Unnn baleevaable.... I don't know what is more amazing, the perfect lines and shape of that front end, or trying to understand the skill it must take to have made it. Congradulations, very well done!!!
looks like magic. not many can take flat piece of mtl with those tools and turn it into a thing of beauty that looks so right---wow
The nose is amazing. Its hard enough to pull off the metal work, but to do the metalwork for such a well designed part that has so much impact on the overall look of the car is pure magic. I feel lucky to be on the east coast so I can see the finished car in person!
Hey Zach, who was it that bought your last one again? Have you heard how it is doing these days? I know it's maroon now. I can't find the thread.
thanks everyone it was ChuckSpeed that bought the last one i havent heard from him lately as to how he's making out finishing it up heres some links i had saved with pics of it http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1282268#post1282268 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158925&highlight=suhrsc+track+roadster http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=194314&highlight=suhrsc+track+roadster http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=195035 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=195264 Zach
Zach....what are ya using to weld the pieces together? TIG? Or more "traditional" methods? It'd be fun to build a nose but I don't know how to TIG........are the welds massaged as you go along, or after it's done? Thinkin' the pieces could be made and then taken to someone else to weld 'em up for me.....
Man.... Zach is Mcguyver. We will be reading a lot about him in the future. I want in on the IPO. HAHA Doc.
Woah... I didn't notice this until this morning. Can't believe it was glossed over as a side note like, "oh yeah, punched my own louvers too." So... did you punch those or just make the dies? And if you punched them, ummm... what did you do it with? Any details on the dies? edit: I'm going to have a lot of louvers to get done one way or another, so definitely interested here.
yeah i built that one too... wasnt as compicated as this one but its what i thought fit the lines of that car best, being a reproportioned coupe
phew i must type slow! sinister, the nose is all TIG welded, i tacked it till it wouldnt move, then welded it from one end to the other inside and out....then ground it down with a 4.5" angle grinder...it still needs finished off but atleast i can hammer it around now without a big weld on there doc, I'll put you first in line......if i sell some stock maybe i can invest it into a building thats not my parents basement? kevin, i made the dies and punched them in there i just carved the die from some square steel bar till i had what i thought was a good shape, then i made a base for it to go into, sharpened both edges to be perfectly square on a milling machine then i kept tack welding metal together till i could tack it into an arbor press its only about 8" deep throat so i have to cut the tacks and reweld it back in backwards to do the other side....but it works for now till i get time to make a bigger frame or adapt it onto the side of something i already have i used a half of a wishbone for leverage on the handle...is that traditional this is a bad pictures but you can see the blue arbor press in the right side i thought i had a better one somewhere
Nice man. At my other house - which had a cramped basement - I had this really great I-beam which ran across the garage door opening. Anchored into the stone foundation on both sides. I had considered installing a sort of hard mounting point in the cement floor directly under the beam then making various fixtures which would bolt to the floor and beam. Two most obvious would be a louver punch and an English Wheel. Would have been dead solid and seems like you could punch or wheel anything with your entire house being the frame. No throat. I'm actually surprised I haven't seen this done before.
Also... I have the same heater. Some guy who moved to Austin left it here for me because he knows the winters suck.
i have but i cant post pictures...theres an old guy here locally who build race car bodies in his barn and he has one english wheel made in like your saying and another built out from the side the disadvantage to the post type is the same problem with all of the readily available ones if you dont make the track nose out of multiple pieces you can't roll it in there...it'll hit the post when wrapped around the bottom so you need one that has a very small adjuster and a lower arm that comes up on a long angle...or a top adjuster i made a 53 hillegass sprint car nose as my first attempt at one of these using a buck that this guy had to pattern from and its all made with only one weld seam down the center of the chin....so in that case the post type wheel wouldnt work but its a great idea none the less, just not a do all to end all in the "junky basement" picture you can see the cream colored pullmax machine that i bought(short throat), well i have another one too(nibbler), not working either.. but it has a 5 foot throat so im considering cutting the head off of this arbor press and welding it onto a plate that bolts to this large casting and use that for the louver punching only problem is space!!!! its kinda jammed in right now
You never cease to impress Zach! Thanks for the louver explaination.....after seeing the first pic of louvers you did, I thought "how could I make an inexpensive louver press" and came up with a similar idea.... I have access to hyd manifolds and cylinders, so it'd be powered....
that'd sure be a benefit! i dont know how well they'd work in steel though...you might need to get the dies hardened? i try to not deal with steel much so i didnt put much concern into it for mine and they work fine I've probably done 500 or so louvers and no signs of wearing out yet (there was ALOT of them done testing out the design) heres a shot of my other car that i did the hood sides on they're in as far as i could get them from the edge with this press design (sorry its a huge pic...all i had saved in photobucket)
Got a pic of the dies? How much "clearance" is needed between the male and female dies? Did that make sense??? Love that 44c....
i dont have a picture of them, sorry the female doesnt really need to be a female though, just a radiused parimeter to keep the base metal in shape and let the male part push it into place this is a bad explination, but you need enough clearance to not beat up the metal but not so much that you dont have a clean edge i have no idea how much is there, i just kept changing it till it worked in the bottom i just let it bottom out but you'll also need a top plate to compress the same distance so that the metal around the louver doesnt distort try making some and it'll all come to you, you'll see where the problems pop up and whats needed to correct them, just be sure you keep a tight tolerance on the slicing edge so that it actually cuts
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