Sirpent "Z"

[Sirpent]

So had some time this afternoon and fabricated what I call "Hockey Sticks: which is what the tunnel reinforcement plates look like (See below)

 

 

Each needed an individually shaped infill gusset made so I took a leaf out of "Project Binky" and did some CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) design and made each piece individually before fully welding the internal side and outside faces to form the reinforcements.

 

 

Then I drilled and aligned the transmission mount members and welded in encapsulated nuts before finally temporarily plug welding them in place bolted up.

 

 

Even seem to be getting my welding groove back at last LOL

 

 

Each of those reinforcements and gussets will be permanently welded to the old transmission reinforcement and the floor contours.

 

 

I’m on the home stretch now and hopefully after welding in the gussets, 2 remaining fish plates and forming the mounts for the new front suspension tension rods I will be able to weld up a trolley frame to bolt it to this weekend which will allow me to work on additional welding on the chassis and start the rear diff mounting in tangent with the engine mounts and mounting the engine etc. outside the car.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

John 

 

[jeff43]

Hi John,

 

This is like Project Blinky in fast fwd and on steroids. I actually skimmed through all 57 pages today and yes it has definetely been a bumpy ride. I hope the light at the end of the tunnel is glowing brighter. Nice work there today.

 

Cheers

 

The other Jeff

[Sirpent]

Hi John,

 

This is like Project Blinky in fast fwd and on steroids. I actually skimmed through all 57 pages today and yes it has definetely been a bumpy ride. I hope the light at the end of the tunnel is glowing brighter. Nice work there today.

 

Cheers

 

The other Jeff

 

Thanks "J2" LOL

 

I wouldn't say Steroids. Compared to the brilliance of those blokes, this is a 4th graders hack job and I'm the first to admit that, but that being said, I can see how it will all look once a lot of my pigeon Shiester welds are cleaned up and some proper MIG and TIG welding is added before media blasting and final powder coating.

 

Just want to get it on a trolley set up so I can start mounting the motor and drivetrain.

 

Cheers

 

John

Edited April 12, 2016 by Sirpent

[CBR Jeff]

Well John it's going to be strong. Like you I'm looking forward to the engine fit.

And it's no hack job you are producing.

Jeff.

[Sirpent]

Thanks "J1"

[Sirpent]

As you all would have noticed earlier on, I disected the original front tension rod mounts from the body which impeded any chance of the new chassis being able to be removed from the car complete with drivetrain and visa versa.

 

Today's effort was adding the final 2 fish plates on the inner chassis rails which required it to be removed from the body and welded on externally.

 

These plates also act as mounts for the new incorporated tension rod mounts and the following pics show the process.

 

Before I removed the originals, I made a plywood template so as to line up the new mounts later on, took me a while to find where I had hidden it but then it was a simple job of aligning the templates to the marked points I has left on the old rails and adding in an additional gusset on each side.

 

I have a few gussets still to add to the new chassis but all in all there isnt really any additional heavy metal sections left, I will do a weight check tomorrow on the new chassis, any guesses out there as to what it may be?

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

 

 

[Sirpent]

Hi All

 

And today I built the skeleton of the trolley the chassis will sit on while I position the motor and drivetrain on it, and eventually what the car will sit on when I re-finish the undercarriage and its ready to come off the rotisserie.

 

 

Building this to the chassis with mounting points while the chassis is still taunt on the body will mean that when I release it I can secure the chassis to the trolley, finish up any welding and then do all the other engine mount fabrications sure in the fact that it has all held its positioning and will bolt back to the body.

 

Still have to do a lot of welding and add 8 wheels to it, but motor mounting time will be around the corner pretty soon.

 

Cheers

 

John

Edited April 14, 2016 by Sirpent

[CBR Jeff]

O my. Love your work John.

I'm sitting in Cairns wishing I was doing the same as you. Working on a Z car.

Bloody hot up here.

Jeff

[Sirpent]

Thanks Mate

 

Well you could come south for a few weeks and enjoy the 27 degrees with no humidity we had today and help out 

 

Yeah I'm pretty happy, things are just coming together quickly now and this will be a big help with the rest of the build moving forward.

 

After I finish with the rotisserie and this trolley, I intend renting them out to forum members on a monthly basis as even the trolley will bolt to a standard S30.

 

So its a good investment even if it is a pain in the B*TT to initially put together

 

Cheers

 

John

Edited April 14, 2016 by Sirpent

[260DET]

Be careful with the colour, smaller vehicles like motor bikes can look great in a really bright colour, cars with their bigger surface area not so much. My KL Jeep Cherokee has a nice vibrant red, there is a current Mazda red which is pretty out there, a bit too much for me.

[Sirpent]

Yeah Richard.

 

I still like Lexus' Matador Red, but color will be the last thing I decide on, I'm actually thinking I will do the engine bay in a metalic argent color so that the all alloy motor pops in there and leave the outside body color last.

 

Some way to go before that thankfully.

[Sirpent]

One Small Step, One Giant Leap!

 

 

So today I finished off the trolley, added the 8 castor wheels and completed the welding around the trolley frame and uprights.

 

 

Took it off the car after it all came back to normal temperature and then dismounted the chassis and laid it down on the ground on the trolley for the first time bolting it all up to the uprights with no major issues.

 

 

I looked at the motor sitting their and it was begging to be mounted, I couldn’t help myself and decided to do a trial fit of the motor trans and diff just to see how it all sits, and although it’s just sitting in place and the alignments are correct, the height of the motor trans and diff are not correct for a few reasons as per the following. 

 

 

#1, The air conditioning compressor won’t be able to be mounted in the original Mercedes position as it hits smack bang on the new chassis rail, once removed this will allow me to drop the motor almost another 10 cm's down. you can see the gap between the sump and cross member and in the other pictures how the compressor is basically on the rail, this will be removed tomorrow and I will get the entire arrangement sitting lower.

 

 

#2 The engine mount arms are too long meaning they also jut out over the chassis rails, these will be removed and I will fabricate a new set.

 

 

#3 The exhaust manifolds are totally wrong for this set up, speaking to Peter Mc today I will have him make up new 3 into 1 sets that take advantage of the additional 30cm's of room back to the firewall. This is not a big drama as i will have acres of room further back to have them swing down below the car.

 

 

#4 The alternator may need some repositioning but will only know once the compressor is negated and the motor dropped down.

 

 

The steering rod to the rack should have no issues, once again I will have a better idea tomorrow.

 

 

The trans will need to come up 2 odd cm's at the mount point, I just need to fabricate a new riser from the base to the rubber mount which I knew about when I positioned the alloy  cradle, at that point I couldn't raise it as the mounting points would have been inside the car !

 

 

The diff is aligned in both horizontal planes but sitting at the wrong height, once again this was just for the photo shot, it need to come down between the two LCA mount pipes which means dropping it some 10 cm's.

 

 

Initial tail shaft measurement is 82 cm's

 

 

As far as the rest, I have 28 cm's clearance from the back of the motor at the supercharger inlet to the firewall which I will need for the dual "Y' shaped inlets.

 

 

Harmonic balancer to rad support will also be around 28cm's

 

 

Gear lever comes up in exactly the same position as the original Zed's 

 

 

And as far as space around the rest, no issues so far with ample room for exhaust system etc.

 

 

It was a great day and a realisation of what’s been in my head for 4 years now.

 

 

Don’t hesitate posting questions if I have missed something.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

John

 

 

 

[Cozza]

Congrats John, another milestone reached.

You have been powering through the build over the last couple weeks. Keep up this rate and she'll be running before you know it.

[Sirpent]

Congrats John, another milestone reached.

You have been powering through the build over the last couple weeks. Keep up this rate and she'll be running before you know it.

Thanks Cozza

 

Things are just coming together at last and once I have the motor and chassis all one and the lot sitting in the shell, I can get on with the body work which for me will go extremely quickly as its my main area of talent.

 

Cheers

 

John

[PeterAllen]

John. As the saying goes, "love your work".

 

Might it be worthwhile to use 5mm rod, or similar, to make a wire frame of the critical body areas, (e.g, the transmission tunnel opening on the firewall) that you can quickly drop on and take off the tubular chassis. It might assist is keeping the location of the shell relative to all the components you'll be attaching whilst the chassis is bodiless.

[Sirpent]

Peter

 

Thanks for the ongoing support Buddy.

 

All good points and will be using coat hanger wire bent into the tunnel at critical points and then transfering to the assy when and if needed. 

 

Cheers

 

John

[PeterAllen]

Ah, the ubiquitous coat hanger. What would a workshop be without them and milk crates?

Edited April 15, 2016 by PeterAllen

[260DET]

You take some good pics John, must try that. With a chassis like yours you are going to have the fastest truck around. In a good way 

[Sirpent]

You take some good pics John, must try that. With a chassis like yours you are going to have the fastest truck around. In a good way 

 

Ahhhhhhhhhhh Richard, I went to the Zapruder Photographic Academy, I will PM you their details.

 

No offence taken, I know its a heavy chassis at the end of the day, but the benefits are many, As Peter Mc and I joked yesterday, he said why dont I go twin turbo supercharged now, And I said sure, I will build a 2nd identical chassis and I can have 2 sets ups I can swap between......................... That actually isnt a bad idea. 

[nizm0zed]

wow, this is awesome, finally set aside some time to read up on it all, reminds me i need to pull my finger out and go do some work on mine.
and yes, definitely 2 chassis!!!

[PeterAllen]

 Zapruder Photographic Academy,  Only motion pictures techniques taught.

 

.. I will build a 2nd identical chassis ... Alloy?. 

 

John. Give some serious thought to mounting heat shields outside the cabin, e.g. firewall and transmission tunnel. This is in addition to inside thermal cladding. One technique is to use nutserts which leave an air gap between the shield and the body. You're in a good place to consider this now while it's on the rotisserie.

 

I can't stress enough to work with a 'complete build' focus - a holistic approach, to borrow 90s buss words. 90% of the angst and compromise I've had to settle for is because of clearance issues.

[Sirpent]

John. Give some serious thought to mounting heat shields outside the cabin, e.g. firewall and transmission tunnel. This is in addition to inside thermal cladding. One technique is to use nutserts which leave an air gap between the shield and the body. You're in a good place to consider this now while it's on the rotisserie.

 

I can't stress enough to work with a 'complete build' focus - a holistic approach, to borrow 90s buss words. 90% of the angst and compromise I've had to settle for is because of clearance issues.

 

On my mind already Pete

 

First thought was asbestos (Just kidding) The inside floor pan and firewall will all be treated to a layer of Dynamat as I will be going full tailored carpet as I had in the car before this build - No diamond stitched Vinyl - Sorry to the purists.

 

The engine bay side of the bulkhead, I'm undecided on as yet, the way I see it heat won’t be a drama coming from there, it will already have a layer of dynamat on the inner side, and I kind of like the idea of some of the blower whine permutating the cabin. So most likely a nice paint finish.

 

Under body heat shielding, well it’s the exhaust which causes all the dramas, so along with todays build pics, I’ve included what I’m thinking of running along the stainless system.

 

Alloy chassis? Now that I know all the measurements and could make a jig set up based on mine, wouldn’t that be interesting? and maybe an option for other builders?  

 

 

wow, this is awesome, finally set aside some time to read up on it all, reminds me i need to pull my finger out and go do some work on mine.

and yes, definitely 2 chassis!!!

 

 

 

Thanks Alan, hope you enjoyed the picture show and great to hear you chime in  

 

OK so today’s efforts..............

 

#1 Relieved the motor of the Headers, Air Con Compressor and the Alternator, 

 

#2 Good news SH*T loads of room to have 3 into 1 headers fabricated and fitted

 

#3 Alternator will need a simple extension bracket made up that fits into the original engine mount points and is replicated 20mm away and 40 mm upward so as to miss the original "Z" RH chassis rail

 

#4 AC compressor cannot in any way go back to where it sat, and won’t be, instead I will be putting in an electric AC compressor I came across some time ago, you will all have to wait and see.

 

#5 I thought there was no way I could use the OEM Benz engine mounts I purchased, but after a coffee, a few cigs and much pondering, I got stuck into it and looks like I have cracked it and started to fabricate some new mounts as per the pics below.

 

So, having removed all the issue items, the engine dropped down to a point about 20mm above the E46 power steering rack and about 25mm clearance between the front face of the sump and the new cross member.

 

I can’t see any issues with the motor rotating under acceleration and hitting anywhere.

 

clearance for the steering cuppler to the rack won’t be an issue either.

 

I propped up the rear of the gear box to a maximum height that would mean it wasn’t up against the tunnel and then checked the crank face and rear gearbox output shaft angles which both came in at 3.4 degrees.

 

So the motor will have a 3.4 degree slant downward, If I wanted to zero it out, it would mean ripping into the tunnel and fabricating new sheet metal, and that’s not on the cards. 

 

Being a forced induction injected set up, I can see any reason this will affect performance but I’m happy to hear opinions from anyone reading this to the contrary.

 

A quick calculation based on the tail shaft angle should be somewhere in the 1.5 to 2.0 degree range.

 

Okay so that's about it, mother and child doing well and I will have pics of the mounts and final engine positioning in the coming days.

 

Thanks for putting up with this long winded pictorial thread.

 

Cheers

 

John

Edited April 16, 2016 by Sirpent

[Sirpent]

Mocked up both engine mounts and perches today, still have some finishing welding and additional gussets to add but the motor is actually nesting and sitting on both mounts now for the first time.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Sirpent]

Completion of the engine mounts today, outer edges still need fine TIG welding beads done and top securing bolt holes need to be drilled.

 

Next onto the final gear Box plate followed by the diff mounts.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Sirpent

[chris240]

You have incredible patience.

You started this thread 19th april 2009 , happy anniversary !

Look forward to seeing this animal come to life.