Here's a long-overdue update:
After getting the baja car on the road to oregon, I was able to work hard all day today to make progress towards meeting my goal of having the heapV on wheels by Friday morning. Friday morning is signifigant because that’s when I have to show what I have completed so far to the campus community (this is my senior project, remember?). Anyway, the pictures tell most of the story. We finished welding up the front A-Arms and got the back all figured out (but not fully welded yet). The entire frame needs to be finish welded but we’ll do that once we can pull the motor and get it on a rotiserie.
I was also able to pull apart the front spindles and get them cleaned up a little bit. We needed to bore out the lower ball joint bolt so that I could fit the 5/8 ball joints in. I rebuilt the calipers, bead blasted them and then painted them. Pictures from that process will come in the next update.
Next I tackled the rocker arm fabrication. This is something I’ve been avoiding because I’m only about 80% confident in my design. That last 20% will come once I’ve had a chance to drive the vehicle. Luckily, they were pretty easy to make so if I’ve gotta do it again, it’ll be manageable. I decided to build them from waterjet parts mainly because not only will they be cheaper and faster to make, but they’ll likely be stronger than a billet Al piece. Once I have the design nailed down and tested, maybe I’ll get fancy. Here’s a shot of the parts camed out and ready to cut.
Here are the parts fresh off of the waterjet.
And here’s a mockup before the welding started. That’s a piece of 1.00x.065 chromoly tubing where the bushing will go. I’ll mill the bushings tomorrow and get pictures for tomorrow night’s update.
Finally, here’s the piece all welded up. It’s not real pretty but we’re going to mill it down to fit the bushings in anyway. We’ll see how they turn out tomorrow.
Don’t forget that I’ve started leaving a lot of small details out. I won’t be sharing screenshots of the solid model or anything anymore since that could go on and on. Of course, if you have any questions or would like to see something else, let me know and I’ll be happy to do what I can.