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Revival of the Chickenhawk...


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But in other news... UPS informs me that my steering parts are sitting on my front porch right now.  Why am I not rushing to the shop to install them?  Well, my brother is in town so apparently I have to go to lunch with him and his.  Dang, family can be so inconvenient.

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Ok, I rounded up the parts and ran by the shop after lunch.  Yeah, turns out 5/16" is NOT the same thing as 5/8".  Who knew?  Somehow I ordered two 5/8" Heim joints, a bag of 5/8" jam nuts and 6" of 5/16" threaded rod.  I need to go back to McMaster Carr and see how I managed to perform such a colossal up-fucking... and order the right stuff, of course.

 

(Also, Smart Madness is VERY optimistic with their "Easy, 10 minute installation" claim for their turbo enloudener.  That didn't get installed either.)

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Steering shaft mount/brace going under the knife for mounting holes...

 

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Then some speed holes...

 

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Then added some more lightness by cutting some corners...

 

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How it's gonna go...

 

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Filed down the sharp edges and a bit of paint later...

 

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While that was drying, got started on some butt holders...

 

Pair of seats from a 2007 Miata...

 

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Removed all this wiring and extra bracketry...

 

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Gave her a test fit (forgot to take a pic), and it fits wonderfully. Just need to bend the front brackets down to a 90 degree angle and they will fit up to the floor crossbar very well. It's a perfect fit widthwise for a 1200. Need to remove the factory 1200 rear seat brackets and make a 1-2" spacer for the rear bolt holes and they'll be in there.  :thumbup:

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"Just need to bend the front brackets down to a 90 degree angle and they will fit up to the floor crossbar very well."

 

Oh yeah, while you weren't looking (I think you were messing with the bumper on your 1200) I took the big-assed croissant wrench and bent those brackets.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, so I installed the longer tie rod ends the other day and now we have way too much toe... um, in I believe.  Whatever is the opposite of what we had before.  Anyhoo, to fix that issue, and add some more track width, and lose some positive camber, I ordered yet another pair of female Heim joints so's that I can do the same trick on the inner pivot of the lower control arms.  Hopefully we'll finally have trial-and-error'd ourselves into a workable suspension.

 

Oh, and while I was spending money I can't really afford to spend, I ordered an radiator as well.

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Radiator has shipped but isn't expected until next Tuesday.  Heim joints haven't shipped because McMaster Carr had my old CC number on file.  Dang these banks and their newfangled "Chip Cards."

 

Oh, and GET OFF MY LAWN!

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*Sarcasm Mode On*

 

Ok, so I told y'all that McM-C had the wrong CC number right?  And I said I called to give them the right one, right?  Well, three hours later and the Heim joints are here!  I'm really impressed with UPS right about now.  Three hours from Georgia to my front door!

 

*Sarcasm Mode Off*

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The radiator arrived about an hour after I got home from the shop Saturday, D'oh!  I sent a couple crappy pictures taken with my crappy phone to my cra... I mean wonderful friend Datsunfreak but I guess they are just too crappy to post.  And I'm totally OK with that.

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All-thread rod cut down to size...

 

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Then we drilled some holes...

 

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Then welded up the holes we drilled...

 

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By welding the rod to the heim joint, it allows us to just have to run only one jamb nut on the tie rods. 

 

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And on the control arm end...

 

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Tim's awesome radiator pic...

 

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Got a few things going today...

 

Test fit of Tim's new radiator. Looks good, if a bit on the tall side...

 

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Decided to check and see if the hood will close. It doesn't.   :rofl:

 

After looking at it awhile, the real issue seems to be that the mount for the hood latch is hitting the radiator cap. So...

 

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Wheeeee!!!

 

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Maybe too much clearance now, buy hey, adding lightness right? 

 

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Hood closes well now. Just need to trim down the upper mounting pins a tiny bit and I think we're good. We shall see when it comes time to bolt it all down for good...

 

Got the heims on the right side replaced with the new longer versions, so time to set it back down and see how she sits. Definitely widened the track at least an inch per side, if not more...

 

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This thing is gonna be a BEAST!

 

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With the new wider front track we decided for a goof to toss some 2" thick spacers on the rear and see how that looks. Okay from the front...

 

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Not so much from the back, just a little too wide...  ^_^

 

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Somewhere I have some 1" spacers so we'll try those out and see how they look...   :thumbup:

 

 

Because of the widened track in the front, our alignment was a bit wonky. Decided to switch the T/C rods out for some that are 1 inch longer and that did the trick. 

 

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Had to call it a day there because it was hot as balls and we were hungry. More next week.   :thumbup:

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