|
Previous Page
My goal this weekend
was to get the passenger cabin fully sorted out.
  
You really need a lot
of components in place to finalize the interior and since you have
to start somewhere I started up front and positioned the front axle
as far back as I could while still clearing the oil filter on the
motor. To get the axle under the chassis I had to make some small
stands and transfer the axle from my rolling cart to the stands.
The axle should be sitting at full bump now and I have left some
room for a link mount tube to run across the top of the differential
housing. Front driveshaft clearance still looks pretty good but I
suspect I will have to shift the drive train to the drivers side to
fully clear the bell housing as the angled motor isn't quite enough.
  
I also pulled the
transfer case form my old rig in order to get an accurate
representation of where the outputs were and to also accommodate the
shifter assembly. With the transfer case in position I mocked up the
rear driveshaft in what I think will be it's max upward position.
I came to the conclusion that I needed to drop the floor downward to
the rear to maximize rear legroom and to better angle the seats so
out came all of the door bars and in went some new ones. I
re-used the cross member the front of the seats will attach to but
the rear one is now obsolete and will be replaced with a bar welded
from B pillar to B pillar just above the rear driveshaft.

Playing around with
seat angles. Now the dilemma was how to attach the front removable
cross member with the rear one which was going to be welded to the
chassis. I slept on this problem and came up with an idea that
would allow the braces that run front to rear to be removable.
 
My idea is to have a
stud that hangs down from the front to rear braces so I just have to
drop it into an oversized hole. This is pretty important
because down the road when you pull apart stuff on the chassis it is
not always easy to get it lined back up again due to chassis
movement. Any cross member or removable welded structure (like
an engine cage) should have clearanced holes for mounting holes.
Back to the braces, first I rounded the head of a 5/16 x 1" hex
bolt, cut a 7/16 tall spacer and inserted these two parts thru a
1/2" hole drilled in the brace.
 
The spacer keeps the
head of the bolt close to the surface of the brace so you can plug
the bolt/brace. The tubing is 3/4" square.

Now I just had to bolt
the mounting tab to the stud, position the brace and weld the
mounting tab to the removable cross member.
 
A small hoop under the
3rd seat finishes off the area I consider the passenger cab.
 
The hoop will stay
tack welded until I can confirm the rear shaft doesn't need any more
up travel.

I really wanted to set the passenger seat in there
as well but it was pouring rain outside and the other seat was still
in the old buggy.

I also shifted the front cross member braces a bit
to clear the transfer case shifters.
 
I really need to get
more parts off of the old buggy to go any further with the main
structure. I am hoping to pull the rear axle, pedals and
steering parts next weekend.
Next Page
|