Welcome back and happy new year to anyone reading my blog. It’s been a good few weeks since the last update, but the Christmas break and associated expenses are now in the past so it’s time to start on with some progress. Granted this is a baby step in the grand scale of things but progress is progress…. And it’s something I have never done before. I have since the last updated been putting a lot of thought into the front frame and support brackets for the steering column, dashboard etc…etc… which all need to be securely fitted and safe. The build guide/manual is a tad vague regarding all this and months back when I went to see Paul with his finished car I took a good look how he has done his. I wanted to use sections of tube to create the frame, as I might later on down the line use more tube to create some side sections braced into the back end of the car and tube is nicer to look at then box section….and it’s stronger. So I need a tube bender then…. Done. I picked up a lovely little 12ton pipe bender off a local advert for only £100 and quickly followed it up with a length of 3mm 1” 1/4 steel tube.
The further excitement for me with now having a pipe bender is the future projects and builds this will help with. My youngest has already requested a little set of ladders to get onto her giant garden trampoline easier, but I was thinking more along the lines of a go kart/bike chassis!
I have never used one of these before so this was all a learning curve for me and I set out using logic and mirroring my actions for each bend. I firstly marked the centre line of my tube and started off making a small pressure bend and then systematically working my way out from the centre line at equal distances making further bends to give a gentle radius to match the body tub. I have the hardboard temples still from the bulkhead/firewall construction so these help massively as a guide to creating the curve relatively accurately. Once I was happy with the initial curve I have to bend a sharper radius into the tube to create the legs that I’ll fix to the chassis. You may notice that I have made some kinks in the tube where I have made some bends, remember this is new for me so I need to learn how and why these have happened. Possibly pack the tube with wet sand and it will support the tube and reduce the risk of kinks? It’s not really important in this situation as the frame I’m making is not structural and only the lower section of the legs will be visible the top section will all be behind the dashboard.
Once I had the frame fairly well shaped I needed to shorten its length slightly so that the legs met nicely with the outer sections of the chassis floor. I marked cut lines every 1” from each end and set away cutting an inch at a time off each end until I could get a crude fitting of the frame in position. I will be fabricating some brackets to fix the new frame to the outer rails of the floor pan, along with a horizontal bar between the two frame legs which will act as a mounting point for the steering column bracket and the dashboard. I will also make a tube section that braces the new frame forward onto the firewall/bulkhead to add yet further strength to the whole structure.
The frame will sit nicely like picture her when final fitted, however it might need to be in a more vertical position depending on how the steering column and dashboard will fit. This will be easily achieved by simply cutting another 1/2/3 inches of each length and then when everything is relatively in place it can all be fixed into position. I’m now getting ready to start on the dashboard construction in order to also help finalise this frame position so I’ll get a sheet of steel from work in the next week or so and start having a bash at that. I’ve got some ideas also for the fabrication of the brackets for this front frame so I’ll probs mock a few bits up before I fire up the welder again. Still need to remove the body tub in order to fine tune the front firewall and paint it…. Waiting until slightly warmer days before I tackle this again I’m afraid.
