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After doing a little bit of thinking and searching for the perfect seat I decided the only perfect fit seat is one that I build myself.

Here is the plan. I will make a foam core out of well foam, the pink building foam since its really just fiberglass anyway. Once I make the shape the way I want it, I will cover both sides with fiberglass to make the shell. The foam will act as a honeycomb to stiffen the shell. I'll glass in steal mounting points. Once the shell is made I will do one of two things.
A: bond seat foam to the shell and then cut to fit or

B:use the spray on building expanding foam. With this I will spray the foam down and then cover it with plastic and then sit on it to make a perfect mold of me. The seat will be molded to my body and since I'm the only one that plans on driving this it will be a perfect fit.

After I get the foam in place and cut the way I like it, I'll cover it cloth using a spray on glue.

Sounds easy enough. How hard can it be? Mind you Ive worked with fiberglass to make my own hood for my last car and did some work with body kits a while ago.

evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

Well making my own seats so far hasn't been that hard. Making the mold out of pink foam has gone by pretty fast. This is a few hours worth of work shown in the pic. I'll start on the second seat tomorrow. I'll also add some thin strips of foam going down the back to add strength. The seat has a 15inch butt base and is 32 in tall. Total width is 18 1/2. Weight is just under a pound lol.



evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

Now there are two. Later I'll buy or make a hot wire to trim the foam real nice and then start on the fiberglass.


evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

After doing some adjusting the seats are now 17 1/2 wide. The yellow stuff in the pics is fiberglass tape to fill out the sides. I also added braces to the back side to make it stronger. Next week I'll start the fiberglass lay up. Im debating about spending some extra money to get a final layup of kevlar or carbon fiber but I'm sure the fiberglass will be fine.




evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

After hours of work here is the final outcome!

I purchased ebay Sparco clones for $260 new local. The seat on the left is the modified "squished" version. I also added seat heaters to it. lol The ebay seat is super easy to squish by the misapplication of a Heimlich maneuver. Took nearly 3 inches off of it.


evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

LOL nice! I want to add heaters to my seats too

Sometimes its just easier/cheaper to go ahead and buy the darn things.

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+442E, SR20det, Thunderbird/Markviii IRS with clutch lsd, R1 suspension all around, Mustang II 2" drop spindles, Woodward steering rack

You sneaky devil! I only read the first line of that post then skipped to the seats and thought, "holy crap, he actually made those?" Then read the rest of the post and felt ashamed of myself.

I just now noticed you're in Denver. Do you think I could drop by some time to have a look at your project? I'm a newb and I can't even weld or anything, but I'm eager to learn so seeing a builder in action surely couldn't hurt, and if you need an extra set of hands I'd be more than happy to help, even if it's grunt work.

Well minor update. I am in the process of redoing the center tunnel. Its only 4 inches wide with 2 inches in the center for routing wires and hoses. A total of 26 over all inches to put stuff. The seats fit in well. So here is my progress.





evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

Little bit of progress today. I added diagonal braces to the center tunnel and finished my seat brackets. They are made of 3 and 1/16 inch steel. Seems to work well with the sliders.

Not sure what I'm going to start on tomorrow. I may take some more measurements off my Mom's Maxima. I'm thinking before I mount the rear "subframe" I should make it a roller so I can get the ride-height bang on before I weld it up. To do that I need to order hub adapters to mount the 4lug wheels on the 5 lug hub.




evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

So I spent the better part of the modifying the shifter to fit in between the frame rails. It was 3 inches wide and I had 2 inches to work with. So I cut an 1inch out of the "tub" and rewelded it all back together. I think I'm going to stick with the super long shifter and just get an aluminum pipe to put around it with an aluminum button.

On the topic of aluminum I was looking the garage and found 3x 6 foot by 1 foot road construction signs used for the oversized loads. When I purchased the house I knew they were there but didn't bother to see what they were made of. Anyway they are all aluminum and of a pretty good gauge. So I'm going to use it to make up the front floor of the car. The passenger compartment will still be 16g steel but the front of the car will be riveted on aluminum. Should lighten up the front end, give me the flat floor I"m looking for and offer a bit of protection of the radiator, fuel tank and battery. Ive got my work cut out for cleaning them.



evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

Well last week I ordered some steering parts and Kurt's book. Got all of those in this week.

For my steering I have 3 u-joints. Two of them are from the infiniti and the last is a circle track part. Anyway to use the stock joints I cut the end off the stock steering rack and welded it to the new steering shaft and put a pipe over that and welded again. To support the shaft I ordered a circle track ball-bearing shaft support. I didn't realize it until I received it that I had ordered one for a 7/8 shaft and I have a 3/4 shaft. I ordered a oilite bronze bearing sleeve with a 3/4 id and 7/8 od. One side has a ridge so it wont slip out.

I got the rack positioned and tacked and clamped in place and tacked the steering shaft up. It seems to work, only time will tell when I get the tie-rods in place. Exciting non-the-less because at least something happens when I turn the steering wheel.

Also here is a pic of the progress on the rear subframe. Its coming together, slowly but surely. It will be a roller soon enough.





evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

I got some more work done on the car. The steering is now functional. Of course I forgot to take photos but will post some soon. The ball joints are from a 63-82 corvette with 5/8 aluminum adjusting rods.

I also did some more serious work on the rear end. The car was originally in an accidenet and it twisted the frame. The two side frame rails were not damaged but the center front piece was. So as a result I had to cut the front piece out then put in a bar to square up the front and then rear weld the new front piece back in place. It turned out pretty good. Its sitting on its side in these pics facing upwards.







evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

Here are some pics of the rear being test fitted onto the rest of the body. I estimate the wheelbase to be around 124in. Not sure on the rear track but probably closer to 60in or more. I have the factory FSM and I think I'll mount the rear frame at a somewhat stock (for maxima) ride height. I may wait until I have the wheel adapters to make sure everything lines up how I want it too.

Also here are much promised pictures of the front end. Also for fun another picture of my 3.0l V6.









evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

Ive been making progress on the rear subframe. Here is where I'm at so far. I'm still a ways off from being done. I ran out of 1x1 and need to replenish my supply. I added a 7in top rail seat-belt mount.


I decided not to do the yellow lines because the closeness of the tubes and they were connected to the chassis only 4 inches from the top tubes. This seemed like too acute of a triangle. I also decided not to do the red lines in the picture and instead use a sheer web as shown in the fourth picture. I think I'm going to mount the roll bar to the gray nissan subframe and run it just behind the seat-belt tube.


Sheer web/planned tubes


evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082

Another update on the rear of the car. I added a lot more new tubes. The ones nearest the seats provide a nice what to get in and put of the car. I may put some opposite to help get in an out so people dont grab the windshield to get out.

I also bought the floor and firewall. The largest sheets they had were 18 gauge for a 4X5. I also picked up a 4x4 of 16g.




evo

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My vq30 middy build http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4082