Fire and Ice

[bnickel]

Hell, when I worked at JPL I had a hand in building 2 Mars rovers that are successfully operating on a planet 200 million miles away, and I've walked into work there past people picketing claiming that is was all fake and a big conspiracy. There will always be critics of anything and everything.

come on Pete, we all KNOW that the original moon walks were done on a set in a warehouse in the Nevada desert. in fact James Bond stole the moon rover and drove it through the wall of the warehouse and escaped from the ultra top secret compound in a What? that's right a RED MUSTANG. do you see where thi is going? LOL

 

[SN65]

Here are some photos of the roll bar setup. More photos are available on our website.

 

[1320stang]

Hey Reen, I saw the other day that the rovers have already outlived their expected lifetime 10 times over. Just a couple months away from 3 years in operation on Mars.

 

[Blue Oval Man]

Any idea when the 3 link/ watts might be available? Any pictures?

 

[Eyeless_Seven]

I agree with ReenMachine someone will alway's find fault with anything you do.
Someone will alway's complain about a classic being butchered or a Shelby being copied.
Your car do as you like! If it was so easy there would be a few thousand clone's of the Sn65's running around and I would be driving one of them.
Compared to some of the other builder's car your's was a breath of fresh air.
By the way I didnt like the fender vent's ethier.

 

[Eyeless_Seven]

Whats up with the drip rails? Are you adding metal or bending them back? More detail please.
Reen , Michael Jackson I know for sure has done a moon walk, The jury is still out about anyone connected to NASA having done one.

 

[SN65]

Whats up with the drip rails? Are you adding metal or bending them back? More detail please.

SNIP...

We are adding a 1/2 x 1/8 thk piece of bar stock. We trim the driprail back (leaving about 1/8" as a guide) form up the piece of barstock and weld it in place. The entire lower edge is continiously welded. This fuses the loose edges of the roof and the bar stock together into one solid piece.

 

[Applejack]

How is the upper joint of the roof panel to bar stock sealed? It would seem welding it would be difficult to maintain a consistant bevel/chamfer of the weld bead.

 

[Eyeless_Seven]

Interesting approach to the drip rail's, any close up pic's?

 

[Blue Oval Man]

Any updates on the chassis reinforcing package and the 3 link setup?

 

[SN65]

Any updates on the chassis reinforcing package and the 3 link setup?

We are just finishing up the welds on the roll bar. It would have been faster to Mig weld it, but we decided to Tig weld all the joints. It should look killer after we have it media blasted and powder coated.

The three link is in the works. All designed on AutoCadd and ready for fab. Just going over struct calcs, etc... It should be ready in about a week or two.

We have started trimming out the inside of the shock towers to get us a bit more clearance for the 427. We have been doing a lot of mundain bodywork. Wayne finished up replacing the lower quarters (drivers and passengers side). Wayne rolled the lip up on the bottom of the quarters to eliminate the pinch weld at the bottom of the quarter panels. They look pretty trick.

I will be posting photos of the roll bar (and other misc items) when the welding is complete.

 

[SN65]

Just finished the roll bar. Here are some photos. The last on is trying to show the quality of the welds. I think they came out great.

 

[bigcat]

hi bob, how do you plan to powder coat the cage? is there anough room to remove it and then weld in after its coated, or do you have a different plan?

 

[SN65]

We are currently going to powder coat the cage. I have given some thought to having the cage covered with leather like a stearing wheel, but, for right now, we are looking at just powder coating.

 

[crgraham32]

We are currently going to powder coat the cage. I have given some thought to having the cage covered with leather like a stearing wheel, but, for right now, we are looking at just powder coating.

Bob, I think what he was trying to ask, is how are you going to powder coat the cage after it is welded up and in the car?

Beautiful work on SN65 and on Fire & Ice so far by-the-way! This is my first post here, but I have been following SN65 for a while. I started a good ways behind and read my way through the whole thread. Just not in one sitting.

 

[SN65]

We have mounting pads on the base of the rollbar which allow us to weld the bar in place without messing up the coating.

 

[reenmachine]

I think the question was whether you can get the cage out of the car to get it powdercoated, and the answer must be yes.

 

[3-0-II]

This looks like its gonna be fun to watch as well

And I'm drooling over the idear of a Ford I6, especially from Down Under. I'm a BIG fan of those Aussie Falcons. If only Ford would sell them here....... *sigh*

 

[SN65]

New update at the site

http://sn65.com/Fire & Ice unibody reinforcement.htm

Check out the fuel door we are currently evaluating.

With that said, it is time for the suspension gurus to chime in and help with the front end geometry.

Here are our issues....

We are going with a strut front suspension. We intend to use the early Mustang lower control arm and the front strut.

When we set the suspension at ride height, we have about 1" of suspension travel before the lower control arm buries itself into the frame rail.

Is this enough? I don't think so.

To gain more suspension travel we can modify the lower control arm and front strut or we can go with a 2" drop fox body spindle and strut.

If we alter the lower control arm assemblies by sectioning and "bending" we will end up with about a 1" rise from the control arm mounting position to the ball joint pivot point. If we go with the 2" drop spindle we will end up with about a 1" drop from the control arm pivot point to the ball joint pivot.

I am thinking that it will be better to go with the 2" drop. I can always relocate the control arm mounting point down a bit if the goal is to end up with a true horizontal plane from the inner pivot point to the center line of the ball joint.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bnickel]

i'd say the 2" drop spindle would be better, especially when you get to trying to correct any bumpsteer issues.