New World Datsuns...

Bottom legs.

Having a little difficulty with good welds. Using my weenie extension cord and really this mig is good for 3/16, which is not 1/4". I think I should get a crappy stick welder from harbor freight for these large things. Oh well.

I'm going to remove it now and flip it over for some additional welding and clean up some welds that didn't penetrate that well. Still, it's about done, then I can go test fit it on the Ford axle and see how far off things are.

So after I popped the breaker in the garage from welding too much, I rewelded the sections I wanted to and that worked just fine. However I've made a mistake. For the pieces of the bottom mounts I use square tubing rectangular actually which was great. the problem is I tied it together with the c channel piece that was pretty thick but as you all know I'm sure c channel flexes quite a bit. So I'm thinking I'll find some metal to box in the c channel to make it more rigid. After I got it unbolted it was apparent it has a pretty good amount of wiggle.

The welder is also working better now since I've had some time to cool off. I wonder if I can make a water cooling system for this?
I should have used the c channel for the bottom mounts and then the rectangular piece across the back to make it rigid. It'll still be functional to see if the mounts for the right place, but I'd like it a little better.

Well lucky for me I had some old 2 in exhaust tubing that I wasn't using. The welder is responding really crappily. I'm thinking maybe it's just mad and it's over its duty limit. Either way it's done now I'll unbolt it after dinner. Think I'm done for today in the garage.

Confirmed, the mounts are way off. I think what I'll do is I'll clear off the bottom mounts first, then put it back on the top and see if they're correct and centered. That'll be tomorrow. I'm beat.

220v = de nada amigo

I dont think I have ever pushed past the duty cycle of my Eastwood/China welder. Thing is a tank for sure.

I found the other issue. I'm at the end of my wire spool, it's getting pissy feeding. Just ran out of cut-off wheels too. I have all the mounts cut off the Ford axle though, just rough with the plasma cutter. Going to go back with the grinder and a cut off wheel, then grinding stone and flappy disc to get it perfect. Need to go out and get welding wire and more cut off wheels. This is going to take a bit. Not to mention I'm going to try and be even more careful with the original mounts when I cut them off, to try and save as much as possible.

Oh, and found the axle problem. The top mounts aren't straight in line with the axle. They swiveled a bit. Which is why the damn thing sat too far forward on the right side in the car. So basically, everything was fucked up. Lovely. Guess I'm cutting my teeth on this job. Going to get it all situated and tacked, then bring it to dad for a tig weld finish for better penetration. Mainly for the upper mounts. They're a bit of a pain. The lowers aren't too bad.

Time to replace liner ?

Naw, it's brand new. I think it was a combination of over duty cycle and getting down to the last bit of the wire roll. This one doesn't have a rotating feed for the wire. It just spins on a stud. I don't know if there are others that rotate, but I would certainly like that. I think it would work better. Probably would help if I had a better welder. It's no biggee. Pretty sure I have it figured out, just need to put the new roll on and test it. That'll be this weekend.

So I have the axle set up where they're both even and pinion flanges are identical at 90°. And I decided to throw on some plates I made to check the axle width. The original axle is 56.5625 in. And when I started this I said you know 56.6 or just 56 and a half even would be fine. The idea of being just a hair narrow track would give me plenty of room for fender clearance. And I just measured it and it's 56.625 in. The axle is fully 1/16 wider than the original. Now you wouldn't think that'd be a lot but again the devils in the details. I have a feeling I'm going to need to order the Eastwood fender roller after I get this thing situated. the main reason is it fits at static but there is some deflection in the control arms under cornering which then could hit the side wall and one more 16th of an inch does make a difference even if it is half of that each side.

Baseball bat is way cheaper than the fender roller.

Yeah but I love tools!

Mmmmmm Eastwood

You have a welder. Grab a euro jack and diy your own.

Lol, that would take me more than $82 worth of effort to build, and I might get eurotrash on my hands. You know there are no Toyota bolts or Eurotrash bolts in my bolts bins, right? Asian and Japanese and 'Murican are allowed, excluding Toyota and German stuff.

And he calls me negative.

Yes, yes I do!

Alright, so I wired in another outlet for the plasma cutter on Thursday so the plasma and compressor can both work without tripping one breaker. Still need to repair the wiring mess in the attic but that's for another time. Tomorrow is building a little more on the jig to make it easier to locate on the new axle, and then finishing cutting off the mounts. I'm going to make outriggers off the back jig that go on top of the axle tube, and I'll put a .436" tab of metal underneath it. Weld said outriggers on, remove .436" tab of metal, and voila, instant placement on top of the Ford axle in the correct orientation. I'll just have to split the side-to-side difference and weld the mounts on. Should be freakin' sweet!