Drag Wag.

[Filthy_]

 

Main hoop bends bent (it's not aligned with the template in this photo).

 

 

Main hoop trimmed and in the car. I had some slight misalignment on one bend, maybe 1/8th of an inch which I simply pulled into place when I tack welded it in. For a first shot at a cage, I'm not depressed at how it came out.

 

 

Dog shit quality photo with the diagonal brace bar in.

 

 

Ended up being just a tad short, there are some gaps that will need filling for sure. But nothing insane or unsafe. The biggest gap is around one eighth, and the main hoop will be Tig welded to the cross member. I might end up Mig welding the rest, we'll see.

[Filthy_]

Got both of the forward legs bent up and fitting preatty close to perfect. There was some slight variation in the last bend towards the bottom of the firewall. The only place you can tell is going to be behind the dash anyways, and it's so minute I'm gonna let it fly.

 

 

that's probably it until next year.

[Filthy_]

 

Cut down the tubes to start trying to wrap my head around how this is going to go.

 

 

Although tight, the E30 bags have ample room on the wagon. I plan on cutting out the rest of the sheet metal that overlaps under there.

 

 

Made some frame bars to run along the rockers. Then, using a hole saw I cut out spots for the front legs of the cage to slide through. The original metal I  used to fix the floor pan way back when was way thicker than I should have used, it looks like dog shit to me now, but at least it's strong. Between the floor and the frame rails I think it's going to be plenty strong. I'm going to weld the cage to the floor, and then slip the frame down over that weld, and weld it to the new frame. Then weld the frame rail to the crossmember, and all down the rocker. The floor in this car is so far from straight I had planned on simply using a hammer to pound the floor up to the frame at this point and weld it.

 

 

Also started to trim up the original dash frame. Unsure what I'm going to do about a dash bar, but whatever. Also, I decided I'm running the exhaust through the drivers side rear door. The faint line on the tunnel is roughly where I'm going to cut the floor out, and widen the tunnel, FML.

 

 

Picked up a Tial bov to match my wastegate. It's fucking huge... I don't know if I'm going to run it after seeing how insanely gigantic it is. Also... the spring that was in it when it showed up was insane. I had a box of springs from my wastegate, which are apparently close to the same size. I swapped it out for a weaker on and I can at least push it open with my fingers now.

 

I'm not the most knowledgeable on turbo systems yet, but hopefully it will work.

 

 

Clutch I bought from a friend a long time ago. It was in his race car... I hope it's not hashed, but at least these exedy units are rebuildable.

 

 

Found these 914 seats on ebay for super cheap. They look beat as hell but at least I can get things mocked up with them for now. Maybe re upholster them or just sellt hem off once I find something different. I really would like to find some nice vintage VW recaros or something.

 

 

 

Turns out the shank diameter on the 280zx is quite a bit larger than the e30, so the tophats I was hoping would work need some slight modification.

 

 

You can see how the bushing (or bearing) spacer is just a tad large. I dropped a whole bag and to hat setup off with a friend and he's getting them machined for me. Should be a two piece that meets in the middle. The top of the two will be threaded, and also work as the nut.

 

 

Also contemplating inverting the camber adjustment plate (gold) to be on top of the mounting plate. It looks insanely cool that way, and also gives the top of the bag a little bit more room.

 

 

[Filthy_]

Also a big up to JustJoel. I basically cut a paste his bag setup so far. Thanks for the help.

[Filthy_]

Moving along on the cage.

cool shot of the 4 link hanging out.

cage is completely welded now. In retrospect I wish i would have done a little more metal prep prior to tig welding the entire thing, but it's definitely not going anywhere.

These are the rocker frame rails, I took a lot of time to weld them to the rockers themselves, and then the floor. The 3/4 inch piece with the stitch welds is just a piece of angle to hide the haggard fitment between the rocker and the frame rail. The rockers were so far from straight it looked like shit. I Ground the welds on the floor down as best I could. I'm going to seam seal all of it prior to painting, should look alright.

 

I did about 4 inches at a time on the floor. I moved a floor jack to all of the points I was welding to insure the best fitment I could. There were still some pretty nasty gaps to fill but I kept the heat down enough to not torch everything.

Shot of the completed cage with harness bar. I originally wanted to wait until I had a seat to place it... but the main hoop is a good distance behind wherever the driving position is going to be.

 

 

I decided this is a good ride height. Of course I can drop it down to whatever height I with the bags, but for suspension alignment and pinion angle reasons I needed to put it somewhere semi permanent to get the watt's aligned.

Watts at ride height. Still need to cap off the frame mount on the drivers side.

A shitty .gif of it articulating below ride height.

I sat and stared at this thing for hours last night trying to figure out a good bag position that wouldn't ruin how the car drove. I ended up taking one of my bag riders kits from the front and just stuffing it into the 4 link brackets... and I kind of really like how it's looking.

The top bar is a mock up of something I could notch into the rear legs of the cage, and then build a bag mount off of it. I measured the variation in about 6 inches of travel and it was under a half inch of movment in the body over the axle housing. I'm consulting my airbag nerd friend to see if thats acceptable. If not, I may have to build some angle into the bag over coil unit to center the mount in the center of the radius.

Planning on just welding tabs to the side of the shock, and bolting it to the pre-existing shock mount holes on my 4-link plates.

Here's how I welded all of the joints in the cage. I'm happy with how it came out for a first shot at building a scratch cage.

 

Hopefully get those spacers for the front next week and put the front airbags onto the spindle and roll this thing around on suspension for the first time in like 4 years.

[Filthy_]

Crunched some numbers to see how much of the existing tube I could leave on.

Post welding cool-down. Didn't get any shots of welding the tubes because I had to head the cast up to around 500 degrees, and then weld them as fast as possible. I used some nickle rod I got from a friend. Welded up a lot nicer than I was expecting. Left them in the oven for a couple of hours after I welded to cool them down slowly.

Starting to weld the whole assembly together. You can only weld about a 1/4 of an inch at a time and then you have to let them cool down completely. Took the better half of an entire day to get them finished, but they came out pretty sweet!

 

Finished welds. You can see in the heat penetration how much I welded each pass.

The airbag setup next to the coilover setup I previously made, next to some food. These are still for sale (sans camber plates).

Pretty wild fitment, but It works.

 

I'm having an issue now where I gained back all of my camber, and widened the track a little bit so I can't fit the wheels underneath the stock fenders. Considering taking them apart and getting new outer barrels to fit them now :/. Not sure what else to do... I Blew out my fenders as much as I could and it's not even close to fitting in there without about an inch gap between the fender and the door. 

 

There's a company in california that said they could get me out the door for about $300.00 for both sides, Just need to figure out exactly what size I would need. I really don't want to put flairs on this car.

Another fitment shot of the bag, It's tight as hell and I can't adjust my camber at all... But they work!

[INDY510]

looks good!!! ... :cool: can't wait to see it layed out

[Filthy_]

Small update, finally got wifi in the shop again...

 

 

Figured out how to fix the camber problem. The only real issue was the clearance of the bag itself, the tops of the shank and the camber plates were still in the exact same position as they were with the coil overs, but the excess girth of the bag was preventing any adjustment.

 

 

After some precision grinding, both of the towers cracked open, and I was able to bolt everything back together to see exactly how much I needed to achieve the camber I needed to fit the wheels.

 

 

Turned out to be just under an inch. The drivers side was slightly tighter... but I made them to match and plan on taking an air hammer to it if I need anymore clearance.

 

 

some progress shots after tack welding the tops and grinding the leftovers down. Cleaning off all of the paper made an epic mess, it sucked.

 

 

 

heres both sides in progress before getting the tops back on.

 

 

 

 

She's tucks once more!

 

 

Slowly welding up the sheet. I haven't worked with a lot of sheet metal so I'm not sure if this looks like ass or not, but its thicker steel than was originally there, and the tops are double layered 16ga, so I don't see there being any issues with strength.

 

 

This is about where I am on both sides, trying to metal finish them down as best I can. I'm thinking about just leaving the playboys all destroyed like that and just clearing over all of it, but we'll see.

 

 

I also finally got rid of my freedom machine on a trade for a couple of truck loads of old tools. Scored two breaks, one is a di-arco finger break. Shear, a lathe, some huge argon bottles, sandblaster, super nice Oxy torch setup, and tons of other stuff. The shear really made my life easier cutting out those pieces to fill the strut tower.

 

 

Decided completly against trying to run the datsun pedal box, dash, and steering column. My friend Josh is pretty badass with getting things waterjet cut and built, so we might be attempting to knock off an under-dash style Wilwood pedal setup, and I'm moving the seats way back and extending and lowering the steering wheel position.

 

If he doesn't want to do it I'm just going to order the Wilwood unit and make a bracket off of my dashbar and go from there. Just need $$$, as always.

 

cheers.

[fisch]

Such a great build thread man. Really dig the solution for the strut towers.

[Z23T]

Awesome build. I'm really digging all of the fab work.

[Filthy_]

Soooo... I started mocking up this retarded exhaust.

I completely cut out the cowl/rain whatever the fuck it's called where the windshield wipers go. I'm going straight through the firewall behind the turbo, 90 degree bend into an inconel bellows, directly into the biggest quietest muffler I can fit inside of the dashboard, and then down and out the passenger fender. After that I'm going to wrap it, make a removable box to house the exhaust, and then build a new dashboard around that. There's probably going to be 2-3 v-bands on it to insure it's removable. Im starting to mock it up with some 3" galvanized I bought a few years back for a truck project.

Mocked up this Ebay carpet kit. Really doesn't fit badly for costing under $200.00

Another shot of the carpet, you can also see the exhaust mock up in the rear, and oh yea... look at these rediculous seats I picked up for next to nothing. Any opinions on the red? Almost everyone has told me to keep the red, I could dye them black super easy but that shit is just cocaine quality.  :thumbup:

Found a new fuel cell, and robbed some parts and foam from the old one. Fits much nicer and has ample room for a battery box, or air tank. I think I'm going to mount the tank inside of the car however. I spent the money on a nice seamless aluminum spun 5 gallon.

ch

Checking fuel tank fitment, Pretty nice.

Also picked up a GT-500 Diff cover, because race car.

Throwing in some gussets on the 4-link as well for good measure. 

 

Ordering all of my piping, muffler and v-bands for the exhaust this week. Also tempted to order up an AEM standalone for my sr20, but I need to talk to my tuner about that more, and get some larger injectors on the way.

 

The entire air system is in the mail currently including rear bags, tank, dual compressors, lines, solenoids, switches... the whole fuggin' deal. Also ordered a new collapsable steering column and found a rag joint I'm going to have to modify to fit.

 

Still need to disassemble the front and rear brakes and guage my caliper pistons, I'm told if you have this info prior to calling Wilwood they will build you the perfect setup for whatever sized brakes you're running. Pedal box soon! After that... Tires, fuel, brakes, air, IC piping... getting close!

[Stoney]

Having modified those strut towers so much, it would have been the prime opportunity then to weld in fixed camber plates at the same time, replacing the factory strut top metalwork, allows for much more adjustment and eliminates one part of the adjustable strut top.

 

So what is the final plan for this car? cruiser? drag car? all rounder?

 

How will you plan on keeping the exhaust heat out of the cabin?

[Filthy_]

Having modified those strut towers so much, it would have been the prime opportunity then to weld in fixed camber plates at the same time, replacing the factory strut top metalwork, allows for much more adjustment and eliminates one part of the adjustable strut top.

 

So what is the final plan for this car? cruiser? drag car? all rounder?

 

How will you plan on keeping the exhaust heat out of the cabin?

 

 

I know...  in retrospect I should have done it that way. That guy Joel did that (littleredwagon) and it looks awesome. I was so concerned about getting the camber back out of it I kind of overlooked the task at hand... And I already had the camber plates. Possibly in the Future.

 

I don't fully know wtf this car is for. If anything for experience... Probably just own it to make me happy, and have something to show for a lot of work. Kinda low, Kinda fast, Kind of cool.

 

I've been thinking about the exhaust heat a lot. I bought two rolls of wrap today which i figured was a good start. Double wrap the pipe closer to the turbo...Line the exhaust box with all sorts of insulation. Also the original vent under the windshield is effectively where the exhaust is going to be, so I'm hoping that it sucks some of the heat up and out of there. Also you'll be able to look down in there and see the exhaust, which is pretty a boneriffic idea.

 

here's some progress for today (5-10!)

 

Had my steering column show up out of nowhere, so I blew off work and worked on my car. Started out by chopping this guy down to size to rob the splines. The column came with a quick disconnect, and I wanted that so...

Cut it down even more to fit inside of the mounting hardware.

 

Cut a piece out with the plasma and used a photo copier to trace the holes from the quick disconnect hub.

 

Scribed it up and sanded it on the spindle sander for way too long.

 

Replacement joint. I couldn't find the 28 9/16ths joints in anything worth buying, So I made do. My friend just had this sitting around and gave it to me.

Cut and again, sanded on the spindle sander for too long, the end piece from the OEM column. I tack welded it with stainless rod. I have some nickle rod I plan on using for the final weld.

Here's my friend sitting in the car. I tried to move the seats as far back as possible, actually almost a foot to where they are currently. The driving position is pretty legit, upright, good sized wheel in your face. I think it's going to give me a perfect amount of room to mount my pedals on the floor. I want to order them asap and start running lines.

These came with my 4-link kit and fit my cage piping perfectly, So I'm using them for my column mount. Might toss some gussets on the outer sides for good measure once I get the thing welded in.

This is a thing? I love Colorado?

Roughly how it's going to look. This is a tad higher than the end position. The mounting plate won't have that much angle I don't think.

 

This is the only thing kind of haggard...but you do what you gotta do sometimes, and no it's not welded yet.

 

Thanks for looking.

[russaroll]

Making some good progress on this. Who cares what it's for, projects always start out as one idea and end up being something totally different. Finish it, drive it, enjoy it.

 

Keep the red seats.

[cleverusername]

Hella tight man.

 

 

 

If it's driving later this year you should bring it down to Albuquerque for No Coast drift.

[Filthy_]

 

Hung a fuel tank and made room for my battery box. Hoping I might be able to hand my compressors to the sides of each frame rail.

 

Going to skin this with 18ga to protect my shit.

Pass through for the fuel lines.

 

 

Welded this bracket in and got the splines cooked on nicely. Not entirely happy with how the column feels. It has quite a bit of deflection. I think i'm going to have to get another gigantic himes joint and triangulate it to the cage better. It's probably about equal to the factory column, but I might need to re-visit this and make it stronger.

 

 

:)

[Filthy_]

A bunch of crap showed up today. Here is the pass through bearing for the steering column, I'm so glad I decided to order this.

Steering column number two. The purple one was a serious pile of dog shit.

Euro spec (?) tail light lenses. I can't tell if they are real or not, But I don't really care. My other ones were either missing or shattered.

Gigantic box of suspension parts is here, sans air tank.

Starting to Mock up the new column. It was about 8" shorter than the original one I ordered, which turned out to be exactly the perfect length.

Steering box U-joint I finally sourced from a company in Wyoming. Dumbasses sent it to the wrong address, so I had to go on a wild goose chase to track it down this afternoon.

Bent up some one inch tube and notched it to form the column support. It's .120 wall so it's pretty hefty.

All installed. Just need to dial in the firewall bearing, and the steering is on point.

 

yay.

[r0p0doe]

Is this an illusion or does it really stick a lot further back :confused:

[Filthy_]

The steering wheel? It's extended like a foot and lowered a lot.

[r0p0doe]

The steering wheel? It's extended like a foot and lowered a lot.

Yes, what's the reasoning behind it. Looks like it will be uncomfortable to drive

[Filthy_]

Yes, what's the reasoning behind it. Looks like it will be uncomfortable to drive

 

I'm confused, uncomfortable in what way?

 

Basically everything that was on the firewall is now going to be under, or inside of the dashboard. This includes Brake and clutch masters, and my entire exhaust. Furthermore, the pedalbox is going to be mounted to the floor in conjunction with all of these things, and the lines as well. Every part of the "cockpit" has been moved rearward. It's not like I moved one part or another. The driving position is Ideal, and the cabin has way more room. I obviously have no back seats or any real cargo space. Basically I did it to make more room for everything... and I've already changed just about everything there is to change about the car, why stop with the driving position.

 

I promise if you came and sat in it you would understand.

 

Started trying to figure this out. My original plan to mount it statically to the 4-link brackets was a no go. When the vehicle would drop down in the rear, the crossmember would obviously follow suite and rotate slightly with it. This was translated through the 4-link to the rear axle causing it to rotate a small amount rearward, obviously no bueno for suspension parts that are supposed to remain straight. 

Basically came to the conclusion that the bag and shock needed to hinge somehow to allow everything to remain straight through the full range of ride height. No matter if it was just the front being lowered, or just the rear. I used some holesaw action to get a general shape of some mounts for a himes joint on the bottom of the strut.

Turned them down to press in fit. (and also almost lost a finger in the process, wtf?)

Machined the threaded ends down flat as well so they sat perfectly flush prior to welding.

My buddy Ryan had these sitting in his toolbox, so I have the bearings for the top. Just need to machine some bushings to make them fit my setup.

Cleaned up pretty nice. The bearings feel brand new. 

 

There it is. I bought some plates to weld directly to the 4-link brackets at the same width as the 4-link bars. From there I just have to bend up a hoop off of the rear legs of the cage, and make some mounting plates for the top hats!

 

Hopefully update soon once I get these bushings made.

[jrock4224]

wow glad this is back 

[dukerollo]

wow glad this is back

 

+1 on that shit. Love the fab work.

[r0p0doe]

I'm confused, uncomfortable in what way?

 

Basically everything that was on the firewall is now going to be under, or inside of the dashboard. This includes Brake and clutch masters, and my entire exhaust. Furthermore, the pedalbox is going to be mounted to the floor in conjunction with all of these things, and the lines as well. Every part of the "cockpit" has been moved rearward. It's not like I moved one part or another. The driving position is Ideal, and the cabin has way more room. I obviously have no back seats or any real cargo space. Basically I did it to make more room for everything... and I've already changed just about everything there is to change about the car, why stop with the driving position.

 

I promise if you came and sat in it you would understand.

Thanks for that I now understand, see I haven't read through your thread (I just look at pictures :rofl: ) and didn't know what all was going on. But now with that break down it makes sense, keep on with it I like what your doing even more now that I understand lol.

[Filthy_]

Went back to the homies house to teach myself how to use a lathe again.

Here's my first attempt. They fit pretty nice, but after i put them on, I realized I needed some lift off of the bag to allow the top hat to swivel on the bearing.

Mid cut-off on the second go 'round.

Here's where I chingowed my hand last night being a retard.

Bam, all together. The one on the left is tilted as much as it will go. I think it's more than enough for what I need.

Fitment looks pretty good. Definitely excited to get some time on a lathe.

 

more boring photos.

Also my new 510 tattoo.

 

Gonna head to the metal store tomorrow to get some plate. Gonna try and have all of this bullshit on the car before the end of the weekend!

 

thanks for looking, as always.