Jump to content

Daily Hillclimb Build (s30)


Recommended Posts

4 years in the making. I know how that goes.

 

Keep at it. I'd love to see it finished...or even driving.

Driving and finished are the same thing to me. Paint and windows are decorations that keep the elements out.

 

Josh,

That is a cool trick to mark tubing for notching.

 

Another cheap and quick way is a Speedway Motors tubing notcher. I've used one for years. At $97.99 you can't go wrong. 

Order link - http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-Speedy-Notcher-Tubing-Notcher,3482.html

I have exactly that, but (maybe I'm just slow with it) found it to be more cumbersome than just going to town on tubes with an angle grinder.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
  • Replies 343
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

I tried breaking out my holesaw tubing notcher. It did not go well. It took a long time to shim the clamp to get the work piece centered with the hole saw, and after that was done cuts are painfully slow. If I try to cut "too much" material at a time, the drill press bogs down and either slips off the arbor end or starts slipping the drive belt. I may spend some time this week setting up our second drill press (a much beefier Delta benchtop) but I'll have to buy/make another bench for that.

Link to comment
This one's pretty short. Filming and building the car is pretty expensive, in terms of hours and dollars. Especially in the beginning (before we had a solid process established), that meant that we didn't get a lot of footage for some of these episodes.

 

Maybe at some point, we'll open up some fund-raising opportunities to help fund the video series again. Would anyone be interested in contributing to something like that?

 


Link to comment
The Mt Washington Selection Committee is going through the arduous task of selecting who they accept to race in 2017, and I'm absolutely on the edge of my seat with anticipation. With 99 entries and only ~45 slots, our chances are fair of being selected. If Driven Daily is on the honored list, we have to double down and focus even harder on that deadline. If not, we'll have 3 years to shake the car down before the next event.

 

Week04's episode is a bit behind schedule, but that's because we've been rushing to get the project caught back up. We just mocked up the cockpit to make sure we have sufficient room for everything with the cage in its current state, and I'm very very happy. The 'foundation' of the cage is complete, and we can move on to more exciting parts of the car.

 

32554718891_9feb4ecd50_b.jpg

 

This weekend: Front suspension (finally!)

  • Like 2
Link to comment

Still working on getting the next video ready to publish, but in the meantime here's a real-world update.

 

The doors have a good tooling gelcoat on them, and are ready to pull molds. Once that's done, these doors go from 75lbs to around 5lbs.

31931059464_11dc89349b_b.jpg

 

I have a couple sets of front suspension to test out. I don't know the springrates, but have re-valving kits galore.

32620769002_7288b9621c_b.jpg

 

I'm still on the waitlist for Climb to the Clouds, so I don't know if I'll need to have the body finished this season or not. If I'm only racing the standard hillclimb events, I just need cabin protection. If I'm racing Mt Washington, I'll need to finish up the bodywork and make it look presentable. To prepare for that, I've started building out the fender plugs for the body molds.

31931060904_4a93713df8_h.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment

I finished up the molds for the doors today (2.5 layers of 10oz chop mat).

31946241344_5fc6d1f8f1_b.jpg

 

While that was curing, I finally trained myself on the vinyl cutter that Roland donated to the Makerspace a couple of months ago. Sometimes I'm surprised by the little changes that really get me excited to make big progress. Making a silly sticker is one of those little inspiring things.

 

32412092840_4a2fd8824c_b.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment

Now comes some more hard math. Finishing the jig for the front suspension was quite an ordeal, if I'm honest. The g35/350z front clip that I had purchased wasn't exactly straight, so I decided to pick a side and build a jig that could be used on both sides of the car. This is the result of around 20 hours of 'braining' and a half hour of cutting, drilling, and welding.

 

32713632302_52e36f3944_b.jpg

 

It allows me to place the subframe on the chassis table and establish my suspension pickup points in thin air. Then it's just 'connect the dots' between the pickup points and the roll cage structure I've already built.

 

In other news, I'm getting closer to finished on the profile for the rear quarters. They're coming along pretty nicely, I'd say.

 

31985082104_34fbe3441d_b.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
The first door mold didn't come out perfectly, it was a bit too cold during curing, and we didn't use enough MEKP in a few spots.

 

32762576541_65d7d9be13_b.jpg

 

However, this weekend was a massive success. We added leveling feet to the base of the chassis, chopped out a bunch of parts, and now suspension is ready to weld in! This is a major milestone, and we could even see this car rolling around next weekend.

 

32206440823_27e3ee8d44_b.jpg

  • Like 5
Link to comment
 

 

Today, I lit myself on fire.

 

33076048995_7a38551f0d_b.jpg

 

I was removing the mounting pins (studs? bolts?) from the g35 front suspension so I could align the pickup points in the Datsun, and that meant a lot of cutting and grinding. I should really have fired up the lathe and just made some from scratch ... but I chose to do it the hard way.

 

32230045274_487ddabaf9_b.jpg

 

In the end though, I have all 6 pins necessary to locate the front suspension. Hopefully this week I can weld the pickup points in place.

 

33077965205_0e810d8d8c_b.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
This weekend, Mike (my co-builder/crewchief) and I attended the rules/awards banquet. Mt Washington changes everything for the season, and because so many more folks will attend our events to shake down their cars, the season schedule has already been announced. That's great for me, because it lets me solidify our schedule for the season.

 

33090367176_1075ddf41c_b.jpg

 

Working around the "start in late May" schedule, there are two autocross events I can attend at NHMS. That should be enough shakedown to be able to trust the car, but Ascutney is known for being the car that will shake out whatever your car's weakest link is. Assuming we want to shakedown in late April, that gives us around 7 weekends left to get the car on its own wheels. It's a tall order, but not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

 

Once we got back from that banquet, we dove back into the front suspension. After lots of measuring, coping, measuring, adjusting, measuring, and confirming ... we finally have suspension pickups welded in place.

 

32980875482_96e45fe8ca_b.jpg

33010508651_31b5a5493a_b.jpg

 

I'm super happy with how that upper control arm tube turned out. Now we need one more, then line up the subframe pickups on the bottom. Once that's done, we focus on the (s13 240sx) rear suspension, and the car should be able to roll around on its own after that.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
I got this far before I had another set of hands to see where the hub ends up relative to the fenderwell.

 

33118442112_8decc73a99_b.jpg

 

The current wheelbase is 90" ... but I have everything set up for 94" as it turns out. Luckily, now that I've established my design, it should be quick to reproduce.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
I really must've gotten a lot of dust in my eye when I cut all that work out.

 

... What? No, I wasn't crying. Like I said, dust. Someone must've been sweeping before I got to the shop ... or something. Definitely not crying.

 

32910788810_8292bed2a5_b.jpg

 

After I pulled myself back together, I got everything aligned on all the planes. Then I got to work on the first (and most important) tube: The subframe mount tube.

 

33138954302_347d4dbd0a_b.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment

I'm working on week05 as I type (recording week17 right now). I wish I had a budget so I could hire a video editor. Then people wouldn't have to wait so long between episodes.

I occasionally make small videos about my bikes for YouTube and sometimes some longer ones, the editing/splicing/music takes forever!

Once I did 90 minutes of total video, 18 hours of editing for a 3 minute final product...  :crying:

 

I can't imagine how long your editing must take!

Link to comment

I really like the intro. Very well done. It ended abruptly though. I was almost surprised when it switched to you. Maybe a fade or order transition to mark the end?

 

Also, your x files rotary hoody is bitchin!

Link to comment

That intro is pretty slick!

Thanks man!

 

I really like the intro. Very well done. It ended abruptly though. I was almost surprised when it switched to you. Maybe a fade or order transition to mark the end?

 

Also, your x files rotary hoody is bitchin!

Agreed, I left plenty of room for improvement in it ... but just like with a race car, I'd rather be driving something imperfect than waiting to finish something ideal. I got to the point where I said, "good enough" and moved on. I'm hoping to revisit it when race season starts and make the new intro even more full of goodness.

 

I love that hoodie. Sign up for an update to this design, and it raises the chances that Blipshift will bring it back.

https://www.blipshift.com/products/close-encounter

  • Like 1
Link to comment

i'm sorry but every time i watch a video and it shows you i think "bro, do you even lift bro?"

 

I'm lost. Am I bro-y? That's the first time I've heard that, assuming that's the case. Most of the time I just get, "You put grumpy old circle track guys to shame with how old and grumpy you are."

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.