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Andrew

You're making good progress. I would suggest that you tack weld the trans crossmember mounting nut inside the tubing. Then install the bolt from the bottom. You find it very difficult to access the bolt thru the top, even with the clearance hole, after you have put on the tunnel paneling.

Keep up the good work, Dave W

Thanks Dave. I was thinking about making some kind of quick removal panel to help with that.

I'm contemplating welding or riveting in some of these floating nutplates. My only concern is that they're usually used for non-structural stuff.

I think I've also nailed down the diff mounting. The bushing is a piece of polyurethane from McMaster and theres a section of 5/8 tubing in the center to clamp on.

Now on to the worst part of the project.......bodywork.

I'm still trying to figure out how I convinced myself making a nose was a good idea.

I really hate how this thing looks from the front right now...the "cheeks" need to go and the front sides need to get rounded.

The side view is off to a better start atleast.

Is it just the camera angle, or is the nose/hood too low the clear the intake?

-dave

I spent H O U R S putting together a nose buck like you are doing. Then I priced out the 'glass and affiliated bits. Then I found I could buy a nose from Curtis Unlimited for (at the time - 2005) $150. My half-finished buck is still in the basement, and the car is on the road.....

You're seeing it right Dave...the intake isn't going to clear the hood. I can make some sort of composite or sheet metal bubble to allow it to clear, go hotrod and let it hang out, make a custom intake like Skinny did, get ITB's for this 16v 4A-GE, or get a 20V 4A-GE with ITB's already installed.

I agree with that logic 110% Skinny. When I was designing my frame I kind of eliminated any chance of fitting a standard nose when I decided to stiffen the frame and widen the front a little so the tubes in the engine bay could meet at the transmission tunnel rather than the center of the bulkhead in front of the driver and passenger. I basically have a +2 front end so I'm in the same boat as the Haynes guys. I figure by the time I buy a nose, mod it, and make it look acceptable, its probably the same amount of time and work to just do a mold.

If I were to do it again, I'd have to put designing the frame around an existing nose and a pre-bent hoop from Competition Engineering (or someone similar) without having to mod it at the top of my list.

I noticed Jack McCormick mention he just got the molds for the Haynes nose, hope that helps...

DOH!

I'll give this guy another couple of afternoons. If it isn't shaping up, it looks like I might be placing an order with Jack then.

Thanks for the heads up.

I took a hand held belt sander to the sharp corners and spent the rest of the afternoon reapplying Bondo. I think it helped out some.

That made a big improvement when viewing from the front, certainly a step in the right direction.

How did you make your diff mount? It looks awesome

"I noticed Jack McCormick mention he just got the molds for the Haynes nose, hope that helps..."

Yes, I asked and the scuttle and nose patterns are in Florida. He is just waiting for them to be boxed up and shipped. That was as of Friday the 12th.

Mark

You can always raise that nosecone up off the frame a bit to gain some added clearance. Mine sits about 3/4" off the the frame.

I'm still sanding away. Hopefully I'll be able to get a coat or two of gloss black onto the plug tonight; I'm sure there will be quite a few obvious blemishes that will need taken care of.

Z, thanks. Its still a little bulkier than I'd have liked but I'm going to reserve my judgement until I see it with some paint. Its really hard to tell when everythings a shade of flat tan.

Brian, I measured the outside to outside dimension of each stud then subtracted the major diameter (11.8mm or two times half of the diameter for each one) from that number to get the center to center distance. I put this into CAD and printed out a template. Then I placed some 1.5" diameter circles around the holes, connected the tangents, and eyeballed up where I wanted the lug to end up. After everything seemed to fit right with the paper model, I transferred it over to 1/8" 1018 plate. A holesaw was used for the radius around the lug and a belt sander finished off the radii.

Mark, I guess that gives me a deadline then to make a decision.

Chet, thats crossed my mind as well. Once I get the plug to the point where I'm happy, I'm going to add about 2" to the edges that will be getting trimmed. I figure if I mold it larger, I'll have some freedom with the final size and position.

Very nice, thanks for the methodology for that bracket. I was starting to wander how I was going to make mine. The next hurtle in my build is mounting the engine and locating the suspension pick up points.