I started a Introduction thread back in November, found here --> http://www.norotors.com/index.php?topic=18087.0. You can also follow it on the FB page, found here --->Foxy Roxy Facebook But now that I have started working on it more I have time to update this! So about 3 weeks ago I brought the FC into school for my next project. Sectioning, mud work, and painting builders just wasn't fun anymore. I still like doing them, but I needed a new adventure. Something that will make me think more. The first week I had it jacked up and on stands ready to go under the blade. Just prior I removed the fuel tank and the rest of the interior. The first couple days I planned with my Instructor and how we will go about this. It started with just chopping the floor out and then it escalated. That is my buddy, Timothy pronounce it like this Substitute Teacher: Key & Peele We cut the trunk out... And then the floor... Then mocked up some wheels to see what we are wanting in the future. I believe these are 30" tall 10" wide. We will be tubbing it so it can hold a 12" comfortably. I then ordered a JEGSTER Chassis kit and 4 Link kit. We were going to bend everything ourselves but we decided in the amount of time I have the jegs kit would work the best. I like phat back sides. I was looking online for some quarter panels and the only ones that came up were $300 for 2/3 of what I need or $400 for what I need BUT I would have to modify them to fit the appearance I am going for. SO! I went and bought some steel rod, 5/16 hot rolled which I think was a little oversized but at least it will be strong, and started forming it. Almost finished one skeleton in a couple hours but ran out of material The highest point is 35mm from the original quarter panel. I will be picking some more up in the morning and hopefully by lunch I will it all finished and some sheet metal hanging!
Today I finished up both skeletons and cut them off the shell. Cut some slits in the qtrs and pulled them out. Slid the skeletons behind the original tin and tacked it into place. We are 35mm at our widest point. These pictures don't do its justice. In person its a subtle and smooth look. Here are the pictures I took today. Forgot to take some of it tacked into place... That just means more pictures Tuesday! Also, I tried to make a side by side comparison picture, MS PAINT FTW, so hopefully it helps you picture it better.
A lot of this has been from the last couple months... So do not be confused. Well there wasn't much structure to this before I started cutting. 8) But we have a few different ideas to hold it up while the last main structure is removed. We technically still have structure at this point, but very little. Basically it's just going to be a shell that slides over everything. Nothing is "free", but I did look into fiberglass options, stated somewhere above this post, but I couldn't justify spending $360 for the ones I would want. I have spent $50 for a 4x8 20ga piece of sheet metal and some steel rod.I only have about 6-7 hours in both sides. If you don't include my time, I saved $310. I also have half the sheet left over. Since both ways would involve me bonding and doing body work the sheet metal seemed like a better option. Also down the road if I want to replace it with fiberglass I can always mold it and replace it that way. Plus I lifted half of a bumper cover that was a duraflex and that half weighted just as much as a whole OEM one. So I don't thing I would save much weight either. But I could be wrong. Here is the look and height I will be going for. This will be my happy median. YIKES! Almost got pushed past the 3rd page. Well no worries I have updates! So we've been tinkering with setting up the rails and making sure everything is square and fun. As of now we have our measurement for our wheels, the four link plates welded in place and the rear arches squared. Few different shots so you can see what I have going.
So this is what we accomplished the last few days. Everything all angled correctly. Rear end sitting "pinion center". Sorry about the bad photo's didn't have my good camera on me. Yes I know that front cross member is sitting crooked.
Took a few better photos today. Should be tacking most of the items into place tomorrow. Ran into a few problems with the strut bracing and making sure everything is square. Rather do it once especially when it's out of the car. So one problem might be, I want the struts to force straight up into the cross member, so mounting tabs would be underneath the cross member. BUT we might have to move them off to one of sides to make sure the rails clear inside the car so they won't be hitting glass and I can make room for a fuel cell, battery, and so on. So I am fairly certain I am the first student to ever build a race car at school, I could be wrong, but every student who never shows up to class decides they should help me. After blowing up once, no ones decides to come around me. It's great. Fun story of the day. I angered a classmate (whom never shows up to class, can't do body work to save his life but thinks he good at it) after he came into the pit and was like, "looks like you have a big mess down here." I replied with, "It's only a mess if you don't know what is going on." Then he called me "smart" with an attitude then wanted me to acknowledge him. I just kept working. He stormed out of there quickly mumbling something to me. So yeah it's going peachy! TL;DR Kids in my class are water heads.
So spring break is over and I back to the grind. So I was thinking I might be going with a 5.3 now so that I won't have to do anything to the hood to fit a carb and filter. Plus I will get the F/I side, which is what I want in the end. So number wise, the 5.3 just seemed better. But we have the rails off the rack and are measuring everything to fit it in the car. The hard stuff is almost done! Well I made some outriggers to mount from the chassis to the body, forgot pictures... But I took one of the plate I made, since the whole rocker was rust. So we finished up the out riggers and plates today (Yesterday's pictures). We decided we are just going to make a plate that extends the length of the inner rocker panel and then weldl a 3x2 rectangle stock to it. So A: We have the strength we need to hold up the car. B: Strong enough for some form of a side impact. Better safe than sorry. C: Versatility of the design, so If I find a cleaner shell or I want to put a Beretta shell over the top I can. But hopefully tomorrow We get everything finalized and start setting up the roll cage.
Haven't posted in awhile, busy with work and school. But I finally am uploading pictures of the last week. Have the super gas "X" in there. Sorry about the quality of the pictures.. Here is T-mothy welding the one rocker in. Just had the roof hoop bent today. So cut that to size tomorrow and tack the rest of the car in. Should be a blast. Now you are all caught up.
I do believe I need new undergarments. Out of curiosity as a fellow FC owner, what motor are you planning to drop in this beast?
It has its ups and downs. Thanks! Probably a 5.3 to start with. If I REALLY just want to get it on the road, probably just a carbed 350. Thanks! It will be next to the subs and mini fridge. South Central College in North Mankato YOU ARE ****ING AWESOME.
Just finished tacking the cage together. Not to happy with some of the cuts/welds/copes/etc. But as my instructor says it, "It's just a prototype." Ok here are pictures, again sorry about the quality. I only had my phone. I lied I'm going to keep talking. Here is the view with the door on and off. You can see the A-pillar tube shows, can't win them all. I should be able to get this NHRA approved to an 8 sec index. Somewhere around there. It got real tight, real fast. Kind of hard to see. But the A-pillar tube follows the A-pillar nicely. If you can't make it fit, make it look like you made it fit...
awesome work makes me wish I didn't sell my fc you should look at the re amiya front end here was mine
Thank you very much for posting such cool story; well laid out and with great pics. Also excellent key and peele reference. Nicely done all around.
I like the look of the front bumper. What brand is that? Thank you. I don't try and put a lot of words in my threads. Because when I go look at threads I look at pictures and then weed out what I would want to read or not... So short and sweet. Pictures are our friends.
So haven't posted in awhile. What I have accomplished, since the last time I posted, is 1. Made some more tin work to replace old rusty ones. 2. Welded up the rear-end and bought custom axles and a spool for the rear end. 3. Made wheel tubs 4. In the process of making a transmission tunnel and laying the floor. That is about all I can think of. So here are pictures. TL;DR Progress Wheel tubs. First section I made. Second section I made. The rest will just be a 3 side section all the way back.
So much sexy in this thread. Should be labeled NSFW! Great work so far man. Looking forward to the rest. Almost makes me wanna crack open the shed and work on my FC.....almost
So just a little update for her... New rails Blasted and epoxy engine bay and rear end. Then I straightened the doors and put epoxy on those also.
MORE UPDATES! Got around to doing some body work on her this weekend and trimmed some of the tin. Fitted the tail lights and bumper. Fitment is pretty good for a custom quarters. Should have it in epoxy by the end of the week. *Don't mind the black and white near the bumper, that has been cleaned up.* Bought some more sheet metal today. Made my rocker panels and actually have enough left to do the floor! So after a few hours of work tonight I have the driver side rocker half way welded on. Not to bad for a hammer, bench, and clamps. Still need to adjust the passenger side one. *I did clean the rust and weld thru primer on it until I can put a better corrosion protection.*
