Problem: Old window trims have turned to dust. Solution?

Day 1



Copy the curve using a paper template, trace that onto some 18ga steel, find centerline, then run that through the beadroller.

Day 2

Mass production!


There are 4 unique curves to the windows so I labeled them on the body A-D then made all the curves at once (2 of A, 2 of B, 6-C, and 6-D)

Day 3

Rolled a bunch of straight lengths into a wide sheet then cut them out using the dandy snip snips. Afterwards they get cut to length and shaped into a tighter curve.

Day 4

Make the second frame, and mark/cut the opposite sides corners to match finished examples.

Day 5



Make the last 2 frames

Day 6

Make inner tabs for each corner that hold the outer trim tight to the body along with making the L shaped mount brackets to bolt in.

Day 7


Finish weld all the joints and tabs.
With thin metal that has nothing surrounding it theres nothing to absorb the heat so they warped a bit. Still they bolt in the same after some fiddling. (Backside looks a bit sad as the welds are deliberately cold)

To show my incredible efficiency as an engineer, there are 20 individual parts per window trim. (Original was 1 stamped part)

Next step will be epoxy primer over the bare metal, install them on the body then finishing bodywork. (Trying to install these after paint would be a very bad time)

Fuel Tank Continues!

18ga steel is being used throughout because its what I had but really 16ga would've been much better. Especially these mount plates should've been thicker.

Things were okay at this stage.

Filled the tank up with water and the baffles did their job of slowing fuel movement side to side pretty well. Flash rust was not a concern because the tank is going to be etched and sealed, seeing the baffles in action was arguably more important. The walls were welded twice in an attempt at being water tight.

The mount plates were welded all the way round on the inside, the plan was to weld the outside too but the heat distortion threw the entire panel way out of whack. It took a few hours with a torch and Mallet to bring it back to flat-ish. As you can see there's still lots of distortion but it's going to be covered in sound deadning and under a false floor anyways. What I should've done was strengthen the panel prior to welding, a few bead rolls combined with some horizontal bracing would've gone a long way.

Started work on Rear frame and roll Bar mount today.

On the 3d modeling front; A fellow oppo from our lurker sect led to someone who was interested in helping. Not much to say about how thats going yet but here are some scale diagrams.

Selling the Cheby led to a crisis of realizing I really do need to own a truck for work and around the house stuff.

Spent time sifting through all of Craigslist in a 300 mile radius with the parameters of Manual, Truck, preferably v8. Nothing was in my price range but decided to send a lowball offer of $2500 on this 84 f250 6.9 4mt listed at $3500.

Success! Previous owner was clear about its issues and had all the paperwork in order. Yesterday was 4hrs of driving each way and the truck felt great. Just got back from the dmv and it's in my name and ready to go.

Lots of little things to fix but none are drivetrain related, granted I know nothing about the diesels of that era other then they sound good.

Finally setup the rear suspension so it can roll around and look pretty.

As far as what itll look like, it should have slightly thinner wheels and the rear will have about 3" less width. Using some guestimation ive mocked up a profile of the body if I use a beetle A and C pillar with extensive modifications in between.

Still tons to do but its getting there

Went on a drive and when it came time to turn around I decided not to, this is something I'd been wanting to do since getting a license. Theres always been a reasons not to go, be it money, unreliable car, work, or bad time of year.
With winter on the way there's already snowfall starting in the mountain passes, so doing it now rather then later seemed good.


The idea has always been to drive more then any great planned event.

Today is from Elko to Salt Lake City then a hotel somewhere in Arizona, the Grand Canyon? Don't want to go too far east because I'd like to be back at the coast before Friday.

The old bed was made of 3/4" strandboard, it had been painted a few times over the years but clearly that was ineffective. All areas that weren't braced could barely hold the weight of a person, Not good when theres zero cabin space either.

Started pulling all the screws "holding" the boards down, whomever years ago decided to tap the screw points and use torx head bolts is a hero. Sure tons broke off but There wasn't the struggle of stripping out a philips head, or only having the torque of a screw driver.

With that done and the rot removed, the crusty flatbed frame was left bare. This photo is after washing off years of accumulated mud and grime.

Did a half-hearted job derusting sections only available with the floor out, then threw on some rustoleum. This way if the bed gets repainted it'll be easier to mask with fresh paint surrounding the floor.

After managing to avoid any amount of woodworking my adult life, the time came. Measured once and cut several times until both sheets of plywood fit. Some of the cut lines are wonky but the bed also is no longer square so perfection was never an option.

Bust out the stain (stopped halfway through the project and went to the hardware store) then lathered both sides up. I didnt see the point of using 50 screws to hold the floor in so after staining the floor, getting it back in was fairly quick. There are a couple screws in the center to hold both sheets level to each other, tabs on both ends dont allow them to escape regardless.

New tires inbound as I was 7 years old when these were new and having a mechanic look it over at the end of the month because I dont know jack about diesels.

Its a slow day in my world quite literally watching paint dry, so heres where the Locost is at. Chassis wise nothing new to show as I've not had room to work for a little while, in the mean time theres been fiddling with design and trying to iron things out ahead of time. The most interesting of which is the body.
Deviating a bit from the first profile is some rough shading to illustrate how the curves interact and reworking the rear end for what I assume generates less lift. Aero is going to be important as this will have a slightly better p/w ratio then an srt Viper with gearing that tops out at 190mph if it dosent lift off beforehand.

This is the current aim using beetle glass for everything but the quarters, Volkswagon bus taillights, then standard 7" halogen headlights with 4" fog beams. The body will be formed of 18ga steel, why not Aluminum? Because there is no supply within 100 miles and Id need to invest in a proper ac TIG, plus itll always be easier to fix, modify, and paint.

Trying to figure out a good side "barrel" shape and width with the above and below examples. What is clear, is that venting behind the front fender is going to be necessary, the exhaust will run parallel to the footwell behind vented bodywork along the bottom of the side slab. But without sufficient air movement, perhaps from the radiator venting towards the sides, it may turn into a kiln.

Here is a bit of crude playing around to see what these shapes look like in practice, of note is that the Corvette wheels provide a rear track 2" wider then the target, and the wheels have to be replaced before the body begins. Many cars like this will use placeholder wheels with the same desired offset but I cant find what i need locally and am very specific about the wheel offsets.

Moving on to the interior, this has been difficult. There are at least 8 art pads filled to the brim with sketchs of cars and planes in my closet, there are very few attempts of an interior in all those pages. Nevertheless this is whats brewing.

While the cluster design isnt attractive the dash shape is a contender if only for its ease of manufacture. The padding around the footwell is a feature likely going into the car, perhaps using roll cage impact foam wrapped in auto Leather. (not sure on an interior color yet, but it wont be black)

This design has the gauges inset a bit with a shield for glare, the smaller gauges are also better oriented if we ignore the handbrake..... Speaking of which, Yes its in the dash because theres absolutely zero room elsewhere. While the exterior design will resemble whats shown above, the interior is very subject to change, none of what I've come up with is striking a chord yet.

And thats up to speed on the design, everything else is ruminations on interior color, what materials, which features, period correct-ish switchgear, blah blah blah. Should be back at it in a month, at which point a 3d model will also exist to help with the wireform buck.

Did some Cardboard Aided Design.

Still don't have a sheet brake so making the angles took a while and there are minor dents from the mallet. Its 19-20 gallon capacity using 18ga steel, pump is a walbro 255 on an sc400 hanger.

At least 2 Baffles will be added to do baffle things, but also Reinforcement. Along with that maybe steel bands around mounting areas? Not sure about that yet as the bigger fish to fry is making an access panel to the pump, grafting in a filler neck, and level sender(tank looks dimensionally off in pics but its the camera)

Nothings been notched out or properly fitted so its just dangling, looks better then I expected though.

Where we left off, The fuel tank is complete and the trunk frame along with roll bar plates were partially built. Here it is with supports in place and ready for sheetmetal.
The steering racks 3rd brace had been boggling my little mind for months now. The space constraints, not being overly complex, not welding on the rack, and allowing for easy rack removal were enough that it stayed on the bottom of any to-do list. Two tabs welded against the frame brace allow or a pinch point while the clamp... clamps.

Still some cleanup to do, dowels for the bolts, and welding the bits 'n bobs but the hard part is complete.(meaning I'll put off the "easy" stuff for another couple months)

The e36 radiator is wider then the frame by a good margin so figuring a support structure wasn't immediately apparent, most locosts use thin Civic rads but that won't take my desired power output, more importantly it's not what's lying around. This e36 Rad on the other hand, did fine in the ttsc400 and languishes in the corner. My initial goal was to deal with the weird mount points and as a result we have this angle iron monstrosity (ignore it). The bracing was first sketched out and then mocked up here in tape, its been "designed" to deal with a triangulated tow point forward of the radiator, though that's obviously not in the mockup.


The monstrosity is now gone, enter; Predator Grille

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Thats about where I'm at for now, nothing earth shattering as it winds down into smaller projects. (brake lines, sheeting the frame, handbrake etc.)

@mm54 this speaks to me on all levels

@cash-rewards He used to post to oppo on kinja for a while, there's a non zero chance he'd check it out.

@way2blu Life is various stages sanding, trying to transition from shade tree mechanic to something respectable, outreach takes its time and growth absorbs money.
So for now, more sanding.

@nth256 If tire technology for the hummers weight rating is up to par, it can. As a rule of thumb a brake system is capable of overpowering the tires several times over, it should be able to stop quite well once before the rotors can't absorb any more heat.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.caranddriver.com/features/amp35048882/tahoe-yukon-escalade-braking-performance/
Course, none of that matters when the drivers distracted. Really hope they pack in some auto braking/collision avoidance

@the-crazy-kanuck Beautiful maniac, is it going solid axle?

@exage03040 Neighbor has a tuned up Focus RS and it sounds great but at the end of the day it looks like a Focus, and some tightly wound 4 cylinder is always a question of when it'll pop.

@100percentjake Mk2 murder sofa is doing alot better then the first, even broken thats pretty quick

@mybirdistheword Its Carved from a single slab of Granite

@bahamatodd everyone else's safety is secondary to my girth

@highlander Those wheels are very correct