C3/4/5 frankenstein frame

[vette427sbc]

A major milestone reached tonight! I’m finally rolling and steering! Still have to tweak the rear alignment and ride height but I’m super happy with how everything came out and fits. The front flares look like they will be perfect and a 2.5” rear flare should give me plenty of rear suspension travel. I’ll get some more detailed pictures with a better camera tomorrow.
Wheels are Forgeline DS3R 18x13 and 19x13

 

[SRountree]

Super cool! That's exciting to see the body on.

 

[BBShark]

Looks great!

 

[69427]

Looks great!

I agree! :thumbs:

 

[vette427sbc]

Thank you all! I rolled it out of the shop today for the first time in almost 4 years. Definitely a cool feeling seeing a project like this come together :banghead:



I also put it on my scales today... One of the scales wasnt reading but assuming the FR and FL are pretty close, its already at 2600LBS :confused2:
I still need to add:
the rest of the cage (chromoly)
fuel tank 26lbs + 23 Gal of fuel
A full interior with small stereo
Bumpers & associated brackets
3 gallons of oil
coolant
lots of misc trim and accessories

I think Ive got to come up with some more weight loss ideas if I want to hit 3400lbs wet w/ driver

 

[mfain]

Looking Great!

Pappy

 

[vette427sbc]

will VM host a video?
I fired up the power steering pump today... very pleased with everything so far! With the car sitting still, 8* of castor and 13” of tire, the pump seemed to pretty effortlessly turn the wheels while drawing 40A under load, and about 10A at rest. There’s a bit over 1400lbs on the front axle. By comparison, it had a similar feel (steering wheel weight) to a Porsche Cayman I recently had in the shop. The pump is certainly not whisper quiet, but would be unnoticeable with an engine running.

 

[BBShark]

will VM host a video?

I would say yes if I knew how. Love to see it.

 

[vette427sbc]

Power steering video up on youtube, but not sure how to embed it on here... Link:
https://youtu.be/cPV_pjWuA4k

Also have V2.0 of the rear flares now... I like the fitup to the body, just need to slim them down ~1.5" These are the ACI ZL1 / L88 4" flares

 

[vette427sbc]

Back to the carbon parts, Ive finally got a plan of action for the inner fenders. I picked up these cheap plastic trailer fenders that happen to work very well for the plan I have envisioned for the mold. Im having a very hard time putting any kind of paint, bondo or sealer on the foam (styrene). It distorts too easy under the smallest amount of heat from the curing reaction. Im hoping the plastic will be easier to work with in that sense, just harder to find the complex shapes I need.



I only want it for the inside edge and radius. I will be extending the "well" out to the fender with some flexible plastic sheet, and then somehow forming the exit duct to that...
Brake duct "tubing" will be integral to keep the flexible hose to a minimum. Im torn between bonding this duct to the body to keep some of the structure in the nose, but I also think it would be far easier if I ever had to service anything to be able to remove this piece. Maybe make parts of it removable? Opinions?

 

[BBShark]

I'm with you on the foam bucks for fiberglass. There has to be a better way.

 

[rtj]

“

Back to the carbon parts, Ive finally got a plan of action for the inner fenders. I picked up these cheap plastic trailer fenders that happen to work very well for the plan I have envisioned for the mold. Im having a very hard time putting any kind of paint, bondo or sealer on the foam (styrene). It distorts too easy under the smallest amount of heat from the curing reaction. Im hoping the plastic will be easier to work with in that sense, just harder to find the complex shapes I need.”

Some guys are using expandable foam to make molds, check YouTube. Looks quick.

What is the width at the top of your rear l88 flares? Looks more than 4”.

 

[vette427sbc]

Some guys are using expandable foam to make molds, check YouTube. Looks quick.

What is the width at the top of your rear l88 flares? Looks more than 4”.

Hey Bob, Sorry I forgot to grab the measurement this past weekend... Its actually closer to 3" (passenger side shows about 3.125")... These are not screwed into the body yet, but I cant imagine its going to vary more than .25" once bonded/ fit to the car

 

[rtj]

Thanks!

 

[vette427sbc]

Knocked this out tonight... small heat shield for the oil cooler lines and electrical going to the PS pump and alternator. .035" Titanium

 

[vette427sbc]

Thanksgiving weekend, DMP fabrication paid me a visit and took my Vette back to New Hampshire with him to complete a few small projects. Here are some picture updates:
First project was to create a lightweight replacement for the lower bumper crossmember. The factory “bottom feeder” openings in the lower valance have been closed off and the new radiator duct will be where the factory crossmember was. The crossmember will also serve as a structural member to attach the front splitter to.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

that's beautiful, it also is good direction for the one I need to build

 

[OZgreen69]

I'love to weld like that !!
Thanks for the pictures, more ideas in the bank now :friends:

 

[bobs77vet]

wow that looks nice!!!!

 

[vette427sbc]

Here’s why I send my car 6+ hours away to this guy;

Hollow stainless hardware





A quick strength test


It’s hard to portray how big these front tires are... I think this picture shows it well :clap:

 

[BBShark]

That is really nice. Nicely made, Nicely designed.

 

[bobs77vet]

that is amazing workmanship and strength, as for the tires they look freaking huge, you don't need to convey that to us.

that's a neat trick on the bolts, I have never seen that before

 

[vette427sbc]

So not much to show on the car, but some more cool parts rolling in... eBay “NASCAR carbon” has some very cool stuff for way cheap! I picked up two carbon brake ducts that dimensionally should fit my spindles/rotors pretty well. Figuring out a mount might be a bit trickier...

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

those might work for mine too - where did you get them?

 

[vette427sbc]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NASCAR-CAR...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

They had different size OD/ID available also

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NASCAR-CAR...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

They had different size OD/ID available also

thank you - I see they also sell the hose... very cool (pun intended)

 

[rtj]

Those are nice, I couldn’t figure out why they were so reasonable, but I see they are nascar takeoffs.

Better order fast!

 

[vette427sbc]

Hopefully everyone is in good health, Ive been taking this socially distancing opportunity to knock out a few small projects (since the vette is still at the fab shop). I seem to be far more productive when Im alone anyway :rain:

I started my carbon wiper door project... the plan is to keep this door 100% stock looking. I disassembled everything, claybar'd and waxed it, and started my layup. I should be able to get the stainless trim to mount up to this piece as well.
I thought about making a mold of the door, but... 1. it would add a ton of time and materials; and 2. I always had larger gaps between the fender and wiper door than I would like. This will make the door slightly larger to fix that.

This is two layers. Ill get the weights of the stock door and the new carbon once I get it pulled from the mold and trimmed up

 

[vette427sbc]

some more eBay nascar carbon bits... Throttle pedal, although if it was used it looks like they wiped their shoes clean before touching this thing

I made it adjustable for height and angle. I don’t know how many people adjust their pedal position often, but I figure on an auto x I may want the pedal higher compared to on a road course where I’m depressing the brake pedal further down, making a lower position better. I’d like to put in a mechanical stop as well. But I’ll need the car here for that. I mocked it up in a customers ‘69 Vert for pedal positioning, but didn’t want to pull his carpet up for the stop positioning.

I don’t think I’ll be keeping the vertical rest, but I’ll wait until it’s in my car before I cut it off.







And as far as weight, it’s about the same as the stock pedal pad, pin and spring. Maybe another speed hole will make it eligible for the “lightweight” connotation :noworry:

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

cool parts. In my bike-racing days, we spent a great deal of time getting the dimensions of our bikes so that we didn't have to bring them to races... I use the same technique on cars, find what you like, measure all the various positions - then you can transfer it to whatever you're driving and you get up to speed a lot faster... even in wildly different cars