM by TR6-6SPD.

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