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Looks good. Have you measured to see if it is square? I'll be welding up my frame soon so I'm curious just how much bracing you have to do to the tubes as you weld them.

I just did that, the bottom is square but the top forward of the rear most H tube is not. It's off quite a bit, I will have to redo it.

It's just tacked though right. Is it just warpage or are the tubes not the right length? Maybe you can bend it.

When you do the rear kickup, move the RU tubes inboard enough that you can get a good radius on the corners of the V tube. Preferrably to match the top tube radius.

Also make sure the W tubes are on the inboard side of your 4" shock mount plate - otherwise shocks might not fit there.

Also add a gusset of some sort to cover the sides of the rear upper shock mount, much like CMC did on theirs. This helps hide an unsightly gap between the fenders and the shock plate.

This is just my opinion though, I could be wrong.

G

It's just tacked, the J tubes were not aligned right, I fixed it this morning, it's still not perfect, it's off by 3/32nds now.

More progress on the frame, still need to build the tranny tunnel.

Watch those rear W tubes - make sure there's enough room for shocks.

G

I made sure, I had to move them in a bit.

I orderde the VW tie rods, they fit and are really light. And cheap.

Tranny tunnel is tacked in, rear axle test fit, looks good. Once I have the tranny (should be here this week) I can test fit it with the engine and fully weld the tunnel, or just use this frame as a template for welding it out of sheet steel, that way I can gain an extra 1.5" of interior room by eliminating the tubes. I can also fit the triangulation tubes into the rear now, and complete the rollbar/shock mounting platform. I'm kinda stuck after that though, I don't have the sheet steel for the floor yet, or the 1/8" plate for the shock/rollbar mount, OR the 3/4" DOM for the control arms. I have the rest od the DOM tubing for the suspension but the place I ordered it from screwed up and didn't sent the 3/4" tube. So once I finish with all the square tubing I have to wait until I can continue. I can finish stripping the axle and start tearing down the engine.

The frame is almost done, I just need to get the sheet steel and make the floor, firewall, and cover the tranny tunnel.



I started the rear suspension, these are the brackets that the 4 links, panhard bar, and shocks will bolt to, they will be welded to the axle. I got tired of being pelted with hot metal from cutting so I called it a day. I think I want to go with threaded rods for the links

Test fit of pedals, the Swift/Metro pedal box is perfect, sits right on top of the tube in the perfect spot...



Modified rear axle and links, the axle is 56.75" at the drums, or about 3.75" wider than the book Escort axle so I'm making the front 4" wider...


First upper control arm...

Looking really good EMKAY! Are you planning on racing it next summer? Is that the planned completation date?


Keep up the good work!

Absolutely! As long as it has 4 wheels, a seat, and moves under it's own power, I'm towing it to an autocross. It should be at that stage by winter.

Since I made two huge mistakes the control arm completion will be delayed, I made the top wishbone with the book offset, which is wrong. And I made it along with ALL the rear arms with the wrong size tubes for the bushings. I used 16gauge instead of the 13/16" stuff that the bushings I ordered need to fit. But that didn't stop me from making the lowers...without the bush tubes for now. Since they are 2" longer than book I made them from 1" tubing.



And it also didn't stop me from setting fire to my saw...I don't think this $100 POS was designed for this task

Lots of progress over the last few days, I am 90% done with the frame, I just have to cover the tranny tunnel and firewall with sheet steel, and touch up and grind some sloppy welds. Then once I get the transmission (which is STILL not here) I can test fit the engine, make the motor mounts, and transmission mount.

It's off the build table now, as it sits the frame weighs 145lbs, figure on another 10lbs of steel and bracing.



Brackets are all installed finally, this took 3 days, they won't be fully welded until I'm sure they are right.