Archive for the ‘Project Shelby’ Category

Fabrication of the engine bay is almost complete. I still have lots of sanding and detail work to do. I was real happy to see it turn out so sweet. I used the original mounting piece where the hood hinges go and made a new pieces from their forward. For the control arm relief area I cut a groove in a 3/8″ steel line and welded it in to place. It makes the cut out nice and clean with those rounded edges. It was tough to fabricate each side. I used one full piece of metal and cut and bent it to fit. I have a few more small fabrications to go and I should be ready for paint before to long.

To read more about Project Shelby and see some of my fun fabricated stuff, click here.

The floor pans are 98% complete and the focus moved to rough fitting the trim panels and the back seat. The original Shelby’s rear seat fold down and due to the extensive frame modifications the original rear seat no longer fits in its place. I thought about modifying the original, but after a few moments of pondering I decide it would not be worth the time or effort. I traced the contour of the seat to a piece of card board and using the break bent the metal to the basic shape. Then I used four ribs to give it strength.
The seat was actually comfortable even without any padding.

The next step was getting the back to fold up and down. I made a frame for the back pad to attach to and used the original hinge for it to pivot on. It turned out so well when I was done I exclaimed “Damn I am good” with my arms thrown in the air (rare moment for me).

Once I finish with all the fabricating and get some paint on the car I will show how to finish the rear seat with padding and upholstery.

To read more about Project Shelby.

Technorati Tags: back seat, Shelby’s, modifying, fabricating

It was a relief having completed the fabrication on a big section of the floor pan. It took about three days to measure, bend and roll the section that goes over the drive shaft hump and up the rear frame rails. I spent all day today welding it in place; I just needed to weld one little section when I ran out of wire on the welder. That seemed to be a good time to call it quits. I would try to explain how I made it, but just the thought of trying to do that now makes my head hurt. I will write a “how to” on a less complicated section and include some good pictures. It was a real pain to make and get it to fit tight in that odd ball space, but hey, it is still better than watching American Idol.

Here are the before and after pictures of the floor pan install.

It is quite easy to fabricate your own parts if you have the right tools and motivation. Since this is a custom build finding mounts that will work is out of the question. The hardest part of the whole process is getting the frame, engine and transmission square and level. Since the differential will not travel with the wheels, I added three degrees of angle up and the motor will have three degrees angle down. This will allow for good bearing movement in the U joints and add to their longevity. I found two bolts on back of the block and two in front of the block that were equal from the crank centerline to measure from. The transmission rear yoke was my rear center line measuring point. Once everything is square and true, the fabrication process can begin.

Motor Mount

1. Make sure the block and transmission are square and true.
2. Bolt plates to both sides of the block, this will be your top mounting point.
3. Make a plate that will attach to the crossmember and bolt it in place.
4. Cut a strip of poster board the same thickness as your brace tubing and mark your angles between the two mounting points.
5. Once you have the correct angles you can cut the brace.
6. Fit brace between both plates and tack weld in place.
7. Remove the mount completly from car and weld. Use short beads and work your way around so the heat will not distort your peice.
8. Two gussets were welded to the top and one long one was used on the bottom to reinforce brace
9. Repeat steps for other side. When you cut and make your peices make two of each, one for each side

Transmission Mount

1. Make sure the block and transmission are square and true.
2. Bolt a plate to the transmission with a 90 degree angle coming off of it.
3. A straight bar runs between both frame rails with nuts welded in the ends.
4. Clamp the bar on the 90 degree bend on the mounting plate and check your levels.
5. Mark your frame rails where the bar meets to make your bolt holes and remove bar.
6. Drill your holes and bolt your bar back in place.
7. Make your export brace with 45 degree angles at both ends and weld nuts in to one end of both braces.
8. Dry fit your brace and mark your bolt holes and drill them.
9. Bolt your brace in to place and tack weld to bar.
10. Remove bar and brace and weld completly making sure not to overheat and distort.
11. Bolt back in to place and clamp to your transmission plate.
12. Recheck all your levels and angles and tack weld the brace to your transmission plate.
13. Remove it all again and complete your weld and add any gussets.
14. Reattach the completed mount and make sure that all your bolt holes and levels line up.

It really is that easy and any one can do it, you just need time and patience to make sure everything comes out perfect.

With the Heidts Mustang II setup for the front, and the Cobra Independent rear suspension (IRS) in the shop, I was ready to begin the tedious task of trying to make it all fit. The Heidts kit was pretty straight forward and was designed to be easily adapted to fit and reinforce the frame. As for the rear end, it would not fit with any stock configuration, so I decided to get rid of everything from the rockers down and build from the bottom up.

Before any cutting or removing of any components could be done, many measurements had to be taken. Starting with a basic sketch of the front end and a tape measure, the recording process began. The front half of the car was going to remain in a stock configuration and was fairly easy to duplicate. Having all the pieces cut and laid out, the assembly process began. Using levels and squares, the pain staking process of welding was underway. Small tack welds were used to keep things square during the assembly process. Once the front section was assembled and square, I went back through and finished my welds. I jumped around to different sections to ensure no warping would occur from the heat caused by the welder. The frame was complete from the rear axle forward.

The tricky part was trying to figure out how to position the IRS to match the front suspension. After hours of pondering and measuring, I came to the conclusion that it would be easier to attach what was made to the car. This required welding in reinforcements to the shell and removing the floor pans, frame rails and rocker panels. New rocker panels were in hand and every other aspect was going to be fabricated. Once the shell had received the new rocker panels with no floor and the frame rails removed, the process of aligning the body to the frame began. Lots of reference points were marked during the planning and measuring stage, which helped merge the two pieces together. At one point in time I had nine levels scattered about to keep things true. Supports were added to attach the frame to the shell and the reinforcements used to keep the shell square were also removed.

The IRS was positioned under the car in its correct position and brackets were made to attach the front mounts to the frame. This kept the rear end from moving until the frame could be extended past the axle to the rear bumper. Because of the location of mounting for the springs and shocks, and the geometry of the IRS, it was a basic step up and over the rear end. After checking for square and true position, brackets were added to the rear mounting points of the IRS.

With the frame complete, gussets and reinforcements were added to triangulate and reinforce the frame, brackets and body. After a month or so we could finally see the car role on its own, with all four tires on the ground.