Michael,The casting bump on the kuckle needs to be milled or ground down so lower steering arm bolt hole is the same thickness as the upper bolt hole.You can drill the lower hole with a 1/2" drill bit. Use a 12mm or 1/2" bolt & nylock nut.

Scott .... all that is already done, that's why the drivers side is put together, I'll work on the passenger side tomorrow :knokwood:

Thanks again!

Michael

Sorry Michael I see that now.

Great progress! Never thought I'd say this to someone in Colorado, but can you send some of that heat (50's) this way? Nice job!

Thanks Wayne ... I thought it was odd that we were in the upper 40's :relax: , it didn't last long ... it's 16 out now, maybe hit 21? I gotta take advantage of the good days and work when I can.

Keep everything perishable inside or covered! lol

I hear ya I'm going to try to put poly on my ceiling in the garage to try to keep a little heat from my propane bullet heater in there. Stay warm!

That's funny, cuz I'm going to HD tomorrow and buy the R13 rigid insulation for the rafters too keep what heat I can generate from my torpedo heater inside the garage .... too cold today to work outside!

Looking good shipmate.

Hmmmmm....
 

Thanks JJ ... your Camaro is coming along nicely too!


Finally warmed up here and I got the passenger side knuckle all bolted up and ready to go, still have to check toe and all that too!

So, my rack and pinion bracket came from Paul Horton's and thought I'd go see how it fit .... well 20 degrees change in the mounting plane changed the whole enchilada, not sure I need 20 degrees as I could take some of the angle off the plate.

I put all the dash and the steering wheel in to see how they line up ... hmmm, the angle of the dangle is off, is is too much? Take a look and advise, I looked at the Stielow Bible for reference, gonna need a different column fer sure.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...538/i0gsGj.jpg
Angle of the dangle is off, hmmmm ...
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...911/ThUiDq.jpg
New bracket set in place fer now.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/n3XzNQ.jpg
Drivers side setting there, may be too high!
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...538/MCPdzA.jpg
20 degrees changed the plane alot!
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...913/qY3RW5.jpg
Another view of the clearacnce.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...907/gPN9m1.jpg
Top down pix looks ok ....
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/7sqKyv.jpg
It's looking like an interior of a Camaro!

Change one thing and you have to fix two other things .... that's hot rodding! I know I have to keep the CL of the pinion where is was to keep bump steer to a minimum, is there any thing else I need to check before I change to these mounts?

Thanks for looking ....

If you cut the column flange off then weld & bolt a short pc of double D shaft in the end of the column it will give you more room the straighten the angle of the steering shaft out.Then grind some of back side of the paul hortons mount plates and you should be go to go.

You should be able to use your stock column without cutting it up. I used the flange adaptor from here: http://www.cachassisworks.com/c-1040...omponents.aspx

Then a standard U-joint down on the rack and it should clear. My rack is also tilted, but maybe not as far as yours. I'm using a Ford Thunder SC power rack.

http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pst2lgbhqy.jpg

http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps7mkdljrz.jpg

Scott ... that's why I referenced Stielow's bible, good pixs! Still weighing the cost and benefits of all this!

That there is a good idea .... that's why I have my Camaro on this site, great people to share ideas with :thankyou: :thankyou:

Since the column is in the same place, and the a-arms and rack should be as well, there's no reason it shouldn't work with Scotts subframe. Only issue I can see is that his A-arm mounts are taller than mine. If you look early in my build thread you can see more details without the sheet metal and all in the way.

I'll check the angles and such later today .... these Unisteer joints are huge compared to the Borgeson's joints, I may switch them out to gain clearance!

Not sure if this will help you but here is my similar frame with Unisteer. I was able to remove the rag joint mount from my tilt column and used a Unisteer adapter. My rack isn't tilted.

Looking good chief!!!


Beach cruiser, you don't have a lock washer or any washers under the nuts on your upper control arms, why not?? aren't you worried about those parts coming loose?

He's using Nylocks

Update 1/18
 

Thanks for the pixs guys, I do appreciate all opinions!

Not much to show today, as far as the Camaro that is .... spent this weekend putting up rigid insulation for a ceiling in the garage (tired of freezing my ... off!) came out nice still need to tape the edges.

My buddy and I pulled the subframe (w motor and tranny ...Uggg) forward to get my subframe connectors in, PITA :buttkick: Should have pulled the engine combo first, oh well it in and I'm tired of working w that Styrofoam stuff, what a mess that was, I want to work on the Camaro for awhile!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...631/PiksZh.jpg
Its brighter too w the reflection.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/yao1vh.jpg
They are in, still need to push them back flush and get the welder out and make some heat!

I'm gonna go and work on the Camaro now ... no more insulation stuff, supposed to snow tomorrow too, perfect timing!!

Thanks for comments guys .....

Turn up the heat ...
 

welding generates heat! So I worked on getting the subframe connectors lined up and snug .... (a little anal retentive) I had to open one side to get the subframe to line up with the rear frame rail and left a gap on one side, grrrrr.

Well I got the connectors in and welded to the floor, still need to attach the seat metal to the floor, waiting on warmer day to spray some epoxy under the seat frames.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/658I0H.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/oWl2oV.jpg


That's all I have for today, that actually took longer than I thought it would ...:headspin: , but it's done!

Thanks for looking ...

Any progress is good . Looking good chief.

When you say you had to trim more and it left a gap on the opposite side how thick was it? Did you have to put a filler strip in there or just lay a fat bead?... Or overlay a little with the bead?

Did you feel comfortable aligning and working alone or did you have some help? I remember you mentioned having a buddy doing the bull work but wondered about the measure twice and weld once parts.

Thanks, wished it was summer thou!

I had to shift the passenger connector over in the back to align w the rear rail, yes that left a gap on the outside, I used a copper backer and laid down a wide bead .... slowly!

I always work alone, I had Tom come over to muscle the subframe and help take cross measurements (hard to hold both end of the tape measure myself) and today I double checked everything w my laser level and had to fix the angle of the dangle. I didn't get the template exactly square, that the only thing I could think of .... so I fixed it!

Thanks for asking ....

You are looking at the wrong pic. Beachcruiser just has nuts with no lock washers.

Yes there are Nylocks on the steering column, and the A arms are using a generous amount of lock tight on them. Those fasteners are on my pre race weekend check list, along with about 200 more spots!

Update 1/23
 

Good day in the garage .... Figure I'd start on the roll bar now that the connectors are welded in solid, got the drivers side pretty much done. Still need to bend the floor plates to match the rocker panel and put the kicker bars onto the connector, but that's easy.

I gave the roll bar a little angle to match the quarter window and to make it easy to weld the top joints with the roof off ... finally be able to weld on the roof after the quarters are on! I even installed the rear window to make sure it didn't hit, we're good.

Take a look ....
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...901/QOu031.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/QthvMW.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...538/2kkteL.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...538/wXQboo.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/5UzAHx.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/xwFVuE.jpg


That's all, I'll work on the passenger side tomorrow and get the kickers mocked up and then add some heat ....

Thanks for looking .....

Roll bar looks good! nice work

Hey chief, I see your using wire as an extra person to help hold your cage. I do all my own work myself to and what I did was use a couple of pieces of scrap 2"angle iron and 4 harbor freight clamps. Drilled a few of holes in everything and attached. They work amazing ,fast and only cost about $6 bucks total. They're a time saver . Sorry if the pictures are hard to see but I had to crop them a lot to upload them. There's only a picture of one of the clamps I made, the other is half the size. Hope this makes sense and helps you or others.

P.s. if anyone makes these use nylock nuts so you can adjust the amount of tension you need when bolting the clamps to the angle iron.

Chief its coming along, looks good, but I don't think that wire is going to pass tech inspection. :thumbsup:

Ahmad good idea.

Thanks Wayne. I think the clamps are more affordable and universal then magnets. Plus they don't mess with the arc like a magnet will when tack welding.

Nice work.

Really starting to come together now,top notch fab work all the way:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Thanks... its time consuming to get it right!

I thought it was better than duct tape :lostmarbles:

So I use the same clamps from HF so I made up something similar .... works good thanks for the tip!!

Thanks ... your car is awesome!

Thanks, the fitment is really close and that makes it a whole lot easier to fine tune!

Here is some pixs, still need to fine tune the angle for the main hoop (85 degrees) and bend the plates for the floor.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/foQxAr.jpg
Made some clamps to hold her in place!
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/kIIQ6c.jpg
Rear window is in place ... plenty of clearance!
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/k5JFsg.jpg
Kickers tuned to fit the connectors!
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...911/1HBsPg.jpg
Better view ... looking cool!


There's tomorrow for the rest (1) fine tune the trunk drops (2) bend all the plates to fit (3) get help to take off the roof so I don't taco the roof (4) start welding!!!!

This is time consuming to get it fit really nice, but it's paying off fer sure!

Thanks for looking ....

It looks good!

Cage looks really good, nice work. Just a note, if you think there may be some racing in your future with NASA or SCCA, you might want to take a look at the rules for the cage before you finish up. For a race spec cage, the rear downbars can not have any bends in them for instance.

Too nice to be inside!
 

Thanks Wayne .... since you have a Nor'easter and we are 70 degrees I would do a little color selection and get outa the garage.


Thanks for the heads up .... I don't plan on any racing the Camaro in classes, just being prepared for the worst and the best handling I can get!


So, since its so nice out I figured I'd spray some color and narrow down a color choice .... not an easy task fer sure.

Anyway, here is a matte blue that is interesting, I might try a grey also ...
The extension was not body shaped, just in primer, the dent will buff out :lol:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/I3FLb3.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/ug94BK.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...909/0BclPJ.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/K4HA4F.jpg

What dent? :warning:

hehe

Man, can't believe the progress you have been making. It is always good to switch channels and do some painting to kind of unwind after being neck deep in fabbing, and other demanding parts of a project.

Good day
 

Hey that dent, your are right about taking a break from fabbing ... and thanks!

Well, picked a couple more colors today and sprayed the extension again ... the grey is alright but the blackblue may be the ticket.

Got the roof off, fabbed up the floor plates, cleaned all the mill scale and rust off the roll bars ... looks kick azz in brushed, may just clear over this!!

Gonna work on the truck plates, had to put in the tubs to check clearance ... then some heat!

Take a look ...

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/SE87Xz.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/3lDxAk.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/dyk2hb.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/v5Aph5.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...911/nti1ac.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...909/yXYt0h.jpg

More work tonight after dinner, gotta mock the trunk bars and bend the plates ..... there is always something!

Thanks for looking ....

Your moving right along. It looks good.

Good progress! Progress is good! Progress on almost anything helps to motivate.

One of the things I tend to do is think something is going to be hard - or that it'll take a lot of figuring.... but if ya just pick up a tool - and do something - whatever "it" was that you thought was going to be hard usually isn't. LOL

Thanks Wayne .... how much snow you get?


Well said, most times it looks hard and if you don't get out in the garage and try .... it never gets done!!!!

Trying to get as much done before my next classes start here in Feb .... steady the course.