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| Blooze Own: An F355 Six Speed N* Build Thread (Page 118/126) |
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Bloozberry
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JAN 01, 08:44 PM
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Thanks ccfiero and 85-308.
| quote | Originally posted by ccfiero350:
To push it over the top how about flaring the holes! |
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Flaring the holes would definitely finish them off nicely and add some strength to boot. I would buy a set of dies if they weren't so damned expensive. I volunteer a bunch of time at an aircraft museum... perhaps I could get them to buy a set... hmmmm.
| quote | Originally posted by 85-308:
What material is that? Obviously your press is using a set of dies you made up... |
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The fan brackets are 18 gauge mild steel. If you go to page 18 of my thread you'll see a photo of my homemade bender that I use with my 12 ton hydraulic press.
It's finally back with the nose to the grindstone now that all the social obligations are over. Here's hoping 2015 will be more productive on this project than last year. Over the holidays I managed to squeak in a bit of time in the shop here and there despite a furnace blower motor that kept giving me grief. I worked on completing the templates to close up the radiator compartment on the driver's side. It's been far more challenging that I had expected. Here's a photo showing the cardboard mock ups for the floor skin of the compartment and the side wall that seals off the engine bay:
I found it easier to make the large irregular shaped sidewall template using several pieces of cardboard rather than trying to make it all out of one piece. I made each piece conform to only one or two edges of the area, then with each piece in place, I taped them together to get the right relationship between all the pieces. Then I carefully removed the multi-part template and transfered the complex shape to a single piece of some thin galvanized sheet metal:
As I mentioned before, this thin sheet metal is too flimsy for the actual part. I'll be remaking them out of thicker sheet metal a bit later on once I know things are going to fit properly. Here's the metal sidewall template mocked up in place:
You can see where I had to make a triangular hole in the side wall to make room for the trailing link. I'll close off that hole in the final design by making a fairing that bridges the sidewall to the wheel well liner. Here's another view:
The intersection of the radiator compartment side wall and the arched wheel well liner makes for an interesting shape as viewed from the engine bay. It's not the most refined look in the world for now, but it will keep a lot of road grime from messing things up and I'm pretty sure there'll be lots of other pretty things to catch your eye once the engine bay is stuffed with everything that needs to go in there:
The last piece needed to seal up the radiator compartment was the floor skin. I made it so it has a right angle flange to mate with the bottom of the side wall and another where it mates up with the forward edge of the wheel well liner. I also bolted a 1/2" square steel tube stiffener like an outrigger to the side of the engine cradle, which you can also see in the next photo:
To support the some of the weight of the radiator, I'll need to fabricate some sort of stiffener for the floor of the compartment. I'll probably bend some sheet metal into a series of corrugated channels and rivet them to the inside floor skin. Here's a view of the radiator compartment showing how wide the wheels and door sills are. It's a good thing too because the radiators only "just fit" width-wise in the hole:
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Yarmouth Fiero
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JAN 01, 09:20 PM
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That all looks great Blooz. I'm sure I'll always kick myself a bit for putting structural members for my rocker mods in the exact spot the radiators were suppose to go. 
On another subject, what are your plans for your fuel fill? I know I am going to barely have room for mine with the current structural changes I have made in that area.
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Bloozberry
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JAN 01, 09:43 PM
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I'm hoping to have enough room to run it like the stock F355, snaking around behind the rad, though I'll probably need a custom bent pipe:
I hope you find a way to keep the stock location for the filler door otherwise we'll be butting heads when we mold our bodies! 
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Yarmouth Fiero
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JAN 01, 09:51 PM
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I did get some good measurements of the filler location off your car and when I had the body at my place last summer. I'll definitely need a custom fill pipe but I think its going to work ok. Otherwise we'll have to carry one of those big funnels with the long flexible pipe. Maybe fill up F1 style. 
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RCR
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JAN 02, 04:55 PM
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Looks great, Blooze. Will you be using the rocker vent for the brakes, or going into the radiator cavity?
Bob
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Bloozberry
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JAN 02, 05:37 PM
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Thanks Bob... I'll be directing the air from the rocker scoops to help feed the radiators. I don't see the need for active brake cooling given the way I intend to drive this car. 
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Yarmouth Fiero
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JAN 03, 09:29 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by Bloozberry:
I don't see the need for active brake cooling given the way I intend to drive this car. |
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Ya, but what about when we come by for a visit and you let me and the boys take your car for a spin over the mountain? We have to know its going to stand up to the task. 
On that subject, do you have a pic of that 355 with regards to the brake cooling? Do they duct the air past the wheel well liner with flexible ducting or does it just end flush with the wheel well liner?
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Bloozberry
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JAN 03, 12:20 PM
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To be honest, I don't know for sure where the brake cooling air comes from. I'm pretty sure it's not through the rocker panel scoops since the area ahead of the wheels is completely blocked off by the radiators. I seem to remember seeing a parts diagram that showed the brake air coming from a pair of NACA scoops in the engine bay floor pan, though I can't find it at the moment. If that's the way it's designed, it would be awfully dirty from the front tires kicking up road dirt. It is clear that the air is ducted to the brakes with flexible hoses from this photo though:
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Bloozberry
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JAN 03, 12:55 PM
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Here's how it's done on the 348, which is probably the same or similar on the 355:
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Yarmouth Fiero
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JAN 03, 03:26 PM
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 [This message has been edited by Yarmouth Fiero (edited 01-03-2015).]
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