The BAD AST Project - Faze II

[astroracer]

Thank you guys!
Bryce, I like doing this stuff. Something from nothing, Bud. It is cool being able to take a flat sheet of steel and form it into a car part. I am far from perfect on this stuff but it will do the job and I find I get better with practice.



Had a little shop time this weekend. What with my 34th wedding anniversary and New Years Eve being the same night I killed two birds with one stone, so to speak.
We had a party Saturday and another on Sunday but I got a few hours in each day along with helping to clean and set stuff up.
Actually got a lot done. The doghouse removable panels are done, both sides. Everything is bolted up and fits very well so I am happy. Having these panels removable makes for easy working clearances around the plugs and headers.



I still have to finish up a short flange for the rear part of the floor but that is easy and I'll get that wrapped up this afternoon.

[astroracer]

I also finished up a short flange for the rear part of the floor this afternoon. It was fairly simple. A flat sheet formed around the front of a floor rib and welded to the removable half of the doghouse flange.

A little trimming and bending and it fit very well.

The piece is welded on and bolted down with a bit of grinding left to do. Once this is finished and painted it will look great.

The floor and doghouse areas are very sturdy now.
Thanks for looking
Mark

[astroracer]

Did some much needed cleaning during the week. It's hard to believe how many c-clamps and vice grips we used doing the engine cover rebuild. I am back to working 56 hrs so I don't get much time in the shop during the week. I'll do a little bit of work but most of the fab time will be on the weekends.
We got the rear wheel wells trimmed and cleaned up today and we also cut out the old rear rails.
Because I am re-using the old wells we needed to square up the cuts I made when I removed them. We squared them up on the table and used my height gauge, with a marker hose clamped to it, to mark a line around them. Worked nice.

The wells all marked up and ready to trim.

After an hour or so of cutting, grinding and sanding we have some cleaned up wheel wells.

The pass. side clamped into it's approximate position. This is just a look see. You can see the original rail still occupying space under it.

Mel starting the first cut on the rear rails. These are welded into the unibody of the van.

After removing both rails there is a lot of room in there for tires.



Did a little mocking up with the rear tires. Looks sweet doesn't it.

Lots of room for tire here.

This week I am going to work on getting the tire mocked up correctly and possibly cutting some tin for the wheel well extensions.
Thanks for looking
Mark

[craigs73]

yes it does sweet.,,,,, keep up the great work

[Tig]

Great idea with the height gauge, came out perfect.
Lookin good man.

What wheels are they? Me likey

[astroracer]

Thanks guys, Work will progress but this 56 hours will slow me down a bit. I don't get home in the evening until after 6pm so it is kinda tough to get out in the shop for any meaningful fab time.
And thanks, Tig, for the comment. The pen on the height gauge worked great!

The wheels are Bonspeed Intense 5's. 17x10 up front with the rears measuring 18x12.

Thanks for following along.
Mark

[1971CHEVELLE]

Awesome project keep up the great work

[astroracer]

Bjarni,
Iceland, very Kool! I just watched a PBS volcanoe show last week that documented the last blow-up of your fire breather. How is the situation there?

[1971CHEVELLE]

Hi
6 minor Earthquakes during last 48 hours biggest 2.1 so it is all dead quiet her ;-)

[norway_dartsport]

Hi astroracer
I`m a steaddy reader of youre thread ! and it looks great !
ever thought about "lifting " the fender openings ? i have a astro and i made some drawings for it some time ago ... max lowered ,20", lifted fender openings , welded in side door , one long window in both sides , tubed rear , fender kit an caddy tail lights

do i need to make a frame like you have ? or are the frame mostly for handling ??

[astroracer]

Hi
6 minor Earthquakes during last 48 hours biggest 2.1 so it is all dead quiet her ;-)

LOL "Dead quiet" with earthquakes rumbling your bed... That's funny.

[astroracer]

Hi astroracer
I`m a steaddy reader of youre thread ! and it looks great !
ever thought about "lifting " the fender openings ? i have a astro and i made some drawings for it some time ago ... max lowered ,20", lifted fender openings , welded in side door , one long window in both sides , tubed rear , fender kit an caddy tail lights

do i need to make a frame like you have ? or are the frame mostly for handling ??

Wow, now we've got Norway on the hook too! Thanks for watching.
Raising the fender openings will not be necessary. I have plans to add a ground effect style rocker panel with the exhaust incorporated into it like a side pipe. That will effectively lower the van AND "raise" the wheel well. I have some photo shops of it. I'll have to find them.
Found them!
Without the "ground effects"

And with the "ground effects" and a low cowl hood.


Mark
My frame was designed to tie the whole body together. If

[astroracer]

I'll get some pics of the Harwood 12 gal fuel cell I got off Ebay mocked up in the back. It's ugly. No room for the drag style fuel pickup and the tank just doesn't fit so I have decided to build an aluminum tank. I modeled this up in UG last night and started developing the tin work around it tonight. The tank volume is a little over 25 gals right now.

The tank will drop down into the space between the frame rails right behind the axle and wrap up over the frame and existing floor.

The tank will actually "plug the hole" in the floor you see right now and seal with a welded flange along the new tinwork right over the shock xmbr.

I am getting prices for a sheet of .090 aluminum and will try to weld this up myself.
Mark

[wellis77]

You do nice work that's for sure. Looking forward to seeing how this comes out. I had to farm out my tank since I'm new to welding aluminum and stainless.

[astroracer]

Thank you sir. I will be burning up some of the left over pieces, that's for sure. If I don't get some decent welds on the scrap I will farm out the welding also.
I am wondering it it would be a good idea to get a bldder for the tank? Anyone out there have one made for a custom tank?
Mark

P.S. I added some pics to post #352

[astroracer]

I have a "two day" weekend thanks to MLK. Mel and I were out in the shop at 9:00am this morning. We made a game plan on the floor and tub work and got busy.
After I cut out all of the stuff that's in the way of the tire....

Here is the pile of "stuff"

And here is the tire at the correct ride height.

Inside... I made a little gage block to mark the inner fender were I needed to remove it. Sets the pen at four inches from the tire. That gives me 3 inches of jounce and some room for a taller tire if need be.

here is a shot with the old inner clamped in position. It'll look pretty good once all of the tin is replaced.

While I was dinking around with the van Mel was cleaning up and trimming the floor so we can replace the stuff we cut out. We are putting back most of what was cut. Just reorienting it and cleaning up the cross members underneath to clear the new frame.

Marking for the trim line. This will butt up to what is still in the van. The holes you see are spot welds to the original crossmember Mel cut out. The crossmember will be plug welded back in place to carry passenger seat load and give me a place to hang mufflers.
This next pic shows how the flange was welded to the old floor. This will now slide under the old floor and we will plug and stich weld it back together.... A little grinding and some seam sealer and we'll be good.



There is a lot of work to do under the floor. We need some shallow notches to clear the new K member and the ends of the original crossmember need to be plated in for strentgh. I'll get pics of that tomorrow.
Mark

[wellis77]

Looking great Mark! The little tools you come up with are great and seem to make some of those jobs much easier. I'm stealing the sharpie in a block idea... Keep it up!

[astroracer]

Thanks Will! I have used that one for quite a while. You can also drill extra holes at whatever height you need. You can see a screw in the top I use to lightly clamp the pen in place. I ground down and rounded the point so it won't poke a hole in the sharpie.
We got a lot done today although it doesn't look like it. I spent two days cleaning out all of the old sheetmetal to make room for the new tires... Couldn't believe it.
Both sides are opened up now so I canactually get back to building...

I still have a lot of work to do to get the new tubs fit in but we'll get there.

Here is a pic of the drivers side tire at ride hgt.

Mel got the floor patch almost ready. He made the end plates and got everything fit up and clamped

After the fit up.

A lot of work here also.

This piece will get welded back into the floor and that original crossmember will give me a place to hang mufflers and stuff.

We still need to get it set into the floor so we can mark it for the K member notches. Lots to do, so little time...
Thanks for looking
Mark

[sokoloka]

I've been following this thread for quite some time - can't wait to see this beast finished!

[TechRod]

Amazing, I look forward to the day that I can perform mods that are "just right" like yours are. Until then I will continue to bow my head in respect to the real builders while working on my "erector set build" in the immortal words of my best friend... like an SFI 3.4L/4L60E swap into a Chevette is easy ;)
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/384652...rolet-chevette
You do fantastic work and are an inspiration to us all!