ARRL CEO David Sumner – K1ZZ – wrote a great story on Amateur Radio and the hands-on experience this technical hobby – and free public service – provides. Click here to go to the Urgent Communications story. . . .
But – Dave did not mention what’s going on on the ham radio microwave bands. Click here to visit the San Bernardino Microwave Society (SBMS) and the 50 MHz and Up Group and the North Texas Microwave Society (NTMS) to see what we are doing on the frequencies way up there. . .
Some Body Parts, More IRS Conundrum and a New Microwave Antenna for KH6WZ
Inspired by a post on the Factory Five Racing forum and the dry and sunny weather this weekend, I decided to paint some of my body mounting parts. I am using gloss black Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy paint for these pieces. I have used this paint for my electronic and radio projects with good results. The paint dries very hard and is waterproof and washable, perfect for these parts.
Surface prep is easy for this paint, I scuff the surface with a 60 grit sanding disc on my random orbit sander. For the hard to reach nooks and crannies, I use a wire wheel chucked in my hand drill. Then I use liquid dish soap and water to wash off the grit and any oils. No primer is needed for this paint. Then I apply two or three light fog coats first, and then blast a thick coat for the fourth or fifth and final coat.
Here is a “before” and “after” picture of the front nose mounting hinge.
I did the same with the door hinges. Here you can see some weld splatter that will interfere with the mounting bolts, so I used a Dremel tool to grind those weld balls off.
Although many of these parts will not be seen, I do not want them to rust. Other parts will be painted in the same way, and include the door frames, the rear glass hatch hardware and the emergency brake mechanism.
Meanwhile . . .
After spending some time fiddling with the factory-supplied accelerator pedal, I decided to buy an aftermarket gas pedal instead. I ordered one of Russ Thompson’s gas pedals earlier this week from Breeze Automotive, one of the Factory Five Racing Forum supporters. I was amazed the box arrived on Thursday – that was fast!
The new gas pedal is really a machined aluminum sculpture. Pictures on this will be coming later, since I need to get the engine mounted before the gas pedal goes in.
IRS – Finished – Sort Of . . .
The IRS section is now fully “dry-fit” completed, and the bolts will be tightened to specs in the next work session. One thing that is putting this assembly step on hold are the mounting points for the lower control arms – see the gold color on the right of this picture? That is the mounting bolt and as you can see, there is a lot of empty space between the mounting ear and the thin washer (the manual calls them shims). This cannot be correct, and I need to find what is wrong here. . . .
Just after I ordered my Type 65 Coupe kit, I came across a lot of posts on the forums about the IRS shafts (CV joints) coming apart. Those messages made me worry, but when my kit was shipped, the CV axles were on back-order. I called Factory Five Racing technical support, and they assured me that the problem has been fixed.
I am happy to report that my IRS system assembly went very smoothly, after the pumpkin was in place. The CV axles slipped right into the differential, and it felt just like many posts said – you can feel it lock into place. No hammering, no drama and no R- and X-rated words necessary.
Once again, Chris comes to the rescue by posting images of the IRS knuckles and which part goes on the left side and which one goes on the right side.
Here are some additional pictures of the IRS components and system . . . . “R” is for Right side of vehicle (passenger side in the US)
Above left: The IRS upper control arm has another pair of small mounting tabs that are not mentioned in the assembly manual. No pictures are included in the manual, either. After a quick search on the Factory Five forum, I found out the smaller set of tabs point downward, and are used for quad shocks – used to minimize wheel hop during acceleration.
Give Me a Brake – Again
Now, the rear brakes are another story. Seems the Factory sent me the wrong rear brake kit. So now I have to wait for the correct parts to arrive, and then have to send the wrong parts back. . . Stay tuned for more . . .
Another Box Arrived this Week – a 10 GHz Slot Antenna
I received this nicely machined antenna for 10 GHz earlier this week. It is made by fellow SBMS member Dan, W6DFW.
Here’s a picture of this omni-directional microwave antenna. The background is the radiation pattern plotted by another SBMS member, Chuck, WA6EXV.
I am planning on using this to make my roving 10 GHz station even more portable, perhaps getting on 10 GHz FM mobile. More on this item and possible applications at station KH6WZ later.
Since the engine is in the middle of my garage, I really need to accelerate my building, or at least, get my chassis ready for engine installation.
I looked at my cookie sheet heat shields and the mounting locations filled with 8-32 riv-nuts, and thought – shoot, the riv-nuts actually have a shaft that might be used as stand-offs for the shield plates. So I checked the length, and the threaded shafts are about a quarter-inch long, enough to be used as a spacer between the firewall and the heat shield. I may add another quarter-inch in certain places, if there is room.
So I spent a few hours removing all of the riv-nuts I installed a few weeks ago. Good thing I bought several hundred from McMaster-Carr. . . .
At least I am an expert on installing and extracting riv-nuts now.
Rivet Nuts and the Rivet Nut Tool
Here are some pictures of the riv-nut tool from McMaster-Carr and how it is used. Riv-nut fasteners are very handy if you need a threaded hole installed into a blind location, or when you do not have access to the back side of a mounting surface. I will use these fasteners for hatches and compartments in the trunk area of the Type 65 Coupe.
McMaster-Carr information
Wrench-drive rivet nut installation tool for 10-24 and 10-32 thread: 96349A203
Wrench-drive rivet nut installation tool for 8-32 thread: 96349A152
Wrench-drive rivet nut installation tool for 6-32 thread: 96349A101
Aluminum heavy-duty rivet nut, 6-32 internal thread, .080″-.130″ material thickness, packs of 25: 94020A315
Aluminum heavy-duty rivet nut, 8-32 internal thread, .080″-.130″ material thickness, packs of 25: 94020A323
Aluminum heavy-duty rivet nut, 8-32 internal thread, .020″-.080″ material thickness, packs of 25: 94020A319
Above left – a picture of a properly installed riv-nut, viewed from the reverse (back) side. At right, a riv-nut improperly installed, viewed from the face (front) side. This one must be removed by drilling the riv-nut out. Below left, use a twist drill slightly smaller than the mounting hole, in this case, a 1/4-inch bit is being used to drill out the riv-nut. By slightly rocking the drill, the riv-nut will break apart and, usually, just fall out of its hole.
Give Me a Brake: The Wilwood Pedal Box
The pedal box is a challenge to install with the Factory Five Racing Assembly Manual, revision 3E, July 2011 – since there are no assembly instructions for the Wilwood Complete Kit pedal box.
Fortunately, a dedicated Type 65 Coupe builder named Chris has an excellent photo album of his Coupe build, with many detailed images. Without his documentation – it would have been impossible to assemble this part of the kit. Take a look at cbergquist1’s photostream on Flickr.
Here are some pictures of my pedal box, including a trouble spot I ran into, and how I had to fix it. . . .
This is the clutch quadrant adjuster (above). This Nylok had to be ground down to fit properly. The hole in the adjuster plate is too close to the master cylinder mounting plate. A better solution would be to eliminate the Nylok altogether and thread the small plate. Then the lock nut and Allen bolt are used to make clutch travel adjustments.
Now I have to find a place to mount the master cylinder reservoir. There are some rare posts about this, but most of them are for the Factory Five Racing Roadster.
I think I will mount mine at or near the peak of the driver’s side footbox/firewall. This location should be away from too much heat, and should be in the clear for fluid bleeding, checks and re-filling. We will see. . .
The Gas Pedal
Part of the pedal box area is the accelerator pedal. Again, instructions are very skimpy on how to put this thing together. Here are some pictures of the gas pedal parts and how to dis-assemble the unit as it comes out of the box, and where it mounts onto the firewall area. Adjustments for the pedal box and accelerator pedal will happen later.
The Factory Five Racing Cruise-In at Huntington Beach is expanded to include both Pier Plaza and Main Street this year. On top of all this, a tour of the Riverside Auto Museum and an autocross event is scheduled for Sunday, April 28.
The event is free and open to the public, an entry fee is charged for Factory Five Racing car display space.
Click here for more information on the 2013 event.
Click here for a quick video of last year’s Moment of Thunder.
Here are some random photos from last year’s event. . . .
Here is your chance to earn some minutes of fame – and show off that secret project you’ve been working on in your garage. . .
Deadline for proposals is March 15, 2013.
I entered last year. Our theme was “Not Your Grandpa’s Ham Radio!” and generated a lot of interest in our radio clubs.
More information on this year’s event is posted here.
Take a look at some videos from my previous Maker Faire experiences…
My favorite videos from the MakerFaire include a short chat with Jeri Ellsworth and her “key-tar.”
Jeri has some very interesting YouTube videos, too.
And take a look at the giant paella pans cooking away!
It has been raining off and on all week, and continued through this past weekend. This is a good thing, since I can avoid yard work, and even better – I can spend more time in the garage. However, the garage has been cold, 40 degrees F. This pretty much kills any plans for painting anything.
Since the 80 pound metal medicine ball – also known as the pumpkin, center section, differential and other names – is re-sealed and mounted, the rest of the independent rear suspension assembly is going smoothly.
Learning something from the front suspension experience, I decided to assemble all the pieces on one side of the car first, and only hand-tighten the fasteners. This will prevent time-consuming error-fixing.
There is a saying on the Factory Five Forums – it goes something like, “if there aren’t any pictures, it didn’t happen.”
So, since there aren’t any pictures of the parts I installed backwards, it didn’t happen, right?
Let’s just say the assembly manual lacks good pictures to help us understand how to orient things properly. Many of the pictures are cropped too tightly, and do not show the nearby parts to help us visualize relationships to other parts or reference points.
Here are some pictures of the driver side lower control arm and coil-over-shock being installed. . .
While mounting the lower control arms, I kept dropping a stack of small shims (they look like thin washers) needed between the chassis mounting tabs. Of course, since they are round, they roll all over and under the strangest places. I had to use a small magnet to retrieve several of them.
The magnet made me think of a great way to hold and install these small shims on the mounts. Take a look. . .
The little magnet holds the stack of shims together, and by wiggling, pushing and pulling on the suspension parts, the bolt will slide through the stack. This works great, and it makes me feel happy rather than mad while underneath the chassis.
Of course, this only works if the parts are ferrous. The aluminum spacers are another story.
The spindles, upper control arms, and CV axles are next. Stay tuned . . . .
Regarding the two “missing” nuts and bolts for the IRS pumpkin – I found them this morning. Two nylon lock nuts and two bolts (1/2-13 x 3.25-inch) are in the 12438 bag, in Box 11C, IRS STD Width Rear Suspension.
The other two are included in the “IRS Completion Package” and are part numbers 25995 for the flanged locknuts and 14952 for the two bolts. I am not sure why these are metric. . . .
This is what they look like, the nuts and bolts from Box 11C are at the 5 o’clock position.
Big day today – the 302 V8 and T5Z transmission from The Engine Factory arrived. I like how everything has little tags to tell me what this thing does and where it goes.
Click here to see a video of the engine running posted on Facebook.
On with the pictures!
My go-to car builder friend Spider Larry once again came through for me. Using a Mapp gas torch and a piece of pipe, he separated the ball joint from the top mount for the passenger side suspension. Here are some pictures from the dis-assembly and re-assembly process on the Type 65 Coupe IFS, passenger side.
Here is the correct passenger side upper control arm and ball joint assembly:
The driver side looks like this:
So you MUST ignore the manual when it says to create a “left and a right unit with the ‘solid corner’ pointing to the front of the car.”
Footbox Heat Shields
I located, dry-fit, and drilled mounting holes for the driver and passenger footbox heatshields. The material is cookie sheet steel from the local grocery store. They have a nice rolled edge and will help deflect heat from the engine bay coming into the car interior. I am using riv-nuts and spacers to mount these sheets – er – heat shields to the footboxes.
I used BBQ paint for the shields, but may decide to powder coat the engine bay sheet metal parts, including the heat shields.
But I have to decide this quickly, since the engine is scheduled to be delivered within a few days!
Here’s the driver footbox with riv-nuts installed. All aluminum panels for the engine bay will be powder coated, the others will be painted.
Air Conditioning
Here is a picture of the air conditioner unit and where it will go. It fits behind the passenger side dashboard area, where a glovebox wold normally go. I need to allow space for the ducting and the windshield wiper mechanism, which mounts in the same area. A box to house the A/C unit will have to be fabricated.
The IRS – Independent Rear Suspension
Note to builders: This procedure is quite difficult, even with a helper or two. It is highly recommended to keep small children away to protect them from hearing rated-R and -X words and phrases loudly coming from the underside of the chassis and to keep them safe from thrown objects.
Since my ham radio friend Larry was going to stop by for a visit, I decided it would be a great time to get him to help me boost the rear differential (pumpkin) into the rear suspension cage. The Factory Five Racing assembly manual calls this unit the “IRS center section.”
There are many posts on how difficult this step is. The manual says, “It installs from the bottom with the driveshaft flange pointing straight up and the axle holes lined up front to back with the chassis.”
Err. So that means the giant 70 pound, lop-sided bowling ball like thing must be pushed up sideways, 90 degrees from the way it mounts onto the frame, and then must be twisted 90 degrees in the opposite direction to drop into place. This cannot be done safely with just one person. I found out that this is actually impossible to do with two people.
After several long hours and a phone call to Spider Larry, the pumpkin still refused to go into place.
I began to think about getting a grinder and removing any offending protrusions on the differential case and chassis to make this thing fit. My ham friend Larry had to leave, but a neighbor showed up, who also happened to be a car builder. I put Phil to work right away…
We tried a different route, maybe through the X-member at the rear of the chassis could work. So we used the jack to lift the differential high enough to check. We made a few measurements. No way.
We measured again, and noticed that no matter how you turn this pumpkin, it will not fit past the rear cover mounting plates.
We decided to remove the rear cover.
After unscrewing ten Allen bolts, and giving the rear cover a light tap with a rubber mallet, the cover popped off, very much like breaking an egg. To gain another inch of clearance, we removed the two plastic dust caps from the axle holes. Verifying that the diff does NOT have to come apart to mount the rear brakes, we put it back on the jack. Modifying the instructions, we lifted it with the driveshaft flange pointing up and the axle holes at a 45 degree (not 90 degree) angle, and pumped the jack. Now it went past the offending rear mounting plates, and into place.
Of course, now the differential must be re-sealed, so we tried a dry run with the rear cover. Yes, this will work. I currently have the pumpkin suspended above the mounting location, held in place with the jack, a 2×4, and a nylon strap. I will finish mounting this beast at the next build session.
Here are lots of pictures of the wrong way to do this. A video of this procedure would be most helpful, but I am sure most builders will have enough in their hands to not have a camera operator getting in the way.
So – take my advice, save at least 6 hours and lots of non-child-approved words and thrown objects, and remove the differential rear cover before you install your IRS center section. . . .
The rear mounting tabs (with the nice “5” logo laser-cut into them) are too close – use the threaded rod-expander trick to make it fit.
By the way – anyone else missing two nuts and bolts for the pumpkin mount? My parts list is correct, and yet I am still missing two fasteners for the standard width IRS differential.
I discovered I have the wrong adapter plates for the rear disc brakes, These are for the non-IRS version of the car. Jason at The Factory is sending the correct parts to me……
wayneyoshidakh6wz 