B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
Lastly motor 1 going to MadCap
Bostonian 71 demon
- Thread starter B.R.E.Demon
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B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
Some more work on the car last night boxed in the upper perches and started laying out the slider box adjustable mounts. I also got the chute release handle ordered and started looking at the roof cross brace
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
Yesterday made up a fresh to do list and got to work on it, The new rails are 90% done and I started on the halo cross bar and the chute release mounts.
Car is turning out wicked
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
Because I don't have a mill at the house I picked up this vise to drill the mounts with on the drill press
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
The new chute handle and hardware came in. I'm gonna sent the handle back to Pops in Mass to get some wood grips done. Then I had to redo the slider mounts as the drill press head wasn't 100% zero'd and it caused a .010 drift on the plates. Chalk it up to a learning curve. So I got new plates and re-scribed them out.
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
I got some work done on the car last night. After a lot of repetition, I finished setting the frame plates and had them ready to weld. The 7" of adjustment on the rear slider was going to be a big help for ride height and ballast. I also organized all the front wheels for the Demon. I kept debating whether to cut the crossbar out of the main hoop this winter and replace it with a kicked bar to move the driver further back for better weight distribution. It would have been a lot of work for a small gain, but if I was going to do it, I didn’t want to look at the car a year later and wish I had.
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
Tonight I finished up the rear frame with the pads installed and everything mounted. I’m really happy with how it turned out. Next on the list, once the three-jaw chuck for the lathe arrives, is machining the bushings Calvert sent for the rear sliders.
Demonstrator
Active Member
Very, very Nice! Car looks pretty good too!
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
I’ve been going back and forth on an idea for the car and wanted to get some honest feedback before I open that can of worms. The doors need to be re-skinned with some repairs, so rather than using traditional steel skins, I’m debating having race-weight fiberglass skins made to bond onto the steel frames. They’d be built with a magnetic resin so they’d still register as magnetic, and with the steel frame, the doors would still technically be steel. In the spirit of the ingenuity the class was known for back in the day, this feels like something that might have been explored as an alternative to acid dipping. Curious to hear your thoughts on it.
abdywgn
dismantler
that seems like a Smokey Yunick interputation of the rules...but I like it! (sorry for my bad spelling, they taught us "fon-icks" beofre teaching us how to spell correctly)
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
Fortunately at nationals the car will run comp eliminator so that's me vs myself. But for nostalgia pro (even the class we''re trying to do) there are now rules otherwise.
rmchrgr
Skate And Destroy
Sounds like a decent idea but maybe more for like a big money/grudge/street race car. "Naah bro, these ***** are full factory steel....check it with a magnet...See? Give me two and the break..."
Might not be worth the trouble if you're going to keep the steel inner structure anyway. 'Glass skins weigh something especially if they need to have any sort of rigidity so it's probably a minimal weight savings. Lexan side glass and straps might be a bigger net gain.
Not sure if you ever found someone who still does chemical milling but if you can find a place I'd go that route.
Might not be worth the trouble if you're going to keep the steel inner structure anyway. 'Glass skins weigh something especially if they need to have any sort of rigidity so it's probably a minimal weight savings. Lexan side glass and straps might be a bigger net gain.
Not sure if you ever found someone who still does chemical milling but if you can find a place I'd go that route.
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
This car is being built as a one-time, money-no-object project—do it once, do it right. So if some unconventional tricks are involved, that’s not an issue for me. The steel inner structure has already been cut down significantly, with the bare doors now weighing just 22.6 lbs. At that point, the skins don’t really need much rigidity beyond some reinforcement around the handle area for the initial pull. The side windows will be Lexan with straps anyway. A fiberglass skin comes in at about 6 lbs compared to 13.5 lbs for steel, so the weight savings alone makes it a worthwhile option.
On top of conventional avenues, the car will also see grudge races, no-prep events, and money match races, so every little trick and advantage built into it will matter. As for milling, I previously had a place in Pennsylvania lined up, but under new management they no longer offer the service in small batches. So I’m back to searching for a chemical milling option, which is still the ideal solution.
rmchrgr
Skate And Destroy
Fair enough.
Beyond a hood and maybe a trunk lid I'm not a big fan of fiberglass body panels myself. Many years ago I bought a set of fenders for a car I used to own but never ended up using them. They just seemed too flimsy even at "street weight" and I couldn't see driving around with them on public roads. People have done it of course but it wasn't for me.
Plus, they also needed a ton of work to make them look halfway presentable. The dash I got for the same car was even worse at just a step above a shapeless blob. Door skins are relatively flat though so they're probably easier to make look decent.
Fiberglass panels are reasonable solutions for weight loss but there's other ways to "skin a cat". I'm sure you'll figure out how to make them work.
Beyond a hood and maybe a trunk lid I'm not a big fan of fiberglass body panels myself. Many years ago I bought a set of fenders for a car I used to own but never ended up using them. They just seemed too flimsy even at "street weight" and I couldn't see driving around with them on public roads. People have done it of course but it wasn't for me.
Plus, they also needed a ton of work to make them look halfway presentable. The dash I got for the same car was even worse at just a step above a shapeless blob. Door skins are relatively flat though so they're probably easier to make look decent.
Fiberglass panels are reasonable solutions for weight loss but there's other ways to "skin a cat". I'm sure you'll figure out how to make them work.
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
So far, this car has fiberglass fenders, three hoods, a valance, front bumper, dashboard, rear sail panels, and two trunk lids. I’m no stranger to working with fiberglass in racing, so it’s never been an issue for me. When it comes to putting in the work, I don’t shy away—as long as the end result meets my expectations. And when it comes to finding the best approach, combining all available options usually gives the optimal outcome.
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
This weekend didn’t end up being as productive on the car as I’d planned (the wife had me tied up with a full fall cleaning), but I still made some shop time. I started on the subframe connector pads (now waiting for flap discs) and making an engine cradle for PRI, using a big-block Jegs version as a base. I’ve also been adding to the vintage sticker stash for when Tuki works his magic, plus now a pile of smaller ones now for detailing the restored aftermarket parts. On top of that, I scored a sweet aluminum water pump drive to replace the plastic setup—I’ll be stripping the gold anodizing off so it looks more period-correct.
Turbo440Dart
crank runner over-er
That is something I cannot wait to see. The car was killer before the tear down but now it’s just next level.
As far as the doors with or without a glass skin…I’d say go all in with metal in the resin and glass skins.
I see you had a new YouTube short, what did it make a million hp ?
Turbo440Dart
crank runner over-er
745/879 on 14psi.
Yee Haw
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
Last night took a turn from the original plan, but I couldn’t resist trying out the new three-jaw chuck on the lathe. I ended up working on the water pump pulley instead. This is the initial roughed-in version—still needs a trip through the bead blaster and one more super-light cut to bring the finish in before I send it up to Madcap.
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
Last night on the Bostonian rebuild, I dressed the new passenger-side reinforcement plate for the subframe connector. I also cut out the driver-side subframe connector and prepped it for its reinforcement plate. While I was under there, I scraped off a bunch of leftover undercoating that didn’t come off during blasting. I also started mapping out where the cuts will need to be made for the new rear rails. Progress has been steady, and I’m hoping to get a bit more done today so it’s at a good stopping point going into next week.
Cool, I'm getting dizzy.
B.R.E.Demon
Well-Known Member
wait till I start cutting lol
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