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I've used these for control cables and they don't hold very well. Hate to see you set the brake on a hill then come back and the car is somewhere else.

I'd braze a stop sleeve on behind the ebrake cable stop, using a 1 inch section of old brake line, clamped in a vise to split/slot so the braze can fill the length of it.

Alternately, just weld/build up a ball with a low amp setting on the far end of the one inch of brake line (unsplit) and quench immediately to reduce the affect of the heat on the rest of the cable.

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Long time since an update but I've been making progress.

Rear firewall is done but won't be attached til the car is in final assembly mode. Trans tunnel is done except for the panel next to the pedals. It's so tight in there I'm going to wait until I tear the car down to do it.




Made a front subframe brace. This ties the two rear bolts on the front subframe back to the front of the trans tunnel.


This a droop bump stop. It's missing the little urethane bumper for the moment.

One fender mount is done! This took a few tries and I got a lot of inspiration from other projects on the board here for this. I picked up the top two spindle mount bolts for a mounting point.







The gap between mounts lets you finagle the bracket into place with out disassembling anything on the car.


Mounted up


Had to widen my as bought fender 3/4"


One other trick was having to add a 1" wheel spacer. I couldn't easily get the mounts passed the tire at full lock. The fender was also hitting the body. This killed two birds with one stone. Other plus was the front and rear widths of the car match. Didn't realize the front was thinner til I checked after the spacers were installed. Different offset wheels are the long term fix but this gets me going on the cheap.

Nice job on those fender mounts (wing stays). That seem to be one of the trickiest items to make, and make work as they seem to have a lot of vibration/cracking problems.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Wing mounts look quite formidable. This is a tough piece to get strong enough to last.

Good job!

Cheers,

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Larry in Seattle

First off thanks for getting the site up and going again!

I've been working on my hood and I'm ~80% done. I ended up making a frame out of 3/4 x 3/4 x 1/16 aluminum angle. I just didn't feel confident in free bending the hood. Figured the frame would make it easier and long term a more robust piece. Hood itself is .040 5052 sheet. Could have more easily used .030" thick with hindsight. Right now only thing I would have done differently is use wider channel for the bottom rail. When I was forming the hood I had to add some 1" steel tubing to keep everything in shape.

The frame was bent up using a metal shrinker from harbor freight. The set also comes with an expander. The shrinker works great, the expander not so much. I tried the expander a few times when I over bent the angle and half the time is would crack and had to start over from scratch. Here is fitting of the rear frame using guide strings-


Once I had all the pieces done I used an aluminum spool gun on my mig. Wasn't super happy with the results. It just isn't meant for such thin material. Only saving grace is the welds are really just there to hold the frame together until the skin is on.



Next up I attached the skin to the frame with clecos. Lots and lots of lots clecos. I also had use something like 20 various clamps at once during the process.




Then take it all apart, deburr everything and attach the skin using 3m panel bond and rivets. The rivets are only there for the panel bond to harden up. I'm going to drill them out and fill the holes.


First fit up


Trimmed back to 90% of final fit-






I'm going to be using aerocatch latches. Two on each side to hold it down.

Headlight mounts-







Stupid little filler pieces for a gap between the nose and frame that took way to much effort to make-

That's really nice work on the hood. It looks great, but your using the light aluminum framework and adhesive is very innovative. The headlight mounts look good as well.

By the way, if you check around on the Internet (Google maybe?), you'll find a man who makes better jaws for the Harbor freight shrinker/stretcher. They are supposed to improve performance quite a bit. I haven't bought them yet as I'm not doing any real metalwork now, but I probably will get them. They've been recommended by a couple of people.

I have the HF unit too. I got a really good deal on the unit slightly used from Craigslist, so it has just been sitting in a corner until needed.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

So what happened to it? Been thinking of putting a rotary in an Exotruck for weight

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AWD Exotruck 525hp Subaru EJ22 http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19011

It's been mostly sitting for the last year. I picked up Subaru Sambar mini truck and modifying that little beast has sucked up all my free time. I added a turbo, 4" lift and a ton of other modifications all from scratch. That project is finishing up so this will be moving to the front of the cue again shortly.

Another long over due update. Been getting deep into the body work. I've never done fiberglass work before so there was a ton of learning and rework to get where it's at now. The nose had to be widened by 6 or 7 inches(been so long I can't remember exactly now). The cowl needed to be 1.5" wider and the angle of the outer edges changes. Then the rear body work also need another 1.5" of width(no pics yet). Biggest thing was learning about chop mat. The standard weave fiberglass took literally dozens of layers to get the build up thickness where the mat does it in five or six. I used the weave as a strength base and built up the chop mat on top of that.

I'm planning on painting the car matte white plastidip when it's done. Real paint is beyond my skill set and if I pay someone out of my price range. I picked up some spray cans of the stuff and sprayed the nose(badly) to get an idea of what it will look like.

The other thing I built up was an intake pipe. I used some left over 3" stainless exhaust tubing. It's a bit heavy but will get the job done. Plan is to build an aluminum box around the filter and put a mesh on the side of the hood to feed it. The pipe to the filter is still way long in this picture.

If your going to plastidip it I'd suggest doubling down and using spray paint, in my experience it turns out better then the 'Dip. Rustoleum tends to be the easiest to work with and you can always wetsand it to an even finish.


The above example was a lazy wetsand to 600 grit and hand waxed. Based on the great work you've already done, it's very do-able

More bodywork is done. Rear body and both front fenders are in primer! Loads to go but looks more done now at least!

Is your rear boot panel fiberglass? Did you make it?

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886