OK folks, another quick update…..
I did get down to solidly welding up the front with all the various gussets and such. These things always take more time than you think they will
.
I also need to report that my roadster has had a “roll over” incident right in the shop!
Fortunately no one was hurt
, and honestly it made welding up a bunch of the bottom stuff both front and back a whole lot easier, a welding teacher years ago told me never to weld “out of position” if you can avoid it, so that’s what I did.
The chassis dropped right back into position perfectly on the table when I was done and I am sure this won’t be the last time I flip it over for welding purposes.
And on a side note, surprisingly I can still pick the chassis up off the floor by myself…. I am sure that won’t be the case in the end…..
With the gusset plates in the front suspension mounts I think it looks very 427 like from the side view….hmmmm
After all that my original plan was to get right to the engine mounts! but upon looking around at my growing collection of pieces I thought it was a better idea to finish up the suspension arms, not more fun, but a better idea
.
Everything was tacked but I knew that later on I will be happier if I can just pick them up again and bolt them in place finished. Also with spring coming and potential moisture issues I did not want to risk the areas I need to weld getting corroded
.
So they are done now, all the gussets and all the many anti rotation tabs on the arms and chassis mounts, all done…it’s a good feeling
.
I then went around the chassis and re-fit the arms again and tweaked the arms and mounts for a proper fit.
The heat of welding always does strange things to steel structure as it cools and I had a few little issues
.
I found it most noticeable in the front upper mounts as there were a couple of points with clusters of welds coming together, but then out came my trusty old Henrob torch and some ½ inch threaded rod and nuts. I managed to normalize the offending areas and push and pull things back where they should be. Again so I have fewer issues later.
It’s a bunch of fiddly work but not much to take pictures of, it really doesn’t look much different, it’s only when you fit the pieces together that you can really tell.
So that’s it for now, I will be moving on to the engine mounts and sorting out the transmission tail housing shifter location question.
I am still thinking about parts from MDL, there is a good answer I just need to find it.
Hopefully I will be getting an update from Shell Valley about a windshield assembly, last time we spoke the projection was for February but with supply chain issues who knows right now.
Cheers,
Hudson
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