Sirpent

Matty Lovin this thread, great attention to detail !

Congratulations ! Great solid car to start off with

Much contemplation and calculations this weekend I ran into a few small hiccup’s when I went to do the test fit, the mounts where 15mm to far forward, and as I suspected but hoped wouldn’t be the case, the old moustache bar cross member mount and the diff hat are not seeing eye to eye which means that it will require notching to fit this gargantuan LSD diff "My Bad" So as always, when you hit a brick wall like this, you start to re-evaluate the set up and I came up with the following arguments that I threw at myself. #1 The poly mounts will probably mean limited absorption, and a harsher ride! #2 The forward mounts are very large #3 Simpler off the shelf rubber mounts would probably solve issues #1 and #2 Therefore...................................... I’m now looking at using these instead which should not only function better but also unclutter the cradle and free up more space, I'm just waiting for the supplier to get back to me with a price. Today was taken up with creating a reinforcement void structure that will slip into the section I remove from the cross member that held the old "Z" moustache bar. I created the void reinforcement from 2.5mm material, some 9 pieces make up the structure, the entire perimeter has a 12mm lip around it which I will drill holes into and then plug weld to the factory metal before having the outer edges seam welded in place. While giving the diff the required clearances, it should also reinstate the structural integrity of the member. The uprights of the new set up are now also tubular and will be anchored at 6 bolt points to 10mm plates and additional gusseting. Cheers John

"Give that man a cigar" I apologise you had to read through so much waffle to be able to get to the stuff that matters Buddy. But thanks anyhow for the thumbs up

S30 body is the eye candy That 6cyl will be doing all the screaming LOL

David Your hiding something, this thread is too quiet ;-) This Bavarian Screamer must have it's new coat of paint by now.

PM sent

Big thumbs up, great looking and set up car and congratulations on the award

So the rear diff cradle is now in version 3. Today I started the final mount which will allow the diff to pivot based on the diff crown position relative to the axle outputs where the Ford diff previously relied on a mount located totally off position on the alloy diff cap. I have a few options on how to complete the rear mount now from dual bush set ups which would mean sectioning the pipe in the pic 50mm inward of both brackets on either side, to a singular set up mid point, at this stage I am still tossing up which path to go down although the latter is becoming the prefered option the more I ponder about it. Stay tuned, the old rectangular RHS mustache bar is now on the scrap heap and a totally new set up is on its way, there is a hint as to what it will be in the pics, lets see who can pick up on it. Cheers John

What a gun vehicle this is Inspiring !

As always, great work Mate !

A man with many toys and pets, seriously nice bike Jeff.

This weekends effort A big thanks to Peter McDonnell for all his help in lending me his ear and give me his valid opinion when I was stuck between a rock and a hard place on some decisions I had to make ;-)

Thanks J2 So more progress today Completed both diff bushing mounts ready for positioning, the outrigger brackets from the diff side plates come next once I have a final position and can produce some CAD (Cardboard Assisted Design) mock ups. The pic shows the LH side mount more or less where it will eventually sit however the ends still need to be curved to better match the bush assy's, and the 2 forward LCA mounts nesting approximately where they will sit. A good day

Sorry Peter try this

Peter You may want to take a look at this vid on how the app works, but the readings do not actually represent the angles in degrees but rather the differential between the subtraction of the 3 base angles from one another. The final engine angle / trans angle I set when installing the motor was 3.4 degrees from memory which is not 00.6 degrees so the math in the app works thus to come up with the results. Angle 1 = Trans angle - tailshaft angle = 00.6 Angle 2 = Diff angle - tailshaft angle = 00.2 Drive line operating angle = result for Angle 1 - result for Angle 2 or .006-.004 = .002 Hope I have confused you LOL

Small update today. I have now moved to the back of the chassis build to commence the differential alignment and mounting. Previously the 2 LCA bars which also act as the forward diff mounting points were only tacked in place, so today I set them both in their correct and final positions and welded them in place on the 4 bolt hanger plates after building a jig out of scraps to make sure they didn't move in any way. This was followed by positioning the diff once again using scraps as supports so as to work out (A) the differential alignment and angle to the box and (B) what dimensions the new forward mounts would be. The first part was difficult, but luckily Tremec have a downloadable app specifically designed to check the box angle, tails shaft angle and diffeerntial angle all relative to each other then calculates if these are within tolerance for the universal joints, as you can see by the screen shot, I'm in Last after having positioned and aligned the diff, I started to make 2 forward diff mounts, one of the set is shown in the attached pic, The tube set in between the 2 gussets will carry the poly bushes, the other end will slide over the LCA and be welded in place, from the diff side mount plate 2 brackets will extend out to meet and be bolted to the bush mount. Cheers John

Peter try www.mycause.com.au

Great to see you back on the tools "Grease Lightning"

It’s all good guys, It’s going to get dry ice blasted soon enough which should make it nice and shiny ;-) So today I finished the gear box mount setting the box at its final height and position, the box is at the correct angle going by the secondary shifter cover plate which I was told is a true plane and is within .1 degree off to the engine and chassis which are both set at 90 degrees. However this box came out of an SS commodore and the rear gearbox extension housing is slightly set at an angle to the driver’s position and therefore so are the mounts. I was worried at first and then checked the original tiny Holden bracket and it confirmed that the right hand side of the bracket was set slightly lower than the passenger side. I then set about fabricating two brackets and these were welded to a base plate which the transmission flexible mount bolted to and then to the alloy cradle. It still needs finishing and 2 small reinforcement gussets added but its sitting spot on and the entire engine and trans are now supporting themselves on the chassis. It was time for a kind of proof of concept, so I rolled the chassis under the car and then rotated the body on the rotisserie over the entire assembly. 385mm now separates the body from the chassis, but it now gives me a great indication that all the measurements and calculations I have done are on the mark. Getting closer Cheers John

Thanks Chris Yes 7 years ago today, a Sunday to be exact, and so many ups downs and commitments the last few years that I just neglected to progress, now I am pouring every spare moment into it because on NYE I felt like I wasn't going to make it through this year, even if that sounds stupid, and I made myself a promise that I would try to drive it at least once and pull my finger out and do this for me.

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.

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

Hope to get at least one opportunity like this to take part in a social drive in the future, been 22 years since I last drove my Zed.

Zapruder would be proud. Am I reading the brace is "Bloody rubbish" or that the Nikon editor is? It would be good if that brace could be incorporated into the Caster / Camber Tower Plates