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| Building my Metro Supercar | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 31 2011, 11:28 PM (19,355 Views) | |
| Coyote X | Jul 17 2012, 05:26 PM Post #106 |
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I have a logitech orbit webcam that I will prob take up to the garage today. it gives me a bit better image than the old webcam I was using. It is a shame there is nothing out there that I could put on a website to allow people to control the pan/tilt on it so I would not have to aim it and could let whoever is watching it keep it aimed on what is going on. I figure tonight will be hard to keep the video on me since I will be all over the garage bending and shaping the frame for the front. |
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| Coyote X | Jul 17 2012, 11:10 PM Post #107 |
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Front suspension mounted I got the front end put under the car and squared up. It is much easier when the entire thing is one piece. After I got it sitting exactly where I wanted it I just had to connect it to the old frame. I made the lower frame sections and attached them. I still need to do the upper part and some bracing. Once it is all done the front end of the car should be strong and much lighter than it was. I also will reinforce the dashboard crash bar a bit better. Having a single brace on it doesn’t seem like enough for me so while I am at it I will add a bit of bracing to it. The front end is strong enough it can be lifted off the ground without flexing but it would bounce and sag with any significant weight on it. Once the rest of the bracing is in place the front end is finished. All that is left after that is I just have to make a few body mounts on the front and rear and the structural parts of the frame are finished. |
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| bogs | Jul 18 2012, 11:41 AM Post #108 |
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Duct tape heals all wounds
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Not as good as being able to ask questions during the live broadcast I'll grant you, but I disagree that "boring'' is what I would use to describe it. |
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| Coyote X | Jul 18 2012, 09:49 PM Post #109 |
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Front end completed I just had to add the upper frame to the front end to finish it. I also needed to make a set of braces to hold the front body and keep it solid. I need to weld everything up and add a few more braces but the frame is basically done on the car now. The front end is sitting nice and strong and should give me plenty of foot room for whatever kind of pedals I can find to fit in it now. I also need to come up with something for steering but that should not be that bad to get together later on. Next up is finish welding and bracing the front end. Then throw some paint on it and start putting stuff in the car. I will mount the engine and the full suspension first. After that is in then I can start planning out where everything else goes and put it all together as I figure out what I am doing. |
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| Coyote X | Jul 20 2012, 11:57 PM Post #110 |
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Had a few other things to do but I finally managed to get the front end totally finished and welded up. I ran out of paint so I will throw some paint on it later. But for now the frame is finally done. My current problems and plans are getting slowly solved ![]() So first up is to pull the motor and trans and stick them in. I will have to weld the axles to make them fit since they are going to be way way short now. I will have to add about 7 inches to each side I figure. The radiator and cooling system in the car is way more massive than a 3 cylinder could ever need but it works well and won't be hard to connect to the engine. Still thinking of leaving the battery under the front headlight. It is out of the way there and helps keep weight on the front end. I am not sure yet and probably won't decide that until later. I am also going to use the Geo steering rack with longer tie rods for now to get the steering to work. I will have to get a set of rack extenders made to get it working properly but for now a set of tbird tie rods is cheap and will do. I will probably go ahead and mount the steering column in the car and connect it up as well. It looks like a close fit the way it is with just the short u-joint shaft needing to be longer so hopefully it won't take much to mount it. The rest of the front end is based off a Mustang II but if possible I will put the Geo calipers on the rotors so the brakes will at least be balanced properly without needing a proportioning valve. It looks like I can mount the pedal group under the dash but the master cylinder will never clear the hood so I need to figure out how to convert it to remote reservoir style. I will have to take a spare one apart and see if I can figure that out. If that works then I should be able to get a set of pedals working without a lot of hassle. I have a spare wiring harness from another metro so I should be able to find enough of the proper color wires to lengthen the stock harness to fit everything in the car without making a mess of it. I will also probably use a lot of the stock dashboard parts and make a new dash out of a combination of parts. I have a dakota digital dash in the car I would like to keep since it looks nice but that will mean I have to widen the curved top to the gauge mount. I will take the dash apart eventually and see what I can come up with. I also have a 97 sprint for dash panels to scavenge. So if I am lucky the car will be able to drive for geopalooza but most likely there will be a few minor problems that keep it from being driven. Like, does anyone have any idea where I can find a 12 foot throttle cable? |
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| Scoobs | Jul 21 2012, 12:03 AM Post #111 |
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:D
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For a throttle cable, try a bicycle shop, they can custom cut bike brake cables, which would work perfect for what you need. Youll just have to modify it to where it will mount up to the Tbi, and the gas pedal. Or just looked on ebay, you could get throttle/shift cable from a boat aswell. Price wise, the bike brake cable would work the cheapest.
Edited by Scoobs, Jul 21 2012, 12:08 AM.
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| Coyote X | Jul 22 2012, 09:35 PM Post #112 |
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Engine installed and front suspension mostly installed. I went over the frame to make sure everything looked ok and so far it looks like everything is all good on it. So I started assembling some of the parts laying around the garage to try and free up some space. The engine and suspension parts are taking up the most garage space so that is the part I am working on first. The engine was pretty easy to put in. There is nothing else in the way so it was just a matter of putting it under the car and lowering the car into position. I still need to get some good bolts to bolt it all together but there are enough in it right how to hold it in place. After that I started putting all the parts together for the front end. The wheel bearings are bad but I don’t have new ones so They will do to hold the wheels in place. I put the springs and shocks in place and tightened up the ball joints. I will have to replace the wheel bearings and put a new set of non stuck calipers on it but I put them in place for now to get them out of the way. The suspension looks much nicer with the stock Mustang II parts gone. Hopefully the new parts are just as strong as the old. I still need to work on the steering and will have to fabricate something to make it work. The rest of the car is just bolting on parts now. I will start from the bottom getting the suspension done first then work my up. So probably the next thing to work on is the rear suspension. Then the car can finally roll around on the finished suspension. |
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| Bad Bent | Jul 23 2012, 02:13 PM Post #113 |
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Facetious Educated Donkey
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| MR Bill | Jul 23 2012, 09:53 PM Post #114 |
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Looking Good |
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| Coyote X | Jul 24 2012, 12:49 AM Post #115 |
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That engine looks so tiny in the back of the car right now. I bet I could mount two of them and still have plenty of room. Eventually the back will be filled up with the hybrid drive system and will look much more packed but for now I might have enough room to have some storage space. Either way with a couple of weeks left till geoplaooza the car will be pretty close to running for the meet and will actually look like a car and not a pile of metal welded together. I am thinking of trying to fit the stock gas tank in there somewhere. I have a 15 gallon tank that fits in the frame but that seems like way more gas than I ever need in this car. I have no idea what resistance values the stock sending unit uses so I don't know if it is compatible with the dashboard setup or not. But that is not a major problem to change it to a gm sender. I will figure that stuff out when I finish stripping down the old frame in the next week or so. hopefully tomorrow I will have time to work on the car some more
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| bkgeig | Jul 24 2012, 11:46 AM Post #116 |
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A tandem bicycle brake cable is 3500mm long, or 11.4829 feet. Would that work? Most good bike shops should have some in stock. Love watching this build (and your previous hybrid build on Ecomodder). - Brian |
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| Coyote X | Jul 24 2012, 10:24 PM Post #117 |
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I have been looking around at the bicycle cables and from what others have said the steel wound brake cables are too rough feeling to have any good control of the throttle. What is needed is the smooth lined cable. So that is one other thing I will have to look out for. I am thinking of just having a custom cable made and being done with it. I can get a custom made 12ft cable for 80 bucks that would for the most part just bolt in. It isn't the cheapest option but it is probably the best since the Toyota MR2 throttle cable is discontinued everywhere and I can't find any other stock cable that is long enough. I managed to get the steering rack out of the car today and tried to fit something together to make it all work. And nothing fits at all The Metro outer tie rods won't fit in the mustang spindles anywhere near close. The inner and outer tie rods on them both are the wrong thread types to mix and match anything there either. I looked through the Moog website to try and find something to make it work and came up empty. So it looks like I am going back to the mustang rack and ordering a set of rack extenders. That will leave me with an inch total to make up by extending the tie rods. I hope I have a half inch of adjustment on the tie rods. If not I can always get some Fairmont tie rods since they are longer. The only thing left is to figure out how to attach the metro steering wheel to the mustang rack. Most likely I will build up the shaft thickness enough to clamp the metro U-joint on it and call it good.I also have to find out how to take the steering column apart and get the main shaft out without breaking everything. I will have to extend the Metro steering column about a foot longer than stock to make everything work. If it can be taken apart and extended then the steering is basically figured out. I also took the plastic reservoir off the master cylinder and I think I might be able to cut threads into the aluminum to screw on some barb fittings. Then I can just use rubber hose to put the reservoir somewhere else. It looks like the power booster will even fit under the hood so I can keep the power brake system. So nothing today to take pictures of but at least I think I am closer to knowing what I need to finish it. |
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| Scoobs | Jul 24 2012, 10:29 PM Post #118 |
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:D
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I know you can take the main shaft out of the column, what you might be able to do is cut it at the bottom section, weld on a pipe that would just fit on the steel shaft, weld it solid all the way around on both sides, and slide it back in, you can get your extension that way. |
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| Good bye | Jul 25 2012, 12:08 AM Post #119 |
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Air cooled VWs had a full length throttle cable run through a tube with a little grease. They worked pretty well back in the day. Remember keep it simple. Love your work by the way.
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| Coyote X | Jul 25 2012, 11:01 PM Post #120 |
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I was at amazon looking at VW and dune buggy throttle stuff and in the related items there was a lokar stainless universal throttle cable that was like 12ft long and cheap So the throttle is finally going to be good. For the clutch cable I have a morse cable already that will work. That just leaves the brakes. I will try and figure out how to convert the master cylinder to remote tomorrow if I get a chance to take it to the hardware store for some fittings. That will get all the pedals working hopefully. I have to slightly modify the pedal mounts from the metro to get it to fit properly but it looks like it will all fit if I am lucky.I modified the input shaft on the Pinto rack to fit the metro steering joint on it and then mounted it to the car. It turns out that brace I ran across the crossmember is exactly in the way of the steering shaft... So I will have to cut a hole through it and run the shaft through the center of it. Or just cut a section out and brace it some other way. But the steering looks like it will not be that big of a deal to get working as soon as I can find a set of rack extensions. I also can't find a drill bit good enough to drill through the hub so I can't get the back wheels mounted just yet. I will take it to a machine shop tomorrow and let them drill the studs out. It will be cheaper than me running all over the place to find a good bit. so today was mostly lots of little stuff, but still nothing to take a picture of. Hopefully tomorrow I can get something actually built. |
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6:44 PM Jul 10