Another Rebirth For The 3b

Yeah, that place is great… when they actually have something you can use. It’s mostly just structural stuff; remnants of massive tubing and I beams. If they do have what you want, better grab it!

Price was $0.55/lb. It’s cheap, but it’s $0.10 higher than I’ve ever seen it.

 

I FINALLY got this axle in my possession. That guy was impossible to hook up with, so I just went and picked it up. $80.

 

not to get off subject . but since you brought it up
you been very quiet about costumes this year

 

They’re in the works.

 

Remind me.. did we talk about motor package yet? Is another Volvo going to give it's heart up?

 

Yes. Which one exactly, I’m not sure yet. I’m hoping my MIL finally gets a different car and gives hers to me. She’s driven the chassis into the ground, but the engine and trans are great.

The plan as it stands is to use a 5-cyl with transaxle. Weld the spiders in the transaxle, rotate the whole FWD drivetrain 90°, run the left axle rearward to power an NP203 reduction box backwards as a selectable overdrive, then through a Ford NP205 for underdrive and to split the power into the 3.54 axles.

Should be 69:1 CR in low/low, and 4.85:1 final drive in high/OD with a 4-spd automatic.

 

I spent part of the day cutting the junk frame into pieces. I got it down to just a single frame rail that I could throw up on the bench and lay out the new frame plans in 1:1 scale. I want to retain the upper profile of the frame so it matches the underside of the 3b body. Drawn out full size with side view and top view, I can just pull measurements from the bench and get to work dicing up some tubing.

 

CAD work

 

What a great idea. My CAD designs never work out that well.

 

Get a new fridge or something?

 

I use a 4x8 sheet of 1/4” MDF for my workbench top. One side is for metalwork, then I’ll flip it over and use the clean side for woodwork. It’s a great $15 disposable, fireproof surface.

 

I got 6 cuts into this today, and my 5 year old HF chop saw let out its smoke. It had a good run, and it honestly outlasted my expectations for $50. I had to do the rest of the cuts by hand with a cutoff wheel in a grinder. Which is fine; I think it’s actually faster and cleaner to do it by hand than rely on the crappy vice to hold the piece in place all the way through the cut.

I got as far as I can. I’ll have to bevel all these joints and tack these together in order to then slide the whole thing down the bench so I can draw out the rear section. My bench isn’t long enough to lay out the whole thing at once.



Oh, and I was wrong, I do need one splice in the middle. I mis-measured my print the other day. I placed the splice right where the cage outrigger should be, so it can span the joint for some added support.

 

I appreciate it, but I’m over budget at the moment.

 

I spent the morning doing the non-glamorous side of metalwork. Every edge of every joint needs a full bevel. Of just the parts that are cut so far, there are 26 ends. That’s 104 times to pick up the giant grinder, grind a face, put down the grinder, reposition the piece, repeat. Just over eight cubic inches of material was removed in all.

I’ll start tacking these together tomorrow.
I’m gonna try to get a spool of .045” wire to weld this up. I currently have .030” wire, and it makes the machine work harder than it has to to fill this kind of bevel.

 

How are you with taking closeup video of welding? Would be good (for me) to see your movements/technique.

 

I’m one step ahead. I did this over in the Varg thread when I was building the winch mount.

The weld:
Varg In Jeep's Clothing

A better explanation of the pattern:
Varg In Jeep's Clothing

 

Seriously. Any time. Anyone here has an open invitation.