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This was all English wheel from a Dodge truck fender, no hammers or shinker/stetcher. It looks difficult but after a few youtube tutorials it starts making sense, just lots of patience and itll turn out.

Floors installed though the final welding waits until the chassis is stripped for paint.
Made removable engine bay braces, these will act as a mount point for the front end and hopefully add some needed rigidity between the cabin and front suspension. If nothing else they mitigate any potential failure of a square tube along that span. (Given that I expect 2200lbs wet)
Might try and shoehorn this M3 carbon fiber brace into the mix aswell.

Misc: Remade the transmission mount tabs, figured how the brake lines will mount (waiting until paint), and continued work on the roll cage.

https://youtu.be/2NR2coOiekU
Here the first start, everything's jimmied to within an inch of its life but it's nice to see the wiring harness I made years ago is valid, my fuel tank dosent leak, and the motor is decent enough to run (its a junkyard special that's been sitting around for eons)

Hooray! Running is a great motivator. What ecm and tunning software? I couldn't tell from the vid.

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

It's an ms3x from diyautotune and the free version of Tunerstudio.

Rear fender filled in a little more along with the front end up to the hood.


First steps towards the rear wheelwell.
Misc: Oil lines ran though the turbo drain is temporary, Radiator installed, Clutch is now functional, and Made little pads for the pedals.

Current weight with 4 gallons of fuel is 2061lbs

1096lbs Front (52%)
995lbs Rear (48%)

That’s tough. You’re painted into a corner.

If you make a new drain fitting with the tube integral to the flange, you can start a full flow gradual bend much higher than using a AN adapter. You can also drop the frame rail an inch or two in this area and overlap a couple inches of the rear section without the need to add a vertical tube to the lower rail. I’ll draw a pic.

Surprised to see they make aluminum cartridge drains. The exhaust makes everything in that area much hotter than oil temp. The oil quickly passes through so it does not reach the full temp of the area. If it did, it would instantly coke.

Here is one way with a 1/8x1x4 strip curved to fit the cutout with extra clearance for engine movement and green 1/8 shear plates each side. Drain is all steel and tig or brazed to the tubing, copper sheet gasket can be made from copper plumbing, annealed and rolled flat.

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Exhaust is largely finished, still need to make hangers and weld. It's 2.5" out of the turbo immediately into 3" stainless with a Flowmaster fx, probably waaaay too loud but people say turbos muffle....


Eyeballing the exhaust tip measurements; came out pretty close .
Allow me to be the first to say this intake is an abomination. Its a stopgap to get the car driving, the plan is a water to air intercooler for each turbo however that's a little rich for my taste right now.

Intakes about where it needs to be, filters need a good cleaning.

Miatav8. We are on the same page for the turbo oiling, instead of notching on the top part of the frame, the skin is cut away and the drain tube will run between the rails. Its a shallow return but well above horizontal.

Superb results, can really see your vision coming to life. Just eliminate sleep (it's for the weak anyway) and you will free up 6 extra hours a day!

Thank you,
Flawless idea, I'll get right on it!
In all honestly nothing would get done without an absurd amount of coffee,

Skin for the Side Barrels made and a little section of hood fitted.

Got the RH rear fender in place and started working on a revised roof profile.

Decided to go with a clamshell front end instead of a traditional hood and fenders. There are a few reasons I switched directions but it boils down to; should be easier to build, easier to remove or install, and Looks Cool. (Sidenote: As is theme, the hinges are to the tailgate of a 71 Toyota fj40)

Taking the front off also allows for closer measurements making sure its mostly symetrical, there is still some work to be done on that front. However this is the first panel to be "permanently" mounted in place, over time the lower portions of the fenders will be inststalled to the chassis and the shell will be filled out to the windshield.

Why is this front end problem being tackled:
Engines not running as the Megasquirt is still having issues around my Cam/crank signals, as it sits the starters burnt out. Sounds like a simple fix however the adapter plate for the transmission holds the starter bolts captive, you've got to pull the entire drivetrain to get the trans separated, and the front end must come off in order to get a cherrypicker close to the motor.

I recently discovered a guy here in NZ who is very experienced with 1UZFE swaps, has something that might help???; His presentation may be a bit rough but he does know his stuff;

https://youtu.be/E3EzxGq7pl4?t=437

Sucks about the starter, but once replaced you won't have to bother with it again for a very long time.

Nice work on the clamshell.
Reminds me of Binky, now you just need to spend countless hours building a powered clamshell & notch it for quick-release.
Though, this looks a bit larger & more cumbersome than Binky's Mini hood/fenders (bonnet/wings).

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1975 MG Midget
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24382
13B Powered Rotus Geauxkart
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20899

Nice job on the tilt-up.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886