Finding Time

With the recent life affirming changes affecting my priorities, I think it's going to take some time before I'm really able to get back into a consistent pattern of both progress and updates again.  It's also that busy time of year for other activities and obligations filling our weekend schedules.  Another month has passed since my last update, but I am pleased to say that there has been at least some continued progress.

Three weeks ago I managed to get a handful of tubes cut.  The long pair with the angled ends are the forward top tunnel tubes, the mid length pair with the squared ends are the vertical tubes on either side of the transmission at the firewall, and the short pair with squared are part of the top and bottom transmission tunnel reinforcement.  My next update should be of these tacked in place.

Two weeks ago was a mini-meet of local homebuilt car (Locost) enthusiasts.  There were two with completed cars that showed up, and two (including myself) that are still slaving away in our garages.  I've seen the proof with my own eyes, that these cars CAN be completed!

And one week ago I picked up potential steering rack, as this will be a critical component in designing the front suspension. The most readily available aftermarket production-based racks are probably the Ford Mustang units, which works well with my Ford component theme as well.  It would seem that similar critical dimensions can be had with the right outer tie rod end selection on Mustang II, Fox Body, and SN95 chassis Mustang steering racks.  I've been looking at dedicated manual racks, as the depowered Mustang racks seem to get significantly more negative reviews than positive.  The Mustang II manual racks are simply too slow at 1.3 to 1.4 inches of rack movement per turn of the steering wheel.  The aftermarket manufacturers have "quick ratio" manual racks for the Fox Body, but they're still a bit on the slow side at 1.6 to 1.75 inches per turn and keep nudging the budget up.  The SN95 never came with a manual rack from the factory, but also has a similar "quick ratio" aftermarket manual rack that seems to do little more than use different thread pitch tie rod ends and add cost over the Fox Body Racks.

However, I do also know that depowered racks are popular with Miata drivers and typically get positive feedback.  So I when I came across an OEM power rack for a Fox Body Mustang at the right (low-cost) price, I jumped at the chance to buy it.   Before making any final decisions on the front suspension design, I will be attempting to disassemble this rack to get a good look at the internals and determine what modifications might be possible to use it successfully in the depowered state.  A preliminary check show that the Fox Body power rack appears to have ~2.2 inches per turn.

Changes

"Nothing endures but change" - Heraclitus.

It's been the better part of two months since my last update.  This weekend was my first chance to get back to working on the car.  All necessary holes for the floor diagonals were drilled, patterns were taken from the floor diagonals, and all of the floor diagonals are tacked in place now.

There is actually a very good reason for lack of progress though.  Big changes have been happening around here, and I have embarked on a new 'project' in the weeks since my last update...

They say that good help is hard to find.  I'm not sure who "they" are, but I need all the help I can get on this project.  So in the Locost spirit, although anything but low-cost, we’re making our own helper.

It has already become apparent though, that she's the boss and I'm the helper.

Flooring

 
In my last update I had cut and fit two tubes in two weeks.  This past two weeks I cut and fit 8 more tubes.  It's hard to complain about a 400% increase in productivity!

Floor and Tunnel Decisions

Two weeks have passed since the last update, and as many tubes have been fitted in that time. 

Before I could decide on how much to angle the forward portion of the tunnel into the foot well space, I needed to track down and pick up a "backup light switch connector" from one of the local auto parts stores.  That little plug is the point of greatest interference on the driver side of the transmission.  After mocking it up different ways, and spending more time than a grown man has any right to sitting on a table pretending to drive an imaginary car to 'get a feel for it', a decision was made.  It'll be tight, but by offsetting the transmission (and engine) slightly to the passenger side I should be able to get away with only a 2 inch taper on the driver side.  That will still leave me with a generous 15 inches of foot well width for the driver...The passenger will have to make due with a bit less.  That left me with just enough time to fit the lower tube that weekend.

This past weekend I spent some time sketching out a few options for diagonals across the floor pan.  I settled on one that will allow the same diagonals to be used on both sides of the chassis, and should do a good job keeping my sensitive areas well separated from the pavement.  I was only able to get around to fitting one of these tubes.  But with a plan in place, the next series of tubes should be able to follow a bit more quickly.

Vroom Vroom

As I sat in the chassis contemplating how to proceed, I couldn't help myself.  I had to take the obligatory "vroom-vroom" pics:

Heading down to the local cruise night.

 
Chasing a Corvette through "The Kink" at Road America.

Visual Progress

This weekend started out with more unconventional jigging.

Once the tubes were all tacked in place, I had to try to figure out how to get the damn thing flipped and rotated to a more useful position.  Needless to say, it doesn't look like I'll be able to maneuver the frame around for very much longer, without the assistance of my hoist.  I would dare say that it's almost starting to look like a real chassis.

One decision I've been mulling over, is how to build the upper portions of the foot wells in such a way that the transmission can be reasonably installed or removed.

As you can see, the shifter stub protrudes up a bit and will probably require a considerable amount of jockeying to get it in and out even as shown with the transverse tube an inch higher than it would ideally be.  One alternative is that once the final transmission tunnel tubes are in place, any tubes in the shifters path be removable.  Eliminating them might work, but would be less elegant as it would require 'creative' bracing for the load paths to return to the tunnel behind the transmission.  Getting the forward tunnel tubes cut and put in place should give me time to formalize a plan of action.

Driver Side Tacked

With preparations for the arrival of our "garage helper" kicking into high gear, my typical garage time has been increasingly filled with more important projects and events.  Not the least of which included my solemn duty to keep some of the other 'shower' husbands occupied with a local wine, beer, and whiskey tasting tour.  However, I had a break this weekend that allowed me to make some good progress.

It began with cleaning up my workspace from the other projects that had accumulated over the past two weeks.  Following that, the next 12 tubes were cut and trimmed to length, cleaned, and prepped for installation.  This morning I constructed my somewhat unconventional jigging of the chassis, that actually held everything surprisingly true according to my carpenters square.

A few conveniently placed tacks later, and the driver side is officially in place.