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Just came back from a drive, the whole time I was thinking how good v8's sound hmmmmmm.......
Fun to dive too. I still go out to the garage and stare at it amazed how it got to this point.
Build it the way you want it! Drive the crap out of when its done!

Then drive to California to give me a ride!

Rod

Yo,Rod!
AMEN to drivin' the crap out of it, Bro! I'm hoping to autocross it a dozen times, maybe more, to sort out the handling (and to see which parts fall off or catch fire...) and then do the entire SEDIV time trials/hill climb schedule. Realistically, it might be one year of autocross/fine tuning/fixing and then tracks/hillclimbs the second year... Don't know, keep watching here and we'll both find out at about the same time. I did kinda promise my buddy JK that I'd do the Duryea hillclimb with him next year.... Hmmmm.... Promise is a promise...

And I can't blame ya for staring at that lovely that you built. Yours was one of the first build logs I read, because of the 5.0 connection. (Check the very first post in this build log!) I wanted to put a V8 in mine all along, but after seeing your build, I knew it could be done. I'm sure that some purists will find my "Mallock Tribute" less than perfect, but then none o' them is building the damn thing, now are they????

AndyBro- that wasn't aimed at you or anybody else, just a general statement! I appreciate your comments, please keep 'em comin!

Rod, Take Care, Catch y'all later!

JD Kemp

If you can make that, I'll swing down and cheer. Heck, I can probably do a tire change in 90 minutes. Hmmm, you probably use them big tires, better make that 2 hours!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Sounds like a deal to me, Horizen! Cheering section, pit crew, or just sit around and tell lies about how fast we used to be... It's all good!

Tire change in 2 hours? Is that for one tire?

Hey, did you see the "New and Improved" Slotus World Headquarters sign? It's a couple of posts up-stream. Took the pic just fer you...

I saw the sign, but delayed trying to think up an acronym. Just came up with Slotus World Extravagant Engineering Technology or Slotus World Engineering and Technology so SWEET or SWEAT depending.


Well the good thing is it's been a long time since I forgot to tighten the lug nuts.

It would have to be SWEAT after the summer we've had (and are still having!). However, I do like that "Extravagant" part... Yep, working out-doors on a car port, building a car out of Pinto parts, stuff from Pick and Pull and off Craigslist whilst drinkin' Natty Light. If that ain't "Extravagant" I don't know what is!!!

Good one, Marcus!

JDK

Meanwhile, back at SWEET* Headquarters...

*Thanks, Marcus!

So, like I said, we've been undoing the rear frame design lately, before that we were wrestling with the "bump steer correction kits" that didn't quite fit the steering arms/heim joints they were supposed to mate up with...

I guess we made some progress Sunday, once I cut a few turns off the ends of the steering arms on the rack. Re-attached the bump steer kits, gave it a "eyeball" alignment, and even put a wheel on. Oh, the wheel is mounted on the new heavy-duty wheel studs, along with 1 & 1/16 inches of spacers. That gives us equal track widths front and rear. And, best as we can tell at this point, ZERO bumpsteer! HA!

We assembled the bump steer hardware on the right front as well, but not the wheel, because the 1 1/16 in space on the left represented 3 of the 4 spacers we had lyin' around. *Sigh* Guess I get to buy more spacers...

To let us play with ride height measurements, James welded up some "Coil Over Simulators" that are a bit more robust than the Natty Lights we'd been using. He wrote "Moton" on one and "Penske" on the other, to make 'em high class. We're testing the two brands, but so far results are inconclusive. Pic above shows "Moton" simulator in place.

Yo, Safety Committee-

I said James welded up the "Coil Over Simulators" for the car, but I should also mention that "somebody" picked one up off the bench just a few minutes after he finished welding it.

OK, so don't sixteen or so of you respond telling me to wear gloves, wait till it cools, don't touch recently welded components... I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW!!!! And I'll be reminded of it every time I touch something with my left index finger for the next several days. Note the title of the picture file.

James was his usual concerned-friend self. When I threw down the rod and ran for the freezer to grab something (ANYthing!) frozen, he asked, "Did ya leave any pieces on the metal?" With friends like that...

So, after we had the "Cairo GA Finger BarBeCue" event, we did some work on the rear frame. We'd cut a section out of the rail that was destined to mount the control arms to clear the axle in full droop. So, to add some rigidity back to that area, and to simplify mounting the control arms on down the road, we fab'ed up some shear plates out of some .125 steel we had. They're not finish welded in, nor are the cut-off ends of the rails capped in the picture, but that'll probably happen Tuesday night.
I'm still pondering some bracing that runs from the upper corner of the rear rail in-and-downwards to the center X brace of the frame. Probably do that Tuesday, too.

Yo! Anybody still readin' this stuff???

Lastly, in our Bullsh*t session...Uhhhh, I mean "Engineering and Technology Brainstorming" event at the end of the day Sunday, I played around with some possible placements for the radiator. I could hang it off the front of the frame, leaning back, like most 7's seem to do. However, looking at most of the Mallock hill climb cars and some other open-wheel designs from the "front engine" days, I'm thinking of a slightly different layout.
The white poster board is 22" W by 24" H, about the size of several aluminum rads available for a nominally ridiculous fee from the racer supply places. It fits nicely between the frame rails, brackets would be easy to mount on the bottom and on the cross rail between coil overs. It would lend itself to an "extraction vent" just forward of the hood. That would, again, reflect Mallock design of the 60's. You can see the "vent" just behind the "Cars" sticker above the number circle.

What do y'all think? I'm probably gonna do it anyway, but I'd like to hear opinions....

JD Kemp
CEO, Chief Designer, Grinder and Saw Operator, Test Pilot
Slotus Engineering, LTD

Yo!
So I was supposed to be out of town all week... I wanted to get some brackets made that will be the outstide ends for the rear control arms where they attach to the bushings in the T-Bird uprights. Sunday, I made a template out of cardboard, wrote the dimensions on it and asked TWWTFM to take it to a metals store/fabrication shop I have bought steel from in the past and get them to make the brackets for me this week.

She was busy with work stuff on Monday, so we agreed she'd do it today, Tuesday. I called her to make sure she hadn't forgotten etc. Conversation went like this:

Me: Hey Baby, you going to go by Tallahassee Fab and take the template for those brackets?
TWWTFM: Yep, at lunch time. Oh, how many of them do you need?
Me: Six, it's written on the template.
TWWTFM: Six... That's how many you need?
Me: Yes, three on each side.
TWWTFM: Don't you need any spares? I mean, I know you and Jamey are automotive geniuses, Old-School craftsmen, and total superheroes... But what if ya mess one up?
[Loooonnnnggggg Silence]
Me: Tell 'em we need eight.
TWWTFM: That sounds better.

She used to be such a nice girl, before she started hanging out with me.
My smart-ass nature has corrupted her totally... AIN'T IT GREAT!!!!

Man, I gotta make a visit to Tallahassee at some point to deliver you from the evil that is light beer. Do you guys get Yuengling down there?

I'm liking the radiator idea...nice big surface area to suck in air and keeps the bodylines nice and low.

Also just wanted to add, I am a HUGE FAN of a small block ford or SBC going in this bad boy. Keep kicking ass man!

-Ryan

looks like repurposed struts to me, i see some prior racing (coughcough) damage

Yo, Ryan- Thanks for the encouragement! Good to know somebody reads this stuff!!!! Yes, we gots all kinds o' beers down here. Yuengling is good, so is Fosters and Guinness or my personal favorite "Bass Ale". (England's first registered trademark)

Most of "the gang" I hang with drinks Natty Light, because it's cheap. Leaves more money for the tire budget and entry fees for hill climbs and such.

OK, the truth... I pretty much quit drinking in '05. I ain't gonna turn this into "General Hospital", but when I found out I had type 2 Diabetes, beer was one of the things I quit doing. Price ya pay for being old and fat and not taking care of yourself. Oh well... I can still talk about drinkin' and I'm still havin' fun!

Now, having said all that... Sure, come on down, bring some Yeungling with ya!!! It'd be great to have the company. Stop and pick up Horizenjob/Marcus on the way. (I think he might actually be North of you, but details, details!) I can tell lies about how fast I drive, how good the car was, etc, with the best of ya, stone sober!!!!

Catch ya after the Honeymoon, Dude!

JD Kemp