More Funk-y Fresh Fab: Modifying Chedda's Auto Camber/Caster adjusters for a sandwhich plate.

Yeah, I know. Some of you are going to freak out about this. Get over it. There are two reasons why this is happening:

1. The previous owner of the car decided to hack the top of the shock towers to fit really craptastic ho-made plates. While the design of the suspension places less load on the shock towers than your typical coilover later model suspension or even crappier later model strut junk, this is a race car with very thick torsion bars and shocks valved to control the rid. If the top of the shock tower moves, that means the shock is not actually able to properly dampen the suspension. This is not ideal. I will be addressing the shock tops on one of my next trips up to see the car.
2. It is what the owners want.

Now that that explanation is over with, lets get on to the pics!

Making  sure everything is centered up:

The X-axis on my DRO is . . . strange. I think I have it figured out, but have to go through the heavy Engrish again to figure out how to change a setting.

And, for the record: No, you cannot have too many machinist scales. There are three on hand with another spare somewhere.You can be pretty effing precise with good eyesight (and/or good magnification).

Once I determine center on the X-axis, the center finder is used to find the edges and use the DRO center function to find the exact center of the side, where the clearance hole for the tap will be drilled.

Without moving anything,the center drill is installed into the chuck and the spotting hole is drilled:

 This prevents the drill bit used to actually drill the hole wandering around, making it much more precise.

Here is the drilled and tapped hole:

 The threads are M8x1.25. This size was decided on as it is a substantial enough bolt/stud in order to withstand the anticipated loads while not being so large that it would compromise the strength of the adjuster base plate.

As a side note, while Chedda's Auto makes some bang-on totally awesome parts, I absolutely detest SAE hardware on a metric car. Chedda, if you read this, please, pretty please don't use SAE fasteners on stuff? It is super annoying.

Next up on the list is actually making the sandwich plate. This will be bolted in below the shock tower sheet metal and provide excellent triangulation for the weakened shock tower top. (It will still be weakened after it is repaired, compared to unmolested sheetmetal.)

After the sandwich plate is figured out, the next thing on the to-do list is fix these splitter mounts:

The mounting holes are backwards. *sighs* It is an easy enough fix, but, well, DUH!

Custom sign holders nearing completion!

Now that the shop is mostly taken care of, I can get back to actually making progress on projects!

I had to cut two more pieces of 2" wide plate as braces for  the sign frame:

Those pieces started out as one piece of 4"x8'x3/16" plate. I cut the plate to the length I needed ( 26 1/2") and then cut it down the middle with my bandsaw. It took a while, but with good layout and a steady hand, I am impressed with how nicely the ended up being.

Then it was time for some grinding. As and welder who prides themselves on making good looking and strong welds, it hurts a bit when you have to grind the welds down for aesthetic or, in this case, functionality. Here is what I had to do:

Since the T-shaped piece is going to have the sign frame support tubes swing around it, the welds had to be ground flush so that the side plates would clear.

Now I am showing off why I prefer to have good clamping areas on all work benches:

It just makes your life so much easier to have a solid place to clamp what you are working on down so you can not worry about holding things. Solid clamping makes for a much safer work environment. 

After grinding down the welds, I center punched the previously marked spots for the pivot and locking holes:

This is the tool I use for all my center punching:

Even though it is a Starrett, it is extremely reasonably priced. The tips are replaceable, though I haven't had to replace the original in the . . . 3 or so years I've been using it, marking many thousands of holes to be drilled. You can also adjust the tension which effects the effort and punch depth. I love it. If you want to make your layout and drilling much more precise, get an automatic center punch! It is very much worth it.

Once I got the holes marked, it is time to drill. Now here is a not about drill press safety:

If you don't have a piece that is long enough to rest against the upright of your drill press, put a stop on the dang work table. As you can see above, it is nothing fancy, but it is necessary! You can severely injure yourself, or, more importantly, ruin the piece you are drilling if it slips from your hands as you are drilling. The worst time for it to slip is when the bit is about to break through, as this is when the bit is most likely to grab the piece and spin it, breaking the bit, your hands/fingers/workpiece.

I finished drilling the pilot holes after being annoyed that my baby sized drill press didn't have enough stroke to drill all the way through the sides of the 2" box tube. I had to mark the other side of the tube and go through the whole process again. *le sigh*

Anyway, I finished getting the holes drilled and then cut the tube supports to the general length needed:

I had to file down the insides of the tube so that the supports would be able to fit around the hole:

I finished the supports to length on my sander, then tapped them into place:

The reason why I am bothering with this is that the support Ts are going to be the most stressed member of this whole construction. Adding in the tube to couple the sides together will greatly increase torsional rigidity which will help cope with with loads from the large vinyl sign.

The next task was to start drilling out holes on the sign frame supports:

This is where my drill press decided to stop working. Again. I am pretty stumped as to why, but I will figure it out or get another one as soon as I have the cash in hand to do it.

Always support your work! I would never have been able to pop 1/2" holes in the thin support plates had I not been clever and used the Ts to support the ends of the plates:

This is the assembly bolted together:

Do note that I will have to trim the corner of the T and also the corner of the plates in order to clear everything when the entire assembly swings. I left them square to make it easier to work on everything, but will make the final cuts when I know everything else fits as perfectly as posible.