I know it.....but I want it the way I want it. This afternoon's thought is SS shot blasting all the castings. I think it should give a nice uniform finish so everything looks like factory.....I think I'm going to have to get some and give it a try.
Today I was my own best friend. I want the OD of the bell housing to be about 11 3/4" - 12" to work well with the 12 1/14 ID engine mounting flange. The OD of the bellhousing is currently about 13", but when I cut another 7/8" off the face to make room for the new flange the OD will drop to about 12 1/4" it looks like (the ID will be 11 3/4"). Then all I need to do is grind the OD to a knife edge square to the face, light fillet on the outside and heavy on the inside and it's done and right. The only problem will be the bottom 1/2 where I was planning a much thinner flange, but I figure something out when the time comes. I quickly welded a piece of scrap steel onto the chuck that will be the new trans gear hud. The reason is to give something to hold it by in the wire EDM. There is no realy force from the EDM cutting, but he needs to hold the part by something and the material is 3" and the finish OD of the part is 2.900" and the ickness od the wire and room for a finish pass only leave a wall about .040" which isn't really strong enough to clamp on. Now he can just clamp the scrap in a vise and leave tab at the top of one of splines and cut that last and the part drops off with all the wiring done. Next up is a simple locating jig to get the bellhousing on the engine in about the right spot so I can position the 2 section of the casting properly. Hopefully I can get that done will the little one is napping this afternoon as I'm on baby duty will Lana shops. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Great song by "Third Eye Blind" I think it was ... theme song of my single life which I don't miss ... .... ... .... I keep telling myself . cheers
I got the jig for the crank end done before little one woke up. next will be a simple sleeve for the trans end to fit on the trans input shaft and slip into the case. That should take about 30 mintues then I'm ready to start fitting the fill pieces and welding the 2 chucks of the casting back together. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well, it wasn't a 30 minute job but the second alignment tool is done. I guess the fact that I can install both alignment tools says I got the engine in the right spot so that's good. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time to start puting the casting together. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Studied with a bonsai master that could strip all the leaves, bark and outer living cambian layer from a $60,000 and up bonsai tree. Then he'd carve and reshape the dead inner heartwood before grafting the living layer back into place. One error and its lost its value or dead. Completely different medium but what you're doing reminds me strongly of his work. Both of you impress the hell out of me. Prototype machining and problem solving one usually only sees in a racing shop and less and less in a time of spec series. Its a real pleasure to watch you work your way through this. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I started the welding tonight then foundI had a sick baby which ended work for the night. Pics tomorrow when I have more time
You should find someone that can write and try and sell the story to a car magazine or find some sort of sponsor to help with the project. What brand welders are you using? I bet you could at least get some free supplies in exchange for letting them publish in the news letter.
I got playing with a spread sheet one of my drag race buddies at work gave me. If the car weighs in at 3000lb (and I don't see it over that) and makes 750 hp it should be able to go 9.2 in the 1/4 at 147 mph. Now if the 2800 lb goal it should is should go 8.8 at 154. If I add nitrous it should run 7.9 at 171......a 7 second 308 I guess they ban you from the drag strip if you go faster than 10.0 or 150 mph without a cage and chute so clearly when the car finally runs the goal will be to go get banned
Here's what I got done last night. I'm cleaning up the 2 parts and making and welding the fill panels. I have to watch teh order the panels go in a little bit to be sure I can get to all the spots I want to weld, but I think it will all work out fine. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Added another filler piece tonight and did quite a bit of grinding re-shaping this and that. I think the next step is to weld the 2 parts together. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I got the 2 chucks welded together tonight. I also ground and sanded one section down so you can see what the housing will look like when it's done. I'll sand the whole housing and maybe blast it.....I'm not sur yet. Tomorrow I'll cut off the clutch pivot and hopefully close up that side of the housing. After that it will be time to weld on the flange I made last week. This stuff seems to take forever to finish. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Strengthening webs? I'd blast it ... I wouldn't sand the whole lot myself, especially if blasting will make it look like a single casting. Pete
What flavor of steel did you use for the input shaft? I made a tranny shaft out of 4340 for a Fiat I used to own, and was proud of that. But compared to what you've got going on - wow! Hats off to you - Looks great!
Any web that are there are going to stay for the most part but I'm not added any new ones in the work I'm doing...because they make the jobe much harder. I haven't settled completely on blasting yet, probably but I may go with a satin scotchbrite finish type finish on everything. A few of the castings are so rough that I don't think I have any choice but to sand. I have to grind/sand to knock the welds down and those areas will be obviously smother than the rest of the part even after blasting I think. The sanding goes pretty quick though so it's not a huge big deal. I spent about 15-20 minutes cleaning up the weld zone and maybe 5 minutes on the area around it.
After much debate with the guys down in the shop I'm leaning toward trying to finish everything with the grey ultra fine scotch bright. I'll use the bellhousing as the test piece and see what I get. I can always blast over it if I'm not happy but I think the smooth satin scotchbrite finish would really look nice. If the finish is too shiny the different colors of the different alloys (castings, billet, welding rod) will show and it starts to look very non-OEM so I need to watch that and there is almost always a cut-in line next to the welds which means grinding deeper to get rid of it .but it should look really nice if I can get over these couple hurdles. Finish seems a tad trivial with all the other stuff going on but anything requiring abrasives really needs to be done before any final cleaning starts because the stuff gets everywhere. Also I'd like to get start getting some of the parts done done, off the list, off the workbench, not looking like Dr. Frankenstein been visiting, and on the shelf waiting assembly so I don't have to keep so many things in my poor little head.
The panic doesn't come when I go into the shop, it's when I come out and have to tell Lana I need to buy stuff
Paint of some kind, wrinkle paint in particular, would be the fastest, easiest way to make it look uniform for sure. I'll have to think about that some more, that thought had crossed my mind but I'm not sure that's a look I'd be happy with...maybe.
