2013.08.25 - UPDATE! - TOTALLY TUBULAR PROGRESS...!!!!
There's nothing like making a simple plan of attack, and then executing it and having things actually work out correctly without a lot of excess drama...
I had a plan to put together some of that tubing that I'd shown using my MS-Paint artistry in the previous posts, after a day of "honey dos" on Saturday, my schedule was clear... so with a nice big cup of hot coffee and a clean workshop it was time to dig in.
First a few small updates:
Finally got around to installing one of the Unimog 404 Camber Plates to get rid of the stock positive camber that the 404 knuckles have built into them...
Nice...! Just need some longer bolts and a complete set of spherical washers to eliminate the side-loading of the boltheads now that they are all sitting at about 1.5* of angularity against the current washers.
Then I did a quick experiment to see if I could come up with a cheap "wobble stop" idea for my heims that don't actually need to articulate. A small sheet of black UHMWPE from McMaster-Carr and a few carefully selected holesaws was all it took to come up with a winner.
Now....on to the show!!!
The construction of the firewall engine cradle bar was going to be a little tricky because I wanted to really thread-the-needle on the driver's side and place the bar where it wouldn't block any of the items that need to pass through the firewall area (fuse block, brake cylinder, etc). Also, since the hoop this is landing on gets progressively larger toward the firewall it's virtually impossible to slide a pre-made bar into the spot where it need to go. There is never enough clearance to get the bar in there once it's fishmouthed the way I wanted it. So the decision was to build it in two mirror-image sections and then weld them in the center with an additional slug of DOM for strength. Once the bars were in position (slightly short, but inside the perimeter bar), the bars are pushed apart about 1/4" at the slug area to draw them tightly into the corners.
Here's the first bar after bending.
Once that was checked a few times for fit and clearance, I stole the fishmouth patterns using a paper template, and transferred them (as a mirror image) to the opposite tube. Using a wrapper saves a TON of time and gets things very close to the final shapes, with only minor fine-tuning required.
Here's the bar installed, with nice tight fitment at the joints.
It should be pretty clear that more triagulation is needed to make the engine structure truly functional and strong. So the first addition was a set of vertical down-bars to the top of each framerail. In this shot of the driver's side, you can see that the bar was carefully fitted to provide clearance for 4 critical items (brake cylinder, steering column, square fuseblock and parking brake cable). I should still have enough room to get my valve covers off too!
The next step will be to rework the diagonal down-bars that run from the outer corners of the engine cage (along the firewall) and down to that same landing pad on the top of each framerail. That will help to strengthen everything that is going on in the firewall area.... after that, an additional bar can be added (as shown in green tape) in this photo to help to define an upper strut mount area.....
Being somewhere within the confines of that triangle should allow for a pretty straightforward build of some upper mounts across those points somehow... after that, it probably makes sense to run one more bar on each side from that unsupported node (marked with the "X" on the green tape) and bring that down to the framerail as well. Given how the tire will encroach into that area under compression, there's a good chance that tube will need to have a bend in it to avoid contact. However, the side-benefit of a bend there is that it will start to establish a good shape for my new inner fenderwell sheetmetal..... it's nice when a plan starts to work out.
-G
Ebay auction, and paying the seller in pocket change.
