Christmas present from my wife Julie arrived today. Does she know she's supporting my addiction with stuff like this .... ??

thats cool! your wife really supports you or she is trying to drop a subtle hint you spend too much time in there!!! lol!:D

356G gets a spine....
 

Took some vacation time so I could work on the car. Backbone and lower A-arm pickups almost done. Should get the a-arm tabs from the water jet guy tomorrow - that is if the nascar guys will stop it with the last minute orders for Daytona....

Rodger at www.ironworksspeedandkustom.com stepped in at the last minute and bent some hoops for me - benders in my area had a 4 - 6 week lead time and I waited too late. Thanks Rodger !!! (and shipping in a Budnik box was perfect !)

I've never done this before - and it took a couple (now scrap) tubes to get the hang of bending offsets. I could bend 2 in a row, but when I tried to do the entire piece with 4 bends on this style bender - both sets would be on different planes and dog legged something awful. So I split it in half and will stub in an insert.

Going to complete the backbone tomorrow and finish clearing the underbody for the perimeter tubes that connect to the backbone.

Jim

Wow that California tubing sure looks great. But i'm not sure if you would call that a budnik box, more like an envelope.

Project is looking good. Almost done.

Lunch Break
 

Back Bone in. Time to get the tube notcher setup. No parts from the waterjet guys today .... bummer.

Sunday Update
 

Little slower then I wanted - but it's moving along. Learning a lot of new stuff. Math formulas for bending offsets and hoops (and I remember why I hated math class), using my new bender, and notching tubing while staying in-phase with the other end. This is much harder then the chassis guys on this site make it look.....

Tacked some stuff together and built the upper set of tubes. Had to cut away all the shifter brackets and wire clamps - so I stuck it in with plastic ties to help locate the upper tube. Put the exhaust back in to check clearance there. Seat clearance is 18 inches now. I'll have to cut 2 inches outta my stock touring seats - and also get some other race/street seats.

Question: should I run the upper tubes as high as possible - or does it matter ? The dual perimeter tubes will be 4 - 5 inches apart. Would it be best to match that distance with the backbone's upper and lower tube too ?

Thx for any feedback, comments, concerns, ideas.... :thumbsup:

Hope to start getting suspension tabs next week....

All in all - it was a fun week and made some progress, Jim

cool project! :thumbsup:

If you need water jet parts I can do that for ya. My guy takes about 2 hours after I email him the design. Let me know. See this summer DAD. the project looks great and that shorty torque tubes look hilarious.

Thanks TJ ! I have been constantly watching your project and the progress you and your Dad make. I'm amazed at how fast you guys are and the creativity and craftsmanship is awesome ! That will be one wicked machine !

Jim

Nice work! Must be tough working in such cramped confines! :lol: I feel your pain, I've been waiting on the waterjet guy now for 3 weeks! Waiting on the tabs and brackets for the suspension pickups just like you! Hopefully I'll have some stuff to post on the "Beach Cruiser" after this weekend. Nice job! :cheers: