Plastic Fantastic tew

[SuperBuickGuy]

I rarely ask opinions - mostly because they're someone else's preference (which is fine, and I have my own).

But here, I'm kind of stumped.

the angle


do I match the B pillar window frame or the tail light panel with the struts?

[SuperBuickGuy]

time to give it wings.. or a wing
aluminum angle

some solid eyeball calibrating followed by serious staring


wing held on by hopes and prayers with an assist by gravity


it's about here I'm considering whether or not I like the stands.... they need to parallel something, e.g. the rear valence and let me be SUPER clear, I approved the design. CIRO did what I asked them to do...

my brave act of the night

now in place


thankfully, I have a plasma table... basically the wing will end above the end of the deck - so it will move horizontally.... no big deal

love it


a good view - the stands will mirror the rear angle - also, I have to build an 8" version for Optima.

paint is dry so I can finish this as well

[SuperBuickGuy]

This reminded me of the first fuel tank we made for the dirt modified. We ran methanol and the Firestone fuel cell foam and bladder would have failed within weeks if we tried it on fuel, so some 1/8 inch 6061 was procured. We made a rectangular tank that held 30 gallons of methanol. It had baffling but not fastened to the top adequately. It split the top right side seam in about 4 nights of hard left turns at the Valley. It got replaced with a 40 gallon sprint car tail tank.

Which had no baffling. We did what the sprint car guys did, stuffed a bunch of wiffle balls in it. The methanol doesn't affect them, they are mostly void, and they don't move around. Perfect baffles...

of course all the kids who donated wiffle balls might have wondered where their wiffle balls went!

wiffle thief - childhood ruined, they trust no one anymore.... let me guess, they're all politicians now....

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Tanks, Dan.

time to install the baffles

welded

braces... if you don't brace the tank (or don't brace it enough) eventually it will leak due to fatigue cracking

because I'm using hydramat, baffles have to account for that - more directly, no sump but side to side motion needs to be minimized

welded in place. tomorrow sealant and end caps

got the wheels stripped today - off to powder coating tomorrow (I hope)

This reminded me of the first fuel tank we made for the dirt modified. We ran methanol and the Firestone fuel cell foam and bladder would have failed within weeks if we tried it on fuel, so some 1/8 inch 6061 was procured. We made a rectangular tank that held 30 gallons of methanol. It had baffling but not fastened to the top adequately. It split the top right side seam in about 4 nights of hard left turns at the Valley. It got replaced with a 40 gallon sprint car tail tank.

Which had no baffling. We did what the sprint car guys did, stuffed a bunch of wiffle balls in it. The methanol doesn't affect them, they are mostly void, and they don't move around. Perfect baffles...

of course all the kids who donated wiffle balls might have wondered where their wiffle balls went!

[DanStokes]

The new battery just couldn't be 1" narrower now could it?

Dan

[SuperBuickGuy]

Battery, cont.

it's like 1" wider... so a new tray is in order

and off

new tray

and installed and painted

at the swap meet today, I took a chance on several of these...

makes getting the burn off a lot easier

and reverse light....

[SuperBuickGuy]

I see the new tank is more contoured to the car than what you took out. Much better.

aero, it's the top of a yet-to-be-built defuser... eventually, this will have a full belly pan - I bought the metal recently, if I have a chance, it will be on the car before July

[gconnsr]

I see the new tank is more contoured to the car than what you took out. Much better.

[SuperBuickGuy]

tonight started mapping how I'm going to accomplish the tasks

was kind of hoping there would be some 'dos' and 'dont's' from the seller... guess not - this needs to attach to the deck and be supported underneath to the frame

here

the optima battery is 1" wider... so new battery box coming


part of tonight was a failed attempt to figure out whether the wire with a knot or the brown wire were the reverse light wires... I have a schematic - but who knows where


tomorrow I will spend some time on this but most of the day will be spent looking for used parts that I don't need....

[SuperBuickGuy]

time to test fit

old tank

and out

get the fuel out... was joking with my dad that between the fuel in the tank and the nickel in the tank I should be concerned they'll both disappear

now you can see what the plan was

even got pretty close lining up the fill spout - the plan all along was an offset then straight into a coupling and the filler

[1946Austin]

Nice work on the tank! Been just lurking and enjoying seeing how you put it together.

[SuperBuickGuy]

onward

welded 1/2 last night, other half tonight - and did it over a couple hours so I didn't get warping


pretty welds leak. My goal here was full penetration - thus the weld has some grey in it - key here is the HAZ is even (heat affected zone)

and all those black marks are holes - to check for leaks - I look for holes or HAZ changes

for whatever reason, this side didn't have any

then I put 7 or 8 psi in the tank, spray soapy water on the seams and blow bubbles

hmmm more bubbles

leaks fixed, clean up the tank.... next up, removal of the old tank eventually this will have tabs on the bottom so I can attach a defuser and also attach the rear panel to it

[SuperBuickGuy]

time to cap

key here is to not go fast


and be clean

hopefully crack checking tomorrow night

[SuperBuickGuy]

Tanks, Dan.

time to install the baffles

welded

braces... if you don't brace the tank (or don't brace it enough) eventually it will leak due to fatigue cracking

because I'm using hydramat, baffles have to account for that - more directly, no sump but side to side motion needs to be minimized

welded in place. tomorrow sealant and end caps

got the wheels stripped today - off to powder coating tomorrow (I hope)

[DanStokes]

The inside of that tank baffles me. (Hey, it had to be said......)

Dan