NS F355 Project (Page 70/73)
Yarmouth Fiero FEB 02, 04:51 PM
ha-ha-ha-ha. I love this chatter ha-ha-ha. Ya, that is a serious eraser for some serious mistakes. Not so long ago, we would loft ( draw ) a vessels lines plan ( 3 views ) full size on the loft floor which was painted white. From that, we could make full size templates for the longitudinal and transverse frames of the vessel. The lines were often drawn several times so there was alot of lines to erase and redraw. We'd plot vessels up to 65 ft in this manner. Now of course its all done on the computer and the parts are cut using a large cutting table using a plasma cutter or laser. Before these, it was all oxy-acetylene cutting heads. At the time, lofting was considered a high tech skill because before that, ship builders only used a scaled half model of the hull to build a full size vessel.

So the odd item I posted above was often used for the lofting exercise. Using a long plastic spline ( strip of plastic with a groove down one edge) the 'spline weights' or ducks as they were commonly called would be positioned alone the spline to hold the shape so the draft-person could trace the shape on to paper or a loft floor. It was a very slow and tedious process but allowed you to develope a keen eye for a fair line. I am sure that automotive and even aviation designers used a similar set of tools.





Looking back, I am sure making the weights from lead meant that they didn't leave rust stains on the paper..... but the lead on our hands is probably why most boat builders went mad...mad I say....
Neils88 FEB 02, 08:30 PM

quote
Originally posted by Yarmouth Fiero:

On the topic of outdated yet useful tools, anyone care to guess what this is called or used for? You can scale from the sheet of paper it is sitting on for the approximate size. Hint....... It is made from good old fashion lead btw.




Spline weights! I studied yacht design...I have a set myself. Anyone have a planimeter kicking around?
Yarmouth Fiero FEB 02, 08:44 PM
You got it Neils88. I think there are still enough bits and pieces of a planimeter in the back of the drawer but I never had the patients to use one accurately.
Bloozberry FEB 02, 09:05 PM
Learn something new everyday. Useless... but new.
zkhennings FEB 03, 02:34 PM
I would maybe suggest getting 88 rear knuckles and emulating the 88 rear suspension, Blooz should have all the suspension pivot locations in his CAD drawings.

This would have benefits such as utilizing the stock 88 calipers with ebrake and using 12 or 13" brake rotors, and improved suspension design.

If you stick with the stock 84-87 knuckles then you are forced to use stock size solid rear rotors if you want a parking brake, and you still have a backwards front end suspension on the back of your 355 Ferrari....

Food for thought!

I think you could easily get it done

If it were myself I would make the lateral links the same length and parallel to have no rear toe movement, and then you just need to decide antisquat % based off ride height trailing arm angle and length. I think it would be easier in the end than the current plan, and less unsprung weight.

[This message has been edited by zkhennings (edited 02-03-2015).]

85-308 FEB 03, 02:51 PM
There are lots of rear brake options aside from the stock fiero ones; what ARE your plans for rear brakes? A possibility is the 05 Chev Uplander rear caliper; c/w built-in e brake; made to stop a much heavier vehicle.... very readily available. An adapter would be needed but that would be the case for any non-stock caliper....
I was toying with the idea of replicating the 88 rear myself, but the main issue is reducing or eliminating that annoying bumpsteer, and you are working at that... so it won't really matter which way you go now, I think.

i have some of the uplander calipers if you need any size info. They are available all over for $25 at wreckers; for cores or measuring etc.
GP
Yarmouth Fiero FEB 03, 03:23 PM
Rear brakes? See page 11.
85-308 FEB 03, 06:14 PM
those spot calipers are acceptable? I don't know; just asking. Last time I checked here, in ON, they weren't. Maybe they just didn't have a certain certification then, I have no idea.
Decided to go with some OEM type that won't get an argument, at least to get thru the safety check....
Bloozberry FEB 03, 07:11 PM
Even if they weren't, I think it would be pretty easy to adapt a small hydraulic caliper such as one from a motorcycle or ATV. The small master cylinder could be attached to a push rod on the parking brake handle. You'd need to find a caliper that was of a split design so you could adapt the thickness to your rotor.
Yarmouth Fiero FEB 21, 09:26 PM
Well today I finally got my new aluminum engine cradle welded together. The main rails are 3" x 4" x 1/4" HSS and tapered down to 2" x 4" x 1/4" at the forward bushings. The transverse members are 2" x 3" x 3/16" HSS and are only tacked in place to hold everything together. Their final location will be determined by the requirements of the engine / gearbox mounts and it will be a while before I get to that stage. The rear cradle supports still need to be drilled to accept the poly bushings. The lugs for the control arms are only sitting in place for the photos. Again, their exact location will be determined once the new control arms are finished. They have been drilled oversize to accept SS inserts which have not been pressed in yet. This will prevent the control arm bolts from wearing the holes in the aluminum lugs. The control arm bushings have been fabricated from 2" sch 80 seamless SS pipe. I designed the bushings to be slightly longer than stock to suit the increased dimensions on the control arm structure. I bought two sets of poly bushings and cut them shorter so that I could install two bushings, one from each side. I had new bushing inner sleaves machined to suit the new total poly bushing length.

I haven't weighed the new cradle yet but will try to get that done so I can compare it to the weight of the stock cradle.

I appologize for the poor quality of the photos. My email is down so I had to text them to myself.









[This message has been edited by Yarmouth Fiero (edited 02-21-2015).]