Funk-y Fresh Fab: Odds and Ends and Dash Mounts

Back at the blog!

Here is the dual master setup plumbed in:

It looks soo cool!

Here's a trick for when you need to measure something a bit awkwardly shaped without calipers:

I'm measuring the main hoop in the car to add in a horizontal bar that ties in the legs of the hoop. Strangely enough, the cage didn't have the originally, and I definitely couldn't argue with adding in that extra tube to the cage.

Setting up the tube notcher for the angle:

I don't think this is too shabby at all:

Not perfect, but better than most home brew cage attempts I've seen.

Next up is figuring out how the tops of the shocks needed to be modified to fit:

Basically, the top needed to end up looking like this rod end:

Those measurements were sent off with the shocks to Koni. Getting them back in correct form was . . . a tale for another time. heh

One thing I love about convenient digital photos is that you can easily snap of pic of something you want to remember. In this case, I snapped a pic of where the tube notcher was set for making the notch in the horizontal brace tube:

When in doubt, take a dang pic. Writing things down works, but, pics are sometimes even better for more complex things.

Now that the dash was finished, it is time to get this mounted:

Mark out the approximate locations for the mount uprights:

Make the cross pieces for the uprights:

My first thought was to use steel sheet to make the mounting bosses, so I marked out bend lines:

Then drilled some pilot holes:

Note: I am making two at the same time. It is much, much faster and will lead to a more consistent product if you can do all your layout and major fab processes all together than starting with split stuff in the beginning.

Here I am attempting to bend the piece into a three-sided box:

Eh . . . that's not really how I wanted it:

So, I took a piece of 1" square tube, marked the holes, pilot drilled them thusly:

Next up, making extensions for the mounting boss out of some angle:

Here's how they will sit on the mounting boss:

I'm going through the trouble of extra work for the second set of holes because I didn't want to mount the dash in single sheer. Would it likely ever be an issue? No, but, the dash does hold up the vitals for monitoring the engine and it also holds up the brake fluid reservoirs, so if something did happen, it would render the car unsafe to drive, which means I make the whole thing as bomb-proof as possible!

Here I am laying out the lower upright mount plates:

Poppin' holes:

Deburr all the things!

I think every fabricator should likely have a step drill. They are so handy for so many different things!

Then I zipped off the back of the tube for the mounting boss:

Bolted the mount plate to the boss and angles:

This is how it all goes together:

Except that I had it upside down:

Things got a little too hot, but, well, that wont hurt anything:

The top holes will get studs:

They are tacked in place:

Now it is time to figure out the dimensions of the uprights themselves:

Laying down some decent beads, finally:

And here's where I left off for the weekend:

Next time, I'll finish the dash and move on to other fun stuff!

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Thanks for reading and I hope you find this stuff useful or amusing or both. =) 

More Funk-y Fab on the Funks' H-prod 1G CRX

This past weekend I made it back up to Massawhosetts to get some more work done on the Funks' 1G CRX they will be running in H-Production.

First up on the agenda was building a dash to hold the four selected gauges: oil pressure, oil temp, water temp, and a fancy datalogging dash thing that I am totally forgetting the name of the brand right now. Oops. Anyway, after a bunch of figuring, I got to work on making a fairly complicated piece of aluminum. It turned out well, as you will see. So, follow along!

Here's the victim in question:

These are the collected gauges, not including the fancy dash thingy:

Even if it is a crap drawing, it is still best to make one for reference:

 I changed the measurements quite a few times, had Ed climb in and out of the car several times, then commenced the first part of the process: C.A.D. (If you aren't familiar with C.A.D., read this: Cardboard Conundrum)

I love, love LOVE making cardboard templates before committing to more expensive materials. here's the template marked up for trimming:

Testing in situ:

 With Ed's approval on the height and spacing of everything (he will be the primary driver of this vehicle, though Steph is going to wring the wheel on occasion, too), I started the layout on the aluminum:

 After triple checking everything:

Quadruple checking the layout versus the CAD template (because I REALLY like to make sure):

I first tried to cut the piece I needed out with the fancy Bulldog Biter:

 It turns out that the aluminum was slightly too thick to work with that, so, Ed fetched some metal blades for his jig saw and I smoked through the rest of the cutting. Then came the annoying part: bending the top. Of course, I couldn't just make it easy on myself with one simple shape. I had to have different levels for each part of the dash, which meant I had to use a completely different setup for bending each part! Oops.

bending requires lots of clamps and creativity.

 I didn't get a lot of progress shots of the bending because it required two people and all hands to do everything. I would so love a large finger break for these kinds of things. Oh well. I managed pretty well, I think:

I wasn't particularly happy with this uneven and large radius bend:

 That was solved with flat stock, a hammer and clamps:

 Much better!

I had to notch the bench in order to clamp things :

 Lesson: ALWAYS BUILD IN CLAMP LEDGES INTO YOUR TABLES!

I tightened up the corners on this part, too:

 Final check before welding:

 Ed and Steph were very happy with this!

Since I bent the end of the dash inwards, I could have made a really complicated trapezoidal piece of aluminum to fit the odd shape formed, but I chose to simply knock the corner off with a flap wheel so it was perpendicular with the bent part, making the piece I needed a very simple rectangle!

 Before tacking, I matched the radius with the patch:

 

I also tightened up with corner joint with some careful love taps:

 

Gotta clean aluminum before you weld it!

 

The sheet I was working with had some gunk on it, but it actually welded pretty darn clean. 

Tacked up and ready to go:

 

The other side was super easy:

Then came the nerve wracking part! I had Ed climb in the car again and we figured out where the holes for the gauges should be.

  The idea is to have the oil pressure gauge and warning light on the upper left of the steering wheel, the oil temp and water temp in the middle of the wheel, as they are not something you really need to watch too closely in the corners and then have the dash thing with the progressive shift light on the right just below the windshield.

Once we decided on the final positions, it was a simple matter to hole saw the spots:

 With a little bit of file work later, BAM! Gauge in dash:

 With the fit confirmed, on to the other holes!

 And here is the final product, ready for mounts to be made:

I like it. Ed and Steph love it. It is light, very solid, functional and even managed to look good! Steph is planning to pain it flat red. I usually flat black everything, but I think flat red will match the car better and it should also absorb less heat, which is a good thing in a race car.