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The "Whatever" Project

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  • dave.g.in.gansevoort
    replied
    Take two T5 transmissions and call me in the morning...

    Leave a comment:


  • DanStokes
    replied
    Originally posted by dave.g.in.gansevoort View Post
    It's a sickness! A SICKNESS, I tell you! Yesterday after visiting my dentist for a chipped front tooth (all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth...), I stopped by the garage that does my dd service. Got talking to another one of his customers, and found out that guy is also building a t-bucket. But that's another story.

    I'm getting a V-8 Camaro T5 from him Monday or Tuesday. $100! Now I have 44 different transmissions, and only need one. Of course parts will be swapped between the 2 T5s to get good V-8 gearing with the S10 T5 shifter location. And I will have an S10 T5 with a Camaro tailhousing...

    And 2 T10s! It's a sickness, I tell you...
    Here, take your medicine and all will be well........

    Leave a comment:


  • dave.g.in.gansevoort
    replied
    It's a sickness! A SICKNESS, I tell you! Yesterday after visiting my dentist for a chipped front tooth (all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth...), I stopped by the garage that does my dd service. Got talking to another one of his customers, and found out that guy is also building a t-bucket. But that's another story.

    I'm getting a V-8 Camaro T5 from him Monday or Tuesday. $100! Now I have 44 different transmissions, and only need one. Of course parts will be swapped between the 2 T5s to get good V-8 gearing with the S10 T5 shifter location. And I will have an S10 T5 with a Camaro tailhousing...

    And 2 T10s! It's a sickness, I tell you...

    Leave a comment:


  • DanStokes
    replied
    One of the bad things on Mutt the Race Truck is that with the notched Mercedes pan the cross link will only go just SO far 'till it hits the pan. There's no really good fix and if it was street driven it would be an issue but as a track-only truck the large turning circle is acceptable if not ideal. Sounds like Whatever is way ahead of that. BTW, part of the Bonneville tech inspection is to check that the steering can't lock up at full lock as they tend to run a ton of caster.
    Last edited by DanStokes; October 7, 2022, 04:59 PM.

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  • dave.g.in.gansevoort
    replied
    Pictures of today's progress.
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ID:	1327003 Cut the floors out today. Got it roughed in to see if there's room for my feet on the clutch and brake pedals. Yes! And a spoon gas pedal to the right of the brake pedal over the bellhousing.

    Next was to put the radiator mockup in the nose and see if it clears and will get all of the airflow thru the nose. The way I envision the side panels and hood (remember the paper hood from earlier? ) , it should work just fine.
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    Found a couple clearance issues. One was a bind every half turn of the steering wheel. It was the connecting shaft. It was a little bit too long, and the cross was hitting the end of the shaft where it stuck thru. Easy fix, just shortened the shaft so it's flush in the u-joint. I created this problem when I was fussing with the steering column support a while back. I hadn't turned the steering thru any angle since then because the whatever is up on jack stands. Oops... all fixed!

    But I found that the pitman arm just touches the lower frame tube at full lock to the right. I'll come up with a solution, either notch the tube to clear the pitman arm, or add a crossmember that will act as a stop. What I don't want is for the pitman arm to get wedged over the tube and lock up the steering.

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ID:	1327007 It does keep the tire from hitting the hairpin tho...

    So there's a problem to be solved. Nothing difficult this time. Probably should make a stop for both directions. I can steer it to about 45 degrees either way.

    Leave a comment:


  • dave.g.in.gansevoort
    replied
    Last batch of pictures for today. It's just the posterboard templates for the floor. It should save me from destroying the aluminum tread plate I was given for the floor.
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ID:	1326837 Picture if you will, a heavy steel tunnel bolted to the 2 hoops over the driveshaft. And some significantly sized bar stock under the floor just behind the front u-joint. Yeah I don't think I'll have any problems if I should ever break a universal or destroy the driveshaft. I'm going to have to get a transmission tunnel rolled out of something, so that is another template I need to make.

    Progress!

    Leave a comment:


  • dave.g.in.gansevoort
    replied
    Doing this in smaller bites because the picture file sizes seem too big. Next pictures:
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ID:	1326834 Most of that new steel between the main frame rails and the transmission is floor support structure and basis for the driveshaft blast shield. I still have diagonals and braces to add, but most of the structure is tacked into place.

    Next post will tell the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to, about the floor mockup.

    Leave a comment:


  • dave.g.in.gansevoort
    replied
    Cleanup mode is over. Back to making a mess. And floors! I'll start with pictures of the progress and expound upon such as needs explicitly.
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ID:	1326830 Not much to discuss here. This is the shape of the opening in the nose after making a grill perimeter piece. I'm happy with the results and next is to make 1 horizontal cross bar and 8 to 10 vertical bars. That's bench work for when my back is bothering me.

    Next post, floor stuff...

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  • DanStokes
    replied
    Wanna come and clean mine? I mean, as long as you're in the mood.

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  • dave.g.in.gansevoort
    replied
    Just a couple of pictures of the rear suspension, after installing the new lowered chassis mounts and the left side redrilled axle bracket to make the arcs of the left and right sides match. Look closely and you can see the garage is clean also...
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  • dave.g.in.gansevoort
    replied
    Okay so we picked up the new dd today. It has so many geegaas, and whamdoodles that the Whatever project is NEVER going to have. Speaking of the Whatever project, the next task is to dig out a section of 1 inch tube for the driveshaft/tunnel hoop. And get a section of 1/4×2 steel for the safety hoop at the front of the driveshaft. I've measured and sketched out the structure for all of that and the floor support. That's this week's game plan.

    Leave a comment:


  • dave.g.in.gansevoort
    replied
    Originally posted by Russell View Post
    I am just glad I have a car to take to the track. I am trying really hard to keep it turn key and not let better get in the way of running.

    It seemed like the 9" ford is the way to go for drag cars. It currently has an 8.8 with some good parts so it's good enough for now.
    I learned years ago that better is the enemy of good enough. I have to keep telling myself that. I designed an open tube rear axle decades ago. I based it on Ford 9-inch gears. I wanted a non-quickchange rear axle for short track racing and wanted proven gears that were readily available in a wide range of ratios. Never built it. Maybe I should consider it again...

    Nah, I'm never going to get involved in that kind of racing again.

    Leave a comment:


  • Russell
    replied
    I am just glad I have a car to take to the track. I am trying really hard to keep it turn key and not let better get in the way of running.

    It seemed like the 9" ford is the way to go for drag cars. It currently has an 8.8 with some good parts so it's good enough for now.

    Leave a comment:


  • dave.g.in.gansevoort
    replied
    Originally posted by Captain View Post
    Nice vintage picture.
    Not much for a "Booger Bar Bumper" up front !!
    ​​​​​and is that the "Mud Screen" for the Windshield or the radiator laying on the front suspension.
    also liked the inverted torsion bar on top for more Ground Clearance to lower the car.
    This picture is from Lebanon Valley and it's end of the season race the Valley 200. It was late October 1974, and by this time of the season everyone's cars were beat, bruised and bent. This car actually looked pretty good for probably it's 2nd or 3rd from last race of the season. I'd have to guess at this point that the mud screen was for the driver not the radiator, as it looks too big for up front.

    As mentioned above, this car had Falcon front spindles, for a valid reason. The suspension loads were thru the upper ball joints, as they were in compression. Just like the early Mustangs, which were reskinned Falcons for all practical purposes. If you could see the upper a-arms clearly (my bad. Old pictures by idiot photographer, me), you'd see a bell crank attached to it and a really near installation of a coil spring horizontally with a threaded rod thru it for load jacking. Springs were just junkyard parts picked by some semblance of theory for spring rate. So the sway bar was up high to clear crap in the nose, and to get it's load effects into the upper ball joints.

    And aerodynamics weren't a consideration on short tracks in those days.

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  • Captain
    replied
    Nice vintage picture.
    Not much for a "Booger Bar Bumper" up front !!
    ​​​​​and is that the "Mud Screen" for the Windshield or the radiator laying on the front suspension.
    also liked the inverted torsion bar on top for more Ground Clearance to lower the car.

    Leave a comment:

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