Frame Notch/Tub/Cage-Complete build Start2Finish

[prostreetdrag]

BTW...the angled steel is 2 1/2 X 2 1/2 and of course as i said it is 0.25 thick

 

[charlief1]

A little bigger pic and a few more angles would help if you can manage it.

 

[prostreetdrag]

No problem i will as soon as i go out to work on the car this weekend

 

[prostreetdrag]

brake

Here you go guys. The last pic is some bends i did on some 18ga stainless steel to show how good it works

 

[charlief1]

Good job on the simplicity of it. Thanks.

 

[prostreetdrag]

Alright guys i wanted to post the cardboard tub installed also wanted to show you guys a jig i built to put the tubs together and to make the carboard tubs. the jig works really great came in really handy

 

[prostreetdrag]

well got one of the metal tubs in place on driver side its tacked in a few spots right now. i will finish welding in once i get the other tub installed and when i start putting trunk floor pans in. I did remove stock trunk hinges because the new tubs sit pretty high and i did not want to modify the tub or cut hole it to allow hinge to move up and down. Im useing 29 or 30 inch tall tires and if the hinge hangs down to low inside wheel tub it kinda defeats the purpose of me using taller tires.. I should be able to fabricate some custom hinges for the deck lid pretty easy..Eventually Im going to use a fiberglass deck lid anyhow and know i wont be able to use stock hinges with it so kinda works out that i had to takem out now while it was eay to get to.. ..For those of you wanting to remove your factory trunk hinge assembly i found it very difficult to get off at first.I attemped to drill spot welds then couldnt get to all of them, then tried to cut out with air cutoff tool and then i decided to use air hammer with a long pannel cutter attachment and it came right out like a piece of cake with the air hammer if u dont have the panel cutter attachment you can use air chissel to seperate where it is spot welded to rear deck lid.

 

[prostreetdrag]

I do plan on useing some type of seam sealer to attach the Tub to the Qtr Panel..Speaking of that.......Does ANYONE recomend a good strong yet waterproof or solicone based seam sealer I can use??? I have heard several opinions on somthing with silicone or without silicone because it gets hard and cracks overtime.. Please let me know what you used for those of you that has done a wheel tub install..Im going to reserch several kind but would like to hear from experience..Thanks

 

[prostreetdrag]

Ive seen several types at my local auto body paint supply shop but i want to use the best.

 

[prostreetdrag]

Ok Guys, Some of you may find this reply boreing...Because it will include a little welding 101...LOL...Just so you know not trying to beat a dead horse on the subject but afterall this is a build thread/Learning process for most people doing this for first time............. I have both wheel tubs installed for the last and final time. They both fit really good..They are just stitch welded in couple spots to hold in place..Once I put sheet metal trunk pan in I will be useing my miller dc/ac stick machine and stich welder attacment with 1/16 inch electrodes and tack tubs in completely..I will use mig machine to weld floor in but the tubs are only 22g thick. I can adjust the dc stick machine to really low current and get great stitch welds running machine around 55amps..Not too mention because they have to bacically be tacked in with multiple tack welds to minimize heat and warpage it should save alot of gas not useing the mig for this process. For those of you with less welding experiance..here is my .02... It can be easily tacked welded with a mig machine also if thats all you have, you must turn heat down low and use very thin mig wire. I just prefer useing the stick machine for this process with smaller diameter electrodes..As Im personally just as comfortable with arc/tig welding as I am with mig....So if your useing a mig to install tubs which is perfectly fine (and which is easiest among beggners) I personaly recomend useing .023 mig wire or smaller. .30-.35 is much harder to get quality spot/tack welds with low amperage and if your spending more than 2-3 seconds on trigger when doing your tack welds your just asking for trouble in burning a whole through material. However, Im sure you hear all the time to jump around diffrent areas when tack welding the tubs, just cant stress that enough because they are extreamly thin material..also practice..practice practice on a scrap peice first to get your heat/wirespeed adjusted..If you do burn a hole LEAVE IT ALONE until it is cool to the touch or just walk away..When that happens sometimes i just walk away from it because it is too tempting to try to fix right when it happens

 

[prostreetdrag]

Also I will get some more pics and diffrent angles with both tubs in I took this pic at 2am..right after installing oppisite tub..lol...I try to take pic standing as far back and zooming as far out as I could to try and get both completely in pic..but Im going to complete the welds on floor braces today and start making the card board templetes for floor pan

 

[prostreetdrag]

I started making the upper floor pan templete from carboard. I need to finnish braceing for bottom floor pan then I can make second templete...The trunk floor will made in 2 diffrent sections, to minimize joints that will need welded..To install the floor pans I will be using an air punch to make 3/16th holes along entire edge of floor pans every couple inches appart and will basically spot weld them in...And for all the seams I will be using a seam sealer to make sure it is sealed tight..I did however already buy a good 3m seam sealer..At least it better be good for 20.00 a tube..it was highly recomended at my paint supply shop..It is a fast setting sealer i will post details later as far as part# incase your looking for a good seam sealer and will let you know how it works too

 

[prostreetdrag]

here is the upper trunk pan already cut, its just laying in trunk still have little more work to do before welding floor pans in.

 

[Heavy D]

Maybe its the angle, but it looks like it would be hard to fuel the car with the cell so far forward. Looks good though, I've enjoyed following along!

 

[prostreetdrag]

I took few days off but started back at it today getting with getting floor tacked in..I will post some more pics for everyone to see when I set the fuel cell back in..It is just the angle of the pic. when I fit the cell in thats the first concern I had and actually had to pull the cell 3 inches back from where I orginaly wanted so I could have easy access to the fuel cap..I will post some more pics tommorow of trunk floor, i need to get my welding tanked exchanged I ran out of gas tonight Im hopeing to get most of upper trunk floor completely in before weekend so can start the bottom section..I also have to build a double battery box to mount behind passenger rear wheel tub with some 1/8 allum sheet I have so more pics to follow with that as well

 

[prostreetdrag]

Here is the upper section of trunk floor welded in, well not completely welded in I still have to finish a little bit more welding once I exchange the gas bottle for my mig machine but i stil need to finish tacking in the pass side wheel tub to the floor pan then I can start the bottom trunk pan..Below is a pic where I'm at so far with it you can see the floor is welded with multiple tack welds all the way around..I still need to cut hole in the floor pan for the drop sump on the fuel cell..More pics to follow in the next few days.

 

[prostreetdrag]

ok here is a pic again at diffrent angle with the cell sitting in after the hole for the sump was cut in the floor. the tank of course will be straped in when floor is complete. also included pic of the top so you can see where it will be refueled

 

[Heavy D]

I still think its going to be tight when the deck lids in place. You will probably have to have a lift off lid. I'm sure you'll make it work, it just may be a little cumbersome with the cell that far forward. Glad to see someone making progress, keep the pic's coming!

 

[coach]

Very sorry I havent had time to chime in ProStreet,
At this point, I agree, it is going to be difficult to fuel. Even with a big funnel it looks like it is going to be tight. What made you install the cell up in that part of the trunk?

Coach

 

[prostreetdrag]

im actually useing a fiberglass deck lid since I removed the stock hinges I also did not relize how freekin heavy the stock deck lids and hinges are BTW... I can not use pump gas in the car anyway with the compression of the engine, i use 110 octane so when I fill the cell I use a couple racing cans/jugs and with the flexable spout its pretty easy to fill...Im also think of building a fill spout at a 45 angle aswell and getting rid of the cheap plactic cap..i'll figure it out im positive it will look good and work quite well..Im getting excited to get rest of floor in..Im also going to build a solid panel firewall behind fuel cell after i put the roll cage in and planning to box in the stock frame rail where the c channel part of frame is..So there will tons more pics..Im going to try and keep this thread going until its time to start the body and paint work..Then im thinking of doing a paint and body thread