Short update on the past few days in the garage.
I made the decision to keep the motor level, shift it a little to the left and shift the diff a little to the right. I still have some angle in my itty-bitty driveshaft, but C'est la vie. It'll work until it doesn't.
Once the decision was made I needed to spend some more time noodling. I hit VSUSP and kept playing with control arm mounting points and arm lengths until I found some numbers I was happy with that used common fractions. Nothin I build is measured to 3 decimal places when I use a bandsaw, grinder and welder. Precision work is only milling or turning.
Looking through a bunch of build logs I really liked what ccrunner was doing on his Berkley and I used his control arms for inspiration.
Attachment:
control arms small.jpg
Tubes are 3/4 and angles are 1 1/4 x 1/8. Rod ends are 1/2 inch and repurposed from version 2.0
Shock mounts are also cut from 1 1/4 x 1/8 angle iron. Tacked welded pairs together, drilled, rounded corners, then welded to the frame.
I can easily adjust toe and camber. I'll most likely add a little more stiffening in way of some 18 gage steel sheet.
With suspension in place it was time to shorten the 1/2 hafts. I picked up a few good tips on YouTube, so we'll see if they work in real life. Shiplap scarf joint with a sleeve.
The shafts were cut to length for a 1 inch overlap. I notched them for a shiplap scarf, then ground 1/4 inch 45 degree angles on all the edges so I'd have nice deep penetration in all of the joint.
1 tack weld, then make sure the sleeve would slide over the joint. Then a 2nd tack and repeat, then a 3rd, then fully weld.
I turned the welder up to MAX and got busy filling the V grooves to 100% and just a little bit proud.
When the weld cooled a bit of work with the grinder allowed the sleeves to slide in place. Last step was weld all around the ends of the sleeve.
Attachment:
half shaft small.jpg
Next up was exhaust. I cut up the old headers that I'd built, but saved the 90 degree bends and the flanges.
First attempt didn't make me happy. Too much difference in tube length and not really visually appealing.
Attachment:
first.jpg
Wifey Dearest and I went out to grab a bite to eat and I realized I was pairing the tubes wrong.
Second attempt looks better to me.
Attachment:
second.jpg
SO I decided to go for it. I needed to cut sections and make 2 into 1 splices.
Lots of mig wire went into this. But what I ended up with was a pair of 2 into 1's sitting side by side and poth with 1 1/2 inch round outlets.
Attachment:
2 into 1.jpg
All that was left was to build another 2 into 1 and add a muffler.
Sorry for the bad angle, but you get the idea. It tucks up next to the frame and doesn't interfere with suspension.
Attachment:
finished header.jpg
Next up is shifter cable mods and clutch cable. Nothing is the right length since I rotated the engine.
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