^yeah, reasons like...wanting your teeth to not rattle out, and your spine to stay in alignment driving down the highway lolz. oh the fun with a really rigid car with a cage
also, in that secondary a-pillar bar picture you fellas were talking about, I noticed there is a stuffed animal being demeaned above the hood. I'm calling PEEETTTAAAA
And the cage bars are a lot less forgiving (and closer in) than the frame of the car in an accident. cage + harness + helmet = good. cage - helmet - harness = bad.
Cleaning up a weld is considered poor form in cage building, because it can disguise poor welds. Yeah, some of those welds aren't the prettiest, but they look like they're just too much material in some places, not poor penetration. If Mike Hurst has looked at it and blessed it, they're fine. Mike knows good (and bad) welds very well (he is the chief technical inspector for R-A, and has a very deep racing background, including working on NASCAR vehicles, and incidentally, he also built Utecht's Mustang rally car).
here's the update for today: Andrew and Nick came over to help, we started by finishing dropping the diff/crossmember to free the gas tank. I need to buy new bolts - the long ones that go through the rear lateral arms. I also need new endlinks and maybe rear lateral arms lol. diff out the objective - get the tank out messy garage is messy painted my rear decklid block off plate flat black so it won't reflect (it wasn't painted in the engine bay lol, it was just sitting there to dry we finished riveting the pass thru block off plate with the tank out of the car masking off the windows for paint she's pretty much ready for painting tomorrow. think 10 cans is enough to do the interior?
to say the least - and it was only needed to clean up some holes from when they were doing the cage (pointy metal by gas tank is bad) and to finish riveting the block off plate! the amount of work we had to do makes me feel as if I should replace it with a fuel cell, to help justify removing it lol. problem is, FIA FT-3 fuel bladders are not cheap
thinking about cost of doing a fuel cell and all the various accessories - the stock tank is going back in lol. what a pita, I'm going to need help next weekend
I can maybe come lend a hand on saturday and sunday. sat till 230 3 and sunday till 4. Just let me know.
will do bill. I'm letting the garage heat up, then I'm out to try and clean up a bit before laying down primer
You have a respirator Carl? If you're going to be spraying that much paint inside that car, I really hope so. If not, I have a couple, I'd be happy to lend one out.
I was planning on buying 1 when I went out for paint but if you could loan me one that would be awesome - any chance you could drop one off this morning and check out the car? I'm in Golden Valley. otherwise if I have time I could go pick it up from you
eh, i don't think putting the tank in will be too difficult. All the emissions crap is in one big pile - I only had to disconnect the filler neck and vapor recirc hose from the tank. Charcoal canister stuff got disconnected when you pulled the fuel lines. plus, put the canister back in place and everything should line up.
Hmm, when would you need it by? I might be able to swing by briefly, but I need to check with the boss(es).
you're probably right, I'm just worried about forgetting to put bolts and nuts back on - mainly because you did a lot of that work and saw how it all came out and are going to be out of town the next 2 weekends. with the fsm it shouldn't be too bad though. we could maybe reinstall some of it today - we need to look at the tank where the broken part is to see if it can be replaced while mounted in the car
carl are you going to a fuel cell or sticking with the stock tank and a skid? With all of that cage work, it would seem like a big fuel cell wouldn't be too out of your financial park.
For rally, especially with R-A, the requirements for a fuel cell are very demanding. You can't just get one from Summit, bolt it in and go. Plus, the stock location of the fuel tank is just about ideal from a weight balance/CG viewpoint.
Saftey?!? :roll: What do you think is going to happen when you crash and your head smacks the cage? Roll cage in a street car = poseur idiot.
yes cages suk, I just rolled my Rhino a hour ago and got a 3 inch gash in my head. damn my head hurts!
well looking at the garage today I decided there is probably more of my car sitting on the floor than there is actually attached! anyway, andrew and I had a busy day of huffing paint fumes in the name of rust protection/badass rally interior everything taped off finally applying aluminum tape to cover holes/plugs (where all the old stock aluminum tape was - which they apparently apply before the car is painted as well) primer down ahh, delicious fumes! (thankfully we both had respirators - thanks mark for bringing out a second one and checking out the project) done
Sorry I couldn't make it today Carl. I just finished with the Jeep. Yay for heat on both sides of the truck. Yay for saving $1100 dollars in labor at a shop. Boo for the ridiculous amount of time it took to fix.
Do FIA legal fuel cells have to be returnless? Ya they aren't cheap. Looks like a decent one would start around $1200.
i believe all i need is an FIA FT-3 approved bladder, I can make my own hardtank. i've found bladders and fully assembled cells for about $600 that are FT-3 but then after I got all the necessary accessories it would be more like $800+
thank you for mention of respirators... I can't tell you how mad it makes me when people don't use them. 100+ for keeping lungs safe! and it looks like a quality job! you still have my shop mates thumb print on your scoop for identity theft? and 2 pints should cover that interior in full and leave you with enough for future touch ups.
And your brain! Huffing is baad. M'kay? Wish I could do more than loan the respirator, but time just doesn't allow for me to go "play" with other people's cars much
understandable with a family. I'm just a single guy living in my parent's house :laugh: I do need help though so if anyone with a lot of suby experience wants to work on the car pm me (especially with andrew being out of town next weekend - he probably knows more about the car than I do by now). a big plus if you're good with wiring diagrams (after all the rewiring I did, I doubt the car will start right away so there will be a lot of screwing around with a multimeter tracing wires lol)
Oh, a good reason to clear at least some stuff. When you get dirt onto a white painted surface, it will stain unless cleaned off quickly, and what are the odds you'll get the car dirty? Me, my cage & interior are getting painted battleship gray
Carl you are mad! the car is looking great. If you need a hand let me know, I might be able to swing by and help out. This week seems to have more free time then the rest
Painting cages is a hoot. Banging your forehead on cage when crawling around inside the car is even more fun when the cage is covered in wet paint. Amy
mythbusters says this doesn't work as well as it should. otherwise you know andrew and I would have blown the sti up by now anyway, onto the update! andrew and I rocked that thing tonight - got the tank, crossmember, diff, driveshaft, pedals, and steering column installed. also thanks to emily for coming over and feeding us pumpkin bars!
