DaBlist Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 (edited) Interested in how this goes. I still have my rim barrels to flip. I cut the welds on two of the four centers and flipped them with just the press fit for now. Was going to put a strut in the vise and bolt the rim on it and and set back space and runout with an indicator. I'll rotate the position the wheel is bolted on the hub a couple of times to check for run out in the hub before welding. These are a pretty tight fit so they wont move any while tacking. Edited September 25, 2020 by DaBlist Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted September 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 14 hours ago, Lockleaf said: Using the brake lathe and an indicator would allow you to square the edge of the rim so its a perfect spin. Then weld in place on the lathe. That would be good, we just have no easy access to a brake lathe at this time. So... 9 hours ago, DaBlist said: I cut the welds on two of the four centers and flipped them with just the press fit for now. Was going to put a strut in the vise and bolt the rim on it and and set back space and runout with an indicator. I'll rotate the position the wheel is bolted on the hub a couple of times to check for run out in the hub before welding. Something more akin to this may be the way? Especially if we can get our wire feed welder going to tack them in place... What I was thinking is if I can make a jig that supports the center, our welding table is dead flat and level. I can put the barrel down on the table, with the center supported and tack it in place, then check runout before welding them fully. Maybe even just tack one side at a time and check as I go. I think I can put it down on the table in such a way that I can add some weight to the center squarely, as well as the rim. That should "force" it into being square... 9 hours ago, DaBlist said: These are a pretty tight fit so they wont move any while tacking. If mine are a tight fit also, I will feel a lot more confident about this exercise... 😁 1 Quote Link to comment
Chopper Jim Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 You should be able to use a brake drum, rotor or hub assy. for the weight. Chopper Jim Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted September 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 3 hours ago, Chopper Jim said: You should be able to use a brake drum, rotor or hub assy. for the weight. We actually have a 30 pound block of cast iron we use for this kind of stuff. 😁 You can see it in this photo... 👍 1 Quote Link to comment
DaBlist Posted September 26, 2020 Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 You will probably end up with a truer wheel than a lot of the steel wheels on the road 2 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted September 26, 2020 Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 I did cut the faces out of all mine delusional phase i thought they would fit. I had to smack the faces out mine. It was impressively snug fit. Hopefully if you go that route yours will be as well. Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted September 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 17 hours ago, DaBlist said: You will probably end up with a truer wheel than a lot of the steel wheels on the road 😄 Probably. For shits and giggles I'll check the runout before I take them apart and see if they end up better than before... 17 hours ago, Lockleaf said: I had to smack the faces out mine. It was impressively snug fit. Hopefully if you go that route yours will be as well. They look like they are. On closer inspection, they have a contact patch about 1" wide and are a VERY tight fit to the barrel. Also, looks like the OEM welds are small and fairly short (4 beads of about 3" each), so hoping those will be easy to remove. I did some hard measuring and found out a few things... The stock backspace is 4.25", which translates to a +6 offset. The fronts can be moved back up to 3/4" making them a -12 which should be absolutely perfect for the front, and change it from 1.75" outside lip to 2.5". The rears will be flipped, and most likely rewelded in the exact same spot as stock. This will get the rears to a -50 offset, with 4" of lip. 👍 2 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted September 28, 2020 Report Share Posted September 28, 2020 Is the width good? I mean, in for a penny, in for a pound. Do we want to look at widening the barrels or replacing them with other steelie barrels in a better width? Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted September 29, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2020 21 hours ago, dimlight65 said: Is the width good? I mean, in for a penny, in for a pound. Do we want to look at widening the barrels or replacing them with other steelie barrels in a better width? The width is good. I'm only angling for a 245, nothing crazy. They should fit fine on this wheel. And widening them introduces the problem of making sure your welds are leak proof, at least up to 40 psi. 😁 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted September 29, 2020 Report Share Posted September 29, 2020 1 hour ago, datsunfreak said: And widening them introduces the problem of making sure your welds are leak proof, at least up to 40 psi. 😁 Fair enough, had not thought of that angle. Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted October 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2020 Finally got the diff where I wanted it, but perfect alignment means shortening the panhard rod by a bit since it was at the maximum adjustment point to achieve that. I took 1.25" out of the middle and Tim rewelded it for me last night. This should mean when the diff is in the right spot the panhard rod will be in the middle of the adjustment range. 👍 Whoever took those measurements the first time was an idiot... 😃 As my friend Marty used to say, "if you can't make it right, at least make it adjustable". 2 2 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2020 Panhard rod back in and got everything adjusted to about 99% correct. Once the suspension is fully done and the driveshaft is in, I will go through and check everything again to be safe. Decided to put it down on the ground to see where the ride height is at now. I may have gone a bit too low in the back... 😄 Hard to tell from that photo, but the front is actually still 1/2" lower than the back. So we may just roll with it at this height and see how it goes. Oddly enough, it is totally streetable at this height with plenty of bump travel (once I get smaller bumpstops for it 😁)... 3 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2020 This was a bit more drastic than I remembered... 😄 2 Quote Link to comment
Duncan Posted November 15, 2020 Report Share Posted November 15, 2020 (edited) One can't go too low... Actually, one can, but it looks sooooo badass.... Don't know where those photos were taken, but you have a lot of interesting vehicles in the general vicinity. Edited November 15, 2020 by Duncan Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2020 6 hours ago, Duncan said: Don't know where those photos were taken, but you have a lot of interesting vehicles in the general vicinity. At our shop, and yes we do. Not all ours, though. 😄 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, Duncan said: One can't go too low... Actually, one can, but it looks sooooo badass.... And if I can make it fun to drive at this height, I certainly will keep it here. 😁 Edited November 15, 2020 by datsunfreak 2 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 29, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2020 Rainy day makes me want to revisit satin clear coat idea... 1 Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted November 30, 2020 Report Share Posted November 30, 2020 Do it! 1 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 7, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2020 (edited) Had a little bit of down time today and got busy with the dash... Here's where it stands now... I ended up removing as much wiring from the dash as I could. The area around the fuse box (hidden inside the glove box for some odd reason) was especially chewed up... I got the gauge cluster all stripped down as well... My next step there is doing some cut-and-paste on that piece to make it a flat face, for purposes of better gauges... 👍 As for the dash pad, we noticed it had a metal frame in roughly the same shape of the finished product. Basically a steel dash with about 1/4" of foam on it, and a plastic covering over that. And since that plastic and foam is all busted up, we have decided to strip it down to the metal and see where that leads us... I am either going to rebuild the surface level with some fiberglass resin and fleece fabric like this, or I may just smooth it over with fiberglass filler and flock it like this... Edited December 7, 2020 by datsunfreak Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2020 Got all the crud off the dash pad frame... Decided to do a test fit... Decided to cover the giant speaker hole... With some fiberglass... Once that is dry, I am going to go ahead do do the fleece wrap like in that video up there, and then flock it... 👍 Also, after much head scratching, we came up with a solid plan to enflatten the dash face. More on that later... 1 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted December 11, 2020 Report Share Posted December 11, 2020 Just curious, why fiberglass instead of tacking in a piece of metal? Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2020 8 hours ago, Lockleaf said: Just curious, why fiberglass instead of tacking in a piece of metal? 1. Fiberglass is easier then welding really thin metal (for me anyway). 2. It does not need to support any weight. 3. It is lighter weight than metal. And I ain't tryin' to add more weight to the car... 😁 It's actually not much more than a buck/mold at this point. Once the top is recovered, this piece is no longer needed and could even be removed. 1 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2020 8 hours ago, Lockleaf said: Just curious, why fiberglass instead of tacking in a piece of metal? Also, being fairly thin, I was more than a little worried I might warp it by trying to weld to it. 😄 1 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2020 Decided to do a little CAD to make the gauge cluster face... Once I get that made out of metal, I will remove some of this metal for gauge clearance... Still trying to decide between using two 4.5" gauges or three 4" gauges... Triple gauges would be the same thing I had in my 1200: But in a 4.5" size, Speedhut makes a neat tach/speedo combo, either in big tach/small speedo, or small tach/big speedo... 1 Quote Link to comment
EDM620 Posted December 18, 2020 Report Share Posted December 18, 2020 I'm preferring the 3x 4" gauges, sorta maintains the width of the original gauge concept Quote Link to comment
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