New World Datsuns...

I lied the right side is really really close but it just needs a hair more. Baked the crap out of the left side, hopefully it's in now. This is a very time consuming process. And I'm sure it would be easier if I had a bare tube and a setup jig! Sigh. Always learning things the hard way, lol.

Just tap it in, tap it in. Just give it a tap tap taparoo! Fuuuukkkkkkkkkk this is annoying!!!! Heat quench curse repeat. Almost there. One more dune to go.

Finally!!! I put on some spare wheels I had in the basement. Some turbo zx's that I'm not that fond of. But they're straight. Checked it with the bar across the front I'm a hair towed in by a 16th of an inch and a hair positive camber overall for a 16th of an inch. I'm pretty certain this is going to work just fine it shouldn't wear tires and the positive camber shouldn't matter and when the car weight is on it it should actually come out to darn near zero anyway. Either way it should track perfectly down the road. This isn't a canyon carver anyway with a solid axle. Although I did think about heating the tubes in the top and sucking a little more negative camber out like they used to do in road racing but I'll probably leave it alone now that I have it finished. Going to check with my rear end guy and see what he thinks about the numbers and as long as he thinks it's good then I'll be able to start fiddling with the mounts.

Now that I'm thinking about it, if it's 1/16 total, it's actually only 1/32 each side. I figure I'll start working on the mounts and after I get it together and on the alignment rack I can always heat and quench the tubes in the car to get it more dead nuts than I have it now.

So the good news is tentatively the top mounts look like they're square. Those are the tricky 45 degree ones. The bottom mounts definitely need to be fiddled with. Debating how I'm going to do that currently, whether I want to cut it loose from the tube and re-weld or just cut a section out and move the bolt holes with the jig and re-weld. One way or the other I'll get it done but I've called it quits for tonight. I feel like I've done enough for the day, though it sure seems like I didn't get much done.

Realized I can't tweak the axle on the alignment rack unless I want to redo the bottom mounts again. Which means it has to be ready to go when I re-weld or re-circle the bottom mounts for the last time. Haven't decided if I'm going to leave it alone or try to get it just a little more perfect. I'll let you know on Saturday. Hopefully only one more go-round this weekend and I'll have the damn axle in the car!

This all seems really complicated.

Believe it or not, it's getting way easier!

So here's what I decided to do. It's upside down. The passenger side was close enough I could leave it attached on the front edge. The drivers side was a bit further off. To get full stress relief I had to cut it all the way off. This isn't my most desirable idea, but it should work ok. I'd prefer some new mounts and cut it all the way off, but that would be a lot more work. This way should be sufficient and the axle might actually get in the car today.

You can't weld air? Sure you can! The trick to filling large gaps is to bounce from side to side. Build it up on one side, then the other, then bridge the gap. Easier than cutting little slivers in this case. I may redo on of those larger blobs since I cut through old weld and it doesn't look pretty but it's functional. Seeing as the bolt hole is below the weld and the control arm won't have to go by it, I'll weld the inside also to make it super strong.

I'll yank the jig out after lunch before I weld the inside since it does require pushing to the back to come out since it's one piece. Welding the inside now will trap it in. Either way, a few more double checks and some more paint since I burned it off and it should be good to go! I also did two more heat and quench cycles on the back upper to bring the camber to zero and only a hair towed in. Prior to cutting and welding the mounts.

The mounts are finished, welded the insides. Cleaned up a few spots had to relieve a few others. Pending some paint drying and one more check for straightness and we should be good! hopefully it will be on the other side of the garage tonight getting ready to go in the wagon or actually in it.

Checked. It's as straight as it's going to get! Just a hair toed in, about neutral on camber. Now I just need to find someone to help me carry it to the other side of the garage. On Halloween. Lol. Texted one of my techs who doesn't have kids. It may sit there and dry the paint until tomorrow.

Either way, I'm happy. The job is finally done and ready to go in the car. Feel like I reached a milestone today. In fact this is a great weekend. I took Friday off and we still made pretty decent numbers this month. I got a big project finished in the front with the patio pavers. and it actually took me a lot less time to fiddle the mounts than I thought. I'm pretty damn happy with how this weekend turned out. Once I confirm the axle locates correctly, then I can start working on brakes and stuff. And I think it needs a line lock.

Luis has no kids, hallelujah! I'm not going to have time to put in tonight but at least it'll be near where it goes.

Waiting...

Bwahahahahaha

flatcat19 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 6:55 pm

FU Keith!!

I love you, Matt.

I looooaaaatthhhee you!!! Sigh. There's a lot more to that story. Short of it is, what should have been a $400-$600 tuning session turned into a shitshow. I do appreciate all they did. I would just have been happier if they had checked cold start up and found that issue before I did. I've only driven it on to the trailer, so maybe tomorrow after I get the wagon played with, I'll warm it up and check operation again. I seriously hope it's good when it's warm. And still, I'm going to start learning the megasquirt software so I can tune things myself, with or without a dyno.

It's in and it's dead fucking nuts!!!!!!!!! it does look like the toe in is a little more accentuated but I really can't tell with the body lines. I'll wait to see how it drives and how it does on the alignment rack. I thought about that a little more. Now that I have it so close, if I do decide to heat it on the alignment rack I'll only be moving 1/32-1/16 of an inch which will be plenty fine for still getting the bolt in the bottom of the control arm.

Either way it's ready to go I'm going to check the pinion flange angle and possibly adjust the upper control arms a little bit but it's even side to side and even front to back. This is a substantial load off my mind.

Yay, another box to check!