fbekholden.com

This is coming from the unwashed and uneducated as far as chopping goes............

I've been watching a shitload of stuff going on in the forum and some others when it comes to chopping em down to size and would like to know the following;

When you cut and rejoin the pillars and door frames what is done to ensure strength and safety as a STRAIGHT butt joint (may) be weaker around the welds.Is there any reinforcing put in, or offset joints etc (ie what are the tricks to ensure safety isn't ever compromised and the engineer is happy - after all he would only see the finished article wouldn't he, or do they ask for progress pics ? )

Where do you get the glass or is there a way of cutting/grinding down the old ones. Who does window glass mods?

Ditto rubber seals.

How much has this one been chopped?

BTW - what is unfolding with this wagon is unreal - can't wait to see the end result

Dave Mac

Thanks all for your comments.

The integrity of the joins have been retained by adding supports within the pillar or roof rail sections. Where inner boxed areas exist the outer skin was removed and the inners re-welded prior to closing up.
The NSW guide to LVM stipulates staggered cuts for increased surface area of the weld for structural integrity on mono shells.
This has been achieved by using RHS within the join area, plug welding and welding around the reinforcing material and thru the join itself. Certainly stronger than a butt join alone and IMO stronger than OEM.


B pillar plate 10mm, which is fully welded into pillar and incorporates a 7/16" UNF thread for upper set belt mount... this is stronger than any std pillar or std "through pillar bolt" used for belts.



A pillar
as per streetneat, RHS plug welded both side of join.


front roof rail, RHS inserts fully welded before closing up.


roof rail joins... with RHS inserts.



A document will be given to MArk, for submission to the engineer for inspection with the car. For my previous project, I had written an accompanying document with all the cars specs, which helps approval.
When it comes to cars I like to build by the book, however there are a lot of cars around which tread a fine line. My last build passed the inspection at Regents Park SA with the new owner.

How you present the car for inspection will affect how easy it is to pass or not… My advice to Mark at this point is to get the engineer involved sooner rather than later. With chassis work still to be performed, there is room to accommodate their requests.

Glass... Has yet to be decided… however, I’m fortunate enough to be getting some advice/pointers from Paul Kelly regarding making a fibreglass template, and also there are guys about who can apparently cut glass to suit, but difficult to contact.

there is still a way to go yet... will need to check head height requirements for seating at some stage too.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Ed

oops forgot.

it's 3 inches thru the pillars and approx 1/2 and inch thru the turret.
so 3.5 inches total.

Cheers Ed

That is all great info mate and now it all makes sense !

You're doing a great job and I'd say a stack of guys are watching and looking for inspiration

Many thanks

Dave Mac

Good stuff ED , Its good to see you are keeping all your bases covered.
Have you trial fitted rear side glass yet and is there ample room or a tight fit ? .

Has one peice glass in the doors been done by anyone here on the forum because Id imagine it needs to twist to fit correctly or the whole rail at the top of the door reangled .
Id considered it on the coupe and it would look better but I do love the wind in my hair

if yor talking about front door 1 piece glass harko it's been done a number of times by quite a few people, i did it in the orange van but only used lexan it was simple

Harko,

Im yet to fit the side glass.. next job.
I need to cut out a slot and drop it in, I'm deciding if it actually needs to be fully boxed up in the recess or if I can just make edges like the top of a door.

At this stage I'm thinking of gluing the glass in place and then cutting up a std weather seal to sit over the glass so it looks like a normal rubber seal and cut glass.

If it's glued in place, surely the glass isn't going to drop thru the slot? thoughts??

re: once piece glass, doesnt CHOPPED's ute have one piece glass? After quickly looking I thought of maybe moving the std channel forward and maybe extend the windo reg arm so it lifts the window from centre.

Cheers

Ed

Ed wrote: If it's glued in place, surely the glass isn't going to drop thru the slot? thoughts??

Ed

Probably wouldn't need to fully box under the window but just have a couple of stoppers to help hold the window in place, Trev .

Trev wrote:
Probably wouldn't need to fully box under the window but just have a couple of stoppers to help hold the window in place, Trev .

I've got some door frame off cuts that will do the trick.

if you need more door tops i may have some aswell

what do you do for a day job ED

Hey ratbox,

My day job is Quality Assurance in a scientific research laboratory which involves doing a little bit of everything from working with mass spectrometers (think of machines like on the TV shows CSI or NCSI.. except in real life things dont work that fast) to doing histology prep ( ie preparing 4-5µm thick sections of biopsies). It’s not exactly car or engineering related, but it is precision work. We do research on new drugs, vaccines etc.

Thanks for the offer on door tops

Cheers

Ed

sounds interesting, if you get any drug samples was just curious as yor doing a great job of this wondered if you did something in the welding field, spose in a way it relates with acuracy and attention to detail, i'de say near enough is good enough wouldn't quite cut it at work

ratbox wrote:sounds interesting, if you get any drug samples

I wish.. currently doing work for a company called Kirin... as in the Japanese beer manufacturer!

small update:

Wellll if you get any beer samples then !

Japanese beer: Karaoke Courage Concoction