UnderControl

Would that I could, but cherokees are unibody cars. Although, in a long enough timeline this one could end up with a tube chassis.

Just getting back into autocross myself after many years out. If my ka-t 620 will pass tech I'm considering taking it out for a fun event at the end of the season. It'll do poorly, but be amusing.

Pretty it is not, mostly welded it is. Probably going to wait to finish it until I pull the axle. I'll likely also add a fish plate to this area because reasons.

Don't happen upon many kei vehicles round these parts.

Got the water pump gaskets swapped out and made it home without any leaks and properly tensioned belts. Quick online calculator says that 75mph should put me around 3350rpm, so really not pushing it as hard as I was thinking. Getting close to done metal finishing the patch on the door. Finally came across a decent deal on some big boy brake calipers for the 05 mustang. Of course by the time I get pads, rotors and lines it'll be pushing the definition of a budget swap, but bolt on OEM goodness.

Ratchet straps are a vastly underrated automotive tool. Worked a treat keeping the door in place while prying up with the pdr rods. Got the fern stands delivered and setup. The square body made the drive fine, but 100+ miles at 70+ mph took its toll and now one of the water pump gaskets is pissing. Borrowed a car to get home tonight and will head back tomorrow with gaskets and tools.

Got the big low spot pretty well worked up, still got some highs to knock down. Printer go brrrr. In addition to the bushings, end caps and shaft collars I made up some caps and wedges for transporting the poles, hopefully without damaging the paint.

On to things I've been putting off on the 66. One being the deck lid, un pictured, really looking a bit tweaked. I've got three of the corners sitting pretty, but the driver rear is pulled up a bit and haven't figured out how to fix that yet. So instead I'm on to finishing the patch I did on the driver door a good while back. Of course I made this patch with sharp corners and right up on the body line. Resulting in a crater of a low spot right at the corner weld, and distortion of the body line. My arms aren't skinny or long enough to be able to get a dolly all the way down to the corner through the existing holes on the back side. So, I improvised. Still have a bit to go bringing up the low, and may need to make another tool to help crisp up the body line. In other news, I'm starting to print with more toxic materials, and since the printer lives right next to my desk I needed to vent it outside. Passive venting, just using the built in exhaust fan worked ok, but not great. Enter the computer fan duct pump. Definitely works better than just the passive venting, although I still catch a wiff of toxicity here and there. Of course sometimes you live long enough to see yourself become the engineer you bitch about as the mechanic. Had to make myself an extra low profile bit and run the screws in a 1/4 turn at a time with an open ended wrench. By the time I got the third one in I decided if three don't hold it four never would have.

Attachment is something I'm quite familiar with. I mostly like blowing her shit about it, and in spirit I've given her the jeep. I have enough lifer vehicles already, for now. Picked up the cross tubes for the fern stands and got them painted. Hoping to get them delivered and installed this weekend.

Wives do have a unique way of creating more work. Mine for example is overly attached to the xj, something about having done our honeymoon in it. So, rather than shifting it out of the fleet for something else I get to patch it up until it breaks in half. Got the frame rail patch burned in. Of course while going over the welds on the old patch to the rear I started blowing holes, so I guess I'll add another one.

Frame rail patch is ready to go, minus the pretty pointless addition of some weld through primer on the insides. Slotted at the front since this patch is going in where a couple sections overlapped so the front and rear are not planer. Of course I realized that I'll be burning hot right up against the floor pan so I should probably pull up the carpet unless I want to burn it to the ground... Plant stands now with paint. Will need to find some time to deliver and install them.

Boy, I sure do love rust repair. But, the nice thing about the xj being relegated to trail rig status is that I don't care if it's nice. So quick and dirty it shall be. Got the main patch for this section bent up. Still need to punch some holes for plug welds. Although in the process of bending that 17" section of 1/8" I may have found a minor flaw in my press brake design. Part of that being my return springs were too long, and apparently 3/8" plate, with another 3/8" plate bolted to it bends pretty easy under 20 ton loads.

These tires have been heat cycled to death and super hard. Considering they're 200 tread wear them being 10 years old is unheard of. They'll do for now, but will be tough to be competitive on. At the moment I'm more concerned with getting myself back into the groove than winning. I'm calling the press upgrade functionally complete. Got tabs added to the ends of the tube. For the moment I've just double sided taped some ABS strips to the inside for slickness. At full extension those return springs are getting a bit sketchy. To consider this project actually complete, I'd like to add some adjustment knobs with some nylon inserts to take up the remaining slack. In other news I got the 620 out for the first drive of the season and gave it it's annual oil change.

Finally got the 05 mustang out for a proper shake down, and my first autocross in roughly a decade. Car worked great, the 10+ year old re-11s aren't quite as sticky as they used to be, but I'll cross that bridge when I wear them out. Worked on the driver's door on the 66 for a couple of days. Welded up a cracked door catch mount and some metal finishing on one of the patches I did. The other patch I did will be a bit trickier since I can't really get my arm down behind it. Figure I'll be needed to bend up some 1/8" for jeep patches, so I might as well get around to putting that air/hydrologic ram on the press. And I may as well upgrade the cross beam a bit while I'm at it. I don't know what that round bar is, but it's heavy and really hard. Turning down the end to fit into the hole I sawed into the cross beam was a chore. Not sure if I'll ever get over how good of welder fillets with thiccc metal make me look.

Just a scuff and clean away from ready to paint. Also added a tube end cap to the printed parts list.

Perfect use case for a shrinking disc.

Finished welding out the stands. Just need to cap the ends of the feet, add the spikes and paint. Of course after a weekend in the 70s it's back below freezing here so paint might be a minute. I did go ahead and make up some caps and spikes though. Given the wide footprint I opted to go with 8" spikes instead of the 10" I had been planning which meant I had enough 1/2" bar on hand, or near enough.

Got the tank, shock and exhaust pulled from the xj. It's a might crusty is some spots. The carnage from getting backed into a tree after deciding not to crest a hill I hadn't already walked. Gonna end up cutting out a bunch of it and replacing it with some much beefier rectangle tube with a stout piece of round tube for the fuel filler/vent hoses. Also noticed this little guy while I was doing a cursory inspection. Too dang windy to want to lay under it to start cutting and grinding on it today, so I got the fern stands mostly welded out. Will need to go pickup some more 1/2" rod to make the spikes.

Test print of the bushings and shaft collar checked out. So, now I just need to print 6 of each in ASA. Kept a reasonably snug fit for the OD of the bushing, but left some clearance on the ID to make the install a bit less painful.

And conveniently it's the same 3/4" wide. Couldn't have worked out better. Tonight I got the supports welded in, so the hard part is done. The feet and spikes are straight forward.

Both main hoops and uprights welded. Was thinking about what to do for the lower supports since rolling another set is time prohibitive. Then I remembered I have the big hoop from an old fire bowl stand sitting on the rack for a rainy day, and it's been raining all day. Cut into 4, a quick blast and trimmed to fit. I think that will do. Definitely looks better than just a straight piece of tube would have. The design intent here is supposed to evoke the image a fern.

Got the first hoop welded up and the second tacked up. Quick test feel looks like I managed to get them same same enough.

I believe the key here is the "so expensive" part. My fleet falls solidly into the boxer dropper category. Have to twist the wife's arm to even get her to ride in the Datsun.

Glad to finally have a reason to use it. With the rollers in the outer 2 positions it was easy going too. On the inner holes I was getting a workout. Today the 2 half hoops became 4 1/4 hoops. Also got the tube sections cut and squared up before working on how to go about fixturing these things. Turned down one of the table dogs to fit inside the round tube, but unfortunately no 2 holes line up properly to be able to do that for the other side. If I were feeling really ambitious I could throw the 4 jaw chuck on the lathe and make an eccentric table dog, but I'll file that under projects for another day.

Crazy how much more can get done in a single long day vs several short ones.