Projects rebuilding after the crash

You got that right!

 

I was wondering when the bottom bars were going to be put on. Looks awesome.

 

methodical is right. the lower bar could not go in earlier because of the amount of welding going on. the frame needed to stay supported on the jig until it was strong enough . welding on the lower frame rail too soon could have caused everything to twist. there was also concern that the two main frame rails would curl upward in front of the firewall. the frames designs are run through a computer program that tests the loads. there is no guessing. it seems like only half of the tubing is in place. the funny car cage; engine travel limiters; cross bracing on the floor and all of the bracing on the rear of the car needs to go in. there are very strict rules regarding the placement of all the bars. to get the chassis tag i need there can be no short cuts. this frame will be inspected by nhra. there are several different chassis tags. they all have a cap on them for et. I'm going for a 7.49 and quicker tag. this project is really starting to get fun now that its starting to look like something. i was looking at a pile of tubing on the floor of the shop just a few weeks ago.

 

subscribed!

 

Chassis looks great. I looked under the white Chevy coupe at the meltdowns. It has a similar chassis.

 

That was tuchies car. He owns a chassis shop. We talked about my car in great detail. He was a big help on what works. He offered his assistance and advice at any time. I have always had the utmost respect for his coupe. His car hooks hard and goes straight. The car will go in the eightes.

 

Racer-x,
Thanks very much for starting and updating this thread.

Your willingness to "open your kimono" and discuss safety issues - both previous shortfalls and current upgrades - has forced me to revisit safety concerns on my own build. Thanks to you, I'm looking more critically at crossmember stiffness, engine & trans mounts, shoulder harnesses, door latches, weld quality, brakes, and a bunch of other things that I might otherwise not have given a second thought.

Bravo Zulu (that's Navy-ese for "well done").

 

gary im glad you are enjoying the thread. im just trying to share some of the things i learned first hand. i feel like i was lucky to survive this incident. i have been given another chance to have fun with cars. i hope others will follow what you are doing with you build regarding safety. theres alot of good suggestions in your post. we are all playing a dangerous game with these cars. never think it cant happen to anyone of us. if you roll the dice enough eventually they will come up snake eyes. let us all be safe out there.

 

I have to say you have opened my eyes quite a bit to the safety of these builds we all have going on. Mind you I'm not a hack, and do believe in doing things right, but you've got me thinking about all of the little things that can be easily overlooked. Things people may not even realize are a problem until something happens, like access to the door safety pins from outside of the car. I'm sure more than a few of us will be looking at things a little closer from now on.

 

great news. then this thread has done its job. jim at the chassis service told me its not his job to just build a fast race car. its my job to build you a car you can crash and be able to walk away from.

 

Great post Brian!

 

chris when its done im driving to the night owl for one of the worlds best burgers.

 

There's only two kind of racers, those who have crashed and those who will crash. Many people overlook safety issues and strict rules are kept as harrashment, but that tends to change after the first incident.

 

Its time to get after the body. As in the past i have introduced the many people who make this all work. Today im going to introduce local legand jack klamm. Jack now lives in arizona. He came up for the holidays. Jack is a hard scrabble guy who grew up around cars. His dad had a body shop so he learned the craft at a young age. He has owned his own body shop and alignment shop. He is now retired. Well kind of. Jacks work ethic is second to none. He is well into his 70s and can work for hours. Maybe thats his secret for staying in great shape. Jack did the body work years ago for me on this car. He does his work the old fashion way with hammers dollies and files. On a rare occasion he might use lead. When the metal work is done its ready for paint. He can make something out of nothing. Im the student learning under his watchful eye. He shows me how to relieve the stresses in the metal. Knowing how the metal will behave before its hit is key. Im no body guy but jack has taught me alot over the years. We work as a team switching jobs often. Im questioned on a regular basis so i know whats going on. They dont make them like this anymore. A true craftsman from another era. Jack ran to get his files from his sons place. We are only two hrs into this repair and so far so good.

 

WOW that is looking great! Having super help is way cool! Keep it up, Gary

 

We are done for today. Jack wants to bring some more of his tools. His tools consist of old leaf springs; crow bars; all sorts of home made dollies; scraps of steel; wood blocks and spoons. he assures me it all has a purpose. the strange stuff is usually used to reach a hard to get area. We need to put the door on before we go further. The a pillar was torn from the floor. We used vice grips to hold things in place while the creased sheet metal was hammered to relieve the stress. he says we need to get some heat on it to start shrinking the panel. i remember well doing this last time around. its long tedious work. it really works on my patience. but its well worth it. With the door on we can line everything up then weld it back in place. I dont normally have the patience for this kind of work. Its a good thing jack does. We will be back at it when i get off work tomorro. We are both happy with todays work.

 

Impressive metal work.

 

When he's done there send him my way to fix the roof on the 56. I think someone let an elephant dance on it. Looks real good.

 

Great addition to the thread. It is great to watch one of the remaining CRAFTSMEN at work.

 

Very impressive work. The body already looking great again.

 

It was another day of body work. We roughed it in yesterday. Today it was heat shrinking. The torch heats a spot about the size of a dime until its just turning orange. With a dollie on the back side the heated area is hammered. This shrinks the metal. Its amazing how the panel goes from oil canning to tight. It works best with two people. One runs the torch the other hammers. That way the heat isnt lost setting down the torch and grabbing the hammer and dolly. the shrinking leaves the panel looking like a leopard with all of the spots on it. Once the shrinking was done the low spots were hammered out. I was inside the car. Jack would be on the outside and tell me were to hit the panel. after i hit it he would say things like over a quarter inch up a half inch. This hammering went on for some time. We hung the door and it fit perfect. Then the file work began. The body is very close. After its mounted on the frame again the final work will be done. Im glad that part is over. Im off to the chassis shop tomorro to drop off parts. If there are any body shop guys reading this feel free to comment.

 

Simply amazing how he formed the wrinkled metal back to it's origin. My hat is off.

 

I always envy such a skills to shape a metal. Hats of to You and Jack.

 

The axle tubes were turned down and pressed in. The axles four link brackets are done. There is a fixture to hold everything in place before the brackets are welded on. The mid plate received some attention. It has been lightened and ventilation holes were drilled into it. There needs to be holes not only to cool the converter but also to have access to the converter/flywheel bolts. The chassis was flipped over again to get ready for the drive train install.

 

Nice to see Jack at work. I don`t know him at all, but we use almost the same methods and tools, even down to the same Body File holder! To all those hacks on here that say a Mig and gallons of mud are `the way it was`...guess what.........

 

i got fast 30 coupe set up with jack. jack might just have to hang around se wisc. a little longer than he planned. if anyone else wants him to do some work on their cars while he is here pm me. i will pass on the info. jack is not on the hamb. im ready to drop off the car at the body shop next week. the next guy i introduce on this site comes with some big time credentials. he has been doing body work like jack for decades. he has a wall full of accomplishments. he has won pebble beach five times with cars he has restored. thats hard to do.

 

Thanks again Brian. Looks like I'll be in your neck of the woods on Tuesday trailering the car up. If we finish by a decent hour maybe you could show me some nitro hemis and I'll show you the 56. We will see how it goes.

 

one of the new things jack taught me this time around was how to pound out the dents without putting more in. in the first few pics the paint is on the panel as we worked on it. this was done on purpose. the paint and light bondo skim coat prevent the hammer from putting in new dents and marks. the paint acts as a cushion. later on the paint and body work were removed with a propane torch. heating the panel from the back side makes the material release its bond then its scraped off with a puddy knife. a small wire brush removed the little that remained in place. this process was fast and easy with no dust. don't get the panel too hot. it doesn't require much heat. a drop light was then used. it was placed so the light went up on the panel. the high and low spots were easy to see. i could have just sent the car out to be fixed but i wouldn't learn anything that way. i find it all very interesting how jack does his work.

 

Still think you should take another look at that front axle...no tab, just a perimeter weld at tube/boss.

 

we won't be reusing the axle from the crash. it was poorly welded together. it was a ims axle. they are no longer in business and i can see why. we will make our own axle with a four bar setup and torsion bar suspension. lots of fuel alterds; funny cars and sprint cars used this setup over the years. being a car without fenders i don't want coil overs or springs in the front. the torsion bar suspension offers a nice clean look.