After an unexpected detour of 6 months, I finally had a chance to return to working on the racer.
My first project was to create the side bars by reusing the 2 1/2″ side bars from the yellow racer. You can see them mounted on the old racer here (my finger is accidentally pointing out the driver’s sidebar in this pic). I cut both of them off this chassis.
Here is a side view of the old chassis. These sidebars are angled upward to attach at the angled portion of the frame near the engine mounts. I liked the look of them, so figured I’d reuse them. At this point, I also plan to build the new racer cage similar to what you see blow, but with a few changes.
Somehow, I managed not to take many pics of this process, but I started with my new metal saw by cutting the side bars so they’d sit flat (I removed the sidebars from the other chassis with a sawz-it-all, so the cuts weren’t great).
Trying to get this angle just right on the front portion of the bars was tricky. So, I cut the back bar first to the optimal length, then dropped the front of the bar over the edge of the table until the tube was level. Then used the flat edge of a carpenter square to draw a straight edge on the bar.
Here, the cut has been finished.
Next, I welded plates to each tube end. Then, I clamped the tubes to the sides of the frame. With that done, Ann and I put the body in place to make sure it fit over the angled side bar, which it does.
Since it looks like things will fit correctly, I will pull the body back off, pull the side bars off, clean off the paint where I need to weld on the frame, and attach the sidebars.
Next, I’ll spend some time determining how the floor, cage, firewall, and the seats will mount, and how the side of the body will attach to the cage (the body sides are weak rather flimsy, so it needs a good mounting system).