Thanks Greg...appreciate the tips.

I'm not quite ready to tack yet... still finalizing position, but wanted to make some marks just in case.

I'll let you know when it's ready for final weld so you can swing by and show me how it's done in person. :)

As you know from all my past posts --- when I post something I usually am trying to help EVERYONE that reads these threads. Welding is something that almost every project needs - and many here are relative "newbs" or weekend warriors..... and they just don't do much welding. I'm a guy that thinks ANY advantage to helping make a better "whatever" is a good thing. Guys that weld all day everyday can make minor adjustments to position - heat settings etc and crank out a perfect looking weld. Us guys that do it rarely or occasionally need all the help we can get (talking about clean material here). Super clean material will help with porosity - fil flowing - and just generally a better looking better weld. It's the little things in welding that make a huge difference.... like learning to place most of the heat on the thicker material and just barely walking up to catch the thinner piece etc which then really helps with burn thru etc - these are all things we need to be reminded of because we just simply don't weld often enough and in off position or crazy positions (to reach something).

I get it Greg and yes, we all appreciate it.

It seems like my main issue when welding on the car is vision... I just can't seem to get where I can see the puddle and what I'm welding well enough from one end of a bead to the other. Usually it's my helmet that gets in the way or something or the light I'm using to light up the work area affects the auto-darkening of the helmet or it's just my bad eyesight can focus on the subject at hand.

This is why I'm a MUCH better welder on a bench on a flat surface with lots of light and nothing to work around.

Looks like I get to get some more practice though.

https://photos.smugmug.com/1985-Mont...1_124619-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/1985-Mont...1_124605-L.jpg

Plan B initiated...

We’re all better on flat bench work.... and totally agree on being able to see!!! I’ve saud a million times.... if you can’t see you can weld. The pros can lay it on with just feel. But I need to see!! I had about 6 different helmets. And the new Miller eye glass helmet made for hard to get to places.

Looking good Lance.

I agree with Greg. As a hobby fabricator I learned a long time ago what Greg says is true. Another thing someone much better at welding than I will ever be told me is comfort is everything. If you weren't comfortable (seeing, standing, sitting, etc.) your welds will show it.

I love that you built your car and actually race what you built.

Well, it's all tacked into place for the last time...Uh...this time anyway. If I happen to knock it off on a speed bump at any time, I do have a plan B. For now it all fits and the suspension travels full extension to full compression without any bind of the end links which is huge. Once I burn in all of the welds I'm pretty confident it'll all stay in place and function great.

Finished cleaning the LCAs up from Plan A, needed a fresh place to start again.

https://photos.smugmug.com/1985-Mont..._094154-XL.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/1985-Mont..._094158-XL.jpg

This is the only picture I took of the new tabs secured to the LCA in the new location. They are in closer to the car centerline by 3 Inches or so and canted a bit more than before. I am able to get the lower rod end into either hole in the swing arm without taking the top end loose which is nice.

https://photos.smugmug.com/1985-Mont..._151258-XL.jpg

Here is the tube, bar and swing arms hanging in their final spot.

https://photos.smugmug.com/1985-Mont..._133238-XL.jpg

The tube is about an 1/8" below the UMI bar tubes and the bottom of it is about 3/4" lower than the bottom of my cross member.

This is what it looks like from the side at ride height. I "think" it's going to be all right there. I know it'll be fine on any track I race on, my only concern would be any real steep and tall speed bump I may encounter. Going on the trailer will be no issue.

https://photos.smugmug.com/1985-Mont..._133155-XL.jpg

Once I sleep on it and am sure I'll leave it this way, I'll pull the swing arms and rod ends, drop the lower ball joints for better access to both sides of the tabs and I'll burn everything in and give it a coat of paint. Then one more assembly and it's off to the races to see how it drives.

I'll have to put the springs back on the front shocks while it's apart and I'll take some pics of the new bump stops and shims to show then. They worked out perfect.

So it made it's first test drive around the neighborhood yesterday...nothing fell off!!!

:trophy-1302:



First big test was making it out the driveway without scraping, tons of room there. Made first run around with shocks on full soft to fully travel the suspension...no issues. Put race setup in shocks and made another round...really feels good, seems to stay VERY flat up front and rear seems to follow where the front goes which is also good.

Here are the bump stops and shims I put on the front shocks to limit the travel.

https://photos.smugmug.com/1985-Mont..._123857-XL.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/1985-Mont..._123910-XL.jpg

Basically the new ATS spindles were a bit of a drop spindle from the metric G-Body spindles and I needed to limit the upward travel to keep the tires off the fenders. These bumpstops worked like a champ. It took 3 snap in shims to get to where they stopped the tire right before contact.

This Saturday I'm registered to race in Tucson with the Border Region SCCA. Friend is co-driving and we are doing time only fun runs after so should get about 20 runs total to tweak on the new setup.

Thats awesome! obviously, let us know how the auto-x/trac day goes...

So, Barney passed initial post race inspection just fine, no issues shown anywhere sway bar related or anywhere else...and we beat it like a rented mule making 17 runs (half back to back) on a long slalom intensive and fast course.

I'm going to share the video of our very first run...completely untested new setup, massive front bar change and completely new shock valving starting with Chris's recommended settings and new bumpstops on front shocks. I basically didn't have a clue what it would do when we headed into first gate. Check it out...

Very cool Lance[emoji106] Damn that looks like a workout!

How many gears do you use 1 through 3?

Thank you for sharing [emoji106]


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