Sometimes you look at something in retrospect and ask "What the F*CK was I thinking"

The rear diff cradle and LCA mounts were bad, plain and simple, so out with the old and in with the new.

Had some time this week and redesigned and fabricated a new cradle.

This one will not be welded to the rest of the chassis which "I am VERY happy with" but rather bolt onto the rearward cross beam meaning. This will really help in the fit up as I will be able to mount the diff as a seperate unit but If i want to drop the entire drivetrain out as a complete unit I can still do that also..

The new set up will now allow me to also use the rear LCA cross brace as a mounting point for the rear diff mount set up.

One shot shows the original LCA against the new mount tube.

And it all seems to be coming together now with each section I work on.

Finished off all 8 crush tubes today, milled out 42mm holes in the new hanger plates so that the LCA tubes are aligned to the original LCA mount points and then set the lot in place and tacked it all up before taking diagonal measurements to check if the alignments were all in order.

Just need to wait for the laser cut LCA and diff forward mount brackets that will slide over the tubes and then I can weld up the entire rear cradle.

I placed the diff cap in position just to give an idea of where it will sit in the cradle.

I know it looks agricultural, but its all unseen and has a purpose to fulfill with the Charged M112, I will make sure the outside interior and engine bay are eye candy

Cheers

John

 

In case anyone is still following this thread.

I've been cutting everything so far with a 1mm fibre dic on a hand held angle grinder, that is up until today when I picked up my custom laser cut gussets fish plates and LCA hangers.

I redesigned the gearbox cross member set up AGAIN, and this should really stiffen up the ladder assy, I will now incorporate "X" braces forward and rearward of this assy.

The plates were a perfect fit, so I drilled out the fish plates and plug welded them in place, there are still 2 more that need to be plug welded in on the opposite side of each chassis rail but will need to take it off the car first.

The corner gussets really start to clean up the look of the assy as did the fish plates, and I am over the moon about the rear LCA hanger plates which I have just sat in place for the photo.

Once all these plates and gussets are welded in, I can have all the edges tigged or migged by someone with far more skill than me.

And the good news for all you long suffering onlookers is that I will then be able to bolt the engine trans and diff in place and that will be a major step toward start up.

Cheers

John

 

Seems no one is anymore, so will leave you all with this pic

 

Please don't stop posting. I always check out your progress.

 

Just for you then Buddy

 

Update for those still following................. Pics tell the story

 

Update for those still following................. Pics tell the story

 

Update for those still following................. Pics tell the story

 

Made an account to say still reading! I want to see this thing do donuts!

 

Then StemLoop, I will update this thread especially for you.

As far as donuts, I'm hoping more for 160+ MPH.

Anyway, I will add some words and many pics, as the entire rear diff mount arrangement has gone through 3 versions since I last posted.

Much contemplation and calculations over the past many weeks after I ran into a few small hiccup’s when I went to do the test fit of the previously posted set up, the mounts where 15mm to far forward, and as I suspected but hoped wouldn’t be the case, the old moustache bar cross member mount and the diff hat did not seeing eye to eye which meant that it would require notching to fit this gargantuan LSD diff "My Bad"

So as always, when you hit a brick wall like this, you start to re-evaluate the set up and I came up with the following arguments that I threw at myself.

#1 The poly mounts will probably mean limited absorption, and a harsher ride!

#2 The forward mounts are very large

#3 Simpler off the shelf rubber mounts would probably solve issues #1 and #2

Therefore......................................

so I sourced some new old stock alloy/rubber mounts forund on Range Rover 4WD's instead which would not only function better but also unclutter the cradle and free up more space.

I also had to tackle the diff issue mashing up against the Zed's moustache bar cross member, so some time was taken up with creating a reinforcement void structure that would slip into the section I removed from the cross member that held the old "Z" moustache bar.

I created the void reinforcement from 2.5mm material, some 9 pieces make up the structure, the entire perimeter has a 12mm lip around it which I drilled holes into so as to plug weld to the factory metal before having the outer edges seam welded in place.

While giving the diff the required clearances, it also reinstates the structural integrity of the member. The uprights of the new set up are now also tubular and will be anchored at 6 bolt points to 10mm plates and additional gusseting.

Diff is now nested with the chassis on the car, and all said clearances are great and looks like I got all the alignment and axle positioning spot on.

Pardon the blue support RHS in the photo as its a temp support for the diff until the final 2 mounts are added.

All that's left is to

#1 Build the brackets for the last 2 rearward diff mounts
#2 Drop the entire chassis out
#3 Bolt in the motor/trans
#4 Marry the entire chassis back into the body
#5 Check clearances and adjust any sheet metal
#6 Drop it all out again
#7 Have all the final welding done
#8 Ring the engineers to come out and cross my fingers

Once all that is done, then it chassis off to the powder coaters, followed by engine cosmetic clean up then mount it all back up and have Pete my Buddy start on the ECU set up and getting the engine to fire up on the chassis bolted to the trolley.

Till the next update

John

 

wow...NICE. Haven't been on MBworld for a while - didnt expect this. Well done John, its really coming along now.
What colour are you going to dress this ******* child?

 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh My Old Friend...............

Yes the B...... Child, well, colors colors colors

I'm thinking HOC Pearl Red (see Photo)

with

Ferrari'esk leather interior (see photo)

Cheers

John

 

Beautiful,
Dont think - DO.

 

Well last of the fabrication finished, chassis is back on the trolley and ready for a ticketed welder to come in and do all the final fine TIG and MIG welding followed by engineers certification, media blasting then powder coating.

Did a quick walk around vid.

 

Seats arrived today and hell yes they are ultra comfortable !

Looks like they have B[_]M warmers and full electric adjustment via togle switches on each side

Problem is they also have side airbags so they will need to go.

Will sit them in the car on Saturday but looks like mounting will be simple, damn Germans God bless them LOL

 

Please don't abandon this thread. We've all come to far to not see it completed. Keep the updates coming.

 

Ahhhhhhhhhhh Houston, theres no problem, I will stay the path ;-)

 

If the seats are tight for space !

Modify and reinforce it all !

 

 

And the Tin man has some new bling to be fitted

Very happy with the fabrication, bring on the weekend

 

Nice , but not as "garage street rod"as the cardboard version.

 

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The cardboard was a mock up LMAO Dont think the car would have lasted long with that gaffer taped in

This is the exact replica in shteeeeeeeeeeeel my friend

 

Trim those seats in a saddle brown and see the whole thing come up a few notches. Black interiors are boring (I'm in mine right now).

And that "red" with black trim would be killer looking. Any wheel ideas? Monoblocks with a slight lip are my current wants, but the spacing over these calipers is a beeotch.

And please don't stop the updates, I read a lot more than I post and haven't missed one yet.

 

This has been lingering, how on earth did you negotiate that one? Through AU or overseas?

 

+1