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| Building my Metro Supercar | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 31 2011, 11:28 PM (19,354 Views) | |
| bogs | Jul 26 2012, 11:04 AM Post #121 |
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Duct tape heals all wounds
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Nice progress since I was gone
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| Coyote X | Jul 26 2012, 10:14 PM Post #122 |
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Pedals and steering column installed I took the rear hubs to a shop to have them drilled out. They should be done tomorrow so I can finally get the car able to sit on it’s wheels and suspension. So while that is being worked on I went ahead and started figuring out some other stuff. I had to make a new firewall out of 16ga so it would be strong enough to support everything, the fiberglass would weaken over time and crack with constant use. I just had to figure out where to put the pedal mounts then cut them out of the firewall. The power brake booster fits without any problems but the master cylinder is right up against the hood. It would be possible to fill it but converting it to remote fill is the best way to do it. I can run steel lines to the back and fill it there. The steering ended up being much easier to hook up than I thought it would be. It even bolted onto one of the stock Metro mounting holes on the pedal mounts. I ran it between the clutch and brake arms but it clears everything just fine and is a pretty straight shot to the steering rack. I had to extend the lower shaft about 6 inches to make it work but it is all bolted together and working good now. I still need rack extenders to have the steering fully finished and I will get them as soon as I can find the proper ones to fit. I also need to make a clutch cable mount and mount the gas pedal and run it’s cable. After that I could probably connect up all the brake hardware and have all the pedals fully working. |
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| Coyote X | Jul 27 2012, 10:25 PM Post #123 |
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Throttle and clutch cables installed[/b] Today didn’t seem like much getting done but I probably took the pedals off and reinstalled them 15 times to get everything lined up. The throttle cable worked out pretty easy since it had a lot of clearance to line everything up and get it drilled. The clutch was in a hard to get to place so that took most of the time to get right. Once I got them mounted to the firewall running them to the back and connecting everything up was much easier. Now the car has a working throttle and clutch. The brake booster is also installed. I just need to get the lines to run for the remote reservoir and wait for the rear rotors to be drilled out then the brakes can be installed as well. Since I can’t do the brakes and rear suspension until the hubs are back from the machine shop and the steering parts are not in yet. I will probably mount the trunk lid and get a few other large parts installed like the gas tank next. |
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| Johnny Mullet | Jul 28 2012, 05:13 AM Post #124 |
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Fear the Mullet
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Coming along quite nice! |
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| bogs | Jul 28 2012, 12:44 PM Post #125 |
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Duct tape heals all wounds
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Definitely ![]() |
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| Bad Bent | Jul 28 2012, 02:02 PM Post #126 |
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Facetious Educated Donkey
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Most definitely .
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| Coyote X | Jul 29 2012, 09:49 PM Post #127 |
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Headlights mounted Since I have been spending so much time with the frame I decided to take a break from that and work on the headlights. The front of the car just didn’t look like much sitting around without headlights in it. So I mounted a pair of 4 1/2 inch driving lights to the bottom and a set of 5 3/4 headlights to the top. There are not high and low combined sealed beams in that size I could find so I used some conversion headlights that can use standard Halogen bulbs so I can have high and low beams in the single light easily. I don’t like how the adjusters are mounted to the back side of the bucket so I will probably modify them as soon as I can think of a good way to do it. Mounting the driving lights was pretty straightforward. I cut the backs out of the housing so I could access the bulb without taking everything apart. I then just cut a hole the exact size of the housing and Popped them in place. I put a few small dings in the metal so it holds in place pretty solidly. I will shim and aim them later before gluing the housing down permanently. The upper lights I did basically the same except I kept the hole slightly bigger than the bucket and used the mounting plate from the headlights behind it. I then assembled the buckets in the car and with the mounting plate behind it I can aim the headlights without a lot of trouble. I need to do a bit of detail work making them work better but for now they are mounted and done. The headlight covers need to be trimmed up a bit to fit the openings and mounted but since none of the body work is done I will not mess with them for a while. I would like to tint them slightly but I have no idea how to do that so they might just stay clear. |
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| Coyote X | Jul 30 2012, 11:07 PM Post #128 |
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Rear suspension mounted[/b] The hubs came back from the machine shop today. So I started putting the rear suspension together properly. I didn’t have a large enough bolt for the lower control arm mount so I will have to get one later for it. I bolted the struts and tie rods down solidly and mounted the hubs and rotors after drilling the rotors to match the hubs. The brake calipers I put on are from the front Metro suspension. I have a set of swift GT calipers ordered that are made for the rear that have the parking brake setup in them that I will put on once I get them. But for now I won’t have a parking brake. The passenger side CV axle fit perfectly on the drivers side so I will just have to cut and lengthen one side now. The wheel spacing looks good now. I like the looks of it much better than when I had them set the same width front and rear. The car is not sitting as high in the air as it was but it is still probably 3 inches higher than it is supposed to be. As I put more in the car it will hopefully start sitting lower to the ground so I don’t have to cut the springs to make it ride at the right height. I am still a long way away from having it ready to drive but at least now it is looking much more like a car than it used to. I will probably get the gas tank out of the old frame and see how well it fits in the car. If it fits I will start on the gas tank and shifter setup next. |
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| Bad Bent | Jul 31 2012, 05:35 PM Post #129 |
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Facetious Educated Donkey
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Looking good! So the tail looks awfully long. I probably missed it in your thread, but was there like a V12 engine stuck under there once? |
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| Johnny Mullet | Jul 31 2012, 06:45 PM Post #130 |
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Fear the Mullet
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He previously had a 500 CI Cadillac big block in this beast. |
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| Coyote X | Aug 1 2012, 10:05 PM Post #131 |
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Steering installed and started on gas tank[/b] The steering parts came in today so I put it all together. The stock rack was not long enough so I put a set of rack extenders on it to make it the proper angle so there is no bump steer. The front end is basically done except for letting the front arms settle then torqueing the mounting bolts so the bushings are aligned properly. I need to align all 4 tires but that is not a big deal to do after the car is finished. Next I started on trying to come up with a good gas tank. The stock Metro tank is about an inch too long to fit where I want it. So I will have to use the larger aluminum tank I built for the car from before. It did not have an internal fuel pump so I took the stock Metro pump out of that tank and started working on trying to get it hooked up to the larger tank. I have the fuel line connected now I just need to make a brace to the top of the tank mount so the fuel line is not supporting the weight of the pump. The fuel will exit the top of the tank and return to the bottom. It is not the smoothest way to do it but it works and should be a lot easier to change the pump in the future. The Metro pump is on the left, the right pump is the inline pump that fed fuel to the old engine. It is way larger than the 3 cyl engine needs so I won’t be using it on this build. Once I build the bracket to hold the fuel pump and come up with a way to get the power wire out of the tank it is ready to install. I will have to make the shifter setup before mounting the tank so I know it will clear the shift rod. |
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| Coyote X | Aug 2 2012, 10:22 PM Post #132 |
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Gas tank finished Didn’t get a lot of time to work on it today but I at least managed to finish mounting the fuel pump and get it wired up and everything on it working properly. With the tank assembled I figured I might as well check the clearance on it to see what kind of room I have. With the tank just sitting on the frame it has plenty of room between it and the engine. The tank will actually sit about 4 inches further forward than shown in the picture but I don’t have any brackets made up to hold it so I just had it sitting on the frame. The round black sending unit actually sits under the bar to give you an idea of where it will be sitting. I won’t mount it until after I make the shifter setup. That is probably the next thing I will be working on. The reason I didn’t mount the tank behind the engine is I want to keep that area clear for the electric drive system once I get to that point in the build. I will be using a much larger electric motor and will be needing the extra room to mount it. Plus putting the tank in the back is a bad idea if it gets rear ended. |
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| Coyote X | Aug 3 2012, 12:34 AM Post #133 |
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So with what I have done right now and what is left to get this thing running there is no way I will get it running in time before I pack up and take it to Ohio. I am going to have to spend a day at least getting the Astro ready to travel. I have to reset the injection pump timing, bleed the brakes, get the trailer brakes working, and fix a blown rear shock. I also have to repack the trailer bearings and put new lights on it to get it ready. So there are two days gone working on them. I will also be packing on Wed and leaving Thursday afternoon heading that way. That leaves me just like a few days to work on the car. I am thinking finish the CV axle, make a shifter, and mount the gas tank and radiator. I might also stick the wiring harness in the car just in the off chance we might try and slap it together enough to get it to start. I will also stick the old floor back in and toss the seats in it. Is there anything else that anyone would like to see me work on and try and get done before the meet? Edited by Coyote X, Aug 3 2012, 12:35 AM.
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| Woodie | Aug 3 2012, 05:29 AM Post #134 |
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World Peace and Cancer. I'd like to see some progress on those two fronts please. |
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| VWguyBruce | Aug 3 2012, 07:12 AM Post #135 |
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Bruce
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Looking good! |
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