It's Tubbed...Finally

[5448]

Finally making progress again on the minitub project, so I had to share some photos. Spent some quality time in the garage over the long weekend, and have the tubs welded in. Now the project sheet is down to about 10 pages to get the car back to the track again!
Plan is to have it back out by the end of May.
I added up the hours on this project - roughly 60 hours to prep, notch the frame, plate what was left, and trim and install the tubs.
Next up is finishing gusset straps for the ladder bar mounts, additional tubing to brace the front crossmember, and finish off the floor.
Then on to mounting the fuel cell and plumbing the new fuel system, and finally paint in the trunk and some carpet inside.
The car has been apart for about a year and a half, side tracked by work schedules last fall and over the winter.
It will be good to have it all back together and running again, to say the least!
Eric

[BracketNova]

That should make some extra room

[71 chevy]

nice work man.

[John_Heard]

Good deal, that's a big project I bet you're glad to be wrapping it up.

[joe69Z]

Finally making progress again on the minitub project, so I had to share some photos. Spent some quality time in the garage over the long weekend, and have the tubs welded in. Now the project sheet is down to about 10 pages to get the car back to the track again!
Plan is to have it back out by the end of May.
I added up the hours on this project - roughly 60 hours to prep, notch the frame, plate what was left, and trim and install the tubs.
Next up is finishing gusset straps for the ladder bar mounts, additional tubing to brace the front crossmember, and finish off the floor.
Then on to mounting the fuel cell and plumbing the new fuel system, and finally paint in the trunk and some carpet inside.
The car has been apart for about a year and a half, side tracked by work schedules last fall and over the winter.
It will be good to have it all back together and running again, to say the least!
Eric

Great lookig job!

[supernova]

Nice!

It's a lot of work ain't it? but you got it done!

[5448]

Ha! You're not kidding! It all seemed so straightforward when I started cutting things out!
I'm definitely learning a lot as I go.
To begin with, my car had a portion of another car welded in to it at some point before I got it. The drivers rear trunk floor is all from another car. It didn't line up well, and had lots of horrible torch cut seams and patch panels. I didn't realize just how bad it was until I pulled the gas tank and cut off some of the patch panels.
The first thing I had to do was cut all the spot welds and patches out, reposition the floor, then trim and reweld. I took over 10 lbs. of overlapping metal out from that alone.
Once that was squared up, I could start with the actual tub portion.
I had a set of old Hoosier 29x12's that I used for all my mock up - even with the aggressive frame notching, they were pretty tight, width-wise. The section width was larger than what I calculated they would be on a 12" rim - I calculated 14.3", but they measured 15" at 15 psi.
I had already decided on Goodyear and ordered a set of 29x12's. I had calculated 14.2" section width, and they came out to 14.25" at 15 psi. So I gained .75" of section width, which will let me put the car down as low as I want.
I also switched directions on suspension last summer; originally I was going to keep the leaf springs, but decided to put ladder bars in instead.
To get the car low, I'm going to have to trim out a lot of floor to make clearance. My next step is to make templates and cut some more!
I ordered some light indoor/outdoor carpet today to finish everything off.
I also ordered a new package tray and some interior trim. I just about fell over when the parts total was $81, and shipping was $55! Apparently, the cardboard package tray can fall apart at any time, because it is shipped double oversize for protection. I checked three suppliers, and all shipped the same way. So no pressure when I cut holes for the rear down bars!
Oh, well, at least progress is being made, and the end is on the horizon!
The fab is a lot of fun, and I have a list of things I'd do differently next time, but it will feel good to make a pass again!
Eric