Austin dorset project.

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Originally Posted by v8pop

She's come on well for 11 weeks Tom. [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my G3121 using NSRA mobile app

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Not too bad mate! I do about 8 hours on a Sunday, and try to get 8ish hours in the week after work on it. So most likely between 170-190 hours so far give or take! So I’ll try and log it more accurately now as I got a bit carried away with doing it rather than counting the hours.
That is workshop time, I’m often sat on the sofa drawing ideas or reading books on various other builders experiences.
I can see how the time soon adds up for building these full tube cars, with most likely double the work!
Looking forward to the next stages.

Yeah, amazing where the time goes Tom.

Cheers Tim W

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Sundays Update.
A small gusset to the under side of the rear kick up join and a plated inside. Reason for this was so the out side of the fail is flat for the tub to sit along.
Ladder bar to main chassis joiners started to come together bit of an annoying notch on these.
Making big progress now.

Tidy bit of tube work Tom, will that be TIG or MIG welded?

Cheers Tim W

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Tig mate, all the work on this will be tig welded, other than body work I’d think but may even give that a go.
mig has only been used for the fixtures that I have made for speed only.

Bit of time tonight on the ladder bar brackets to the cross member, this is what will being held in to the chassis by the notched tubes above!

*Hits 'like' button.........*

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Originally Posted by tom.marg

Tig mate, all the work on this will be tig welded, other than body work I’d think but may even give that a go.
mig has only been used for the fixtures that I have made for speed only.

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Nice one Tom, it looks a tidy bit on TIG too.

Cheers Tim W

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Cold evening, just about defrosted now. Some ladder bar boxing.

i do like 'belt and braces', lol. nice welding as always.
neil.

Cheers Neil

Very nice. Being nosey why is the rear kick up so high above the axle

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Originally Posted by Nobody

Very nice. Being nosey why is the rear kick up so high above the axle

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hi mate, thanks, 14 inch shock at ride height, so the kick up is round 15 inch above the middle setting of the adjustable shock mount on axle.

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Originally Posted by tom.marg

hi mate, thanks, 14 inch shock at ride height, so the kick up is round 15 inch above the middle setting of the adjustable shock mount on axle.

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but surely the shock has nowhere near enough compression travel left for the axle to get anywhere near the chassis? at ride height the shock is compressed 1/3 of it's total travel and it can only have about 7 ish inches of total travel so will only compress a little over 4 1/2" more to bottom out. in post #83 above there appears to be about 8-9" from the axle case to the kick up which would be almost double what's needed. if you don't need the room in the car it's fine of course, but if things are tight a lower kickup would suit better. not a criticism in any way as the car's set to be bada55, just an observation :thumbs_up_smiley:
neil.

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Originally Posted by mygasser

but surely the shock has nowhere near enough compression travel left for the axle to get anywhere near the chassis? at ride height the shock is compressed 1/3 of it's total travel and it can only have about 7 ish inches of total travel so will only compress a little over 4 1/2" more to bottom out. in post #83 above there appears to be about 8-9" from the axle case to the kick up which would be almost double what's needed. if you don't need the room in the car it's fine of course, but if things are tight a lower kickup would suit better. not a criticism in any way as the car's set to be bada55, just an observation :thumbs_up_smiley:
neil.

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I’m not quite sure what you mean mate
My shock running ride height will be around 14 inches, from 17 inches open.
That is what the solid bar is in the pictures of the shock mounts. Ride height. My shock top mount will have to be mounted at that distance from the bottom shock mount that is adjustable to adjust the ride height of the car, not the ride height of the shock.
how or why would I have a lower kick up than the top shock mount, that doesn’t make sense to me.
Clearance is irrelevant really as obviously it will never hit. It wasn’t about if the chassis will hit the axle at all, the kick up is for my top shock mount to have a shock ride height correct.

I guess we all do different set ups. I generally use rear shocks with 4 inches of travel. Road car doesn't use any more than that.also do the shock lower mount quite low
down off the axle,so you can run minimum clearance between axle and rail and get maximum room inside the car

Keep at it.cracking build

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Originally Posted by Nobody

I guess we all do different set ups. I generally use rear shocks with 4 inches of travel. Road car doesn't use any more than that.also do the shock lower mount quite low
down off the axle,so you can run minimum clearance between axle and rail and get maximum room inside the car

Keep at it.cracking build

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Thanks, I have the shock mount in the middle of it’s adjustment range at the moment, to give me adjustment each way if required , this is a race only car, that will most likely stay in a radial slick, and hopefully if the instant centre can be achieved with any luck it will separate slightly, if not it will squat and I will have enough travel either way for the desired outcome.
This is my first ever chassis, first ever car build, and it’s for someone else , So far going good I think, planning a lot before cutting steel and designing what I believe to be right before building.

cheers

aah, you're working with quite a long shock then. that explains it :thumbs_up_smiley:. as i said before it's in no way a criticism, more of a query which you've answered. keep at it and as i've also said before it's nice work, you should be very happy for a first chassis.
neil.

Cheers guys! I’m pretty happy with it so far although a huge self critic, always looking for an improvement lol

Shocks will be 17" fully open double adjustable with bearing mounts. They will be fitted with 100lb springs. Once we get some track Time we can assess what adjustments if any are required.

Hi guys! Been a tad quiet on the updates but a few more hours in and progress made! First fixture is removed. My god was it cold the other night. Around -3 in the workshop.
More welding has taken place. Some of it is tricky to get to so the bench style perfect looking Instagram welds sometimes get a bit way ward.

a fixture has finally been removed from the jig! Ladder bar cross member is in! Minus a small amount of welding that I can’t currently get to!
chassis strengthen plate on the kick up is also welded

Nice going Tom, it's coming on now and a wikid mug [emoji23]

Cheers Tim W

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Haha! Amy got me it a while ago, and as it was cold I thought I should maybe have a tea whilst working!

it’s coming on well mate, fell behind slightly where I wanted to be with it as had some chaotic weeks out side of the workshop and another one coming up with Amy starting a new job and lots of training I will be having the responsibility of the hound dog in the evenings for a couple more nights than usual! But have no fear progress will continue at a good rate.

really enjoying doing this, there’s only been a few days where I’ve come away disappointed in progress or the way something’s come out.

A quick slap in to reality, it’s my first chassis but I have high expectations LOL

Nice. I enjoy welding, not so much upside down on the floor though.

Well it looks pretty darn good for a first chassis Tom.

Cheers Tim W

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Top shock mounts today. Little job that I’ve been wanting to do. Thought out a few ways but simplest was good.

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Originally Posted by Happydaze

Looking well. Your welding is far better than your spelling!

Chris

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Good spelling won't keep a shock in place so I reckon Tom's got it right. [emoji1787][emoji1787]

Cheers Tim W

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Back in the mix now and moving on with the project again.
Front kick up getting finished up.

Front Kick up pretty much sorted now. Front end off to make some slight adjustments to the hairpin mounts but now back on the jig ready to double check the wheel base and that it’s centralised again and the front end can be mounted.
I will then sort some panhard bar set up, and on to the next bit!

Looking really good Tom, a credit to you. [emoji106] Can't wait to see it rolling around the workshop mate.

Cheers Tim W

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Thanks mate, still along way to go yet but always moving forward.
hope to build as much as poss on the jig really and when it comes off it’s all systems go really. Look forward to making some nice fitting tin work, I’m pretty fussy so that’s the bit that’s probably gunna kill me �� with any luck and the plan comes together it will be able to be built then the body added

Nice work there. Did you make the steering arms for what I am sure are Chevy stub axles.

Hi mate no, steering arms came with the speed way front axle

Little update for the fans haha!
Hair pin chassis mounts are tacked in place. Rather than them sitting on the bottom of the chassis they have Been slightly trimmed to sit around the inside of the rail a tad, in my opinion meaning a better weld to hold them suckers on.

Also have worked on the rear most body locator/mount. With this needed at some point and will help locate the body when it comes on and off I thought I best make that bit while it was on my mind. This way when I come to cut some old steel
Out the sills of the car for the new front body mount it will be easy to relocate in the right place.


hear are some pics.

Its coming on well. Have you guessed how many hours you will have in the dry build to get all the fabrication finished

Cheers , I estimated at week 11 around 180 hours in so far and still plenty to go! I do a full day Sunday and some evenings in the week. ���� I’m in to week 13 now but had a week off due to other commitments.

Rear diagonal sorted today with some temporary tabs, final weld to go.
front Panard rod started 😃

Getting there Tom and sounds like your still enjoying yourself mate. [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

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Superb work Tom,the body looks cherry as well.BIG project :eek:

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Originally Posted by v8pop

Getting there Tom and sounds like your still enjoying yourself mate. [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my G3121 using NSRA mobile app

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yes mate no point doing it if you don’t enjoy it!!!

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Originally Posted by thamesvan

Superb work Tom,the body looks cherry as well.BIG project :eek:

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hi nick, yeah it’s pretty good, for a few repairs to be done but nothing huge, most of what would be rotten is cut out anyway! Yep! Big project! From an empty shell to a race car that is capable hopefully !

Continuing with some front end action I needed to make a bracket to hold the panard rod at the chassis end.
Cardboard to start and transferred to steel. Just waiting on some spacers to arrive and I’ll check the width before fully welding but here’s the progress.

She's coming on Tom. [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

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Nice work Tom.

A good day at the workshop today.
Spacers arrived in the week so that ment i could check the bracket width, weld it up and add some go faster holes.


I got this tacked on to the chassis and unbolted the axle from the clamps! Checked it’s motion and it all seems good. Bar is nice and level.


Next on to supporting the body / chassis, some quick box cut ans tacked to hole the chassis again and the body propped up on the chassis. I then cut the middle original mount out ans bent up some 1 5/8 cds for a lower sill bar / outrigger.


Good progress, came away happy again so that can’t be bad!

Nice one Tom.

Cheers Tim W

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This week I planned on 2 solid evenings on the car! That came to a vault very quickly as I pulled something in my back on Wednesday night! It didn’t feel great but I’ve had it before and knew to stop.
here’s how far I got! I’ll be back asap!

Nightmare Tom, look after it mate. There's lot's of bad backs on here already we don't need another. [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

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Ouch, but hardly surprising given some of the contortions shown earlier in this thread! I wish I could do that!

Help wanted. Preferably double jointed midget. Ace welding skills essential. Understanding of under dash wiring, soldering etc a bonus.


Chris

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Haha! Them positions are all good if I do what I’m ment to to do to keep it good but I got lazy and thought I would get away with it, all will be good! More progress soon!

Nursing the bad back today as I had already planned not to go to the swap meet and get a day on the car I thought rather than standing in the cold I would try and keep moving as much as possible and get a bit of time in at the workshop.
I’ve managed to get both sill bars out in to place and also a link from the ladder bar cross member to the sill bar too.
Now time for stretching and and ice blast!

Nothing worse than a bad back, get one of them ten machines it's well worth it, all the same , nice progress :thumbs_up_smiley:

other than the weight, you can never have too much bracing. especially for suspension mounts. nice one :thumbs_up_smiley:
neil.

Nice going Tom, but don't rush that back mate. [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

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Thanks for the well wishes!
Still making progress here, John also picked up this cool scoop for the bonnet. Funny thing is I was looking at glass scoops previously and this is near on identical but ally!

Some sheet steel is here so soon I can start some repairs to get the body secured along the sills

First is to tackle the steering box as the pitman arm also arrived.
Steering was always going to be the tricky item on this car, with having to run a box to conform to the rules, being cross steer, nose down stance with a race sump It all gets a bit busy. Anyway, a small recess will sort that out, then I can sort the lock stops out if any unwanted contact looks asif it could occur.

I will be doing some quality control tomorrow.

There'll be no issues there John [emoji6]

Cheers Tim W

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Originally Posted by crumble

I will be doing some quality control tomorrow.

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Sent from my M2103K19G using NSRA mobile app

The next task on the Austin was getting the steering box in.
This was in my opinion going to be the bit of the car that was a little tricky due to the space constraints with a lower front stance.
Many sessions of looking at the steering box position and how it was best suited to get the pitman arm in a good position, I had already worked out that a 2 inch drop would be suitable compared to the arm that came with the vega box.
In the end there was only one way to get a truly accurate position and that was to drop the actual engine in with the winged sump.
Sure enough this showed that the sump was in the way a bit, and some slight alterations to the plans were going to be needed, a few ideas had been thought of including recessing the bracket in to the chassis.


Comparing to other cars, and mainly the old car we used to run for some ideas it appears the pop engine was further past the axle, more set back, meaning the box was way clear of the sump, let alone being a high rise front and no clearance issues.


I had a call from John on Sunday afternoon offering an idea he had thought of. That was to run a new position for the tie rod and run the drag link in to the original tie rod hole. This moving the steering box forward, giving the clearance that was needed and improving the steering ratio.
It was bugging me after we spoke that I grabbed the dog and said to Amy we’re all going out for a drive �� to the workshop we went and I held the box in the position John was mentioning and man oh man it looked like it was going to work.


Long story even longer I got over the workshop on Monday evening mocked it up in place clamped it in, made a dummy drag link to check its height, all good, tacked it in and it seems to be ok!!


Having not really got a lot of experience with steering boxes I didn’t even think of a shorter steering arm.


I’m taking that as a positive that if we had shorter arms to start with it would have plonked in the hole with no lessons learnt.


Every days a school day!

Glad you got it worked out Tom, look forward to seeing it all finished mate.[emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

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A good day working on the Austin, steering rods linked up side to side with the newly drilled steering arms, this should be good now with no obvious concerns!
Next on to a gear box mount.
I haven’t yet properly mounted the engine as I want the front cage work to be holding the motor, so the gear box mount will work as a locator for now aswell.
I wanted to keep it fairly simple, this is what I came up with.

Simple enough Tom, nice one. Some good progress mate [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

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Yeah mate good progress. Looking forward to the next bit now ��

The Body is off the chassis for now, I needed to make some solid metal to create some mounting points along the inner sill.

Coming on well mate. That looks easier on the back laying on its side Tom.

Cheers Tim W

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I'm scared to go the workshop. Going to be uneasy viewing to see what he's done to my dorset.

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Originally Posted by v8pop

Coming on well mate. That looks easier on the back laying on its side Tom.

Cheers Tim W


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I got the spit years ago, never used it it was a good price then. Now it’s came to good use!

That shell looks in pretty good nick ?

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Originally Posted by tom.marg

I got the spit years ago, never used it it was a good price then. Now it’s came to good use!

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Looks well worth the money Tom [emoji106].

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my M2103K19G using NSRA mobile app

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Originally Posted by jsf55

That shell looks in pretty good nick ?

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yes mate it isn’t bad. Few bits need doing.
as you see most of its been cut out at the start but to be honest it was mainly good metal.

With a nose down rake on this car I decided to add some outwards dimples to the sill. Not visible from anywhere but underneath.

Reason behind it, although not a road car it’s the UK, we’re parked out in the rain at racing a fair bit. The Austin sill is a big flat space. Water does make its way to places you don’t know about.
This helps it drain off the nice new steel. Also, stops it shooting out the sill at another point when accelerating / braking.
I’ve seen this a few times in my race track experience over the years.
A precaution that’s isn’t hard to do atm.

Good thinking Tom and as you say better now than try later. [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

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Yeah mate, probably a little over the top but nothing wrong with a bit of over engineering

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Originally Posted by tom.marg

Yeah mate, probably a little over the top but nothing wrong with a bit of over engineering

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That's my favourite sort Tom. [emoji6]

Cheers Tim W

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agreed, coming from a farming background i was always told 'belt AND braces' lol.
neil.

Today I got some welding on the new metalwork, along with starting the other side.

Looks good dude

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Originally Posted by crumble

Looks good dude

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Certainly does John. [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my M2103K19G using NSRA mobile app

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Originally Posted by tom.marg

Today I got some welding on the new metalwork, along with starting the other side.

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Attention to detail that will never be seen.

But you both know it's there, and that's all that really matters.

Secret holes and swage lol