The new stuff looks great, Craig! Has thought been given to tying that rear cantilever mounting setup to the roll bar down tubes, for a bit more anti-twist in the rear? It seems like there's opportunity, without damaging your theoretically usable trunk space.
Part of the logic comes from how much rigidity the dash bar seems to provide the front section of a roll cage (I've seen several cages without dash bars that actually dance around under car movement--not good). I figure some of the same in the rear may add a bit of substantial improvement . . .
Well, I gave up on both my skill and time and had to hire some professionals to help finish painting my car.
It is getting color on the body right now and the hood, fenders and decklid tomorrow. Three weeks to assemble the car before I need to be on the way to Texas.
I still did a bunch of work stripping the car and the first round of primer and body work. The thing to remember when painting a car is to just take out your credit card and make sure you have a good limit... and a bunch of cash so you can get guys to work on the weekend!
Looks great, Craig. I think I know but I've got to ask...The insulation on the housing, have you got it on a hot plate preheating before welding? What temp were you able to get it up to?
Love the work you're doing and the thought put into the entire build!
In and out of the body shop in 2 days! Going to have to pay a couple hundred bucks extra for a cut and buff to clean out some debris, but overall very happy with how it looks and the fact that they got it done for me to still make Texas. The original color Ford "D" Ming Green looks awesome.
A few shoots from the painter at 11:45 PM:
Pulling it back onto Mikes trailer at 6:30 AM this morning.
Clear going on the removable body panels at 8:30 AM.
Body back home and on jacks for a baseline alignment by noon.
Second trip out to pick up the body panels at 6:00 PM. They all made it home safely and will get to dry for another day.
Looks great, Craig. I think I know but I've got to ask...The insulation on the housing, have you got it on a hot plate preheating before welding? What temp were you able to get it up to?
Love the work you're doing and the thought put into the entire build!
Thanks Dan,
Yes, that is a hot plate I borrowed from my day job. I got the entire center up to 450*F, I then locally pre-heated with a mapp gas torch to 550, then would weld about an inch at a time, let it cool down to 475, then heat and weld again. The housing is cast steel, but it has a high carbon content so I used Ni99 rod as a precaution. I did some test welds (on some heavy plate steel) with the Ni99 and the 309 rod. The Ni was softer and broke rather than pulling out base metal like the 309, both were able to bend over 180 degrees before failing. With the amount of weld area I feel pretty good that I won't have any issues. I was checking temps with an IR temp gun which I think was giving good readings as the housing was almost black. I post heated the housing for about 6 hours (slowly turning down the temp) before turning off the hot plate and letting it cool overnight. Took a solid 6 or 7 hours to add 3 brackets and weld the tubes to the housing.... I should have just bought a floater... and a new driveshaft... and new brakes... and a new center section... but now I have the only 8.8 like this.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
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