Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.

When I was in HS, it used to be my mission to protest the logic in forcing me to have to know any advanced mathematics other than how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. The reasoning in forcing me to learn algebra, (both 1&2) Geometry, and Trig was totally lost on me. Back then, I protested these "advanced mathematics classes" by doing just enough to barely get by, which in Denver, Colorado in 1973 meant a D, and I got a bunch of D's.
And for the most part, I have never needed one minutes worth of my time wasted in algebra, or trig for all these years with one exception. Geometry has been decidedly different. I'm constantly cutting angles, circles, rectangles and squares out of the steel and wood I need to build the projects around the house and in the garage.

Today I had to remember the formula for finding the area of a circle.

I remembered from class that I needed to know something about pie. Not the Grandma's apple pie variety, the stupid 3.1465 version. I couldn't remember how to do it, so I googled it.

I've since decided that the entire 4 years I've spent in HS was now a total waste. ANYTHING I need to know now is simply a Google search away.

The circle I'm talking about is the hole that serves as the intake port for the heat exchangers that I have in my trunk.

Specifically, this Hole:


This is one of two, one on each side, and it measures 6" in diameter. Using what I learned from my Google search, I determined that the 6" hole had an area of 28.26 inches.
The reason that is relevant today, is because I need to convert that to a rectangular opening so I could determine how big the inlet of the scoop I was gonna build had to be.

Obviously, that was variable unless I had a limitation to either the height, or the width. In this case I did. On both.
The first restriction was the height. I only had 8". My choices to accommodate my surface area requirements were now leveraged by aesthetics. In other words, how far that thing would stick out off the body of the car was a consideration that influenced my decision to build this thing.

So I cut out a piece of cardboard and held it against the body to get a reference for the OMG quotient.



This was as far as I could tolerate the thing hanging off the body. I didn't want to just stick a scoop onto the side of the car, not knowing how much of it would never see airflow based on the brick-like shape of the car, so I reasoned that I would tilt it off of the body an inch, and the actual finished opening was gonna be 7.750 x 2.750.

Simple math, I didn't even have to look it up: 7.750 x 2.750 = 21.31. A trade off of almost 7" of area, in exchange for what I hope will be augmented by the forced air being rammed into it.

So I built it.

It started w/ 18ga. mild steel. I cut two sides from my template, measured the potential width for the top plate, cut it, "radiused" the three plates over my thigh, and welded it together,



I used my MIG, and welded it together from the underside. Using short bursts, and moving around a lot to minimize warpage, once done I was able to grind the thing w/ a flap wheel to get it fairly respectable.

I built the other two pieces, and welded them in the same way. They all required bending, and the back piece needed a fair amount of compound bending at that.

But I managed.



I'm gonna bolt these things on, as opposed to welding them permanently (for reasons I'll cover later) So that required I build 4 tabs to run bolts through.

I sprayed it w/ etching primer underneath after that, so it won't rust while I'm body working it.
Next I had to bend over 1/4" of the front of the ting to allow me to put some sort of screen in front of the thing.

One almost done on the right, and the one were talking about on the left.
I finished the one side yesterday, and have already gotten about 90% done w/ the rough body work. Despite the careful welding, the process of forming the front lip and all of the bends and radiuses make the thing terrible to look at. I knew it was gonna require several hours dicking w/ Bondo ( not my favorite part of the job) but here is the one that is almost finished.

Little stinkin' high spots keep rearing their head forcing yet another coat of Bondo. This is after 4 applications, and as much sanding in between. Tomorrow, I'm gonna go buy some glazing putty, to hopefully put this thing in primer.



This is what will go in the hole when it's all done. How I hold it in there is a point of contention though. I'll probably do like I've done all over then engine, and glue it.

Now for the rest of the story:

You're probably wondering where the pic is of the thing bolted on the side. Another point of contention.

It's freaking HUGE. If there was ever a 4 wheeled, retarded, second cousin to a Lamborghini Countach, placing that scoop on the side of the car just made my car that guy.
I don't know if I can stand the thing hanging out there like it does, and THAT is why it's bolted on. I really don't have a choice though, I cant make a flush IMSA style duct because I don't think I have the room. Even if I did, to properly build it to duct air in, THAT opening would be GIGANTOR.

I'm gonna plod along, and bolt these things on when I'm done w/ them, and put the car down on it's tires, to see if that changes anything, or makes it worse.