Brian's City Goblin-06/Crate MotorTC #61

[Brian74]

I just realized I’m gonna need to weld in some load bearing steel tabs just below the aluminum mount tabs in order to prevent side load on those aluminum tabs. I did the same with my dash...

I bet if I polished up the inside of air intake really nice, it would look cool with a blue LED glowing back in behind the intake grille,

 

[Brian74]

Everything is welded together. Got the filter in and mocked up, but the filter will have to go back because the flange is way to short to properly secure.

Added in the outer tabs. I think I will build a small, radiused bolt on scoop/louver that attaches to the outside tabs and fits just inside the contour of the frame tube. That will better serve as a termination for the mesh grille, and I can just cut the entire corner of the firewall out and keep it simple there.

I’ll also add an upper flange section to match the look of the existing firewall.

Now I’m wishing I had an English wheel, because it would be perfect for this task.

 

[Brian74]

I think I’ve got the outside radiused air scoop figured out. Its a lot of fun hand-forming odd shapes. I used two pieces at about 20 degree offset each which gives it a nice gradual contour.

Will be a simple bolt-on design. I think it finishes out the intake design nicely and matches the frame contour. This will make cutting the firewall and installing the access hinge much easier as well.

 

[Brian74]

I fabbed out the scoop today. Still needs some light touch-up but overall good. I decided to try out the backlight. Its really gonna look nice once I polish up the intake behind the grille.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Looks fantastic and should work very well to pull much 'cooler' air (relatively speaking for a desert dweller) to the intake.

 

[Brian74]

Looks fantastic and should work very well to pull much 'cooler' air (relatively speaking for a desert dweller) to the intake.

Man, I hope so for how **** long this thing took to build. Burned up my entire two week holiday break on it, lol.

 

[Brian74]

Got the intake polished out. I wanted a brushed aluminum look, which was pretty easy with a sanding block.

I decided to fully fill the seam on my intake scoop, which was quite a challenge, but it looks much better now.

I drilled the lower mounts, and made my cutout in the firewall. Just about done.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Dang, you have more engineering and fabrication time into this than most other builders put into their entire car! I will need to see this in person some day soon.

 

[Brian74]

Dang, you have more engineering and fabrication time into this than most other builders put into their entire car! I will need to see this in person some day soon.

I had no idea it would end up being this extensive. I’ve prolly got 100 hours into it already, lol. I learned a LOT about aluminum fabrication though. A lot of that time went into experimenting with various techniques.

I started off hating aluminum, and I am a huge fan now.

Today I cranked the heat WAY up and I was actually able to work up a braze spray transfer / filler technique today using the spool gun that is pretty **** amazing.

I also worked through a pulse technique that looks a lot like TIG. Kinda mad that I figured these out this tricks so late in the game, lol.

 

[Brian74]

Airbox is done!
Added reflective heat shield on outside and insulating material on inside. Added stainless piano hinge and access door for air filter service.

 

[Goblin Graber]

Have you come up with a creative way to hide the wires for your third brake light?

 

[Ross]

Have you come up with a creative way to hide the wires for your third brake light?

Drill 2 holes in the tube frame, use a vacuum to suck a string from one hole to the other, then the string can pull the wire.
Sometimes I have to added compressed air at the starting hole, or used a cloth ribbon as a pull string.

 

[Towerdog]

Drill 2 holes in the tube frame, use a vacuum to suck a string from one hole to the other, then the string can pull the wire.
Sometimes I have to added compressed air at the starting hole, or used a cloth ribbon as a pull string.

MIG welding wire works good also.

 

[Brian74]

Not much done today. Spaced out the subwoofer mount brackets and welded them in place. The 4 mount brackets will protrude slightly beyond the firewall, giving the subwoofer a flush-mounted appearance.

I can say sure was nice putting the spool gun away and welding steel again.

Still trying to brainstorm a mounting configuration for the aluminum side panels. Been contemplating everything from magnets to velcro.

Getting close. Only other potential big projects left are rear wing fabrication, possibly a front splitter, and linear actuated pop out fog lamps.

Will probably do a full mock up on the electrical next; in order to finalize the wiring, dash harness, lighting and stereo.

 

[SmsDetroit]

How far away from final assembly do you think you are?

 

[Brian74]

How far away from final assembly do you think you are?

Getting pretty close. Mostly tabs to weld and small stuff.

 

[Brian74]

Today I was ambitious. Worked 10 hours straight.

Welded in the subwoofer bracket.
Installed the sub
Installed the seats
Installed the amp
Built out the dash
Installed the dash
Cut the cowlings & installed the rear speakers

Fired everything up. Wow, the stereo sounds freaking AWESOME. I will need to dynamat the firewall because the sub pounds the living hell out of it.

Have a couple very small issues on my dash harness to fix still, but everything is looking good. These new headlights are **** amazing.

 

[Ross]

Rush, Van Halen, a good stereo, and a nice car. Perfect.

 

[Brian74]

Got the stereo dialed in, and added sound deadener to the firewall. Its quite loud, lol.

Totally exceeded my expectations.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Oooh, mood lighting! Stereo sounds great.