Thursday, July 31, 2008

Tech- Fabricating frame-to-body mounts, part 2

I've got some meaty tech for you today, and it's a lot of work, so let's get right to it. I received the body mount parts. I gave the bare steel parts a quick spray painting.


I didn't have any 4" wide steel, so I took 2 pieces of 2", and welded them together on both sides to make a 4". This material is 1/8" thick. I happen to have a spare S10 chassis handy to take measurements from, you could just refer to another body mount on the vehicle.


Here's the steel clamped securely onto the drill press. I'm using a 2-1/8" hole saw. Get the best quality hole saw you can. Expensive but worth it. Turn the drill speed down to as slow as it will go. Slower is better. Use a lot of oil and go to it.



Here's the hole, and I have rounded the edges off with a bandsaw and grinder. I have formed the side piece into a matching radius using my ultra-sophisticated garage-support-column tool.
I welded this up with a nice hot weld. I ended up keeping the welds mostly unground because I like the Frankenstein look.

Here, I have marked the piece for an angled cut like the stock mount had. I have it securely clamped into my bandsaw. I had to stop it to reposition the clamps, but the cut came out perfect. Oh, the things I have done with that bandsaw.
Boy, are we to mock-up already? What I have glossed over is the endless fitting, and sneaking up on cuts 1/4" at a time, and fixing tools that break, and waiting for welds to cool, and running to the store for the exact size holesaw, and the metric #12 nuts, and resetting the circuit breaker a dozen times because you have the welder up so high, etc. It took me probably 6-8-10 hours to get to this point.
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The remainder of the stock mount was toast, so I ground it all off. I used a floor jack to hold the parts in position and give me a little lift on the body. Looks good, so we'll give it a little zip-zap tack weld and remove the jack.
Here we go, all welded on there nice. I have some inside welds, and some outside welds. I painted it up nice, and then installed the bottom plate and hardware.


I finished the interior by screwing a small aluminum plate over the access hole. I hate to bury things permanently. It's doubtful we'll ever need to get to this again, it's the best part of the truck now, but you never know.
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Well that's it. Easy right? Thanks for tuning in, and if your car is coming gbhbghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnhbmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmb8
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006 excuse me, my little girl k was helping my there. If your car is coming dismounted, give me a call and we'll get you reconnected. Thanks.

2 comments:

Kieran said...

Wow, that looks really good. I'd say it looks perfect.

gbhbghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnhbmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmb8
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Kieran said...

I actually have a question for you. There are these three old cars behind my house in the woods. I have some pictures here, would you happen to know how old they are? I took a picture of a pile of, well, lots of stuff, too, in case it offers any clues.

Car#1
http://bp2.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNFa9cuhjI/AAAAAAAAACQ/jCglkgHmV9k/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+001.jpg

http://bp2.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNFlWRAXwI/AAAAAAAAACY/29Xj28981LQ/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+002.jpg

http://bp2.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNFwgdj6tI/AAAAAAAAACg/EPR2D_7AJOY/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+003.jpg

Car#2
http://bp0.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNGU_F03lI/AAAAAAAAACo/aFCBqwngewg/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+004.jpg

http://bp0.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNGjuFhSGI/AAAAAAAAACw/8pgM7bWVWRY/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+005.jpg

http://bp2.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNGsuIb7gI/AAAAAAAAAC4/uOvDxWsanLk/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+006.jpg

Car#3
http://bp2.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNG1F4BVQI/AAAAAAAAADA/65-k_DvKtIA/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+007.jpg

http://bp1.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNHMrvKSmI/AAAAAAAAADI/AfdHp-5LFis/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+008.jpg

http://bp3.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNHWXJ1z7I/AAAAAAAAADQ/gfVJrEcrKHw/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+009.jpg

Pile of Stuff
http://bp3.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNHfORy65I/AAAAAAAAADY/YHWdK6NyrP8/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+010.jpg

http://bp0.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNHo7TkhhI/AAAAAAAAADg/XPkEoKPxcjo/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+011.jpg

http://bp0.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNH060UarI/AAAAAAAAADo/BvQaL-5lINA/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+012.jpg

http://bp3.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNIDBaK75I/AAAAAAAAADw/l2KSpCfigvE/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+013.jpg

http://bp0.blogger.com/_DDwh_vI40So/SJNILrPhmBI/AAAAAAAAAD4/aTNCJgJSEhc/s1600-h/Cars+%26+Janet%27s+bday+014.jpg