The hood came from AAR fiberglass out of Florida, looks like a well made part. My plans are to slightly cut and narrow this new $500 part, and then cut 3" off the length of this new $500 part. LOL

First thing a hot rodder needs to learn -- "ya gotta cut to cure".



LOL




Oh man…..

Ive bought a few hoods from aar and the quality has been first class

The rear suspension in this car uses a watts link. In my normal knuckle dragging self, I welded up the watts mount on to the Dana 60 cover with a lot of adjustability, welding and warpage. After talking to Aaron for I long while, and looking at some of the cutting edge stuff he was doing. I decided to see what we could come up with in aluminum.

Aaron started the 3d design work, and in my opinion, it is nothing short of spectacular. He just started making aluminum chips, and I'm not ashamed to say it gives me abit of a chubby. The contrast between my parts and his is like comparing a couple of paper cups and string vs. a cell phone. Aaron just has the one side done, and sent me the pics today, and I had to post them. Like magic.

http://57hemicuda.smugmug.com/Cars/A...2060%202-L.png

http://57hemicuda.smugmug.com/Cars/A...L/dana60-L.png

http://57hemicuda.smugmug.com/Cars/A...over%201-L.jpg

http://57hemicuda.smugmug.com/Cars/A...L/cover3-L.jpg

http://57hemicuda.smugmug.com/Cars/A...L/cover5-L.jpg

http://57hemicuda.smugmug.com/Cars/A...L/cover7-L.jpg

http://57hemicuda.smugmug.com/Cars/A.../cover11-L.jpg

http://57hemicuda.smugmug.com/Cars/A.../cover13-L.jpg

Chubby? :sieg:

That's a Certified Fatty!

Very nice.

That's super badass,

are you going to have a drain in the cover?
No pre load bolts for a caps?

Glad you like it so far Ron. I built a fixture plate to mount it to for machining the outside. Hope to get a good part of it machined tomorrow.

I enjoy the challenges of something like this and finally seeing it come to life is nothing short of awesome.

I'll forward more pics when I have something. Thanks for the nice words. Sorry its taken this long, work gets in the way of fun stuff sometimes...

Yep! Great work you guys :cheers:

Looks to me like that's a real salable part you just cut!


Hello -- Currie? Yeah I have this killer part.... You want 150 of 'em -- okay we'll ship Friday...



EEEEEEHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA

The cover looks awesome, nice job Aaron. The AMX is coming along, I like how the front end is turning out.

Jon

That's some Killer machine Work!!!!!:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Sweet Aaron and Ron!! I think Greg may be on to something there?? :ups:

Sweet looking piece!

When you really compare the part that I originally welded up, to the part Aaron is machining out, its pretty funny. This stuff amazes me, to take something as antiquated as that steel cover, and reverse engineer it into that gleaming jewelry,WOW. Aaron has a skill set I know everyone of us wished we had, and access to equipment that probably cost more then my house. Thanks again Aaron.




KNUCKLE DRAGGER
http://57hemicuda.smugmug.com/Cars/A...DSC00792-L.jpg

SOPHISTICATED
http://57hemicuda.smugmug.com/Cars/A.../cover10-L.jpg

Trying to get the outside profile cut today, but the new year is challenging me already! Nothing new, but our CAM software package crashes occasionally then won't let you get another license to use it for almost two hours for some reason :computer: . Have to have IT look at it.

Anyway, Happy New Year!
Some may have noticed tapped holes in the mounting flange..how's that work? I tapped them to use them as mounting holes to machine the backside. They will be opened up to clearance holes when I'm done.

So far today, I've drilled and tapped 30 adjustment holes and begun machining the outside profile. The roughing pass, shown below partially done, will take over two hours. The finish profile will take well over 4 hours. After that's done, I need to machine some additional bolt head clearance and add the fill plug that Ron wanted. He chose to not put a drain plug in.

Enjoy
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psnmxle37j.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psl6nkfziz.jpg

Incredible stuff but Ron you forgot one important part of the comparison -

How much did it cost you to weld together your string and can solution ?
And I won't be so gauche as to ask what this solution is costing, but there is a huge difference between the two !

The more you do this stuff though, the more you appreciate quality and precision. I finish off stuff that I would have never wasted time on 5 years ago, because it bothers me now. And having that new rear end piece on there will fill your heart with joy on a regular basis.

Few more. Done for the day, got some family coming over...:rolleyes:
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psc2piofhq.jpg

:lol:
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psfe4lcfzg.jpg

http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pseyou3cqd.jpg

That looks amazing, even if it's not finished

Very impressive Aaron! :thumbsup:

That is just kool as hell Aaron!!



I'd buy one just for wall art!

To be honest Preston, the Budget Builds are over, although this car will probably come in under 25K. The block of billet was about $250, and Aaron is really hooking me up on the cad, and machine work. I think this is one of those things that is being done because it is so damn cool. I know Aaron is probably annoyed by my questions, adjustments and excitement. I doubt I could talk him into it again, but I can tell he digs the stuff, its more then just a job to him. I almost hate to put it under the car!

I don't know if any one else sees it, but for some reason I see an Aztec palace, or something you'd find in the jungles of Peru. LOL

Ron/Aaron- very nice design & machine work!

We all have some level of the "sickness". Mine is the design and machining. Being a business owner with lots of real responsibilities, nothing satisfies me more than being at the machine making something. Not annoyed by any amount of questions, I like to share what few skills I have with others.

:lol: Honestly, I had this very same thought when I took the one from the front showing the "steps" up to the temple, lol...didn't want to sound dumb saying it, but since you did... :lmao:

Thanks Cris

Thanks guys

Greg, please pm me your credit card information :poke:


Sorry if I'm high-jacking your build Ron:underchair:

Very cool!

Aaron since you have Greg's CC :G-Dub: info go ahead And machine another unit for me.LOL:poke:

WTF might as well make it a group buy!

Thats one cool rear end cover!!! :) For some reason "cover" does not feel like the right Word for it! :D

Really awesome car also. I like it!:thumbsup:

That cover is bad ass!!!

I'll get the stock on order! Thanks Greg :lol:


Since it seems a lot of guys think billet parts are pretty cool, I shot a short video of the beginning of the finish pass. You can get a sense of why it takes so long to surface parts like this. The rapid speed is turned down, so the non-cutting time is a bit faster when turned up. Note, this is a 1mm (0.039") 3D step-over finish. Should be around 4 hours to get it surfaced.

Hope to have some more pictures of the finish pass on the outside later today.
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psw2fyzy4l.jpg

People outside of this hobby must just shake their heads and ask "why", while all of us look at those parts and go "WOW" it's a work of art!!!

Great stuff Aaron..... Keep posting more pics!! :thumbsup:

Scott I agree completely!

I do the same thing when I see someone driving a Prius. :sieg:

Boy am I learning alot..this has been a challenge, but oh so satifying :headspin:

So the outside is profiled now and the bolt holes have been spot faced. I took it out, cleaned it, rubbed it, carried it around for a while...now have to open the bolt holes up to a clearance hole and add a fill plug port hole.

Here are some more pictures for anyone that cares, lol. Thanks for all the comments guys.

http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pshlf1fjey.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psjb8jlfke.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psecm6gfke.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psbulyhpdu.jpg

...:confused59: That belongs to art gallery!!

That's just too awesome to go on anything Ron drives! LOL


I wish I had the skills to make parts like that.

Work of art Aaron :thumbsup:

Hope you can capitalize on the design going forward.

That's gonna be one nice looking rear end. I love the idea to even have thought of this.

AMXperiment
 

Ive been following this build for a while and you guys talents are simply amazing! the work on that car is just astounding. the blending of the later front fenders is just amazing. and that rearend cover you made Aaron is just a work of art! Your talents are just incredible. that is one amazing AMX!