I am going to use RediStrip in Indy. http://www.redistripindy.com/ Quoted me about $1800.

They use alkaline stripping rather than acid, so none of the problems associated with the acid seeping out of the joints over time and causing rust and eating your paint.

Have not decided on where to do the e-coating yet. Probably a place in Niles, Ohio. Quoted me about $1800-$2000

There is a place in Romulus, MI that does acid dipping and e-coating both and the price for both was around $2700, but their acid stripping tank is about 3" too short for the EVO.

 

^ certified badass.

 

Didn't know you had build thread. Good luck with your build.

Oh i will vote for voltex rear!

 

That's hellafrush BOOOOYYYYEEEE!

 

Well, a couple things have changed since the last update. I rethought the whole dipping/stripping/e-coating thing and because the chassis is so fresh (12K miles, no snow) there is not really a need for it. I don't have any rust to deal with. My main goal of losing some weight can be accomplished simply by media blasting the entire underside and also all the body seams. That was my original goal from with the dipping anyway.

So the new plan is to have it media blasted, seam welded, cage installed, then primered and painted. A few local friends have heard my plans for paint and graphics, but for now I will just say that the car will be called the "Red Dragon" and the main colors will be red and gold.

Tonight I removed some more unnecessary brackets and dropped another 10 pounds. . .

Front tow loop removed


Brackets removed


Dash bar brackets removed


Sunvisor brackets removed


Seat belt brackets removed


"oh **** handle" brackets removed


Rear seatbelt brackets removed

 

^^^Awesome...

 

This should be retitled to say "nothing inside" lol

 

Did a bit more work today. Fabbed up the front mount for the rotisserie and fixed a small issue.

At Nationals last year when the engine failed I had to be loaded onto a flatbed and towed off the track. The DHP splitter bore the full weight of the car and scraped all the way up onto the flatbed because it was a very steep angle. It took it like a champ with just a few scuffs. Unfortunately I realized today that the points that the front tow hook mounted had been tweaked. The course workers pulled me at an angle and my mount apartently was not strong enough to hold up 100%. I had it sticking out the front of the bumper.





I put a long bolt into the questionable points along with a spacer and "whacked" them back into alignment with my BFH. . .







I then reinstalled the front crash bar mount brackets and used them as a foundation for my rotisserie mount/lifting bars. The lifting bars will mount at both ends and stick out a bit so a few guys can lift and move the bare chassis around a shop. The entire thing weighs less than 400#, so 4 guys should be able grab ahold of each corner and pick it up easily and move it. Maybe even TWO strong guys! Forgive my crappy welds - I'm still learning, plus apparently last time I forgot to shut the gas valve off and a slow leak lost all my Argon/CO2 mix so these welds were done with solid wire and NO gas






And finally my liquid inspiration for tonight. Founders 25th Aniversary Bolt Cutter barleywine @ 15%ABV. . .

 

How about removing the rad support and making a new lighter on that is easily removable? It makes removing the engine much easier being able to remove that. Plus, between that and the lower piece with the tow hook/ engine mount on it, that's a bunch of weight.

Better be careful with barley wines and welding!

 

Wow, very impressive build- and cool that it's right here in Michigan! Keep up the good work.

 

Jeremy - that is definitely in the plans . . . I think. If I did it it would be super easy to fab up my own splitter and intercooler mounts while dropping a bit of weight off the very front of the car. That would reduce the front weight % and also reduce the polar moment and should help the car turn in better. However, the main thing holding me back is that I think chopping and rebuilding the rad support would severely limit the classes the car could run with any sanctioning body. I would be limited to only the very top classes. Thinking about it though

I added to my fab tool kit today with my very first drill press. So far all drilling activities have been with a hand drill either on the car or in a vise. This should help add to the precision of my future drilling needs:



I also had a piece of 1/8" steel sheet bent up to make a nice welding area (thanks Jacob!). Should help to contain the flying sparks a bit. I am going to try it as-is sitting on top of my laminated maple work bench. If it seems too much heat is transferring through and damaging the wood I will put a sheet of expanded metal under it to add a bit of air-space buffer to limit heat transfer:




Here is some work I've been doing to my ACD pump mounting bracket so I can mount it in the rear of the car. Thanks to R/TErnie for the great idea! I'm not ashamed to attempt to copy other's smart work




And one nighttime shot of my garage/mess/workshop:

 

This project (car and garage) is coming along nicely. Thanks for the update

 

I'm not sure yet just how much of the fab I am going to do myself. I would like to try to do as much as possible. My welding and fab skills are . . . shall we say . . . in their infancy. I have made some pretty crazy parts in the past though using bolts, rivets, hand tools, and a BFH. I am very good at problem solving and a quick learner, so we'll see how it goes. In the perfect world I would build my own roll cage, tack it in place, then have an experienced welder do the final TIG welding.

However, after adding up how much it would cost for a decent tubing bender setup, a tubing notcher, band saw, time, etc. . . I think I may come out ahead paying someone else to do it. Especially if I can find a shop who will give me a bit of a discount in trade for some publicity.

As for tools, I need some advice from those who have done their own fab work. First question - for cutting metal (tubing, square stock, etc) if I can only get one, with what will I be better off: a horizontal band saw, a portable band saw, or a cut-off saw?

Horizontal band saw:


Portable band saw (can also get a mount to use it as a stationary vertical saw):



Cut off saw:

 

Have you heard of Thompson Racing Fabrication? they do some crazy work!

http://www.thompsonracingfabrication.com

 

I have indeed, and am currently in talks with Ryan regarding the extent of his involvement in this project. I was VERY impressed with some of the work I saw on their website.


I got a bit more work done on the car today, but not as much as I would have liked. I'm now completely out of gas for the welder and it showed when I tried to get some work done. Tons of splatter and very porous, messy welds. Going to get a new tank tomorrow.

For the front mount of the rotisserie I made sure the chassis was fairly level. It was a tiny bit off, so I carried this over to the next couple steps:


Then made sure the mount bar was equally level:


Then made sure the head of the engine stand was equally level:


And marked the stand so I could keep it in alignment without needing to contantly go back and re-check it with a level:


I then found the center point of the mount bar in relation to the chassis and marked it, and lined up the engine stand/rotisserie:


I marked my drill points for the mount holes on the front chassis bar. This will be the upper rotisserie mount, but the whole car will have to be raised about 8". For this step I used the lower engine stand/rotisserie mounts to locate the points. I locked the "arms" into place so I could duplicate the exact same axis at the rear of the car.



Since I am using two independent enging stands at the front and the rear I have to be sure that the rotation axis at both ends is exactly the same so it does not bind as I rotate the chassis.


Then I moved to the rear. I took the same engine stand with the arms still locked in the same location and used it to come up with my upper mount point. The rear of the car where the crash bar bolts on is pretty flimsy sheet metal. I knew that I would have plenty of horizontal strength at this mount point, but needed to find a way to increase vertical bending/flexing strength. I noticed that the mount points for the "RS" rear trunk bar went down inside the frame rail. I stuck a piece of L-channel into the frame rail far enough that it would be flush with the crash beam mounts:


I then stuck a sharpie down through the "RS trunk bar" mount holes to mark my drill point. I drilled out this hole, then tapped it with an M8 tap. The trunk bar uses an M10, and I did NOT want to engage those threads, so I went to the next size down. I want to thread into the L-channel and pull it tight to the inside of the frame rail:


After it was drilled and tapped I held it in place with an M8 cap screw:


Here are some mount plates I had removed from an old crash beam. As luck would have it one of the holes I drilled out with a spotweld bit lined up with L-channel inside the frame rail. I used this hole to tack-weld the assembly together:


I then removed it and finish welded the assembly. Pay no attention to the crappy welds, I will re-do some of them if necessary when I get more gas. For now, it seems to be plenty strong for the task at hand:


The assembly is then slipped into the frame rail and bolted in place:


The main stuctural bar is then fitted up. I am going to wait to weld this in place until I get more gas tomorrow. (Not shown - I double checked the level of the rear of the car and matched the level to this cross-bar to keep everything square):



Here is the rotisserie mount bracket that will be welded to the rear cross bar (probably with some gussets). The L-channel profile is square on the outside, but has a radius on the inside of the bend. I notched the horizontal bars as shown in the green arrows. The red shows where the welds will be. This should be a STRONG joint after welding is complete. Probably overkill for a 400# chassis, but better safe than sorry I guess