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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: September 18, 2017, 10:32 pm 
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Wow, that was some "heavy metal" sawing. How's your arm? Good going, though. You got the final piece looking pretty nice.

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


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PostPosted: September 19, 2017, 10:33 am 
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Lonnie-S wrote:
Wow, that was some "heavy metal" sawing. How's your arm? Good going, though. You got the final piece looking pretty nice.

Cheers,


I was born for tedious manual labor. Which you always seem to do more of when you're building a car.


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PostPosted: September 19, 2017, 9:34 pm 
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Another shop day! I started getting my exhaust cut up, a gifted stainless center section from a 350z. I also made my first shop vlog in a while. Check it out!



Last edited by Car Sick on September 26, 2017, 11:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: September 26, 2017, 11:35 am 
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I got some work done in the shop yesterday. I would be there right now today but my AC is out in the apartment and I'm waiting for the repair man man man.

I managed to sell the left rear quarter panel from the donor. I knew somebody out there wanted to fix their busted car up. Thank you to the free shell that keeps on giving!

I sold the 350z finally! So that leaky, smelly thing is out of the shop. Now I can start working on tables and frames and such. My friend JT has a chassis table he'll let me borrow as soon as he's done with the current customer car that's on it right now. He's redoing a lot of the chassis tubes for a Corolla drag car at the moment. He doesn't need his table all the time, but for a couple months right now he is. So, I patiently wait for that or I build my own, hmmm what to do. Borrow is good, patience is good.

Check out youtube and follow the build!


Here's the 350Z center section that I want to use for my exhaust. Free stainless, two resonators and two flex joints, win! They were connected, here they are cut apart.
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I picked up some metal! 5 sticks of 1" (I had a stick and a half already) 2 sticks of 3/4 square, 40 ft of 3/4 round DOM. Now, I don't think they had ERW in round stock there because I asked about it and he didn't know anything about it. All this was in stock from my local Alro retail location, which happens to be right down the street from my shop! I had them cut them all in half for me and fit them all in the back of JT's F350.
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Here's the receipt for the metal if anyone is wondering. I probably could have saved a little bit by not using DOM for the round, but the deed is done. I'll just use it. At least I'll know it's strong and dimensionally accurate!
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PostPosted: September 27, 2017, 11:56 am 
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That's a nice lookin' pile of steel. I can see a Locost chassis in there.

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


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PostPosted: September 27, 2017, 4:10 pm 
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Very nice.


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PostPosted: October 2, 2017, 7:30 am 
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Yup, looks like a chassis to me.

I had a picture of my similar "pile of metal" that I would show people that called the Slotus a "Kit Car." The response was to show the pile of tubing and say, "Yeah, and here's the kit..." :mrgreen:

:cheers:
JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom


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PostPosted: October 3, 2017, 10:40 am 
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I started cutting some tubes yesterday. I don't have the build table set up yet, but I can at least start cutting. Looks like I'll be using the Book chassis. I should be able to make it work with these seats. I will have to get creative, as well as maybe trim the seats a little, but they aren't expensive seats. Also, chop saw is not fun to use. I and getting a compound cut, one angle I want, another from blade deflection. I need to borrow my friends Evolution. He sent pics of him making pie cuts for his exhaust, super nice cuts.

Don't forget to check out the build vlog on Youtube. Also, subscribe and comment away!



Cut the first tube, B2 at 40"

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It's going to be tight, but I think I can make it work. No sliders, possible trimming of the seats. They are about 18 1/2" at the front thigh area.

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First box section cut.

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First angles cut. Not super happy with the chop saw.

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Man this is small, is it really supposed to be that small? Lol

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The Evolution Rage II doing its thing on my friend's exhaust. Need to use this thing.

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I got my birthday present from a loving and supportive wife!

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PostPosted: October 3, 2017, 5:32 pm 
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This brings back memories. This really is the fun part. Actually, it's all fun.


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PostPosted: October 4, 2017, 7:00 am 
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I see seats, the outline of the chassis, and a valve cover. So...
Where's the obligatory and required "VROOM-VROOM" picture???
Have you no sense of tradition, Man??? Geeze, kids these days...
:rofl: Just kiddin... Sort of...

:cheers:
JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom


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PostPosted: October 4, 2017, 8:18 am 
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GonzoRacer wrote:
I see seats, the outline of the chassis, and a valve cover. So...
Where's the obligatory and required "VROOM-VROOM" picture???
Have you no sense of tradition, Man??? Geeze, kids these days...
:rofl: Just kiddin... Sort of...

:cheers:
JDK


Actually, it takes up the first 10 seconds of the most recent video! With sound! :D

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PostPosted: October 4, 2017, 5:14 pm 
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Acerguy wrote:
GonzoRacer wrote:
I see seats, the outline of the chassis, and a valve cover. So...
Where's the obligatory and required "VROOM-VROOM" picture???
Have you no sense of tradition, Man??? Geeze, kids these days...
:rofl: Just kiddin... Sort of...

:cheers:
JDK


Actually, it takes up the first 10 seconds of the most recent video! With sound! :D


lol, its there! I make vroom vroom noises any chance I get!


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PostPosted: October 4, 2017, 6:12 pm 
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Back at it again with the cut tubes!

I made a front end assembly!! It only took me like 5 hours, but I did it!

I had no intention of trying to do any compound cuts with my spark maker, so I hopped over to my buddy's shop to use his horizontal band saw. Much better. A fan blowing conditioned air right on me, better angle finders, an accurate cutting tool, and of course a guy who's a much better fabricator than I am made it a lot easier.

Check out the latest video all about it.



First cut, an easy one. The lower tube at 13.5". Nice and easy straight cut. I was still short an 8th and had to cut it again, oh well.

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Fancy digital angle finder. Spot on angles make me feel better.

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Compound cuts. Eek. These took a couple trials to get right.

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Here you can see the magnetic angle finder. The tube was lowered right at about 15 degrees. The plans said 15.3

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Quick little wood jig to hold it in place while I tack the tubes.

Image

I think it came out pretty good. I could maybe spend a little more time making sure the fit up is perfect, I think the top tube isn't perfectly flat.

Image


And that was a (almost) whole day of work!


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PostPosted: October 5, 2017, 7:07 am 
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Quote:
lol, its there! I make vroom vroom noises any chance I get!
Yep, my bad... Sorry... :mrgreen:

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom


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PostPosted: October 5, 2017, 6:04 pm 
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Uh . . . . I think you missed a shift in the first video! :mrgreen:

Sometimes using metric (mm) is just a lot easier, especially when you're dividing a measurement or span of a tube. I have a very nice Stanley tape that is inches (fractions) on one side, and millimeters on the other side of the blade. It can be helpful, as you can start out in fractions and then switch to millimeters if and when it's simpler to do so.

Yes, cut-off saws suck. I think I cut 4 or 5 tubes before I switched to sawing. You're actually melting the metal with abrasives, so not really "cutting" it. As you're finding out, the edges can be rather ugly and not really weldable without some extra preparation work.

I actually did a fair number of tubes using a hacksaw to within a mm or two and then hand filed the ends to an accurate, final measurement. That can be really slow, so I bought a nice Taiwanese version of a big (think DoAll or similar), metal cutting bandsaw. That has been the best, but I still often hand file to finished dimensions. I found a used one on Craig's List for $500,which was about a quarter the cost of a used DoAll.

I wrote it off as a long term investment in metalworking, but it's not in-budget for everyone. Keep up the good work.

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


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