I have great news!!!!

You can make the cage out of billet!

http://islander-charters.com/divisio...k_gear_win.jpg


:p:p

Glad you like it! We will be posting more video as soon as possible. Great idea!

David
:):):)

I'd trust a cage out of billet a whole bunch more! Maybe I'll give em a ring. When I take the plunge, I'm going to take Jamo with me and see if he squeals under water as well. :3DSMILE:

David
:LOL::LOL::LOL:

That might scare the sharks. :o

Might scare me too being in 10 x 7 x 5 alone with Jamo.

:LOL::LOL::LOL:

No problem. The chance of someone else also bringing their own shark is very low.

Oops!

Lawyers, sharks...Who can tell the difference? ;)

Y'all can just form a line and bite me.

I imagine that'll be a long line.

David
:MECOOL::MECOOL::MECOOL:

Now, the video you have all been waiting for...how we actually MAKE a car.

Remember, you can click on the link for high resolution of the video. For those of you who want to know how to pound aluminum, here is the first (of many, I hope) videos. Notice we work in SMALL increments. Aluminum will do anything you ask it to do (just look at the crazy reverse curves of a Cobra) IF you ask it nicely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjdlAWtN5ac

David
:):):)

Give one of these a try, not so noisy, and won't moon your aluminium as bad . http://home2.btconnect.com/thorhammer/thoexnylham.htm

Thanks for the link!

We probably have 20 nylon and urethane hammers around here. I don't use them very much because they are very hard to control precisely. I know that doesn't look like precise work, but the work area was very tight and we needed the mass, impulse, and small physical size of a metal hammer to get in there.

You are right, they don't moon the metal like a steel hammer; but, then again, they don't move metal like a steel hammer either.

David
:):):)

Is this suppose to be a trick question? The easy answer is that the #1 car among millionaires isn't a car at all. It's the Ford F-150 pickup.

If I had a good deal more liquidity I'd buy a Kirkham.

I know I like my F350 truck. But then again, it snows a lot here and we haul a lot of cars around all the time.

David
:):):)

Have any of you ever wondered how we put the wire into the fender? Well, now you know.

Part 1 of 3 parts below. I am uploading part 2 right now. It will take a few hours before it is ready.

David
:):):)

Here is the 2nd of 3 videos for wiring your fender.

David
Anything new?
Hank

Hank,

I have a lot of photos from this week, but the guys put me to work on this baby so we could make the deadline! Actually, we are working on another secret project and that kind of has me tied up so the posting has been down. I will make up for it shortly!

David
:):):)

Here you can see how we line up a body to mount onto the chassis. Most people don't realize how difficult this actually is. I tell people it is actually easier to take a flat sheet of aluminum and turn it into a body than it is to actually mount the body. Here is why. It is extremely time consuming to get everything lined up. It is almost impossible to hold everything square in 3 dimensional space. Here are a few of our tricks :)

First, you notice 3 holding devises that we are using.

Vise grips:

Vise grips are really great to hold things down. BUT they slip, crush things, won't hold things that are not flat and square very well, and are generally a pain in the butt. Here we are using them to hold the end of the body in relation to the end of the tube.

Clecos:

As the late Carroll Smith said, Clecos are like peanuts...you can never get enough of them. (I would change the word peanuts for burritos (or a few other things I can think of) but you get the point). Clecos (the copper colored thingy) are temporary fasteners that are spring loaded. The fit directly in the hole where an 1/8 inch rivet goes. They are amazingly strong and will hold way more than you initially think they will. Of course, familiarity breeds contempt and pretty soon you are using them for things like overhead cranes--with predictably unpleasant results. So, I would recommend you just stick to using them to hold bodies together. One word of warning here...clecos are made from spring steel. If you weld around them, you will suck the temper out of the spring and your part will come flying apart--particularly nasty if you happen to have a pool of molten metal close at hand :eek: "Oh, that can't happen.", you might say...but you are talking to the voice of a rather warming experience. :D

Safety Wire:

This stuff is amazing. The side of the car is extraordinarily difficult to line up with the door and then hold it in place exactly where you want it. We do this by literally wiring the body to the chassis. We then twist the wire to lengthen or shorten it until we have the perfect fit.

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...17_Medium_.JPG