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I "Googled" the phrase "Metalcraft 2020 iron worker" and "Metalcraft 2020", but couldn't find anything. I know your work from you build logs, so I'm sure it's cool!

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

It's this guy plus a set of tube dies from 1/4 through 1" OD, picket twister, and scroll bender add ons.

http://www.metalcraftinternational.com. ... ender.html

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

No worries. Family first, always. I know the spindles are slightly different, but I don't think they are so much different that our a-arm geometry will be that far off from eachother, in principle anyway.

I found these 'high misalignment' studs that fit our balljoint cups: http://howeracing.com/index.php/stud-on ... i-mis.html but the only potential problem is they do not come in minus sizes, only stock and plus. In my case, I think the extra length will actually help me, so I'm planning to order a pair. I have also sent Howe a note to ask what the max recommended range of motion is for both the standard and hi-mis studs.

The ideal stud length will depend in part on your ride height choice and your suspension design. You may have to make some choices or assumptions about those first. The nice thing about the Howe systems is that you can change the stud at any future point and not have to rework any suspension components.

Your Mustang spindle will need to be reamed out (Howe sells the tool) to get the Chrysler stud seated properly. Dialog about that's in my build log too. I traded a fab shop the Howe tool in return for them reaming out my two spindles on their Bridgeport mill using it, and thus setting the penetration correctly for the stud.

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

Yup, already reamed mine out too.

For the record, Howe states the max travel of the standard stud is 19.70° and the hi-mis stud increases this to 22.10°.

Wow, it's been about 2 weeks since I worked on the build. Our family member's plight has stabilized, so I'm back working, but I've picked a modest task to work on; the accelerator pedal.

I decided to mount it on the 14 gauge plate that lines the trans tunnel just aft of the bellhousing. Here's the general environment:


I'll be using the '94 Mustang donor accelerator cable, mostly to avoid the hassle of having a custom one made. Because of some features on the firewall end of the cable mount, leaving it stock would cause be to drill a hole larger than 1/2" and file out some slots. I can only drill a 1/2" hole with my electric drill. And even that is not a lot of fun when you need to drill a vertical surface. Here's the stock firewall end:

So, I decided to get out the Dremmel tool and a burr and knock some of the larger, cast features off, getting it down to the basic tube size. That allowed me to drill a much smaller hole. The mounting location is in a difficult area to work, and I knew it would be difficult to weld-up and re-drill if things weren't just right. In order to make sure I had the layout correct, I did a test pattern on some small 14 gauge scrap.


It checked out perfectly, so it was on to the real thing. I've started using spot drills in place of small center drills to start holes, and that payed off well today doing a fairly large hole on a vertical surface. Here's where it ended up going, and also a look at the ground-down tube end that protrudes into the cockpit.


I needed it to be high enough to allow for a gas pedal mechanism, but be low enough to be serviceable through my access hatch into the footwell.


Once in place, I needed to see what "pull distance" I needed for the pedal mechinism to make sure I get to full throttle. I hooked up the '94 upper intake and throttle body and measured what I needed by starting the pull with all cable slack removed, then measuring the distance moved when the butteryfly bottomed out:


I'm planning a more powerful engine, 4.3L, based on later model components. So I need to be able to handle the 2000+, dual port, upper intake too. I just happen to have one from my low-buck, dual port engine on hand, so I have something to work with:


Now, on to the design of the accelerator pedal mechinism.

Cheers all,

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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

Now that's what I'm talking about, good on you! Use the donor to the limit, it eliminates a lot of hassle!


I've always said, you can throttle back, but you can't push it further than the floorboards.

Now if only I could borrow that bender...............

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Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle

It's been hot & humid here. That gives me a good excuse to work inside on the computer for a while. Actually, I NEEDED to work on the computer so I could work out some basic geometry for my accelerator pedal and associated parts. Using my simplified model of the driver's side footwell, I got that laid out pretty quickly. The round part will eventually be a quadrant-like piece. The lever arm just helps position things where I know they need to be.


Fortunately, I had done a lot of fooling around with some super-simple wooden mock-ups some tome ago. That helped me establish various critical dimensions for my heel placement, pedal height (to ball of foot) and distance back from the firewall. It also revealed that I need to use driving shoes or tennis shoes when operating the Locost. Boots and regular shoes (even narrow Sperry Docksiders) just ain't gunna hack it. I tried various pedal widths and separation values. The ones shown are 2" apart, edge to edge. I need closer to 3" if I'm going to keep my foot-hams from pushing 2 pedals at once.


It's going to be tight, But I think I can do it. The clutch pedal will have to be narrower than the one shown to get more separation with the brake pedal. It will have to be engineered carefully, so it doesn't strike the liner when depressed as the chassis narrows quickly here. Most likely, I'll include a side-fence on the clutch pedal for my shoes, making it impossible to drag my sole on the liner. The same may be needed on the inboard side of the accelerator pedal.


The really good news is that my access hatch atop the footwell is going to work out better than expected. It should be pretty straight forward to access all critical parts and maintenance items when the car is on the road.


Just as a way of convincing myself, it's do-able (I pretty confident it is - I'm fairly clever with these close clearance situations), I decided to dig up my old work on the Gibbs (Haynes Roadster) chassis and see how Chris' pedal box would fit. It's for right hand drive, but the pedal arrangement is the same. So, I found it, copied it to disk, and then loaded it up inside my simplified model and placed his pedal surfaces where they will go in my design (his are closer to the firewall) and here's what it looks like:


So, now it's on to the hard parts.

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

Foot-hams...


JD "12W" Kemp

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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

Oh you must have missed my photos. It was sad, JD. And, I foolishly documented it in pictures on the Internet. They say everything out here lives forever too.

Yup, I was trying to shoe horn (pun intended) my size 12, Double-D wide (that's not the good kind of Double-D, unfortunately!) Docksiders on my pedal arrangement. I pressed one of the pedals and had the whole apparatus hooked up on them and it wouldn't let go. My little poodle thought it was very funny, but she's French, they think everything we do is funny, so there you go.

Cheers, and wishes for narrow feet for you and yours,

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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

After much noodling and fiddling, I arrived at gas pedal assembly. Simple in concept, but needing to satisfy many criteria, I think I have all the bases covered, and some flexibility built in if the ergonomics need some tweaking after I drive the car for a while.

Using the stock throttle cable meant I had to pick up about 3" of slack on the cockpit side of the cable due to the way it was mounted in the Mustang donor. Also, I needed a sufficient cable pull to open my stock throttle body completely , but also needed to account for more pull that will be required when I go to a larger engine and throttle body in Phase II of my build. And then, the pedal itself had to end up in the right place above the floor boards, and the right distance from the transmission tunnel to fit my wide foot, and be narrow in overall assembly width as I have about 15/16" to work with to match up with the cable, and not exert much side pressure on the plastic mount of the cable itself as I had to trim off its reinforcing fins to end up with a workable hole size. Other than that, it was pretty simple and a piece of cake.

Here's what I ended up with:


The hardest little task was emulating the stock Mustang cable attachment using materials on hand, but provide for accurate assemble with welding in my non-CNC, 1959 Garage Tech shop. It's a complex little piece, but offers me a way to satisfy several criteria by doing the tack welding of it in place when mounted. When done correctly, the cable will pull out straight from the plastic mount, and the cable will be tangent to the pedal assembly as the pedal is depressed throughout its swing.

When building the piece, I found a "field upgrade" that made it unneccessary to trim the back portion of the piece to 5/8". I really hate handling small pieces on the bandsaw.

So, here are the major pieces fabricated, excepting the foot shield, which I'll finish after jury duty. I have to report tomorrow, but have no idea if I'll have to serve on a trial jury yet.


The pedal pad is removable. That's so I can change its height, shape, slope, etc., in the car without any major re-do of the pedal assembly. I made it out of 20 gauge steel, but felt it was too flimsy. So, I made another, but dug out my bead roller and put a nice deel bead through the middle this time. Man, did that make a difference. I was so supprised at how solid it became. I thing I could stand on it (literally) and it wouldn't give. Yea!


The attachment tab took careful work to fit the cable end. I had to drill it undersize and then carefully hand ream it's opening to fit, but not pull through, the cable end. When I could just get it through and mounted using hand soap as lubricant, I quit. It works pretty darn well. I don't believe it will pull through either, but I'm going to mount an adjustable stop for the pedal itself, so I don't over-stretch things in an enthusiastic moment of spirited driving.


I'll pick up the rest of the work after jury duty is over.

Cheers,

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

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

OK, the accelerator pedal didn't work out. It took up too much space and would interfere with the space needed to separate itself from the brake pedal. I.e., my feet are too fat and I'd be hitting the gas and brake at the same time in high performance driving. It was also heavier than I felt workable. So, now I'll distract you with a shiny object; actually several of them. Here's shiny object number one:



While I was driving and fixing up my Mustang donor, I joined a couple of websites dealing with V6 Mustangs and their performance. It turns out that using primarily Ford parts from later years, my donor's 155HP 3.8 can be turned into a 215HP, 4.2L version. With the addition a couple aftermarket components and a clean-up bore to 4.3L, you can get about 300HP and 275 lb=ft of torque. Long story short, I've been working with a young guy who is switching from a 4.3L V6 powered Mustang to a V8. His 4.3L parts were up for sale at a very reasonable price and we came to terms last week on the internals from (shiny object #2):


The parts arrived Friday, and he came over Saturday to go through everything with me as he's in a nearby town visiting his aunt and uncle. The engine had been run for several thousand miles, but the parts are in excellent shape generally except for one piston that needs to be replaced. They include high performance pistons, rods, camshaft, lifters, pushrods and crankshaft as well as a lower end main bearing girdle/windage tray. I'll need to have machining done on one of the two 3.8L engines I have, and I want a lighter flywheel and front crank pulley, so it will rev faster in my light chassis. However, this put me 60-70% of the way to my Phase II/III goal of a high performance engine. According to Jon, the young guy I bought it from, I'm pretty much guaranteed 280 HP, but with a careful tune of the ECU should expect 300+ reliable HP. That's making me happy, and easily makes up for the gas pedal rework and almost makes up for reporting for jury duty tomorrow.

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

Lonnie
If you are going to re-do the gas pedal, I would suggest that you look at adding pedal stops both {Fore & Aft} in your new design. Should making adjusting for a new TB a little easier when you up-grade. Do not do like I did and made a short travel set-up. I had to re-design the pedal to reduce the lever ratio to get about 2 3/4" of pedal travel. Made a big improve in controling break-away. Dave W

Oooh. Shinny objects.

Very nice. looks like you will have all the power you will need.

@davew
Thanks for that tip, Dave. I fiddled around with a couple of cardboard mock-ups before settling on the final length and I tried to be mindful of just that issue. I think I should be OK, but it's really a guess. I won't actually know until the car is running and I can drive it. I am going to make it easy to modify the pedal, just in case my guess is wrong, which it may well be.

@DaveM
I probably will have more power than I need, but that's OK. I want the end-product to be a little scary, but not insane, or really dangerous. For example, here's my favorite "Locost" video. I hope my build is this capable ==> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDMukessQtk

I have some honey-do things to handle today (I'm off jury duty now), and should be back on the Locost tomorrow. Thanks for the comments, guys.

Cheers,

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

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