BACK ON TRACK -- Project Track Rat for Camaro Performers Magazine

[1969CamaroRS]

Oh nice project, look forward to seeing this build.

[olds87]

This going to be a nice build to follow.

[Steve1968LS2]

How do you plan to achieve the steel blue look?

Hot Rod Flatz Steel Bue... you can see a sample here:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/kustomshop/ksflatz.aspx

[sik68]

This car is going to be awesome! Can't wait to have "Track Day" and "Track Rat" parked side by side at a left-coast event. I'll be the one in primer .

[Damn True]

How do you plan to achieve the steel blue look?

Like this:

[Twentyover]

First new part for the project.. the cooling system. I saw this and was very curious to try it out. Eventually I will let you know how it fit.

It came today, here are some pictures...

.....
The core support is made of solid bar stock. It must be stronger and more rigid than the factory one. Once I take it apart I will weigh it compared to a stocker. The total weight for the big box and all the stuff was 85 pounds.

Solid aluminum bar? With all due respect, if this is the case, that thing could be made of steel, and loose a whole pile of weight in the process, while still be stiffer than aluminum.

If i remember my material properties correctly, in general aluminum is 1/3 the weight and 1/3 the stiffness of steel. You could match the stiffness of the aluminum bar assembly with about 60% of the weight by using steel square tube. Weld in crush tubes and tap for the threaded holes. I'm not seeing a need for aluminum bar in this application.

Hope a practicing structures guy chimes in here, since it's been about 30 years since I did these types of calculations, but a 1" square bar of aluminum is roughly as stiff as a 1" square tube of 16 gauge steel.

Please someone, tell me I'm wrong. Check that, it's easy to tell me i'm wrong, show me I'm wrong

[the camtender]

I likeee ,

[sik68]

Solid aluminum bar? With all due respect, if this is the case, that thing could be made of steel, and loose a whole pile of weight in the process, while still be stiffer than aluminum.

If i remember my material properties correctly, in general aluminum is 1/3 the weight and 1/3 the stiffness of steel. You could match the stiffness of the aluminum bar assembly with about 60% of the weight by using steel square tube. Weld in crush tubes and tap for the threaded holes. I'm not seeing a need for aluminum bar in this application.

Hope a practicing structures guy chimes in here, since it's been about 30 years since I did these types of calculations, but a 1" square bar of aluminum is roughly as stiff as a 1" square tube of 16 gauge steel.

Please someone, tell me I'm wrong. Check that, it's easy to tell me i'm wrong, show me I'm wrong

You're wrong

Ha, just kidding, I don't know whether you're wrong or not about what's "stiffer." But I don't think they used solid bar stock solely for structural reasons...

1st: Solid bar is easier to weld then tubing. For a skilled welder, this isn't a huge issue, but it is still time consuming. And a welder's time is money.

2nd: Welding in the crush tubes like you mention takes time and several more steps to accomplish.

3rd: The crush tube idea falls flat if the car owner wants to mount anything else to the radiator support. A solid bar design lets the owner drill right in so that he can mount what he wants.

So my guess is that they figured best way to build an affordable aluminum radiator support is with a solid bar.

[70TWO NOVA]

Like this:

no no....you got it all wrong thats Latigra!
This.....

....is Blue Steel! lol

[mac71ss]

Sweet!! The guy that builds those radiator supports is only 5 miles from me . I knew that looked familar.

[Steve1968LS2]

Solid aluminum bar? With all due respect, if this is the case, that thing could be made of steel, and loose a whole pile of weight in the process, while still be stiffer than aluminum.

If i remember my material properties correctly, in general aluminum is 1/3 the weight and 1/3 the stiffness of steel. You could match the stiffness of the aluminum bar assembly with about 60% of the weight by using steel square tube. Weld in crush tubes and tap for the threaded holes. I'm not seeing a need for aluminum bar in this application.

Hope a practicing structures guy chimes in here, since it's been about 30 years since I did these types of calculations, but a 1" square bar of aluminum is roughly as stiff as a 1" square tube of 16 gauge steel.

Please someone, tell me I'm wrong. Check that, it's easy to tell me i'm wrong, show me I'm wrong

You can't polish steel tubing (no, I'm not polishing it.. but I the do offer it)

i will comment once I weigh it.

[MrQuick]

no no....you got it all wrong thats Latigra!
This.....

....is Blue Steel! lol

the funniest thing about that sequence is knowing you guys have those pix on your hard drive. LOL

I like that shade Steve.

You can't polish steel tubing (no, I'm not polishing it.. but I the do offer it)

i will comment once I weigh it.

so much for no bling. LOL j/k

[70TWO NOVA]

the funniest thing about that sequense is knowing you guys have those pix on your hard drive. LOL

You better believe it!! lol

[Tony_SS]

Hot Rod Flatz Steel Bue... you can see a sample here:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/kustomshop/ksflatz.aspx

Steve, any first hand experience with the Hot Rod Flatz? I always liked the concept and their lineup of colors, and it sounds like an easy to use system.

[TonyL]

no no....you got it all wrong thats Latigra!
This.....

....is Blue Steel! lol

"Oh for Christ's sake! Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They're the same face! Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

no no....you got it all wrong thats Latigra!
This.....

....is Blue Steel! lol

[jackfrost]

that should be on the list of emoticons. I frequently feel I need something like that...

[70TWO NOVA]

"Oh for Christ's sake! Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They're the same face! Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"

"Its a walk off"..........
.......okay im done! lol sorry Steve i couldnt help myself! lol

[Steve1968LS2]

Started stripping off the old paint and primer. One bad quarter panel and a few "patches".. not too bad.

A bit of surface rust (under primer) we need to address.

[Steve1968LS2]

Today we cut off the offending quarter panel. We learned alot about the car also.

The car was fixed a LONG time ago since the techniques used were old school. It was most likely a collision repair done as cheap as possible (not a restoration deal, just make it "look" fixed)

We plasma'd the quarter off the car and a rats nest in the area by the trunk drop off started smokin.. man, did that smell bad. I guess the track rat had a rat. lol



Here's the quarter off the car, if you look close you can see some of the bad repair work done. The outer wheel house (used) was welded on about an inch low. Which made the whole quarter low. Look where the used quarter was cut and attached. lol

See anything else?


Here's some of that surface rust I mentioned that was under the primer. Not good to let a car sit so long in primer. Our guess is 10 years maybe. Also, there was almost no paint on the car. Just primer. We also feel this car had a vinyl top at some point due to the pattern of the pits in the roof.


We have to pull the car (kink in frame) and then coat the metal and weld on the new NPD quarter panel and outer wheel house.