Looking good Langy, Great Progress. Your update pics are great. I agree with 41Dave.... Grille looks great.
Langy, Now no resting on your laurels . . . Back to work. You must complete at least one artistic miracle every 24 hrs. CRACK ! Back to work ! Dave
Started bending the 2" rollcage last night but it pissed down all evening, got the main hoop done though.
Langy, Looking forward to your progress on the roll bar. I know that it will be very slick. Any time picked for the dashboard and other interior panels? Dave
Dave i want to get the cage finished up before mounting the dash, the rest of the panels will come much later. Cheers for the interest.
After a bit of looking at old gasser pics i decided i wanted to run 2" OD as my main cage just like they did in the 60's, I don't have a former for 2" but my good mate Gary Leyton has, Gary is a very talented race car chassis builder and a one of the good guys in our hobby so he loaded up his Hilmor and formers and popped over to my workshop. The cage main hoop is 2" x 1/8" wall CDS and the rest is 1.625" x 1/8" wall It had been dry all day and as soon as work started it started pi$$ing down and never stopped, Gary said we should just carry on so we did. First job was to make a template of the main hoop with a sheet of cheap sterling board. Once the template was made the main hoop was bent to the template. I wanted the main hoop in 2 halves as i intend to chrome the cage and the complete hoop is too big for the chrome bath so a slip joint was put in the centre of the main hoop. Once we had the main hoop finished we moved onto the rear facing legs, This is where it all went wrong as when we looked at the 1.625" tube it was all supplied wrongly as the wall was 1/4" so this will have to be returned and get the correct size, thats hotrodding i guess, very very annoying though !!! Anyway this is what i have so far, the slip joint is in the last pic. Its a bolt in cage so mounting plates were made in 1/4" plate.
Who's the cowboy in the 2nd pic? Looking really nice Steve. Can't believe that you're not using stainless for the cage though - you must be the biggest consumer of stainless steel in the south of England! You make it look so easy! Mark.
Mark, didn't want to do it in stainless as seamless was a small fortune to buy. Sent from my iPhone using TJJ
Been waiting for the correct size tube mate, I have done a bit but not much, will take some pics tomorrow.
Not much done i'm afraid as still waiting for the correct 1/8" wall tube to arrive but i got the main hoop mounting plates welded on and its all bolted down. While i was there i made some tabs to attach the B post steelwork to the cage, It certainly stiffens it all up !!! I was a bit stuck for things to do as my replacement tube still hasn't turned up but found an offcut of 1.625" CDS just long enough for the bar that my seats mount off. It needs to be removable so i used some 1.625" triangular flanges and welded on some 2" stubs that are welded to the main hoop, as this is going to be chromed the ends of the tube and the flanges have to be pre polished as its difficult to get in to the corners once welded. The flanges are welded from the inside to keep it all looking neat and tidy. Once the tube was notched to suit the hoop it was tacked into place, I wanted the Empi seats to be removable so i spun up some 3/4" stubs that the 1" seat frame would slide on to and drilled and welded the stubs into the cross tube.
Langy, Once again you have met the 24 hr goal I have set you. It is coming out mighty fine. Looking forward to the completion of the roll bar. Dave
Langy, The roll bar is coming out real good. Sorry for the delay in materials . . . All out of your control. You will catch up when the tubing arrives. Very good progress. Dave
Some of the CDS turned up which was correct size 1" x 1/8" wall so could get the seat baes made up and fitted. First job was to put some 90 degree bends in to form the hoop, thought about doing this in one piece but virtually impossible to get it spot on to slide onto the stubs so made it 2 pieces and used some 3/4" x 1/8" wall as a sleeve, this was rosette weled into the two halves and then the joint finish welded. Now i had the perimeter sorted i cut some 1.5" x 1/8" to size to bridge across and keep the tubes constant and also provide somewhere the seats could bolt to. I jumped in the seat to check the strength and it seemed fine but Gary had said earlier that he thought it could do with an extra strut just incase, I was dead against putting a strut in as i wanted it completely clear under the seats, anyways after a bit of applied thought we decided to put in a less obvious strut that would strengthen but not look unsightly. The tube is again 1" x 1/8" wall and has a slight bend in it to tuck it up sort of out of sight. I spun up a couple of bungs in the lathe and found two 10mm low quality rose joints in my box that fitted the bill nicely. A couple of brackets were knocked up that will bolt into the chassis through the floor and after welding the strut in it was done.
Langy, The roll bar and the seat mounts look perfect. Like the idea for the seat braces. You are quite the craftsman. Your work is always so clean but simple. P.S - I am considering removing the 24 hr tasking. You now have 18 hrs to come up with your daily art creation. Dave
Hiya mate,it is I from underdown and as I was concerned about not keeping in touch,I putting an effort into this site. I didn't want the saddle left empty too long so the horse didn't get lonely.
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