my ferrari dream and project..a short story

Yep I'm with you ... plenty of them going around, plus Ferrari productions numbers are much larger nowadays.

Steve,

Er, sorry ... my wife always says I have no sense of humour

Pete

 

What process did they recommend for pre & post treatment after welding? Normally, you have to heat-treat cro-moly frames after welding, since the grain structure in the weld-area has been affected from the welding heat.

 

I think that an Offenhauser engine would be just the ticket for your car.You could have some pseudo Ferrari cam covers cast and it would look the part.Theres many levels of performance that it can be built to,its light,it looks vintage and it goes VROOOOM! VROOOM! The Offy is a truely great engine.

 

Great engine choice ... and used for specials everywhere.

Please though do not desecrate one of the world's finest engines by putting another brand's name on the cam covers. You would not change the signature on a Da Vinci painting ...

Pete

 

Steve,The Offenhauser engine powered Indy 500 and similar cars for many years.Its a 4 cylinder all aluminum engine .the displacement of which I dont know.Its a twin cam,4 valve engine and was based on the gems built by Miller.Miller built beautiful engines and the Offy follows in this tradition.I will try to find more info and get back to you.By the way ,the Ferrari cam cover suggestion was made in jest.as in jest kiddin.All kidding aside,The Offy would be a perfect engine for this project

 

And LESS expensive than an original Columbo V-12!

Keep the dream alive, Steve! You've got quite a task (or number of tasks) ahead of you, but you can do it!

--Matt

 

steve,
i found some offenhauser engine pics.i dont know how good they are but here goes.
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The "Offy" engine was originally designed by Harry Miller. Because Miller raced on the dry board tracks in the US, he turned out cars that were beautifully prepared and presented. Unlike Europeans who raced through the mud and dirt, American cars were relatively clean after a race. It was later suggested that Miller's meticulousness influenced Ettore Bugatti, who at the time was changine from the gruesome but wonderful tanks to the Type 35.

Steve, give these guys a call:
http://www.louisianasteel.com/shapes.html

They can make oval AND metric tubing, in any material you like. It will be a lot less money, and you won't have to any duty or tariffs!

(Another option is to heat and squeeze round DOM stuff in a press brake. Talk to a local fabricator.)

--Matt

 

Here's what Louisianna Steel is already making.
It's the wrong diameter, wall thickness, and perhaps material, but at least they're currently making it. And making it right: drawing it over a mandrel.
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Steve,

Can you do technical drawings?

Suggestion: you need to make a chassis jig. This IMO is a must if you want the chassis you make to be true and straight and a professional job.

Thus you need to work out where all the critical points are on the chassis (ie. suspension pick up points, engine/gearbox mounts, steering box mount, etc.) and make a very, very, very rigid jig that has those points located and fixed. Then it is simply a matter of joining the components ... which is a piece of p!ss .

Thus why don't you make the jig at your welding class. Design it so that the critical plate faces can be machined AFTER welding so as to be spot on. Careful design (this is where the technical drawing side comes in) of the jig will keep it small and thus a mate with a nice mill will help you finish the job.

A jig is not a necessary ... but it is close to one IMO. As you will find out in your welding classes, welding causes distortion
Pete

 

That sounds like a really good idea, Steve. It may actually be a little more difficult to weld the smaller 1:6 scale stuff.

Depending on the accuracy you're going for, you could heat the material and squeeze it in a big vise or a similar press. Personally, that's what I'd do. You'll get something that isn't exactly right, but you'll learn a lot about dealing with steel, and heating it and bending it.

I think that earlier in this post I recommended Ron Covell's videos. In particular, his video on Tubing, and his one on Shaping Aluminum with Hand Tools would be helpful to you. If you're considering spending a good amount of money on tubing, I think that the comparitively cheap videos would be well worth it. I honestly think that you're going to thank me after seeing them.

Finally, (and again I think that this was said earlier in this post) I respectfully disagree with Pete from Down Under. A chassis jig is excellent if you're making more than one chassis. Otherwise, careful measurements and a level base are all you really need.

Please post the progress on your 1:6 frame!

--Matt

 

Matt,

Yes can see your point ... thus Steve needs a nice big hunk of metal (thick sheet) OR a nice solid piece of wood that can be set up dead level and flat.

I'll shut up now
Pete

 

That's better than the way most single-car frame builders do it. A T-square, a level, and some solid shims. Almost no one works on a completely flat surface. (The squared-off chassis plates in the Ferrari factory during the 1960s were awesome...)

There are a lot of guys, even in NZ, much less Australia, that are doing the same thing every day. Check out your local hotrodding community, and you'll find some fellows who can do more with even less!

 

PS, PSk,

Don't discourage the man. He can do it, and IS doing it.

He doesn't need an ideal, perfect setup to do it in.

Let the man weld, learn, hammer, learn, build, learn, and then teach all of us about how one builds a car from the ground up. He's on the right track!

 

In machine shop work it's known as a "surface plate". A perfectly flat surface. But you won't find many surface plates that are as big as a car frame. Nowadays, you could go to a Home Depot store and buy a laser level for $20 that would do a good job to verify the accuracy of a flat concrete surface like a garage floor.