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The Elephant In The Room: unloading the load from a B-body.

Jeff Peterson said:
For your tires! :lol:

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With Helium in the front tires I should be able to lift and carry the front end even higher and further while using the heavier regular air in the rear tires for traction. LOL.
Now I'm looking into the lighter WD-40 oil to use in place of the heavier 20W-50 Valvoline. LOL.

In all seriousness guys, stay tuned, because the car will be going IPO soon.
 
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The Dremel tool at 35,000 RPM with the right grinding chuck made for easy sculpting of the aluminum to reveal the raised strengthening rib on the mirror bridge. Another piece of shaped aluminum was clamped along side to create a guardrail guide so as to not over cut to the other side. I was at first reluctant being that the Dremel is a bit aggressive and hungry, but took the leap of faith with it and so far is looking good, even in these rough stages as y'all see it here.

Patient hand sanding starting first with #40 grit, followed by #80, #100, #120, #220, #280, #320, #400 and then #600 will bring it to a mirror image of the factory cast steel unit. After that, the cast steel top coat gets applied to hide its true DNA.

So far, all three pieces in total that makeup the mirror weigh 1.75 ounces against the factory unit at 7.60 ounces. Once it is all welded up into one piece, I'll do a final weigh in of the champ factoring in the weight of the weld beads.

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Lee, I've been hoping to catch up with you... I checked out "Wild Side" accidentally while watching some graffiti videos on Marksey. Great stuff. Hope you are doing well.
 
If you guys only knew the trouble it has been within the last month or so as far as installing a lightweight aluminum oil pan, you'd either feel bad or laugh me off this board.
Between figuring out a new oil pick up tube (ended up using the original one that I had) and fabricating a new lightweight drag link by buying the supposed new dropped link (ended up using my original lightweight link that I had) and debating whether to do some open surgery on this beautiful brand new pan, I don't know which way is up or down, but I think the light has turned on at the end of the tunnel.

Now that I have no choice but to modify the new pan in order to clear the drag link (by no means the fault of the pan fabricator) There is one silver lining, instead of shedding only 3/4 lbs originally, it will now be closer to 1-1/2 lbs realistically.
Stay tuned.

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Pan went under the knife last night under careful measuring and patient strokes with aggressive open and closed hacksaws. I assume that the work will yield a pound or so off the pan when its all plugged up.

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Here it is cleaned up with a temporary floor held on with industrial foil tape in order for me to trial fit it and check for windage tray clearances. I'll look to plug it up sometime this week or next and will post pictures. Hopefully the saga will be over and the pan will shed a pound or so in the process.

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Finally, the lightweight aluminum oil pan fiasco has been corrected. Too many words and images to post at this moment, but more of that later.
What I am really excited about is a small little item that hardly ever gets looked at........................ at least looked at in this fashion.
Here's looking at you kid.
Yes, the super lightweight rearview mirror. Here's the first picture of it fresh from the welders den before getting final sanding and finishing. What do you guys think?
More later.

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fullmetaljacket said:
Finally, the lightweight aluminum oil pan fiasco has been corrected. Too many words and images to post at this moment, but more of that later.
What I am really excited about is a small little item that hardly ever gets looked at........................ at least looked at in this fashion.
Here's looking at you kid.
Yes, the super lightweight rearview mirror. Here's the first picture of it fresh from the welders den before getting final sanding and finishing. What do you guys think?
More later.

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Very cool!
 
Meanwhile, back at the pan, here is what I call the continental shelf during the bending process that will make up the concave wall at the top of the sump in order to clear the dreaded drag link. I used the round aluminum handle from a Harbor Freight aluminum 2 ton jack to make the perfect bend.

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Here's the inverted continental shelf jigged in place with the aluminum 2 ton jack handle. Lots of back and forth file fitting to get ready for welding. Long legged carpenter clamps worked perfect.

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Here's a better look at the continental shelf and pan floor being mocked up. Here both pieces are trimmed and tightly fitted for a sweet seam weld to follow. This process was grueling way past the witching hour.

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Don't laugh, It works and it cost nothing via found 3/4 plywood on the street.

Knowing that aluminum likes to take a walk in the park when introduced to intense heat, I made this stabilizer jig to keep it in place and shape while enduring the kitchens heat. A steel plate would have been better, but I was anxious and not ready to go out looking for manhole covers. LOL.

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My go-to welding genius (AJ) is now a retired certified military grade welder. He willingly hung up his welding gloves and rods in his shop of 60 years to enjoy his later years out in the world, then I came along with my phone calls stating:
"What? retirement? WTF! No one retires in New York!" LOL.
This guy was seaming parts for some high level TOP GUN stuff. Whenever I brought my little ground level inventions by the shop, he would drop the jobs just to take a break and work on something different.

A smile always came to him when I would reveal the stock part to compare it to the new lightweight part.

They don't make guys like him anymore. Honored to know him.

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Here's the finished piece taking a breather and cooling off after what seemed like days of nuclear white light welding. It got seam welded both on the inside and the outside.

Now it gets filled with water overnight to check for any leaks, then if all goes well, final prep goes into affect to make it look somewhat stock or less menacing from underneath. RMCHRGR thinks differently. He says: "Who are you fooling with that thing hanging underneath when people can hear it coming from two blocks away in loud a$$ NYC. LOL.

There is a bummer though. Stay tuned.

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Let's just face it, there are Millionaires and Billionaires out in the world just as there are pound-erers and ounce-ners on here. Here's a little something for the ounce count crowd. Not many of us left. LOL
I'll bet my bottom dollar that after some finishing grinding and sanding, that bad boy will come in at 1.75 oz

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Not everyone realizes you don't need high dollar tools to fabricate. Just need to think outside the box. Though not all of us have FMJ's artistic tallent. It really helps when you have a good friend that is a fantastic tig welder. I'm very thankful in that regard.
Doug

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