Modified Murray: Frame build update #2

Okay, did some more work on the frame this weekend. Got quite a bit done. Things are just tacked though. Did a lot of thinking about what I wanted for the K-member and the areas around it. Triangualation is important, functionality is important and what the heck... it might as well look cool AND be strong. So here's what I've come up with. A little different than my original plan, but I think it's starting to really take shape...

Enjoy...

Here's where I left off last time.


The next step was to really get it rigid from left to right by adding some support. Logical next place to focus was the transmission crossmember in the middle.



Some mock up to think more about the rear portion and the kick up of the frame.



Started a rear lower crossmember and decided I needed my driveshaft loop to be a lot closer to the rear yoke.



... so, I could either add extentions square to the rear lower extending it further back. OR... I could do something a little different.



I didn't have the luxury of bending the rectangular tubing, so 21 cuts a piece and a ton of welding, grinding and smoothing and I got my result. Here's what the painful process looked like:

I keep some big heavy gears around for moments like this! The weight kept it close to square and the clamps and square kept it where I wanted.



Lots of welds... (note to self... V the weld gap more) don't worry... plenty of penatration here.



And the final result before trimming to fit.





So next I welded in the pieces to give me that triangulation I was talking about.





That's as far as I got, but I'm ready to keep rockin'! The rear 4-bar links came in from Art Morrison today and hopefully my front Posies spring tomorrow. I ordered an extra low, reversed eye, Heavy Duty Super Slide to handle the weight of the Hemi. The transmission mount should be here by the Friday.

So what's next... I need to cut the rest of the floor out of the body, beef up the rear sheetmetal a bit and do some more work on the subfloor. I need to put the body back on pretty soon so I can find the mounting points and figure out some brake and clutch pedal stuff. Then the body will come back off and I'll go to work on the driveshaft loops, front cross member, rear suspension and spring stuff, and finalize the spilt front bones (length wise). Obviously a whole bunch of stuff after that, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves! LOL!

 

you're a welding mad man.





keep it up.

 

I was just thinking I'm insane!

 

WOW! love the bent 2x3! what's it going to hook to?

 

I'm going to make a rear drive shaft loop out of 1x2 rect tubing that will be at the end of those bends. will make another smaller, tighter drive shaft loop that will be 6-inches behind the trans tail shaft. May just make the front one out of 2x1/4" flat bar since every inch of space in the at area counts. (Have to put seats somewhere!) The bottom of the rear loop will be removable so the driveshaft can be dropped easier.

 

Nice fabrication! I like your style.

 

That thing looks great dont think theres gonna be any flexing on that frame.Man them bends were alot of work but they lok real nice.GREGG

 

That tubing is 3/16 wall! The things that were going through my mind when I started lopping off material to make those and laying out the cut lines. I was thinking something along the lines of.... "man, there is something seriously wrong with me for wanting to do this!" LOL! They took about 3-hours each to make with all the grinding smoothing that needed to be done afterwords. I like the finished product though. Will make more sense when the driveshaft loop is in place.

 

looks absolutely great. The time spend making the radiused pieces was well spent. I also like the fact that the z in the rear isn't a 90* angle.

 

That looks great!! First thing I thought of when I saw your bend peice was, dam that probably took a long time!!

I've did all the 1" square bends like that in my coupe, with the pie cuts, and there was a lot! Lots of cutting, welding and grinding! Mike

 

It's amazing how proud you can be of something that can be done in a couple minutes by someone who has a bender! LOL! I have to do a bunch more pieces the same way. Will be doing it with some 1x2 and probably some 1x1 also. Thinner wall stuff though.

 

Can't remember why I chose the angle I did, but they're exactly 79*. The 4-bar rear suspension will be mounted to those Z uprights. That's why the look so far forward. I figured if i was going to Z it, I might as well make functional use of them. Makes seating position a little tight though.

 

jaw dropping is all i can say...super nice

 

That thing will be built like a tank. Nice fabrication work. It's alot harder to make that bend using the V cuts, welding and smoothing, than most people realize but you did a great job. Keep it up!

 

Keep working and you'll be driving that thing to Chi town soon.

 

KURT! I might be able to push it to Chi Town! LOL! That Hemi is going to be the show stopper soon! Have plenty of parts to collect for that thing... including a DRAG STAR or EDELBROCK EC6! (see my sig. line)

Pulled out the Holley 94's and started picking through those parts and slowly cleaning those up. Those are going to be a huge undertaking because when I bought them they were already blown apart. Have to fish through what's what and I have several series of 94's to make it worse...

Good to see you at Viva Kurt! That drama you walked in the middle of ended pretty quick... stupid stuff! Bad way to meet up with you. Next time, your place where there won't be any of that! Need to check out YOUR project!

 

Hey Scooter, that looks great! Glad to see you making some progress. The pie-cut bends look real good too, keep going!

Dan

 

I can't believe you made those bends with just Ale! Pretty neat (as always!)

 

BWWWAAAHHHAA!!! That's only what you see there... Carlsberg usually flows freely in my garage.

DAN the MAN! Believe me... there is a lot of influence from your build in mine! I reference your build quite a bit for ideas and direction. I really appreciate the help and tips you've given me! Glad to see you're rockin' hard on your build too! Hope to see some updates from you soon as well.

Cheers!
Scooter

 

Front spring came in from Posies yesterday! Looks super nice and they were REALLY helpful and easy to work with to make sure I got the right spring. Ordered shackles for front and rear spring from them also and those came as well. So, I'm pretty much in business as soon as I get my U-bolts and such. Will be starting that front crossmember sooner than I expected.

 

Scooter,

I am in utter AWE! Looking great!

Whats this about you coming to Chi-Town?

Duane

 

Thanks man!

Yeah, it's a possibility. I've been trying to get out of this vacuum they call Sin City for awhile now. Have family in Chicago and have been very seriously considering starting a new life in your neck of the woods. We'll have to form the Leaving las Vegas for Chicago club! Lots of things going on though. May find myself in So. Cali. instead. We'll see...

 

You know Morrison sells bends like that for less than you used in materials/wire/abrasives? Since the order was placed with them you would have paid very little extra when the four bars were shipped.............................................

 

Looks good though

 

Damn Scooter. This is really starting to look like something, and it's lookin' great!

 

Actually, I only used 4 cut-off wheels (total of $5.48), two grinding wheels (about $4), two 80 grits discs ($2.50) two 120 grit discs ($2.50) and a couple 3M pads ($4.00). HAd the materials already, but we'll account about $20 worth. I believe the Art Morrison bends are $60 (could be wrong though), plus, I wasn't willing to wait and needed to use the material up anyway. Still have just the right amount to do my front cross member. Mostly I just did it because I was sitting around waiting for parts and wanted to keep moving.

Not saying your wrong though... it would have been a HELL of a lot easier and I could have sat around on the couch a little longer! LOL!

 

word. looking good bro. things are coming along for you. i will check back in a few weeks to see what else youve got done. good luck with the move and all. toby.

 

Toby! Thanks man! I appreciate the nice words! Can't wait to move! Hot Rods and surfing, here I come!

I actually have got some more done, but worked so hard I didn't take any pictures. I got all the bracketry for the rear suspension welded on the quick change. All I have to do is make a spring stretcher-thingy for the model A rear spring, do some trimming to the body, and slide everything into the rear of the car so I can figure out how I'm going to mount the 4-bar setup to the Z'd portion of the frame. Pretty much know already, but need to size it up with it in place to make sure what I'm thinking is going to work. One thing is for sure, throughout this build I've done a lot of CAD work to design the frame and components, but when it gets right down to it, some things you just have to size up as the build progressses. This is one of those things where I've made changes as things progressed.

I will have a big update within' the next couple weeks. I have 19 or 20 major tasks to complete (about 40 hours worth of work) before the car gets moved in three weeks. I'm running out of time!!

 

cool deal but i was wondering why you didnt build the 4 bar yourself and order the bends from art morrisson??? would have saved you a lot of time

 

To be perfectly honest, I didn't trust myself. Plus, the welds on those 4-bars are AMAZING! I've never seen TIGs that nice! WOW! Really high quality pieces. It wasn't that I didn't think I couldn'y make them strong and usable, but more of a case of pefection. I don't have a tubing notcher or anything like that to get that perfect union at the rigid end. Having a lathe would have helped to make a good quality piece as well. Not absolutely required, but bottom line, that particular part of the car will be just about fully exposed so I wanted everything to look as nice as possible. Couldn't beat the quality of AM's 4-bars. Not to mention, I wanted stainless 4-bars and if I would have made them myself I would have had to go buy another bottle for my welder and another spool of wire. More reasons to just buy the bars then make them and make the 2x4 bends then buy them.