Frame Notch/Tub/Cage-Complete build Start2Finish

[prostreetdrag]

I told you guys before in earlier post about the fuel sump im building for my aluminum fuel cell. I built the sump out of some diamond plate I had laying around but I ended up remaking a new sump today for my fuel cell. I used my bending brake to form the first one that I prevously posted in this thread. I used the diamond plate first but when I started to weld the AN fittings in I was worried about getting a leak free weld on it because the aluminum was very very thin and I didn't want to take any chances with it so I bought a small peice of aluminum from my steel supplier and made a new sump from thicker aluminum. I wanted to post a pic of the new sump I just made so you guys can see my sick a$$ aluminum welds...Let me know what you guys think of my alum tig welds. I'm certified to Tig Aluminum up to an inch thick

 

[prostreetdrag]

More progress on my aluminum fuel sump. I got it all fabed and welded up including the fittings the only thing left to do with it is weld it on my fuel cell I will try and get it dont tommorow. I will also get more pics of frame notch i have the new plate tacked on and doing the final welds with it now. I will try to get little more done this evening and post up more pics of the notch tonight but here is a pic of the aluminum sump I made..Its a little deeper than the pre-made steel ones on the market. I have about 19.00 in material in it so far including the aluminum and AN fittings. Thats not too bad at all.

 

[mat231v6]

wow nice work!

 

[prostreetdrag]

Here is few pics of the new steel plate being welded back on I cut the new plate in all one peice but did not have the tight fit that I planed for and rather wasteing the peice I already cut I decided to do it in 2 peices however where the two peices join I welded a rib or plate in the inside of frame rail vertically for the two peices to butt up to..Doing it this way with the small rib or plate welded inside the frame will provide more structure to the inside of the frame rail..Also the crossbar that runs completely through the frame rail on both sides and rather haveing a hole to see thru the tube I used a round plug from scrap steel to cap off the round crossmeber that will basically block off the round tube and also will prevent any water or moisture getting inside the crossbar also with the crossbar welded completely through each side of frame rail it provides more strength for the inner side of the frame rail just like the vertical rib as well. Also there is not a chance that the crossbar could break a weld or have a cracked weld rather then just haveing a bar welded in between the 2 frame rails that leaves a potentilal risk that a weld might break with frame twisting. I have seen bars break on other cars where the weld seam is when people weld crossbars between frame rails for anti roll bars..The notch is almost done only thing left is to box in the frame rail with a small peice of plate steel on the left side of the frame rail Need to do little more grinding as well to smooth out any welds...I useually grind all my welds smooth however I did not because i did not want to sacrafice any material and grind it off and take a chance on a crack on the seam or anything. I decided to just slightly grind all the welds just enough for a smooth finish. ..As most of you know when you put the new steel on make sure you tack weld every inch or so and switch from top and bottom to minimize heat...also most important make sure you use all your safety clothes..I have weld burns all the way up my arms from laying on my back on the floor welding the bottom side of the frame rail. I was too lazy to get my welding jacket on and I also was not wearing long sleeves. SO DO NOT BE THAT STUPID....lol

 

[prostreetdrag]

Just finished the notch on the driver side the passenger side will go much faster because I wont have to stop through each step and do pics since the other side I will follow same steps as driverside and I will use the templete from driver side. I will then be able to start with the Wheel Tub templetes i made and I will get them mocked in. Here are the rest of the notch pics with the last peice of steel boxed in on the left side of frame rail..

 

[prostreetdrag]

I was hopeing to weld the sump on my fuel cell today but when I took my fuel cell into work this afternoon I found out our parts steamer was down..Since my fuel cell has had race fuel in it I cant weld to it yet until I get the fuel cell steamed out because of the gas fumes. We are supposed to have our machine fixed Thursday some time and since i'm on vacation the next couple weeks I will probably just wait and go into work for a few this friday and steam the tank out and weld the sump on..I will post finished pics of my fuel cell before the weekend

 

[prostreetdrag]

Here is a pic of my fuel cell being steamd out to get ready and weld sump on. also pic of fitting sump on the cell before welding. instead of welding sump on flush with the front of the cell like everyother fuel cell out there I decided to have it sit few inchs back rather than flush with front this way it will sit below trunk floor in a perfect location and so will not innerfere with any of the frameing that will be going in trunk floor or the tubeing crossmember. this sump project turned out really nice I will post a completed pic once i get it home and tig weld it on..I had to take it to work and steam out today. I need to get stop and get more filler rods and will weld on this afternoon or evening so you guys can see it finally finished..It will prob be several days before you guys see pics of the tub mock up or install im working on the oppiste frame rail notch now for other side

 

[prostreetdrag]

Haven't got too much done to the car havent been feeling well but, I did want to update you guys with my fuel cell sump that I finally finnished today I think it turned out pretty good the only thing is I used 1/8th in alum to fab the sump but the fuel cell it's self was much more thinner material so I could not run a continueous weld bead because of the heat I had to stop every few inches and start another pass to let the cell cool..My welds turned out good but not perfect because I had to stop and start a new pass a few times..Let me know what you guys think of the fuel cell/sump project

 

[prostreetdrag]

sorry guys i havent got too much work done on the car, Ive been trying to finish up some other projects I had going on in the garage. I will get to the car this week so i can get more done and post more pics.. I picked up a few toys that should make work go much easier. I bought a 20 ton Air/Hydraulic tubeing bender with about 10 dies that range from 1/2 in-3 1/2 inches this will work great when i do the roll cage..I'm going to buy a 6 point cage for the g-body from S&W and use that as my starting point for the 12 point custom cage so i can bend my own A-pillar bars and door bars and I can get a tight fit..I also bought a very nice Heavy Duty Metal Shrinker/Strecher. I need to use it for some of my body work and will work great. im in the middle of building a foot opperated stand for the Shrinker/Strecher to make it a ease to use..This way should allow me to keep both hands on the peice being fabricated since will be foot opperated. I also just finnished building a 5ft Sheet Metal brake that will work good for alot of my projects especially the trunk and floor pans...The brake is custom made and I used 1/4 inch steel to fab it up I have bent up to 12 gauge steel with it and works very great the sheet metal bends like butter. I have about 60 dollers in material in it and it works better than most 5-600.00 sheet metal brakes. I decided to make it 5 ft long because most sheet metal i use on a brake is no more than the width of 4 ft piece of sheet metal.

 

[ACLR8R]

How much room did you pick up with the notch? What size tire are you going to run?

 

[prostreetdrag]

If you figure the notch and where the frame starts to curve towards the back I gained just about 3 inches I took about an inch off the frame rail its self but where your limited on your tire width is where the frame rail starts to curve before it starts to run towards the back of frame to hold the bumber.So by cuting the frame down an inch and caping it off to 90 deg on the sides i can go 3 inch wider on a tire. I will be running a 29x12.5 drag slick...With the Frame Notch, Wheel Tubs and trimed wheel well lips I have about 16 inches of space to work with. You have to also remeber my 9 inch rear end has been shortend about an inch and half shorter on each side. So with the right back space it will help me get my tires pretty wide..I have a tool to measure the correct back spacing.This will ensure that I get a perfect fit with my wheels and proper backspacing the first time. when i get the tubs in and rear end in I will be able to measure my back spacing and give more details on my rim sizing that i will use. I will most likely have to use 10inch wheel with the 12.5 slick but would like to run a 12inch wheel and the 12.5 slick. I will have to wait and see once i get the rear end installed again and meassure, also need to figure in tire expansion so we'll see I will keep everyone posted. I havent been feeling well so havent got too much done so I hope to post more progress this week

 

[prostreetdrag]

OK Everyone im back at it now Im getting ready to finish oppisitte side of frame notch been very sick recently and havent got too much done other than last couple days. here is pic where were at on other side, just need to burn the new steel in the frame rail and i will start the trunk floor braceing and wheel tubs by the end of this week

 

[prostreetdrag]

frame notch is complete on both side turned out really good should have quite a bit more tire clearence now. i will be starting the tubs this week as far as making templetes to mach them up. i will update with pics as i go along

 

[prostreetdrag]

Ok guy i made cardboard templetes for the wheel tubs i forgot to take pics before i pulled them out i have to put the cardboard wheel tub templetes back in so i will post pics of that once they are back in but im sure you get the idea. however i did start the braceing for the trunk floor where the fuel cell will sit..i wanted to mount the fuel cell on the upper shelf towards back of trunk for two main reasons. 1. I wanted to save as much possible space in the main trunk area as i could unlike most cars where the fuel cell is sitting in the middle of the trunk takeing up too much room and i didnt want to use a smaller cell so im building floor around fuel cell 2. I also figured with the fuel cell mounted here it would sit directley over the rear axle which should help keep the tires planted with the weight from fuel right over the top. Here is a few pics where im at with the floor bracing it is just a start you will get a better idea as i post more pics...currently in g-bodys the upper trunk shelf slopes down at an angle to the main trunk compartment,instead of a slope the upper area of trunk will drop down at 90 degrees. I will build the upper shelf out and around the fuel cell otherwise the fuel cell would hang over the edge and i dont want it to do that...make sure you keep following along when i post more progress pics. The cell will fit snugly in the middle of upper shelf in trunk and is a tight space but is just perfect where i can still get to the fuel cap for reffiling. the cell will sit right in between the rear down bars for the roll cage. these pics just show where the fuel cell will sit I still need to weld the brackets to the floor brace for a place to bolt the fuel cell mounting tabs. Right now all the bracing is tack welded untill i get all the bracing in. Once all the floor bracing is tacked in i will go through and complete the welds and finish removing any of the surface rust on frame and i will coat underside of frame and bracing with a good gloss black paint to keep from rust in future. After the sheet metal floor is welded in and wheel tubs i will finish painting all the braceing and frame gloss black

 

[prostreetdrag]

getting very excited fellas as the days go on hope to have completed before end of spring...This project has taken a little longer than I orginally wanted..But, you guys know how that always goes you tear into somthing small and it turns into something big..lol..It orginaly was just going to be a small mini tub and frame notch and now i have no trunk floor..lol. Im also in the process of fabricateng some Custom NOS Bottle brackets so I can mount the Nitrous bottles in the trunk as well and of course the battery box is aluminum also. I will most pics of the custom bottle brackets when i complete them. The material is already cut for the brackets i just need to weld them.

 

[prostreetdrag]

couple more pics of the progress on trunk floor/pan braces. You should start to get the idea of how the new trunk pan will look when installed,when most of the braces are complete I will get the tubs installed and lay the new sheet metal floor last that way i dont have to fight getting the tubs in with sheet for floor in way and i can make sure i get a tight fit with the floor around the tubs. I will post pics of templetes for wheel tubs before installing metal tubs i still need to make another test fit with the cardboard tubs before i start cutting them.

 

[prostreetdrag]

Because of the 90 deg angles of the trunk floor is the exact reason i built a 5 ft sheet metal brake. Should work great I want very few weld seams. The seams I do have once the floor is in i will grind smooth all the welds to look as a 1 solid floor pan

 

[charlief1]

Post some pics of the brake so we get an idea of how you built it.

 

[prostreetdrag]

another pic with fuel cell again, the braces for trunk pan are just about done, just have to tack in couple more braces for the lower section of floor pan so i have a good strong place to mount 2 batteries and 2 10lb NOS Bottles.

 

[prostreetdrag]

Sheet metal brake

Good thinking Charlie, Dont know why I didnt think about it...Here is only pic I have saved of the Fab process for the brake I will get you guys some pics of it in morning of what it looks like completed and in action....I wanted to build it very strong and wide so i used 1/4 angle iron and hinged 2 pieces togeather with several heavy duty hinges and welded them togeather. for the top of the brake i just welded some 3/16 flat stock only reason i used that was because the angle iron didnt have sharp enough edges/corners to give a nice clean crisp bend like i want. And how it actually works is pretty simple drilled hole on each end and took a 3rd piece of 1/4 angle and clamp sheet metal or work piece to top of brake with couple large bolts one on each end..It can be a pain though setting it up as far as clamping the peice in but for how often i will use it, it isn't too bad at all..I have about 35-40.00 invested in it with some scrap steel i had laying around my shop and it works just as good as the 1500.00 brake we use at our shop at work...So spending the extra 2-3 mins to get it set up and clamp the sheet metal down tight is well worth it to me then a high doller fancy one.. I used to just use coulple small pieces of angle in a bench vise for small work but this 5 ft one allows me to bend bigger sheets not to mention I bended some 12ga steel on it and worked with ease so i know it will tackle anything between 16-22 ga very easily... Sorry this isn't the best pic of it, in this pic i didnt have the two arms/handles welded on yet and i didnt have the legs finished yet...Oh speaking of legs i used 2/3 1/4inch box tubeing for legs and feet of it which will allow me to bolt to floor..you dont have to use the box tubeing but i had it extra laying around and it was some thick 1/4 steel so i knew would be plenty strong. Again I will post some better pics Tommorow of it and bend a piece of steel so I can show you guys how crisp it bends..also i can bend anywhere from 0-140 degrees but most of any bends i make useually range from 0-90 degrees