I saw that there and had to take a pic of the set-up myself. If I remember correctly they had a sign on the grille touting that the car had been built from scratch in 27 days. I still can't figure out what the gas bottles are for. I see line coming out of them but I dunno what they do. Can anybody clue me in?
TINGLER - Regarding your rear suspension question: You could use a pinion snubber as a way to limited axle rotation but I don't know if the U bolts can supply enough clapming force to prevent that happening. You could tack weld the pads to the axle as an extra measure of insurance. That'd keep the heat down to a minimum as well. I'm sure someone on here knows more about this than I do, so I defer to their experience.
I was thinking that was the case but I didn't spend enough time studying the car to figure it out. Too much to see at Hunnert and I had to cover ground!!
TINGLER, it looks like the axle clamps have a threaded boss on the top of them, for a bolt. I would use a set-screw with a ^ ground on it, so it can really get ahold of the axle tube. Wait till you have the pinion angle EXACTLY right, before you tighten up the pointy setscrew for good. That way you only have one "center-punched" looking dent in your axle tube. Even then, I would probably tack each side of the axle clamps in 3 or 4 places, just to be sure.
Very cool outside the box backhalf. O2 tanks for gas tanks. Very sweet! Might have fun explaining that to some dumb*** DPS trooper though who thinks your really carrying pressurized gases without a cap or a haz permit. As for the rear suspension. The top links on the triangulation do look full welded to the housing with the adjustability in the links. Screw in, screw out. The lowers are a bit harder to see but look like that bolted on collar has a drop down to the link mount. This is all personal preference but I don't think I'd trust clamping pressure on the axle tube when you have a mul***ude of forces working on wanting that collar to slip up or down or left or right. I think you stand to do 10x's more damage to the axle tube and possibly more this way than welding it up. Just my opinion. Better pics could change that though.
On a Caprice (donor car) the top triangle mounts are already there. Kinda cool. I really dig the tanks.
Personnally I'm not interested in driving anywhere near this car. He didn't weld on the axle housing; BUT he did weld on those oxygen bottles behind the cab. I don't know what he is using the bottles for but they shouldn't EVER be used again for compressed gas again. They may be the fuel tank for the car as there appears to be some kind of tubing down low on the right side tank. They might be used for liquid gasoline which MAY be acceptable; I wouldn't. If they are used for gaseous natural gas, they are a serious safety hazard. No safety caps on the valves, brackets welded on the tanks, painted the wrong color for natural gas, etc. If I was a cop, I pull him over and have the car impounded and towed.
O.K. so I didn't read the WHOLE thread before I started typing. InDaShop is right tho, some DPS trooper will pull him over and start looking at it closer to make sure its not a safety hazard.
O.K. so I didn't read the WHOLE thread before I started typing. InDaShop is right tho, some DPS trooper will pull him over and start looking at it closer to make sure its not a safety hazard.
There for Gasoline. The bottom of the tank is drilled out with a fitting going to the fuel pump and there tied together on the top and bottom. The clamps for the axle mounts are the same ones they use in stock car racing. He used to build stock cars. I can guerentee that the rear end setup is solid as can be.
If you look closely you see there are upper bars that are triangulated and lower bars that are mostly straight back...with the uppers the way they are I seriously doubt there would be any rotation of the housing.
So I've lead a sheltered life - What does DPS stand for? Department of Public Safety Defying Pollution Standards Dumb Poor Sap Did Somebody Poop? Dummy me up guys.
Is the Coke bottle a wheel cylinder resvoir? Yes, I liked how they mounted the spring on the axle housing...was thinking about it on the way home from work.......is that normal?
Right hand spring to perch mount appears to be done as a dead perch arrangement. Never seen that done on a rear end before, interesting. The 4 bar would stop the rear end rotating ( as they do on even a set up with welded bracketry) Tingler and because the centre 4 bar mounts are an integral part of the rear end housing, this would be an area that can't become lose. I am sure he is using suitable locking nuts etc. But I would be checcking bolts regularly. Very interesting setup though. Thanks for posting it Tingler. Geoff aka whodaky
The triangled mounts on the rear end were cut out and they had to make new ones for the linkage they used.
Dept. of Public Safety Oh I really like the gas tanks, but they could easily be put under the scrupulous eye of Johnny Law. Back on Topic: I understand the link configuration. The top links mounts are welded the bottom link mounts are bolted. Now why again won't it rotate? That ****er should be able to turn pinion up no problem if enough force were to spin those lower collars forward/up. Shocks, need some shock on aisle 4, stat. I don't know about traffic where y'all live but in Houston I swear a stock car isn't built good enough for this ****, lol. But maybe its the farmer in me, over engineer, over engineer, so you don't have to worry about it again.
Stock car as in "stock car racing" 130 mph around an oval track. Thats were he got the rear end configuration, it will never rotate.
Yessir, them there are circle track parts...I have even seen them used on f.e.d. stuff. hell of alot of clamping force there. think about it like this. 69-72 chebby pickups use a welded pad and ONE u bolt per side. all that is holding that ***embly together is gods good grace by comparison, and those things work great. on the tanks, cant be much worse than a spun aluminum tank! and alot harder to punch a hole in. at that, my PLASTIC fuel cell is pretty cheezy, too. as for shocks, that mammoth spring versus no weight...prolly dosent need them. I bet it wheel hops its **** off, tho
There's a great post on the build up of that truck..................it has "27 days" in the ***le......
[ Im not sure, but by the look of this pic the spring shackles cant swing.They are only about 1/4 " from the buckets. How about the weight of those tanks? Added stress on every quick stop and start. With an already extreme "Z" ...looks like about 2 feet, those bottles will have alot of leverage to work at that lower splice.
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