347 replies to this topic

[evil ewok]

been a while since i posted but got a bit of progress on it

finally got to try out the new auto welding helmet and made a surprising improvement. got a bit of progress on the cage but i'll let the pics talk

passenger door bars in, 'crossmember' between main hoop and dash bar

bead came out fairly well


spreader plates for seat mount bars




still need to finish notching the tube in the pic, but all done now




linking it into front suspension/top subby mounts


started putting some strength back into the shell


when i mounted the rear subby i had to remove the inner part of the bushes to get the bolt holes to align with those in the boot floor. need to measure but as far as i can tell the subby is not twisted. the gap was pretty even on each side.


just a general pics of it...










don't really like the looks of the extended front so need to try and get it under a standard length front


may of pulled mr noisey out again...






managed to get a mg zt turbo exhaust manifold cheap off ebay but the wastegate actuator hits the gearbox either going to have to change to an external wastegate or a custom manifold. either way more money will have to be spent. need to get it running N/A first though

[evil ewok]

well it's been a while but i've been plodding along with this as and when i can whilst back from uni. had to fix the french tractor run around before i could crack on again with the mini.

anyways i decided to cut out the old turbo box which had been hacked about and extended for gear linkage as it looked rubbish.



after seeing what was behind some of the patches i had done for me before i decided to cut off his patches behind the front suspension top mounts...



decided as i had to remove a fair bit of the inner wing to de rust i may as well remove the un-needed holes and do some thing elsei wanted to do...

going to be reshaping the inner wing, like endaf owens does on his miglias, and use 3mm to shape and also create a new gusset to the crossmember and plate for bonnet pin and an extra fg front mount on top

made up a new, smaller box for the gear linkage


some more of the large hole filled. none of it is welded in, just making plates and waiting for some decent weather and my intergrips to arrive


can sort of see my plan here. rebuilding the crossmember without the original clearance dip for the carb. still need final bend doing on the bottom to make the lip so sticks to far currently.



then made a few small changes to the inner wing lip piece to include a gusset to the crossmember and a plate for the bonnet pin. cut and form both sides


the bulkhead side mounts up to the bonnet pin plate/gusset



just a random pic of the back end


decided to try an exhaust out if i were to use original mountings


a bit tight haha i'm hoping to get some miglia backboxes turned on their side and sitting up high

also happy i raised the engine up in the frame when i built new engine mounts as i now have enough clearance to fit a manifold underneath even at its lowest height (sitting on bumpstops)
got an issue with not being able to fit the inner bush in on the rear subframe mounts

decided i'm going to solid mount it solve this but unsure whether to use 3mm or 5mm to make the mounts? they will just be folded plate with 1 or 2 gussets

here are just a few random pics that have been taken over the last couple of months






the more i look at this pic the less i like the extended front

[PhilipGCaldwell]

this project looks like an animal!!!

[luke666222]

one work.............................

BEAST!!

[evil ewok]

cheers, hopefully it will be scare me to drive! will class it a failure if not haha (if it ever gets finished)

been doing a bit of fabrication today, made a new gear lever mount as my first attempt was a bit flimsy. still needs a bit of work like some holes to lighten it and the mount holes.




got some good penertration


welds came out quite well




welded it onto a 3mm plate which will be welded onto the shell crossmember


all was going well until the last weld welder decided it was going to just melt through the 2mm steel so had to do a little fill


decent penetration though


overall item

[george91]

Nice work, thats a hell of a roll cage, and i like all the custom bits. Interested to see how the whole bulkhead arrangement is going to look when its finished too.

George.

[evil ewok]

cheers,still got a few more bits to do on the cage but other bits to sort out first.
you'll be glad to here that i got a bit more done on the shell itself today, finally started to add metal back in rather than just chopping out haha

chopped out the notched part of the crossmember and built it back to standard form, the engines been lifted and will be fitting 45deg hoses so no longer needed


first inner wing piece welded in


not to bad for upside down welding haha


crossmember rust chopped out and patched in


crossmember patched on passenger side and inner wing piece welded on, the bulkhead no longer wobbles..


got the beginnings of the new bulkhead and box roughly tacked in place before it started to rain and i had to hastily pack away and get it back to the garage.


and heres the overall progress for today, as i left it in the garage tonight

[evil ewok]

bit more progress on the bulkhead today

got the bulkhead panel all seam welded, the small piece of box section welded in and the long piece of the crossmember tacked in place


crossmember fully seam welded, just need to tidy up the welds


welded in a piece to fill the old LHD clutch and brake linkage hole


with the bulkhead box pieces sat in place, its slowly starting to come together


might try and fit the subframe back on tomorrow as having to lift the front to move it to the house is making me ache too much for my liking haha

Edited by evil ewok, 09 January 2012 - 07:55 PM.

[luke666222]

Nice

[evil ewok]

well the linkage all fits with around 3/4" clearance between the gearbox piece and the back of the box so all is good.

ended up helping someone out so didn't get as much done as i wanted

back on four wheels

took the engine out as well to lighten the car for pushing about and clearance to the bulkhead

made up a box for the gear linkage hole. a rubber gaitor will will riveted on, over the linkage, to help water proof the car a bit



the excess sticking out on the front will be trimmed back to the body when welded

[evil ewok]

bit more done. not as much as i wanted as spent today fixing the french tractor daily drive....again.

anyway got a few bits done yesterday

linkage 'tunnel' welded in




just getting everything welded in at the minute, then will tidy it all up at a later date

got some more of the cage done. drivers side is pretty much complete


started on passenger side


got bored a little bit earlier so went to the garage to work out next jobs and other bits out.
fitted the standard gear linkage rods.



quite like the position where it sits now, originally i planned on shortening it by about 1 1/2" so now i have this problem...


ive just made the lever mount so don't want to have to make another
can think of 2 options:
a) cut the linkage up and make the box smaller so it fits on the crossmember
b) make a platform/extension of the crossmember for the mount to sit on

think i may go for option b as dont really want to cut the mount up after the effort i put into it, also its got a few of my best weld beads on there haha

heading back to uni saturday so probably should be packing tomorrow......if its not pouring down with rain, its more likely i'll be working on the mini so may get a bit more progress

[evil ewok]

little bit more done but run out of gas for the welder so didn't get much as i wanted done

passenger side foot well cage in, just needs welding finishing


made up pieces to extend the crossmember for the gear lever mount as didn't fancy cutting it up


ground down the bulkhead welds i could get to, little bit more work and you shouldn't be able to see the joins :)


emptied the car and hoovered it out as was full of metal filings from grinding so thought i'd get some pics of it empty



unfortunately all the tools and bits had to go back in to go back to the garage

also had a slight accident the other day...

[evil ewok]

got another part from ebay the other week but was delivered home so only just seen it as came back form uni last night.

its an Endaf Owens anti roll bar, will need to sort out mounts and drop links though.


looks like it has been repaired at some point which wasn't mentioned in the description. welds look good so not to concerned, plus for what i paid i cant complain to much.

[evil ewok]

been playing around in the garage today and looks like my pedal box owen made me isn't going to fit anymore i wasn't planning on a full miglia box when i had it made so now i can't get it to sit high enough to get clearance of the floor cage bar for the pedal.

been looking around and i think my best options would be to get something like the wilwood or tilton overhung box where masters sit quite low on the pedal like in this miglia (well you can sort of see)


or another option would be floor mounted like ian curley had


or even better a reversed floor mount


all i've got to do now is work out how i'm going to pay for it haha
just sold my gibson but was planning on using that money to upgrade to a better welder. hmmmmmmm decisions, decisions....

[george91]

Looks good, i recognise those 2 miglia cars, that first one was Peter Vickers old car, the other is the ex Endaf Owens car, which is over on turbo minis these days. I have to admit i do look through pictures of miglia racers for ideas too, i love the work that goes into them.