The Willomet Charger

[ckessel]

Slick piece.

 

[1970RT]

Started in on the driveshaft/torque arm crossmember hump. I’ll have to see where the torque arm falls at full droop, as I might not be able to run a lower connector across that cutout. If so, this is designed to be super structural and can hold the car together laterally on its own, and certainly with help from the main hoop of the cage.

David

 

[ckessel]

I like that hoop you made.

 

[1970RT]

Out of position welds take a lot of time, especially when I have to fold myself into the car.

Cleaned up, and ready for torque arm setup.

David

 

[ckessel]

Out of position welds take a lot of time, especially when I have to fold myself into the car.

View attachment 1546208

Cleaned up, and ready for torque arm setup.

David

No lie. With a MIG it's somewhat easier. TIG, especially for me , out of position/stretched out so the toe is working the pedal is a pain. I'll be getting the finger control with rheostat on the next machine just for out of position stuff.

 

[1970RT]

Links mounts are roughed in, and the torque arm is mocked up.

I have to trim the rear rails so the links can cycle, and make a crossmember for the torque arm slider.

David

 

[5.7 hemi]

Outstanding fab work!

 

[1970RT]

Time to catch up. I spent most of the time around Christmas and into January just welding and fabricating and doing very few video things. It was a nice reset.

This was where I got before turning off the camera for a couple of weeks. Full bump, for a monster 6" of travel.

Frame notch for link clearance.

Watts link mounts and their tube farm, and the internal frame swaybar.

That swaybar is pretty neat. It's the only one I could find internal to the frame, and since it's made from 4130, I can make a few bars that are different rates.

Torque arm mount, which controls the pinion angle and keeps the axle from pointing itself skyward.

And finally, I burned in the frame link mounts and gave them a bit of reinforcement.

And that's it. The rear suspension is built, burned in, and ready for coil overs. That's a whole other effort, and a buddy and I have started designing the mounting system for all that, because it's just a tad beyond my 3D modeling skill level.

Now, I've got to prep the suburban for another long distance adventure, and maybe squeeze in a task or two on this thing if I can. There's plenty left to do.

David

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

Wow David, I love watching this thread. From what I see there isn't many things beyond your skills! Really awesome work.

 

[ckessel]

Very impressive David!

 

[Hemirunner]

Hopefully all of you are following along on his YouTube channel. His videos are professional quality. I can’t believe he doesn’t have his own tv show by now!

 

[1970RT]

Wow David, I love watching this thread. From what I see there isn't many things beyond your skills! Really awesome work.

Thanks Scott. To be fair, I’ve made a number of things twice, because I’m still learning a ton along the way.

Very impressive David!

Muchas gracias sir!

Hopefully all of you are following along on his YouTube channel. His videos are professional quality. I can’t believe he doesn’t have his own tv show by now!

I appreciate those kind words man, and am glad you’ve found your way to the channel, too. Your level of fab quality always inspires me.

David

 

[Greg Ducato]

You must have your own parking space down at the welding supply store! Great work David

 

[1970RT]

You must have your own parking space down at the welding supply store!

They know me well. 335 cu ft of argon does go by quicker than I’d like to admit.

David

 

[ckessel]

Over the last week I watched the vids on the Charger. Pretty neat and thanks for some of the tips I learned. You mentioned snagging your niece's old poster board material for patterns. Another source is cereal boxes, cracker boxes, frozen pizza boxes, sleeves on frozen lasagne etc. Stuff that usually ends up in the recycle bin. If you have a Costco in the area, you can get nice large sheets of similar material thats used as layer dividers for their paper towels. Anything new happening David?

 

[Brandy]

Over the last week I watched the vids on the Charger. Pretty neat and thanks for some of the tips I learned. You mentioned snagging your niece's old poster board material for patterns. Another source is cereal boxes, cracker boxes, frozen pizza boxes, sleeves on frozen lasagne etc. Stuff that usually ends up in the recycle bin. If you have a Costco in the area, you can get nice large sheets of similar material thats used as layer dividers for their paper towels. Anything new happening David?

my go to is frozen pizza box's...

 

[1970RT]

If you have a Costco in the area, you can get nice large sheets of similar material thats used as layer dividers for their paper towels. Anything new happening David?

What doesn't Costco have?! I'll dumpster dive for that stuff.

Right now, I'm prepping the truck for a large camping adventure across Nevada, so fabricating and setting gears, etc. For the car, I'm putting together the parts list for the headers, and once that's done, there's a large Docol order to support the next phase of the chassis build. Shocks are being built, and a friend and I are in the middle of designing the rear suspension bridge. The steering rack and column are being built, and I'm picking up a fresh tank of argon to finish welding a bunch of stuff on the front end.

But right now, I have to go change a power steering line in my 2003 Duramax.

David

 

[1970RT]

Getting the front end overlays done.

Top plate is for a tube landing, while the inner plate ties the frame together from the engine mounts to the swaybar mount and over the front suspension crossmember.

One more set and then I’ll fit the front frame horn and crossmember.

David

 

[1970RT]

Front end is all together. This marks the last of the .125 4130 over .083 mild for a little while.

April is all camping out in NV, so I’m off to prep for that.

David

 

[dadsbee]

Always a cool thread to follow!!!! Have you weighed this at any point(s)??