Mah Niggah!

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IS NOW BACK ONLINE AFTER SOMETIME..... SORRY TO ALL, FOR NOT REPLYING TO PM'S!!

Okay, so little bit of progress this week, got the inlet manifold sitting in place and a dummy radiator and fan in there too.
Next on the list is checking the fit of my steering rack, then working out what im going to do for an alternator.

...and fix the big hole in the firewall...!!!

Looking really nice Harley!

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"Not Speeding Officer..........Qualifying"

Thanks Tricky!

Yep, that hole will go. I cut the hole into the frontcut to get the manifold onto the engine, but it doesn't actually interfere by as much as I would have thought so I'm thinking now I'll see about doing the old cut/angle up of the manifold to avoid modifying the wall at all. Engineer will be far happier if the firewall isn't touched.

I got the steering rack in too now - not as much of a headache as I thought it would be - just chamfered the corner near the diff for clearance and other than that its fairly stock.
I also have driveshafts and CVs now, for when I get to checking them out.

So what I can do now is revisit the subframe - I need to sort out some engine stabilisers. Not much room for them and they'll have to hold the engine pretty firmly too - so that's the next challenge.

Small update, started on the underside of the subframe - this H frame is a fairly critical member in that its one of only 2 sections connecting the subframe towers, as well as having the job of being an engine steady - looks simple but finding a shape for this large member to follow that goes between the diff, steering rack, exhaust and shift linkages, and does so without sharp corners was a little more tricky than it seems.

progress is looking great mate!

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-jamie-
1963morris 850
1965 solid side van
1994 rover racecar

Been a while since I updated this - things have been happening though not as much as before that as I've been rather time limited.

I welded the underside bars and tie bar mounts into the frame:







Then threw everything back together again to make sure my suspension parts all clear which they do.





I've also dismantled the gearbox to play around with things inside - going to run a lower ratio 5th gear and a lower ratio diff.


Inlet manifold has been modified too so that I won't need to box out the firewall.


Still plenty more to go - engine stabilisers and alternator are the big ones - I also need to revisit the cooling system.
Tune in next time when I've hopefully done one of them!

I did end up having another go at the cooling system and this is what I have now:



A bigger radiator, and now running a 12" fan instead of the 11" I had before. Tight squeeze, but fits. The catch? It's attached to the subframe, so the only way to get it in or out of the car is to drop the whole engine / frame assembly, it's efficiency will be questionable too being hidden by the headlight, but it does lean back at enough of an angle that there will hopefully be enough air flow to it.
I can see why everyone else goes flip front!

Wow. & I thought a Leyland was a tight fit! Mine fitted with an unmodified firewall, but I have to unbolt the manifold when dropping the body onto the engine to give some wriggle room. Does the headlight bowl fit in without hitting the front of the rad?

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1.8L Sunshine - Legal, legit & lovinit

I'm interested in seeing how well the subframe is going to stay all welded together and not cracking. I'm not having a go at you, just generally interested! Seems to have more welds than usual because of the RHS

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If you want more inches, stroke it
Life's a garden.... Dig It!
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20746

The headlight bucket could be left stock if I lean the radiator back even more - there is room but I'm not going to do that.
I'll just mod the bucket - the headlight isn't the full depth of the bucket anyway so I may as well.

Frames don't crack because there's lots of pieces or lots of welding in them, they do it from poor design and incorrect weld procedures.

Poor design could be things like welding thick plates to thin plates (for example, the commonly seen heavy wall pipe welded to the front of a subframe tower without adequate gusseting), or a big clearance hole for the diff cut in the back of a subframe, and leaving square / over cuts from doing so. Bolted connections in a structural frame if not done right can cause flexing in one part of a frame and fatigue in another part.

Poor weld procedures can be welding to an old rusty subframe, not cleaning the steel properly before weldout, or porosity in the welds themselves.


I have little concerns about my frame cracking - the design is solid and it will get professionally welded out when the time comes.

Update time - I've always done way more than my updates suggest, I'm just slack with these.

More profiles - these are for VTEC frame 'mk2'.





Alternator bracket has been made.



There are so many hours of work in this one part is crazy - it attaches to the leftover holes on the back of the block and obviously perches the alternator up quite high and incorporates a belt tensioner and alternator adjuster slot. It looks very much like a certain American made unit you can buy for about $250 - but after reading on forums about how that one doesn't fit and borking at the cost for something I'd have to cut up and reweld I figured I'd just do my own - fully FEA checked and optimised of course as I was concerned about the stresses in the mounting bolts and the deflections at the end of the alternator pulley - but all good there now.


Started fabing up the new suspension towers too - decided I just couldn't bring myself to use the old ones after how much had to be removed from them!




I've started on body work too: Cut the front guards for 13x7s.

How about an update Harley?

Not much to show off at the moment, after completing the most recent variant of the frame I was having lots of dramas with the rear frame mounts and engine mounts, so I did what I do best and redesigned half of it, cut it to pieces and started again.
I'm working on it this week, so might update later on depending how far I get.