Ivan's coupe: bodywork is done

[Ivan141]

I'm using M5 metric mild steel (Cr3 plated) rivnuts for the skirts.
Bought them from a UK shop (http://www.memfast.co.uk/).

Will need to look for a new tool though, the pop-riveter style tool is way to hard to compress when
using anything other than aluminum rivnuts, which I am reluctant to use because it can not be spotwelded for added strength.

[robokill]

Wow nice looking plugs to mount stuff.

Are these easily available?

[Uzelac]

What kind of tool are you using?

I borrowed one like this:

Worked with both aluminum and steel ones without a glitch.

[Ivan141]

I was using one of these:


Which is shit, and bent and broke mandrels because it is very hard to tighten it while keeping things straight.
Now I have one of these on order:


Which should make it easier to work with rivnuts, and more importantly: should the bolt break I can replace it with a readily available high-strength bolt instead of an impossible-to-find mandrel.

[Ivan141]

I've been working on many small things that need doing before the chassis can be sent off for blasting, so I thought I'd drop another update here.

Last weekend I bit the bullet and fixed the asymmetric holes I drilled in my DIY rear shock towers. The jig I built to point out the exact hole locations broke loose when I first drilled them resulting in a misalignment which has been an eyesore to me ever since.

I decided to try a flexible approach where the holes in the shock towers are enlarged (far enough to encompass the old holes), and an insert with the correct sized mounting hole / whatever can be bolted up.

Quite difficult to work the steel in the amount of manouvering room available but here's the results so far:

Big centre hole and 4 mounting holes slotted in front-aft direction.



Still need to clean up the slots once I buy the correct bits for my drill.

And these are the inserts (not finished yet):


The bolts will eventually be welded to the insert. At the moment they are M6, I would like to have M8 for more strength but I'm not sure there is enough meat left to enlarge the slots.

After that it's on to trial fitting the front end for final adjustments and building a transport dolley, after which it's time for media blasting

[Ivan141]

Got started on a transport dolly this weekend to get it back on the floor and eventually to the blasters.


Halfway there.. basic frame is done and connected to my jacking supports with some brackets I made. Still need to add a lot of reinforcements and then bolt the wheels on.

[Ivan141]

3 years of pro level procrastination later...


Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

[banpei]

Progress!
So after the blasting do you expect to have to do some more welding before you can bog and smooth it out again?

[Ivan141]

I assume I wont get many unpleasant surprises, there isnt a corner that I havent poked at over the last couple of years.
So here's hoping it will be a fairly fast jump to seam sealing and bondo in preparation for it's first layer of paint (floorpan,
interior and engine bay).

[Ivan141]

Just something totally different:

I'd broken my odometer's reset mechanism when I took my cluster apart for tinkering. The plastic is very very brittle and just snaps when you put stress on it.
Now that I have a 3D printer I thought I could remedy the problem, here's what I came up with:

Broken holders on the odo assembly (already cleaned up the assembly with a file):


Some hours of work in Fusion 360 came up with this attachment:


Put the 2 together:


That'll do! No glue required.
Although I will need to reprint it when I have my printer setup for ABS, this is done in PLA plastic which will go soft at 60°C (which is not uncommon in a car).