776 replies to this topic

[Baldspeed Racing]

fair play dude the cage is looking epic and a lot beefier than the old one....and better joined. loving the holes being punched in to the panels as well by the way

[mini93]

Thanks yeah, I've seen the holes drilled there before and thought it seemed a nice finishing touch. (ok the welding up against the rear 1/4 isnt pretty, but its difficult to get upto and grind back, plus your not likely to see it!)

[mini93]

I finally recieved my aluminium (fetched it from the depo)

which means I can get started with filling in some gaps.

Im still unsure if I can start aluminiuming the rear end yet, It largly depends on which fuel tank I want to use. If I choose one which requires a fuel sump, I dont want to swage the panel or rivet the boot floor in position if I have to remove it in order to make shape allowances for the tank.

 

So with that, I have got started on the front bulkhead.

I had previously CADed (cardboard aided design) the shape and depth I need. Added onto that some extra for flanges...

Transfer over to the aluminium... after quite a number of ******* ups and apparently me not being able to do simple mathmatic additions, it was trimmed out of my sheet.

Marked onto the offcut where I needed the swage lines to be formed.

 

After a bit of faffing around as it doesnt fit in my sheet bender, I ended up with this...

 

Just let me remind you Im no body work/sheet metal whizz... The swage lines are a little wonky at points (although I have a plan to ensure that future swages will be straight)

I still need to shape it up a bit for the top part of the bulkhead.

Still need to make the end caps.

Still need to buy a sh*t load of rivets and drill a sh*t load of holes and give myself hand ache and it might be done.

But even seeing it places there, fills the gap and makes the front end look a little more complete.

 

In other news, I offered up my front subframe. I plan on raising it up to allow the car to run lower without sacraficing the suspension characteristics.

Doing away with the top mounts, the subby is raised not a lot, but a bit.

I also plan on chopping it about a bit, adding in tube and drilling some holes in the flat sections.

I have yet more CDS added to my shopping list, so at some point in time I will get over to Pro-formance metals and can get that subframe butchered.

 

Hopefully get more done to the bulkhead tomorrow

[CobraV8]

Have you considered not putting a rear bulkhead in, and just having a tank below boot floor height?

[mini93]

I did, but Im making my own diffuser, this'll narrow the "gap" between where the diffuser and the boot floor will sit.

Couple this with that I need to squeeze and exhaust in there (which will have poor stagnent air flow around it) I need to idealy keep as much space between as possible. It'll more than likely have heat reflective matt between, but I dont want to take too much risk.

 

I did toy the idea of just taking the exhaust straight out the A-panel as turbo's act as silencers it shouldnt be too loud. But incase it's still a little too loud that'll mean I need to redesign quite a lot of different things to rectify as there wont be enough room for a silencer in such a small space.

Edited by mini93, 18 May 2014 - 09:25 AM.

[mini93]

I have been chipping away with getting the bulkhead in place.

I havent been very good with taking pictures, but its getting there now. Still quite a bit of fettling to do though.

 

On the Sunday afternoon (too lazy to work early) I spent the time shaping the top edge, had to bend it so it would meet the steel bulkhead where I plan to rivet it to. This being a curved face meaning I had to bend a 90 degree along a radius.

Im no Aluminium whizz, but I think im getting better. This top curved 90 degree is looking a bit rough n ready, but its tucked up high where you cant see it and will be behind the dash so it doesnt have to be pretty... right?

 

I'v also starting in closing in the end caps to seal up the engine bay and tonight, I've done my 1st of many rivets.

 

 

(you can also see a bit of the top weird 90degree curve bit, its the bit thats all hammered and tatty haha

The end cap will have to seal up against the top of the scuttle panel. This'll be glued around the edges to form the seal.

 

And I need to modify my rivet gun to allow me to fit in those tight spots. The ones above were OK because I could just pull the 1st flange away... so I'll just put it on the grinding wheel at work tomorrow

Edited by mini93, 20 May 2014 - 09:09 PM.

[mini93]

I've been chipping away at finishing the front bulkhead in the evening of the past week. I have finally managed to get this done today.

 

Here, I have made the main body of the bulkhead, although the bottom of the bulkhead isnt flush to the shell, it pushed against easily.

 

This is where I have tapped the aluminium down against the turbo bulkhead box. I have also marked up the bulkhead every 30mm and started drilling...

It was about this time that I gave up (for one of the evenings last week) after snapping 2 drill bits and gashing my finger after the drill snatched and put my finger into a bit of my body work.

 

Here's the completed bulkhead. Where you see in the 1st photo that the end caps for the bulkhead arent against the inner wings due to the shape. The end caps were bent and riveted into position.

 

You can see where the end cap continues up to the scuttle panel. It's not attached in this area by any solid means, (I didnt want any rivets on the outside of my scuttle ha!) The gaps will be sealed up with tiger seal or similar sealant which should ensure it doesnt budge.

 

Can you see where I ran out of rivets? Ok... it doesnt look the neatest from here, but it will be covered by a dash board... soo... Im not overly fussed.

 

I have also started in roughing out where to fit the boot floor. I wont swage this till I know for sure where the fire wall will start or where the fuel tank will sit.

I have had a quote for a custom fuel tank to fit in the space provided. Just need to see if I want to go ahead with it.

 

Cheers

[leaky]

Good too see you still cracking in with this man! Gonna be a awesome mini when it's built

[mini93]

Cheers buddy, I do hope so too.

I also counted, fully rivetted in, I have used 102 rivets in total. I just need to weigh one and see how much I have added ha!

Edited by mini93, 27 May 2014 - 10:06 PM.

[mini93]

Still running under steam and a bit of entusiasm. I have been carrying on with putting bits on.

 

So with my fuel tank on order, almost (and knowing the size its going to be) I was able to make a cardboard mock up, it allowed me to position the tank on the floor and then get the correct positions of the swages on the floor.

I had to ensure the tank wouldnt clash with where I'm planning on putting the firewall as well.

 

Happy enough with the position I went ahead and marked up.

So following from doing my bulkhead where I ended up with wiggly swage lines, I thought a bit harder about how to form these lines straight and in the correct position. If anyone else is looking for advice on swaging lines, I would say, get your desired position for your swage's penned down on the sheet of metal. However in order to be able to follow a straight line easier, I measured 1/2 the width of the die and added on the die wall. I offset marked this on my sheet and scored a line to follow. Doing this I was able to look down the outside edge of the die and along the sheet to keep it true. I also employed the use of a friend to turn the handle while I supported the sheet and guided it along the line I previously marked.

I ended up with this...

I have left a swage toward the back as this is where the rear firewall will sit and rivet to.

You will also see the the swages' in the middle of the boot have breaks in at the edges. The edges of the fuel tank will sit in these gaps. I just thought it would look and sit a little bit better once the tank is in place (and nothing will get lost under there)

 

The hole in the floor, drilled, primed and painted. Ready to fill the gap

 

After annihilating my hands with many rivets!

I'm happy with it! one issue I would point out is at the heel board end it was a little bowed in places. I could have corrected this if I had spent a bit more time on the seat base steel work. It's not hugely noticable though so I'm still happy.

 

 

 

I also started work on the fire wall, but this's still very much a work in progress. Pictures will be shown once its completed and in place.

 

Thanks for reading.

[kcchan]

Very nice. I was planning on getting a swager at some point too

Edited by kcchan, 01 June 2014 - 09:01 PM.

[mini93]

Cheers mate.

If you do get one, just do as I did above, you will be more satasfied when it doesnt look like a mole has swaged them ha!

[mini93]

Part 1 of the rear bulkhead done.

 

1st of all I roughed up a cardboard template and transfered this over to the aluminium sheet, I also left additional material for flanges (haha)

 

After it was offered up and fiddled to fit.

All holes drilled. The bulkhead will likely obscure some places after its been riveted into place which means it will likely end up getting missed when it comes to paint, such as imediatly behind the bulkhead either sides on the arches and on the turrets. For this reason I thought it was best to paint it now, whilst black isnt going to be the interior colour of choice, I thought it best to cover it over now.

 

All swaged, painted, fitted and riveted.

 

Here's where the bulkhead meets the arch.

 

Rear view.

 

You can see the obscured section on the turrets.

 

I'll start clipping about some cardboard tomorrow and make a template for the upper 1/2, be glad to get this finished haha

 

[mini93]

So i've finished the rear fire wall now.

 

Cardboard template made up.

 

Transfered over to the Aluminium.

When I cut out the original seat back and parcel shelf I left a small section of steel under the rear screen. I attached the aluminium fire wall to this by bending up a flange to meet.

For the sides, I bent a flange in the other direction, going boot side. Not going to rivet the panel to the rear 1/4 I decided using sikaflex here to secure it and create a seal for the fire wall.

 

At this point I turned my attention to the closing panels around the shock mounts.

Not a simple panel as I hoped, The angles of the roll cages cross meant I had to cut sections of the fire wall out.

 

Transfered over to the aluminium again.

 

Shows the angles I had to create to fit around the cage.

 

Turning back to the upper portion of the fire wall, with the closing panels in place I was able to fine trim the panel and swage it.

Some rivets later I ended up with this.

You can still see some gaps around the side here

 

Bit of Sikaflexing later and its been sealed up.

 

Quite pleased with how its turned out, its not perfect but its good for an amature I think!

 

So I hauled the car outside to clean up the garage which was a complete tip after doing all the work

 

 

 

Wiped that job off the white board! and added about 5 more.

 

Cheers for looking.

 

 

[Baldspeed Racing]

really tidy work there mate, fair dews