Weekly Blog

RichN

Well-Known Member
The new fender will accommodate a 245 section width.
Any chance some can be made to fit a 275 ?
I still haven't tried the new tires yet to see if there's clearance issues up front; maybe something to try this weekend...
 

JSATX

Goblin Guru
5/3/2017

Tried out the Dorman 800-301 fuel line repair tool and we do not recommend it. It does not work well with the Dorman elbow connectors we use.
We're going to make our own tool so we can put together fuel lines before they ship. If you haven't made up your fuel lines or are struggling to, let us know and we'll send you a pre-made fuel line after the tool gets made.
I soaked the end of the tubing in water not quite boiling approx 180° And the hot tube was immensely easier to slide over the fittings compared to the first one which I didn't heat.
 

Austin

Administrator
Staff member
5/8/17

IMG_20170509_063658.jpg
1.25 tubing plasma cut, working on 1.5 tubing now.

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Main hoop parts plasma cut and ready to be welded together.

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More of Tony's frame being assembled.
 
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PG5

Well-Known Member
I'm loving this daily blog, Thanks Austin! Maybe you should post some of these pics to instagram as well?
 

Austin

Administrator
Staff member
5/09/17

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Matt TT's powder-coated frame has arrived.

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Driver side door bar being bent.

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Driver side door bar being welded into Tony's frame.

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Standard 2 inch exhaust for N/A Engines. 3 inch for supercharged.
We are also going to build a 2.5 inch exhaust and dyno them on both N/A and supercharged cars.
 
5/09/17

View attachment 982 Matt TT's powder-coated frame has arrived.

View attachment 980 Driver side door bar being bent.

View attachment 981
Driver side door bar being welded into Tony's frame.

View attachment 983
Standard 2 inch exhaust for N/A Engines. 3 inch for supercharged.
We are also going to build a 2.5 inch exhaust and dyno them on both N/A and supercharged cars.

I would be interested in how the dyno numbers stack up on the N/A version for each sized exhaust.
 

Johvans

Well-Known Member
5/09/17

View attachment 983
Standard 2 inch exhaust for N/A Engines. 3 inch for supercharged.
We are also going to build a 2.5 inch exhaust and dyno them on both N/A and supercharged cars.
I talked to Adam awhile ago about providing a different muffler for my exhaust (straight through 3") as I don't like how the offset one looks. He was going to get me a length measurement and talk to Lonny to make sure he didn't have any issues with this. Can you get me a muffler length and bring this up again?

Thanks!
 

Austin

Administrator
Staff member
The straight through version of the muffler we get puts the inlet and exit in the center and that causes a problem for us. We need to be offset like it is in the image or the muffler needs to be higher.
 

Attachments

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
Is there an additional support for the muffler or is it solely hanging from the exhaust manifold?
I'm looking to run a shorty header and I'm worried about that amount of weight and moment of the exhaust hanging on it.
 

Austin

Administrator
Staff member
It's solely hanging from the exhaust manifold. Adam has a shorty header on his goblin, but another mount wouldn't hurt.
 

Johvans

Well-Known Member
The straight through version of the muffler we get puts the inlet and exit in the center and that causes a problem for us. We need to be offset like it is in the image or the muffler needs to be higher.
I was going to supply a muffler like this:



I like the center exit/entrance. I am also okay with the muffler being higher. Is this something you guys could do?
 

RichN

Well-Known Member
I've got a ZZP header and not seeing any issue.
It is very close to the tranny mount, but doesn't touch.
Mine only sometimes taps the mount when I put it in reverse.
 
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JSATX

Goblin Guru
I was going to supply a muffler like this:



I like the center exit/entrance. I am also okay with the muffler being higher. Is this something you guys could do?
If I wasn't going the Saab route that's exactly what I'd do.
 

Adam

Administrator
Staff member
When do you think you'll test the 2.5 and 3 inch exhausts? Im very curious.
I'm not sure when we will be able to test the exhaust systems. Going to have to find a not so busy weekend to get some cars on the dyno.
 

Adam

Administrator
Staff member
It's been a while since Austin updated so I'll post an update.

Since that last update, we finished up Tony's frame and my parents took a weekend trip to deliver it along with Silverback's frame. My mom got a photo of Silverback's being unloaded and taken into the garage but it was too dark at Tony's to get a good photo:

unloading frame.jpg


I was going to go on the trip as well but when Johvans showed the image of The Smoking Tire's schedule, I bailed on the trip so I could work on the website instead. Austin had been building it on his own using a layout I had designed and tested months ago. I worked on it all weekend and then he and I kept at it that Monday and Tuesday. At 10:00 Tuesday night I was finally able to push it to the live server. I closed the shop, went home and immediately found a problem with the styles not loading properly on mobile on the live site.

mobile styles not loading on live site.png


So I drove back to the shop and had it fixed in about half an hour.

After getting back from the delivery trip, my dad welded more main hoops and started on the next city frame (standard length). After finishing the site I was able to spend all Wednesday plasma cutting the rest of the 1.5 OD and 1.25 OD tubes for all of the upcoming frames.

Thursday was split between handling the attention from The Smoking Tire and our normal work. We got a lot of emails and calls from the video. Just in case you haven't seen the video:

)

Over the weekend we trimmed the wider fender mold to get it ready for use and prepared all of our fiberglass molds to lay up parts (nose, engine cover, standard fender and wider fender). The prep work included spraying a thin layer of PVA release film and then brushing on a thicker layer of primer gel coat. We always let the primer gel coat cure at least one night before laying up the parts.

Monday we were pulled away from the shop for a spur of the moment drive down to San Antonio so we weren't able to lay up the parts then.

Tuesday we laid up all four parts. Fiberglass isn't our favorite thing to do but we are getting the hang of it.

nose, engine cover, two fenders.jpg


We did a quick trim of the wider fender to test it over some tires. It fits very nicely over our turbo car's 245 rear tires and P2's 225 rear tires. The fit near the stock strut spring perch depends on tire diameter and wheel offset but it looks like it'll work on a wide variety of setups. With taller tires, there might be some trimming necessary to clear the spring perch.

We have redesigned the engine and trans mount structures on the frames to make them easier to manufacture and easier to assemble. Yesterday we spent time making a new tool for locating these pieces in our frame jig. After that, we were able to pull the next frame out of the jig. We've got two more standard length city frames to do and then a bunch of track frames. 3 of the track frames are going to within a couple of hours of each other in Washington state so Alex 1/9 won't be so alone up there anymore.

This weekend we will do more fiberglass parts and work on the frame in the jig.
 

Goblin-SS

Active Member
So when do you think stage 3 with all the body work will be shipping. I've been waiting a long time for my body panels!
 
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