Blooze Own: An F355 Six Speed N* Build Thread (Page 72/126)
fieroguru JUN 13, 11:48 AM

quote
Originally posted by Bloozberry:

The only other clearance issue I can foresee is between the aft valve cover and the forward wall of the trunk in one small area. I don't think other Northstar swappers have had interference with the trunk wall, though I'm not sure how many have the wider CHRFA valve covers. Regardless, it should be an easy fix with a clearance bubble in the sheet metal.



madcurl had the same interferance issue and had that corner modified to fit (his might have been less with the engine further to the DS).
carbon JUN 13, 12:25 PM

quote
Originally posted by zkhennings:

Blooze are you using SolidWorks? How do you measure out all of the complex shapes and curves accurately? I would love to have my car in CAD to play with geometries and fitments but I cannot for the life of me figure out how you are getting such precise measurements. Your build is also very awesome!



He has stated numerous times that he just uses, get this, Excel with the grid lines set to a set dimension. I don't know how he does it... it's like getting Photoshop results with MS Paint.
Bloozberry JUN 16, 09:59 PM

quote
Originally posted by zkhennings:
How do you measure out all of the complex shapes and curves accurately?



Painstakingly... with a laser level, bubble level, several long straight-edge rulers, calipers, a bezillion measurements triangulating everything, and lots of patience. If you looked up close, you'd see hundreds of little pencil marks used as reference and index points all over my frame in addition to the ones laid out in the FSM. It's old school, I know, but it works and it's inexpensive when time is on your side.


quote
Originally posted by Fieroguru:
m****** had the same interference issue and had that corner modified to fit (his might have been less with the engine further to the DS).



Thanks Paul... CHRFAB offers two styles of valve covers and the one you posted is different from mine, though perhaps only in the area where the spark plug holes are. Mine have a double-bubble look with a trough running the length of the cover down the middle. Modifying the valve cover is the way to go for those that need to keep the strut towers intact.

Back to the build: So here's where the first problem area was... as I was lowering the car back down over the cradle, I couldn't push the cradle back far enough to get the front mounts into the square extension tubing before the engine would bump up into the trunk wall at the back side. This picture is with the rear trunk wall actually overhanging the engine and the front cradle mounts still wouldn't get past the edge of the square tubing:



So the solution for that problem was simply to cut back the bottom wall of the tubing so I wouldn't have to shove the cradle so far back before being able to lower the car further. This pic is with the cut 3/4's finished:



The next areas were the strut towers. My last post showed how much the passenger side tower interferes with the aft valve cover, so I wanted to remove a portion of both towers at this stage to be able to carry on with the cradle test-fit. Even though I'll probably remove a greater portion of the towers later, I wanted to make nice clean straight, level cuts just in case I changed my mind. There's virtually no way to get a straight line on the compound curves of the tower without a laser level so I first double-checked the level of the car, then set up the laser to give me a line I could trace on the tower. This photo is rather fuzzy because of the low level ambient lighting needed for the camera to capture the laser lines. I only used the vertical line to mark the tower.



I went to make the cuts when my angle grinder decided to pack it in... time for a new one!
zkhennings JUN 17, 12:58 PM
Wow that does sound painstaking. What do you use for references? Are there parts of the car you consider (for example) along the car's central axis you take measurements in reference to? Then you import a text doc into CAD with the xyz points? And bubble levels geez I would go crazy haha.
Bloozberry JUN 17, 02:32 PM

quote
Originally posted by zkhennings:
What do you use for references? Are there parts of the car you consider (for example) along the car's central axis you take measurements in reference to?



I start by mapping the locations and measurements from pages 3J-5 to 3J-8 in the 1988 Body Service manual and use them as a basis for any other measurements and references that I set up on the main frame, and page 2A-3 in the 1988 Service Manual for the cradle.


quote
Originally posted by zkhennings:
Then you import a text doc into CAD with the xyz points?



No... then I sit in front of my computer using it like a high tech Etch-a-sketch and draw out the pieces one by one in three different views. The result is a vector based drawing (not simply a bitmap) which is scalable and easily modified, though has no 3D rendering capability. I would have taken an alternate route had I known I would get into a complete redesign.
Bloozberry JUN 18, 09:22 PM
After marking the cut-line on the strut towers with some masking tape, I got busy with my new 5" grinder and a cut-off wheel... no turning back now!



For the tight spots along the trunk wall, I cut as far as I could with the cut-off wheel and then finished up with a hacksaw:



There was a lot of old undercoating and tar splashed up inside the towers and I almost wasted a couple productive hours trying to clean them about a year ago... good thing I waited because now they're headed for the junk pile.



I was careful to leave the rear tower arches which are structural members joining the upper and lower frame rails, and also interconnect the integral strut tower brace that runs along the trunk wall. Swiss cheese anyone?



I only absolutely needed to remove the LH strut tower for clearance with the engine, but clearly the engine bay would look silly without removing the driver's side one too, so off it came. Here's both parts after the operation:



Finally, an overhead shot showing that it's looking less and less like a Fiero engine bay.



Now I can try fitting the engine/cradle assembly back in to see how much of a headache the trunk wall is going to be. The gaping holes where the towers used to be should help me see where other problem areas are lurking too.
Austrian Import JUN 19, 05:28 PM
Since you took the strut towers out, are you doing a double wishbone rear suspension now?
bubbajoexxx JUN 19, 05:41 PM

quote
Originally posted by Bloozberry:

After marking the cut-line on the strut towers with some masking tape, I got busy with my new 5" grinder and a cut-off wheel... no turning back now!



For the tight spots along the trunk wall, I cut as far as I could with the cut-off wheel and then finished up with a hacksaw:




There was a lot of old undercoating and tar splashed up inside the towers and I almost wasted a couple productive hours trying to clean them about a year ago... good thing I waited because now they're headed for the junk pile.



I was careful to leave the rear tower arches which are structural members joining the upper and lower frame rails, and also interconnect the integral strut tower brace that runs along the trunk wall. Swiss cheese anyone?



I only absolutely needed to remove the LH strut tower for clearance with the engine, but clearly the engine bay would look silly without removing the driver's side one too, so off it came. Here's both parts after the operation:



Finally, an overhead shot showing that it's looking less and less like a Fiero engine bay.



Now I can try fitting the engine/cradle assembly back in to see how much of a headache the trunk wall is going to be. The gaping holes where the towers used to be should help me see where other problem areas are lurking too.



nice job on the removing of the towers will be easy to fill with the cuts you made

[This message has been edited by bubbajoexxx (edited 06-20-2013).]

Bloozberry JUN 19, 05:49 PM

quote
Originally posted by Austrian Import:
Since you took the strut towers out, are you doing a double wishbone rear suspension now?



If you look back to page 14, I started working on the double wishbone rear around August 2012. I went through several iterations before finalizing the design shown on page 16, along with graphs showing the kinematics... so yes... I am planning a double wishbone configuration.
Bloozberry JUN 19, 05:53 PM
Bubbajoe... did you forget something in your last post? All I see is my second to last post quoted back without any other comments... strange.