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So i posted a while back about my project. It started over two years ago when I was just 19. I wanted to build a bike engined car. I found a Honda 1000RR motor and set to work. My first frame was way overengineered and had several design flaws. I got it as far as a rolling chassis before I decided to start over on the frame. I started building a new frame out of 1" square tube and got a good start on that, but then again there were a couple things I wanted to change about it. I also loved the look of curved round tube, but had no idea where to even start. I ended up moving, then getting a traveling job with the railroad, and the car sat on hold for nearly a year. I finally settled in to a local job, and found myself a shop to rent. After making a build table and putting in a 220v outlet for my welder, refilling my argon, and bringing all my tools in, I set myself to work on the new frame--made from 1.5" x.120 round tube curved and much more stylized. The goal is to have the car road legal by March 9, 2012, so I will be pounding away throughout the winter.

Lets get to some pics:

this is how far I got on my first frame:


then I drew this up in sketchup:


and got it this far:


then I got my new shop, and ive been working on the new frame for about two weeks now. this is how the car sits now:




side bar jig:




and the rear bulkhead crossmember in:





it feels so nice to be working on the car again! looking to do chain drive rear end, LSD. I already have full miata running gear. Double wishbones all around with coilovers from a Kawasaki Teryx. Two seater, mid engine.

I like where this is headed!

got more done today. got the front subframe tacked in and the lower rails of the engine bay tacked in. got another crossmember in too.

put it outside next to my daily driver for reference. heres the progress:

Gee, and I liked your first try.

more progress...dash bar is in place, rear engine bay is nearly complete. started on the angled support bars on the sides (i jump around when im working...)

jig to square up the engine bay (super high tech stuff here):










tomorrow is my day off so i should make a lot of progress then too

got some more done today. rear frame is finished off, second floor bar is in, and the crossmembers done. also modeled my suspension mounts in sketchup:

Got a little more work done---having trouble sourcing those brackets i designed. So i've started some final welding and played around with rear lower control arm designs:







and these are what I need--I'd rather buy them than build them. anyone seen anything like this somewhere? needs to wrap around 1" OD tube

A&A Mfg has tabs like that.

http://www.aa-mfg.com/pdshop/shop/item.aspx?itemid=412

This one is for 7/8" dia tube and a 3/8" hole for the Heim joint but they must have others. I didn't look further.

They literally have hundreds of different kinds of brackets, maybe thousands. They could put BUBBA out of work if JD didn't already do that.

If they don't have exactly what you have designed, then maybe in a couple of hours of searching, you could find something else that would work. Generaly, when you design something yourself, expect to have to fabricate it yourself or pay someone else to fab it for you. You probably won't find exactly what you thought up.

Awesome! I hope that I don't have to/decide to start over when I get my rolling chassis lol (about a month)

Keep at it!

^This. I had to chuckle when I saw that you designed the bracket, then couldn't find where it was sold. You have to find what's already available and then decide if it can be made to work. Otherwise, as noted, you have to get it fabricated.

well i understand. I guess I didnt really design it...just kind of drew up what i needed. I would assume SOMEONE out there has something like that, as its a fairly simple design with very general dimensions. I guess I was wrong. I might just suck it up and weld tabs on...

got my inboard suspension mounts welded on one corner last night. mocked up the suspension. I havent made my upper control arms yet, so I only have lowers and used both of those for mock up purposes, hence the crazy positive camber and equal length arms.







sorry for crappy phone pics

update:

front suspension was mocked up using butt welded tube, and then had tube bent after finalizing the design. also did a lot more finish welding and got a few engine mounts in. got a new saw and shortened my manual civic rack.

OOOOhh, could you go a bit more in depth with this part?
For example, what's the total travel of the rack lock to lock and which ratio do you have?
Were you able to drill and tap the shortened rack or did you weld on a relocated end?
There was a question raised a few days ago about rear steer racks. ...
I thought the 98 "R" rack looked pretty interesting at <3 turns lock to lock but don't know the total travel.

i put tape between the upper and lower pivot points for the front suspension, then did some math to figure out how wide i needed the rack to be, pivot to pivot. I determined it needed to be 3" shorter than what it was for proper geometry. So i threw it in the saw, and cut it in half, straight through the shell and the solid bar. then cut three inches off of each and grooved and welded everything back together, ensuring it was true