I hope everyone enjoys their Fourth of July! We are spending it at home as we work on various projects. I’ve mostly been focusing on jeeps, while Ann has taken on painting the guest house a barn-red color.
I spent some time a couple days ago work on the racer’s frame (removing and grinding). Along the way I discovered a few interesting tidbits.
Here’s where I started, with the gas tank, battery, and cowl in place. Because I want to gain a few more inches for the cockpit, I want to move the gas tank and battery back farther, which means redoing the mounts for both.
Before removal:
After .. you can more easily see the custom crossmember that was added when the frame was widened. Not the prettiest installation work.
While looking at the rear of the frame, I noticed that the frame seems to widened further in back. It turns out the rear of the frame rails is about 1.5″ wider than the mid section and front section of the frame. I don’t believe that was intentional. Here are a couple pics looking down both frames rails. It’s easy to see the frame’s bows. However, I don’t want to redo the entire frame at this point; I’m more interested in functionality.
It’s hard not to want to toss the frame and do a full rebuild, but I don’t want to make that investment of time and money until I’m sure I still enjoy racing. It just has to be safe, comfy, and dependable. Looks can come later.
I also took a closer look at these hydraulic bump stops. The one on the driver’s side is straight up and down (held to the frame by two large bolts).
However, the passenger side bump stop had bent the frame and shifted to an angle. To “fix” the angle of the bump stop, someone welded additional plates on the outside of the original axles plates.
Here’s a closer look at the added plates. What this means is that the bump stops need a much better mounting system. I will likelyl integrate them into the cage design.
Finally, this pic shows the frame after the electrical was folded up onto the engine (95% in tact). The cowl bar-loop will be removed and the area near the mechanical clutch will be cutoff (I will go with a hydraulic clutch setup).
Once the cowl-bar-loop goes away I will begin planning exactly where the side bars will mount and how the the cage will mount at two points to the side bars (four attachment points for the cage on each side of the frame).
Have you measured for rear end and front end square alignment, as the rear frame area seems in the pics to be shifted to the right, but the shock still mounted on the axle sits even closer to the right bumper and tire’s edges. On my project, when I thought I was going to “just do a tailgate filler”, I found the body to resemble a trapezoid but wasn’t noticeable to the eye. Further investigation found that there had apparently been a passenger side off-road experience into a ditch. A lot more work involved than anticipated, and explained some strange measurements I had been getting, and some damages. POs love leaving the next guy “surprises”.
Steve,
I have not measured the alignment. Given it was purpose built as a racer, it’s very possible this has been rolled or hit something hard (like a stump) at least once, which could have caused damage, but I have no proof of that.
All that said, the front of this looks pretty solidly built and I see no obvious signs that things have shift up front since its construction.
– Dave