AKSPORTSCARS #17

[Douglas]

Not going to lie, having to make these changes in the rear for the 4.6 heads definitely made shaping sheets to fit it is a bit challenging. Annoying too lol.

I tried to reuse the top piece that AK provided, but it is a bit shy or material in the rear edge, might remake, or just not care and blend in some PR sealant before painting... no one but use will know then.....

Definitely need to clean up the nasty edges.

 

[Neil]

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Not going to lie, having to make these changes in the rear for the 4.6 heads definitely made shaping sheets to fit it is a bit challenging. Annoying too lol.

I tried to reuse the top piece that AK provided, but it is a bit shy or material in the rear edge, might remake, or just not care and blend in some PR sealant before painting... no one but use will know then.....

Definitely need to clean up the nasty edges.

Nice work. Let me give fellow builders a piece of uninvited advice... When forming a flanged edge over a curved surface it is preferable to form the curved bend by forming flutes to take up the curvature rather than cut notches. Notches can form cracks where the two cuts intersect. I've used a variation of method #2 here:

There are a number of things that I'm not a fan of in this video. First, the fabricator is forming the flange with a zero radius bend- it works in soft aluminum alloys but not in high strength alloys. A shrinker is a quick & easy way to correct the bend but it looks bad unless you dress the outside surface. ...and shrinkers are a bit expensive.
An alternate method to shrink a flange is to file "V" grooves in the edge of your form blocks so that you can peen flutes around the edge. I usually make forming blocks of rock maple and drill two 1/4" holes through the maple and the aluminum so they can be bolted solidly together. An appropriate radius should be cut on the inside of the bottom block. Here is the preferred method:

I built an aluminum wing for a friend's top fuel dragster by this method. My personal opinion is that if a fabrication is unacceptable on an aircraft, it has no place on a race car.

 

[Douglas]

Neil, I agree completely, the part was made nasty. Mostly just to work out the angles of the corners as there are no curves to it. Just 5 angled direction changes on one side the other is flat.

I'm definitely remaking a correct fitting part.

At the ends of the cut regions to allow the edges to be angle formed, the correct method is to drill a hole and match the cut to the edge diameter of the removed material, creating bend radius relief, then no cracks occur. The relief ideally extends beyond the edge of the bend radius.

 

[Douglas]

Been waiting on this to come in for a while now, and atleast I wasn't ready for it.
Got the Quaife fork assembly. Getting it from Quaife was quite a bit lower cost than from Safir. Parts came as a kit unlike Safir that has everything separate. Really good quality maching in the parts. I like that they provided rubber end seals for the roller bearings provided to keep the grease in and the dirt out.

Slave cylinder and throwout bearing not in picture, but they came from Summit.

 

[Douglas]

The slow fettling continues. Added some small supports you cannot see under some angled parts for panel support.

Picked up a softer grade aluminum to be able to make the bends and creases in the support covers. No nasty V grooves for fitment anymore.

Needs to clean up and radius off all the sharp edges and perhaps I will get these riveted down this month. I have to travel again for work, so another weeks lost to projects.