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Geez Skinny, wish I had read that before I went out into the shop at 6:30 this morning to fabricate the lower corners from 3/4" tube. Oh well, whats done is done. I figure they turned out not half bad.
Took a 10" length of tube, for a 2" radius cut it starting 1 1/4" from the end, make cuts at 1/4" spacing for 2 1/2". Bend the tube till the cuts get tight and clamp in the vise. Open up the cuts again (about 2/3 rds of the cut depth) with hacksaw, bend again, open up the cuts again, bend, check radius, fine tune by making a cut every second cut. Clamp on welding table (jig it up just more than 90* becuase it will pull square when welded). Gas weld the cuts, grind smooth, trim to length, and there ya go...... lower corners. I thank the contributors of this site because this is where I found the solutuion to make these. I would also like to thank the guys who put all the <'s in CAD, what a time saver to transfer an < to the tubing without a lot of head scratching. Cudo's.
Hi Laser, yes thats 3/4 MDF, the table top is 2x6 cross pieces planed level after the table was leveled (it has adjustable legs), then the MDF is screwed to them.
Tacked up some 1" sq tube, fabbed the 4x4" plates and welded the 3/4" tube to them, other than that, its a very windy day here in central Alberta, 35 - 45 mph.

As I'm posting these pics, I wonder, should I be making them smaller for this site.........please advise.

Perry
A small detail to help when putting on the rear aluminum panel. Cut out the rear lower corners on the square tubing by taking a small wedge out, then bend the SQ tubing to transition from the square into the round. Nice job on the bend!!!
Dave W

Some very nice fab worke there.

Thanks for the tip, davew, I'll write that in my build book so I don't forget.

Thanks for the compliment, rx7locost, thats where a person gets the most satisfaction - encountering a problem, finding a solution, and seeing the results.

Nothing to take pics about. Received my lower ball joints, upper tie rod ball joints, upper and lower A arm bushings. Cut and milled 16 bushing tubes for the A arms and trailing arms. Cut some 1/8" flat steel to make the A arm and trailing arm brackets.

Can anybody tell me how the heck mosquito's can fly in 30mph winds and still land on you????????????????

From what I recall, mosquitoes in some places in Alberta can not only land at that speed, they can carry off small dogs and children...and suck 'em dry as an old corn husk. Seems to me we used to swat 'em with tennis racquets, because they wouldn't fit through the mesh...

Just a couple of pics. Tacked up the rear bulkhead top plates. Bent and tacked on the rear end top tube. Cut and tacked up the front suspension support members and the engine mount inside bottom rails. Received my motor mounts today.

Another week passed. Tacked up more 1" sq tube on the frame.
One problem I thought of was installing/removing the Chevette diff/torque tube in the space frame with out splitting the torque tube off the diff.
Solution-make a part of the frame removable to slip the diff/torque in and out.
Result-see pics. I will also have to make the diagnal brace removable.

Cleaned up the diff (cut and grind off the spring pads and panhard mount). Degrease and try to remove 30+ years of grime from the diff.
Ordered ProTech coilovers from the UK.
Built a plywood mock up of the frt end, spindle, a arms, used the Miata wheel size calculator to match 14" rims and tires to replace the 13" rims and tires.
Transfered mock up measurements to Wishbone. Program is starting to make sense to a guy that only knows nuts and bolts. Spiced Rum helps. Thanks Captain!!!!
Picked up some 1.75" sq tube to fab brackets for the trailing arm frame attach points.
Cleaned up some rear brake hardware. Cleaned and inspected the rear drums and backing plates. Ordered rear wheel cyl's, spring kits, wheel seals,, bleeder screws, diff gasket, and caliper kits from Auto Supply Co in CA.

Thats all for now. Will post pics when something interesting comes up.

Fabbed the trailing arm/diff tube brackets and welded them up to the diff.
Fabbed up the trailing arm/frame brackets.

Looks good, a bit late here, but welcome aboard.

I used to play hockey against Holden, spent some years growing up in Killam. Pretty nice area, I've definitely lived in worse. One of the best signs I've ever seen, "Drive Safe, Killam."

Good luck as you progress!

Check the alignment of the rear end with 2 straight edges across the backing plate bracket or the face of the axle tube. The welds on the trailing arm brackets may distort the housing enough to cause a handling problem. The cure is to weld around in front of the brackets, so as to have a full circle weld. Just a thought.

JMR

Thanx for the advice - will check

How are you going to locate the torque tube? You could use it as a single lower member and just use the top
trailing links. Otherwise it will cause a lot of torque around the axle and put a lot of force on the trailing links.
You are stuck with the swing geometry of the axle but it would solve the torsion on the bushings. With the axle
bouncing up and down on the street it could be a real problem

In fact you could use one large bushing in the front with no trailing arms in the back. Now that I think
about it, they would cause binding if used like that. I looked at a chevette at one point but decided against
it due to the rear axle. Not insurmountable but makes it tricky.

So use the tube to locate the axle with a panhard rod. Very simple

Oh it's all coming back.. The rear suspension used two trailing links with the front mounting point
with the same fore/aft location as the tube.

Yes Bremms, I've thought about the torque tube issue, very much so.
I will build my trailing arms and install them in the traditional mannner. I will then move the diff up and down through its travel. I want to see what the torque tube pivot point does. If it's minor longitude/verticle movement, the rubber bushed mount will take the movement (it is quite flexible). If it moves a large amount back and forth or up and down I will have to figure out some sort of "slotted" mount to take up the movement.
As I get older, I like to think I get smarter (lazier), therefore I take more time to think things through (lazy). Reading and drawing from some of the idea's posted on this forum, I've decided to take the time (becuase I'm lazy) to build a rotisserie. It took all of a couple of hours and now I can spin the frame at my liesure to weld it up (I am the epitome of laziness). People...this is the only way to go, or maybe I'm just lazy, or maaybeee.... if there's an easier way to do something (laziness promotes thoughtfulness), why not?