The unorthodox budget Firebird (-74)

[srh3trinity]

Color choice with a gold wheel is tricky. I have a 74 I am building too and I have thought about doing a gold or a smoked gold wheel and I like red, white or a dark green with gold. I am not a huge fan of any other color car with a gold wheel except maybe black, but I want to distance myself from that since there are a lot of 77 and up Firebirds around here with that color scheme.

[snopro]

this car gives me such motivation, I just wish I had the engineering skills to make it happen. But i definitely want to make some push rod suspension for my rambler. Those uprights you fabricated are a work of art. great work keep it up

[Ripper]

Color choice with a gold wheel is tricky. I have a 74 I am building too and I have thought about doing a gold or a smoked gold wheel and I like red, white or a dark green with gold. I am not a huge fan of any other color car with a gold wheel except maybe black, but I want to distance myself from that since there are a lot of 77 and up Firebirds around here with that color scheme.

I'm thinking about light or dark blue and dark green for the moment. Leaning towards light blue but it's really hard to decide. Luckily, there's time left... lol

Snopro: Thanks! I actually wanted aluminum uprights from the beginning. But they were too expensive, since I didn't have any good contacts at CNC-milling.

Engine is in:

It actually sits 3/4" towards passenger side. I had to do this to save some space for the throttle pedal. Otherwise I would have to move all pedals to the left, which I really wanted to avoid.


CAD is great. Things just align, eventhough they've never been mocked up before.


Temporary transmission mount


One more tube is required to make it stiff.





EDIT: Engine's new location is 8" further back, 3/4" towards passenger and 2,5" lower than stock. I could have lowered it another 3", but the flywheel would be the lowest point then. And that didn't really feel right to do.

[NOT A TA]

I've been watching this thread Anders. It just keeps getting better & better! Nice work!

[splatt]

Can you share how you made the headliner. I want to make one for my Monte Carlo.

[Ripper]

I did like the pictures in this thread, but the trick is that you must have the body upside down.

_____________________________

Engine mounts are done;
I had to make the sleeve myself, but the inner tube and the bushings are purchased.


And here's the second tube which triangulates the construction. That engine won't move much...





Trailings arms for the dedion are back from surface treatment.


It's important with correct labeled tools when working with your car...

[splatt]

What did you use so the fiberglass won't stick to the roof? Just clear tape?

[Ripper]

I used one layer of normal tape to create the shape of the mold. After that aluminum tape was applied since the polyester is quite aggressive.
Not sure of the english term, but after that I applied two layers of "release agent". It's used so the polyester won't adhese to the tape. The one I'm using is like 95% polyvinyl alcohol, but I guess there are other types available too.

Wait until it's hardened (a day or so) and then two layers of fiber was layed out together with polyester. Two layers is enough to make it flexible (I chase weight...).

[MrQuick]

looking good anders, cant wait to see it on all four wheels.

[olason]

Anders,

Great build progress. Makes me wish I had a place to work on my vehicle once I start my career in January. Guess I will stick to a CAD screen for a while. I have to remeasure some of the points on the car for chassis design.

Keep up the great work.

[splatt]

Thanks can wait to try this.

I used one layer of normal tape to create the shape of the mold. After that aluminum tape was applied since the polyester is quite aggressive.
Not sure of the english term, but after that I applied two layers of "release agent". It's used so the polyester won't adhese to the tape. The one I'm using is like 95% polyvinyl alcohol, but I guess there are other types available too.

Wait until it's hardened (a day or so) and then two layers of fiber was layed out together with polyester. Two layers is enough to make it flexible (I chase weight...).

[90MJext]

Great Build. I have a question about the uprights on the front. what is the metal thickness? do have a larger CAD drawing of them?

[Ripper]

I've been busy in the garage the last weeks. The rear suspension is assembled, and most of it is "final assembly". I need to do some additional welding on the dedion, so that's why it's only in primer. Also broke the threads for the bushing on the upper control arm, which really sucks. To be able to move the car around on it's own wheels, I made a temporary wood-arm there instead.


And here it is! On the floor on it's own wheels for many many years! Great feeling!


Above: Pictures sometimes lies... I placed the front wheel on its right position just to get the feeling of four wheels on it. Picture is actually taken from a chair where I was sitting, admiring my work. Can't wait to start with the front suspension, and I really hope I have the engine mounted and front suspension finished before the end of 2014.

I'm gonna start with finishing the uprights and making the lower A-arms in jan/feb. After that is upper A-arms and push-rods which probably will take some time...


Why the car has been assembled is because I needed to move it to another garage. A friend of mine helped me moving it with his trailer. Bringing it outside was good - it's much easier to take a step back and look at it. I might be a little biased since it's my car, but it looks just great. Just great! Reworking those fenders so that the arches are closer around the wheels really nails the stance was really worth all hours. It's supposed to be 1" lower than the picture, and the wheels supporting the subframe are too high. But still, it already looks badass!

[linkstar69]

Can't wait for more progress.

[Ravenworks]

That stance is gonna be killer! Looks great!!!

[Ripper]

Thanks!

Great Build. I have a question about the uprights on the front. what is the metal thickness? do have a larger CAD drawing of them?

Didn't see this before. I used 4, 3 and 2mm thickness depending on where it was used. It's high tensile steel, "Domex 650", with a yield point around 650 MegaPascal (or N/mm2).
I have some drawings, but I'm not sure I'm willing to share them as design documents. Not because I don't want to, but uprights are critical components and I don't wanna see someone copy my design without knowing that they are optimized for my build. I'm chasing weight, so they would probably be too weak to put on a 3800 lbs-project. They are designed for my constraints in this project (i.e. budget, available tools, wheel offsets, brake calipers, suspension geometry etc)

With that said; Send me your e-mail and I'll send you some measurements of them. As long as you're aware of the risks I don't mind sharing.

[Ripper]

not very much progress for the moment. I took the car home to my small garage, and currently I'm building some parts for the garage.

However, I'm shopping some parts for the car though. Need new ignition coils for my engine;
https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...75#post1043775

Any help would be appreciated!

[ed1le]

Wow, absolutely amazing build. Looking forward to watching continued progress and craftsmanship! Keep up the great work!

[Ripper]

Last months has been a break from the car project. New house, new garage to decorate and busy at work. But I'm finally in pace with everything in my life, so garagetime should be possible again.


Some progress during the busy months;
A shelf for the small garage. Don't have enough room for shelves on the walls, so I must have them above my head. This one didn't steal any room at all...




My own, home made, bench. Will probably be able to withstand a nuclear explosion, but I guess that's good.


Fäste för skruvstäd...


Some drawers for it






Assembled front brake discs



Centers for the centerbolt up front


And my vette hubs


Uprights. Took some hours to finish these. Idiot project (ridicilous amount of labour time) and if this wasn't a budget project, I should have had them CNC-made instead.
I wish I had my own CNC-mill...







Rear brakes, with home made hubs





Drivers seat in! Now I just need a steering wheel and pedals and then I'm practially finished!


Pic above also shows my new cover for the bench. I made one out of stainless steel.

[linkstar69]

Great stuff as always.