Blooze Own: An F355 Six Speed N* Build Thread (Page 85/126)
Bloozberry NOV 21, 02:08 PM
Thanks Bob! As for those high-tech jounce limiters ccfiero, those look pretty cool... I'll have to look into whether I can afford them, and whether I have the space to incorporate them in the engine bay... maybe on a separate arm attached to the bell crank.

I've been busy planning the shock bell crank mounts for some time now... playing with different ideas. One thing I realized quite early on was that the crank pivot has to be secured from the top and the bottom to ensure the rigidity and safety of the system. That means having one mount come up from the lower frame rail (as I've already shown), but also dropping one down from the upper frame rail too. The portion of the upper frame rail that's usually hidden inside the strut tower is a great location for this upper crank mount since it's surrounded by the heavy gauge steel used in make-up of the strut tower and it's an area that's well braced. Vertically, the fore and aft walls of the strut tower are formed of heavy, curved steel "channels" that interconnect the upper and lower frame rails together, and laterally, there is the cross-car strut tower brace that's integral to the trunk wall.

In my conversion to the SLA set up, I maintained the integral cross-car brace in the trunk (so far), and the rear curved "channel" of the strut tower that connects the upper and lower frame rails. I did cut away the forward strut tower channel to make room for my upper links, but I plan to have my bell crank mounts bridge the gap and restore the structure lost to make way for the arms. The rusty condition of the inboard wall of the upper rail in that area led me to be a little concerned about the integrity of the entire area though, since much of it is covered in OEM seam sealer.



To be on the safe side, I decided to take the time to remove all of the sealer on both rails to get a feel for how deep the corrosion might have gone between these interconnecting structures:



I was happy to find that the rust was limited to the one area I've already addressed. After priming, I now have peace of mind to continue my plan to install the upper bell crank mount to this general area without fear that it will simply break apart from underlying rust.



The next thing that had been eating away at my subconciousness was whether I should make the necessary clearance to the underside of the upper frame rail to allow the tire to move into it's full design range of jounce, namely 3". If you recall, in my previous post I cycled the suspension through 2.25" of jounce before the tire made contact with the underside of the frame rail:



After spending a fair bit of time coming up with what I believe to be a solid plan to reinforce the area and provide a suitable mounting surface for an upper bell crank mount, I decided to notch the upper frame rail:



Here's what it looks like from the outside:



And from inside the engine bay:



With the notch removed, the wheel can take advantage of the full range of suspension travel that I had envisioned from the start. If you recall, my earlier drawings also forecasted the need for this notch. It was just a matter of deciding whether I would allow the full range of travel or not. By notching the rail, I keep the door open:



So, with the inboard and bottom walls of the frame rail removed completely, and the outside wall reduced to about half of it's original height, my next step was to regain the structural rigidity I'd lost. My solution was to use a 2" x 3" x 1/8" wall rectangular tube to bridge the space between the strut tower brace (integral with the trunk and aft strut tower wall) and the forward strut tower wall, like so:



I still had to clearance the new stiffener for the tire:



But from this view you can see how much wider the frame rail will be than before, and how there are now three vertical walls that will make up the rail:



The next post will show how I intend to close off the rail and the stiffener, and how the bell crank mounts will support the forward end of the stiffener, as well as bridge the gap between the upper and lower frame rails.
RCR NOV 22, 07:59 AM
Nice image placement...



Bob

[This message has been edited by RCR (edited 11-22-2013).]

Yarmouth Fiero NOV 22, 11:36 AM
I see that you notched the outer edge of your 2" x 3" HSS structure for your wheel / tire clearance but will there be a wheel tub in there someday to?
Bloozberry NOV 22, 12:07 PM
There will, but as I learned with my 308 kit, the wheel tub doesn't need to be anything more than a thin sheet of flat fiberglass flexed into a half-cylindrical shape and bonded into place. It doesn't need to extend the full depth of the wheel house either, just as long as it meets up with the sheet metal that comprises the rest of the wheel house. What I'm trying to say is that the fiberglass tub doesn't need to have all the complex shapes to cover everything... only enough to cover the areas that are open into the engine bay and body flanks. Once bonded in place, the entire wheel house can be sprayed with a rubberized rocker guard to minimize the transfer of sound into the cabin from stones and such, and to hide whatever seams may show when the wheel is off the car.

Is that what you were getting at? I do plan to close up the steel stiffener and upper frame rail with sheet metal, if that's your concern.

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 11-22-2013).]

Yarmouth Fiero NOV 22, 12:51 PM
I was just wondering if you would be using a wheel tub even though your suspension will be quite different than my set up.

Also, save the notched out piece in case I have to trace it onto my chassis
Bloozberry NOV 24, 10:38 AM
No probs YF... piece saved.

Here's a quick couple shots showing how I'm closing off the upper frame rail and the stiffener. First, I trimmed the crescent-shaped portion I cut out of the rectangular tubing, and then recessed it and tacked it back onto the stiffener:



Then I made a cardboard template to mock up the shape of the floor that will bridge the stiffener to the frame rail and close off the area. Once I was happy with the fit, I traced the shape onto some 1/8" thick steel plate, cut it out, and rolled it to the right curvature:



Here's what the rail's floor piece looks like mocked up. One of the things I want to do is weld the floor piece to all three vertical walls (the original outside wall, plus the two walls of the stiffener) for added rigidity. The way I plan to weld the middle wall to the floor is by drilling some small holes in the floor in-line and underneath it, that way I can rosette-weld the two together despite very limited access once the floor is in place. I've also got to prime and paint the inside surfaces before it gets welded up too.



Here's a direct side-on view:
katatak NOV 25, 09:15 PM
Just when I start "loosing" some interest in my "shade tree" roadster project, I get caught up on this thread and get enthused again. Thanks again for sharing your work Blooz - I always find "answers" to whatever it is I am struggling with on my project - in your threads. I got lost looking through all the suspension geometry drawings but now I can see it in "production" form - Truly great work! I'm headed out to the cold garage right now to get the heater going for a late night work session.

Pat
Bloozberry NOV 25, 09:40 PM
...and just when I start to wonder whether keeping this thread alive is worth all the extra effort, feedback like yours spurs me on! Thanks Katatak for your kind words... now I'm off to catch up on your thread...
Bloozberry NOV 25, 10:21 PM
I just couldn't resist popping open the thread one more time to get the 90,000th view! Cool! I feel better now.
Reallybig NOV 26, 01:45 AM

quote
Originally posted by Bloozberry:

...and just when I start to wonder whether keeping this thread alive is worth all the extra effort, feedback like yours spurs me on! Thanks Katatak for your kind words... now I'm off to catch up on your thread...



There's no question you have to keep it alive! It's one of the great threads out there. Kinda like having a window into the mind of a mad scientist. (the ones that do cool experiments) With all this attention to the details that aren't seen, I can only imagine how amazing the finished product is going to be!