Lil Bruce 1972 clubby, D series build.

[bert998]

Suppose I better introduce myself properly, seeing as that im at the stage where I will soon be asking many many questions :lol:

Right heres my project a 1972 Clubby which is destined to have a d series lump pulling it up the twisties. Needless to say it needs a bit of tlc

When I picked it up, 400 mile round trip, but it was free. Soon started gutting it

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/lilbruce6oct7.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/lilbruce4oct7.jpg

Auto lumps weigh a tonne :shock:

Needs front floorpans as these are rough. Also will do inner outer sills, flitch panels and o/s door post.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/lilbruce5oct7.jpg

Boot and heelboard and very good however so thats a major ballache diverted.

And a quick montage to where I am now, some good 18 months later at least :?

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/PIC_0699.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/PIC_0718.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/PIC_0717.jpg

[bert998]

And where I am as of this evening:

Ive got the subframe pretty much laid out now. Ive managed to reuse the main two stock honda mounts, i purposely made the guy in the scrapyard cut around these with the burning gear rather than through them. Works well i think, one less thing to work out if nothing else!


http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/IMG00083-20090409-2152.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/IMG00070-20090409-2147.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/IMG00079-20090409-2150.jpg


I plan to use the large gussets in the pic below to mount the brace bars too. I've been toying with the idea of making a plate to integrate the brace bars into the damper mounting point (as I have to source/fabricate damper mounts anyway). Is this a good/bad idea? Are the damper mounting bolts upto the job? At the end of the day most of the brace bars i've seen mount directly through the single skin of the inner wing, so they cant put that much stress on the are can they?

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/IMG00071-20090409-2148.jpg


Also banged the lower arm mounts in, need to get some suitable bolts for these and drill the frame out. If someone could point out a suitable bolt to save me firkin about I'd be most grateful.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/IMG00080-20090409-2152.jpg


Got a land rover mount in the post for the rear mount, half mocked up already, just waiting on that.

Feels good to actually get some time on it :D

I'm using a d15b2 lump. Nothing particularly special but should be good for 100bhp with a couple of mods so plenty for me at the me. No doubt i'll want more from it in the future but this came up at such a good price it seemed silly to refuse (£80 for the lump, loom, rad, dials, switchgear driveshafts and cutting it all out 8) )

Which to me most importantly is the cheapest way to get a five speed box and an extra 8 valves under the bonnet.

The main emphasis to the project will be the interior. Some of you may have recognised my name from tmf, I run Retro Retrims and hopefully before the end of the world this will be our runabout going around the country to as many shows as possible showing off my handywork.

Such as this, my latest work 8)

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/PIC_0854.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/PIC_0843.jpg

Hopefully I'll be updating this reguarly, I doubt it though! :lol:

[Owen]

Looking good dude! And welcome! :D


However, you will want to add some kind of bracing between the bottom two sides of the frame at the back. But make sure you take into account where the exhaust and gear linkage will go.

Keep it up!

[Dowz]

Great another d series. Looking nice so far. Good idea moving the engine over so the diff misses the steering rack but won't you have to remove loads off your sump to miss the tie bar or are you moving its mounting?

Dash looks sweet too, any club discount for your products?? :lol:

[matt]

Looking good dude! And welcome! :D


However, you will want to add some kind of bracing between the bottom two sides of the frame at the back. But make sure you take into account where the exhaust and gear linkage will go.

Keep it up!

The bulkhead is a huge brace :?: In my opionin pointless weight to add eneythink. If the subframe is bolted solid with enough fixings.

Looking good bert998 keep the good work up and keep the pics coming.

[Owen]

The bulkhead is a huge brace


:| I can see where you're coming from but every other frame i've seen has bracing in this area. Or maybe i'm just completely off the mark :?

[evolotion]

Looking good dude! And welcome! :D


However, you will want to add some kind of bracing between the bottom two sides of the frame at the back. But make sure you take into account where the exhaust and gear linkage will go.

Keep it up!

The bulkhead is a huge brace :?: In my opionin pointless weight to add eneythink. If the subframe is bolted solid with enough fixings.

Looking good bert998 keep the good work up and keep the pics coming.

the need for bracing between the towers is to stop the towers twisting (dave coxon pointed this out early in my build as he did some work on frame design) when a forward or rearward load is placed on the top arm. on single bolt frames the frame can easily pivot around this point if there is any flex a small brace eliminates this :)

[WanaGo]

yes you need a brace.

An example I was told when building my frame was, imagine a braking condition. If the wheels were to stop and the body tied to continue forward with momentum, the rear section of the frame would try to squeeze together. Twisting around the tower points. Try to imagine it.

You dont need anything large. I just used a piece of 3mm wall 25mm round tube.
A pic of mine to show what I mean:
http://mini.taktik.co.nz/images/IT_IMG_0487.jpg

Cheers
James

[bert998]

Thanks for the input guys and the warm welcome 8)

Dowz your build is inspiring. I will need to take a chunk out of the sump but its not too bad. No worse than any of the others ive seen whilst whoreing the gallery :lol:

im sure I can sort you out with a good deal should you want anything trimming up :wink:

The brace was a no brainer for me, i'd rather add a little more weight to gain in rigidity than run without it. It was also crucial as I plan to intergrate the rear mount off it, which I plan to start doing tomorrow if I can,

Owen, thanks for the heads up. I did think that area would need some triangulation but i thought i'd wait till I got the engine back in and the subby in the car to eye it all up. Its definately an area that needs improvement.

Yesterday I snuck into the garage for an hour and chopped and rewelded the n/s lower leg as there was too little room between the sump and frame. There is plenty now.

Tommorow see's me attack the rear mount, cant wait :P

[craig 1010cc]

good work chris, glad to see you and Bruce have made it over here :P

And Chris's interior work is spot on. I have a boot kit for my Cooper and a set of custom door cards due to go in Pootle shortly.

[bert998]

'ow do Craig :wink:

Made a start on the rear mount today.

Got some thick plate as didnt want the mount flexing, its about 9mm.

Only problem was my mig welder wasnt man enough for the job, had the power on high and wasnt happy with the penetration. Ended having to dig my ol' mans 30 year old arc welder out. Did the job lovely, just not going to win any awards for it. Not that my efforts with the mig are much prettier :lol:

I didnt get very good pics but heres the jist of the evenings antics.

Started off trimming the stock honda mount so it cleared the subrame.
After checking all was good I beefed the plate up.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/IMG00095-20090414-1906.jpg

Then welded a large plate to the rear of the subby to run the mounting. This also stiffens the frame up too as a brucey bonus.

I've gone for a land rover mount as that seems to be what a fair few builds have gone with. You cant really see where I am now but here is the mount, half finished.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/IMG00096-20090414-1949.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/bert998/IMG00101-20090414-1950.jpg

Next time im on it i'll be adding strengthening to minimise the risk of it all flexing under load.

The mounts a bit of a biggie and involves taking the stat of to fit it. That doesnt bother me though, i'd rather pop two bolts out than run a moun that i felt was going to be over stressed.

[bert998]

A step forward today.

Picked up a gearbox out of a vtec-e. The longer legs should mean I can run 10s 8)

Also picked up the master cylinder too, will fit it up to the mini pedals.

No actual progress on the car though.

Just need to find some time to work on it, ridiculously busy now show season is kicking off, everyone is realising they need bits and want it right away. The little free time I do get should be spent with my good lady :|

[/i]