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Revival of the Chickenhawk...


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So I was thinking about that front sway bar I made (I made/I had made... to-may-to/to-mah-to), specifically this picture...

 

20260509_095039.thumb.jpg.8d964d61484507f53d610c36059be964.jpg

 

 

and I says to myself, "Self, we could 'Colin Chapman' this thing by making that sway bar do the job of the T/C rods too."  

 

A pair of sleeves to thread the non-Heim joint Heim joint thingies onto the ends of the bar, and then mount the bar to the frame normally.

 

Then I remembered that I HATE when the sway bar doubles as the T/C rods.  AND it would eliminate one of the "Cool Features" (AKA "Bullshit Excuses") of this design: being able to "easily" remove it for articulation.  So, yeah... we won't be doing that.

Edited by dimlight65
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On 5/16/2026 at 3:25 PM, dimlight65 said:

I am 99.28734165% sure it is centered and that is a camera artifact.

 

No, it was about 1/2" off somehow.  John elongated the holes while I removed the front sway bar for paint.  With the spoiler centered better, we started discussing end plates.  What began as a joke, turned into a CAD template...

 

20260524_113459.thumb.jpg.8ad62116478b87aa56f83ae65af54981.jpg

 

20260524_113450.thumb.jpg.38c4559a551808aaea2e6b3c2046abc5.jpg

 

which we liked enough to temporarily install the trunk lid...

 

20260524_114647.thumb.jpg.510b85ccda560ef677ea5b363fc1663a.jpg

 

and see how it looked in situ...

 

20260524_114727.thumb.jpg.57823ad62532c66b56a56b31a8ffad28.jpg

 

another copy of the CAD file was made...

 

20260524_115359.thumb.jpg.31299de30fb170b8d8d00a7339f7e593.jpg

 

Oh yeah, I really like this.  We're trying to decide on material now, fiberglass, carbon fiber, Lexan, or that black plastic we use for damned near everything at our shop.

 

Stay tuned!

 

  

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On 5/9/2026 at 4:21 PM, dimlight65 said:

We're going to paint it and the rear bar gold to "match" the T/C rods and rear control arms

 

Which is what we did today.  Front bar...

 

20260530_091737.thumb.jpg.ad1287a6d4558c962de61c7cb31b310f.jpg

 

and rear bar...

 

20260530_113444.thumb.jpg.574d6574735dbec0dca20187ba2050cb.jpg

 

New hardware for the mounts should arrive Monday, so they'll go back on the car next Saturday.

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I've had a couple pairs of 620(?) mud flaps kicking around the shop for several years...

 

20260531_090137.thumb.jpg.35396128f3ff647e7c48db95025edf3f.jpg

 

20260531_090151.thumb.jpg.de5832faf432b35be864feb814fb4035.jpg

 

So I gave them a test tickle to see if they might work on here...

 

20260531_090522.thumb.jpg.f1ed740c3627f80d3862af9ca4ae55c9.jpg

 

Hmm... promising.  Ah, but there's a problem...

 

20260531_090546.thumb.jpg.ced83d743df8a44e67094194e235858e.jpg

 

The mounting holes are about 4" away from any metal of the car.  Ok, a quick trip to the Home Depots got me a hunk 'o metal...

 

20260531_095426.thumb.jpg.4fd6a8659fca3428f38e8d1e12dd790b.jpg

 

off of which I cut a smaller hunk...

 

20260531_095431.thumb.jpg.74984da13acecd51a473d2f366e5dedd.jpg

 

only gashing my hand a little bit...

 

20260531_095450.thumb.jpg.ae8950fe76573bebd070be08d3883f41.jpg

 

That smaller bit 'o metal was bent...

 

20260531_095550.thumb.jpg.888df6587166a60da0a0c9decfc5de0e.jpg

 

and drilled...

 

20260531_100005.thumb.jpg.bd80db07693910a38f4ca366e524d16f.jpg

 

to mount the flap...

 

20260531_100650.thumb.jpg.1696e40a8addfbfd054496e86061fe9b.jpg

 

a couple more holes were drilled...

 

20260531_101430.thumb.jpg.087e91e02f27056996af9675b61fe5cd.jpg

 

and bolts were zooked in to make it a "One Me" installation...

 

20260531_104137.thumb.jpg.20e96c08a6dcffb07b745c9b50cbccb8.jpg

 

With the flap bolted back in place...

 

20260531_105242.thumb.jpg.8bdc2438c80f56d18c1cd6d331e0d19b.jpg

 

I stepped back for a look-see...

 

20260531_105302.thumb.jpg.ab4e9907a0345c7b7c3821d59d14ba55.jpg

 

Ok, it's a little crooked, I think I can fix that.  Let's pop the wheel back on...

 

20260531_105752.thumb.jpg.5a910c19aec1b12478f747f66591c674.jpg

 

Kinda close, but doable.  Oh, wait...

 

20260531_105808.thumb.jpg.4d7157258883157148653e42d1ec5120.jpg

 

Yeah, that's just not going to work, is it?  I forgot that we widened the track that much.  John and I will grok it some more next weekend but I'm afeared this was a waste of time.  We'll see. 

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We remounted the freshly gold painted sway bars today.

 

Front...

 

20260606_115611(1).thumb.jpg.b0d93b53f0ec4f406b1e3806d0117392.jpg

 

and rear...

 

20260606_115500.thumb.jpg.03bfaa413169984767d33c3ef4bd3da5.jpg

 

The rear fought us pretty hard because of the way all of the bushings and brackets had to align at weird angles...

 

20260606_115147.thumb.jpg.3e8a3da06e3c7e3937f586190606e5d1.jpg

 

Oh, and someone had to go and buy some sort of "Super Kryptonian" nylock nuts and really long bolts which were a real PITA.

 

Then we had a look at how to mount the high lift jack...

 

20260606_093003.thumb.jpg.550984ce5904accd17d5ea52379827b1.jpg

 

After a test tickle, we decided we liked this spot.  Two of the "roofies" were removed from the roof rack and marked for holes...

 

20260606_092735.thumb.jpg.c63b90f94d5e305be7b9526f8e87d4ee.jpg

 

Those were drilled out...

 

20260606_095205.thumb.jpg.f7199f36a8c3ff940c1428373c9c5bd2.jpg

 

20260606_095252.thumb.jpg.565520acbab6bf0b2d681fe19bc0fbaf.jpg

 

to look like this...

 

20260606_095357.thumb.jpg.fa91c21c49d2e24bbb338a1b88955d5f.jpg

 

I know y'all are never going to believe me (because I wouldn't believe me either), but they are off center to align the brackets with the holes in the jack.

 

Said brackets went on and the "Roofies" were reinstalled... 

 

20260606_094155.thumb.jpg.16ce44fcfb5998cdfea6030f90e50f38.jpg

 

The jack then goes on thusly...

 

20260606_100118.thumb.jpg.825419d203b6db53dcabd230040d7fee.jpg  20260606_100132.thumb.jpg.4ab44f6a6106f688a48fcaa6d085146d.jpg

 

And I think it turned out pretty nice...

 

20260606_100055.thumb.jpg.5756ee255e68fac9366eac412a136175.jpg

 

We have a plan for fixing the mud flaps.  So apologies to Iceman510, as it looks like we'll be using them after all.

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Hmm, I hadn't actually known you could mount the swaybar to the strut rods in the front. This gives me some ideas to solve some engine swap issues with the sway bar I had. 

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21 minutes ago, Dguy210 said:

Hmm, I hadn't actually known you could mount the swaybar to the strut rods in the front. This gives me some ideas to solve some engine swap issues with the sway bar I had. 

 

We just replicated what the factory did on the rear of the S110 200SX.  We don't actually know if it is going to work... it should, but we don't know for a fact yet.

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On 6/6/2026 at 4:05 PM, dimlight65 said:

So apologies to Iceman510, as it looks like we'll be using them after all.

No worries guys.  😉

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On 6/6/2026 at 9:49 PM, dimlight65 said:

 

We just replicated what the factory did on the rear of the S110 200SX.  We don't actually know if it is going to work... it should, but we don't know for a fact yet.

 

I have the utmost confidence due to the fact that we are basically using attachment points that are extremely close to the factory attachment points. If anything, this should/could make the bar stiffer since we have moved said points slightly closer to each other. 

 

And like he said, this is how the factory rear bar works for the S110. 

 

And the scientifically accurate "see how easy it is to rock the car from side to side" test proved fruitful. 😁

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So, when we last left our intrepid (or is it "insipid"?) heroes, the mud flap needed to move down a bit and rotate.  New bracketry was mapped out...

 

20260613_084042.thumb.jpg.d0646d6af73d6c9e8d8c845733367f4c.jpg

 

and made...

 

20260613_095006.thumb.jpg.d3749daaa445ac1794dcec9d64048e74.jpg

 

The driver's side turned out ok, so it was hit with paint...

 

20260613_095023.thumb.jpg.a62d5df159bdfd6c6a6772e76f25f17f.jpg

 

and we moved on to the passenger side.  That bracket needed to be bent the opposite direction (essentially making both identical rather than mirror images)...

 

20260613_101457.thumb.jpg.f91543b74e044ba5caf1daaa4e85c4e6.jpg

 

As Juan can see, we heated and rebent it.  It went in and got painted as well.  The final results...

 

20260613_111722.thumb.jpg.d530d6344241304cf6ca604ea314610d.jpg

 

20260613_111716.thumb.jpg.7b31477584b98713683bc51709cacb40.jpg

 

and from a distance...

 

20260613_111654.thumb.jpg.6c269c05737cf45e7daa0b43cd3cf258.jpg

 

I think they turned out ok.  So, of course we're thinking of making bigger ones to actually cover the whole tire and be truly effective rather than affective... as in, just an affectation... sort of thing.  We'll see.

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The battery master kill switch key...

 

20260614_112458.thumb.jpg.8b8928f7ef83acf0b220fd4aaa819bfd.jpg

 

has a little lanyard on it.  But I don't want it just hanging...

 

20260614_112543.thumb.jpg.9caacebbd5ac477baa6adc5fd08854a9.jpg

 

when the car is parked.  So I made a little hook...

 

20260614_112557.thumb.jpg.593303e68ad2eecaf270fe27c1e40747.jpg

 

on the dash...

 

20260614_112552.thumb.jpg.13aef5c2e7d80e646c43ba63cdbba30c.jpg

 

to hang it...

 

20260614_112603.thumb.jpg.b00b94c97bfc6399c9fd053de3c46155.jpg

 

It didn't warp up the top as bad as the pictures make it appear.  I promise.  Yes, the lanyard will be pinched in the weather stripping, but it was going to be tossed inside and pinched like that anyway.  Now there's a dedicated location for the key.  As a bonus, it will be right there in front of my face when I am all strapped in after forgetting to turn it on.

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Since I am a serial post whore, I am doing this as a separate post.  Juan might recall that I made an oil sump skid plate out of the catalytic converter heat shield from the Dajiban.  It can be seen here...

 

IMG_20260503_142356.thumb.jpg.2d72c3a7ef2b58cd836bc634b5528691.jpg

 

It was designed so that removal of two wing bolts at the rear allowed it to swing down to (almost) allow access to the oil drain plug.  Unfortunately, the wicked cool Dimlight Racing Patent Pending front sway bar...

 

20260606_115611(1).thumb.jpg.06a9fc02d4bfae7e593fe432b77bfa85.jpg

 

is in the way.  So, with a heavy heart (because it meant removing the one piece of the Dajiban on this project), I decided to remove it...

 

20260614_130519.thumb.jpg.9ba5ab0e44183177c1be215cf554f595.jpg

 

I sat back and had a look at the now nekkid front end...

 

20260614_130505.thumb.jpg.dc3777709ade9748844a002eb29bdda3.jpg

 

and said, "Yeah, that's just not going to work for me."  I hung it back up by the rear wing bolts and determined that with a slight bend, I could re-mount it lower...

 

20260614_132814.thumb.jpg.9fdc4bae5b11b9cc6f3b141c3917ad6c.jpg

 

and it would clear the bar...

 

20260614_132848.thumb.jpg.177e15d34f4c8e556a0c95db7297be64.jpg

 

As an added bonus, it now swings down a little further and is much more... almost out of the way for oil changes!  

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