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An Ultra slow Ultra4 build

This is lovely, I dread to think of how much money is going into this, but it's amazing.

Love that tube-work, I'll bet there's been a few inventive words used setting that up, each time another piece of tube goes onto the "scrap" pile :lol:

Keep the posts coming Ryan, maybe a few of you tidying up the workshop, it might give me some incentive to tackle my long-overdue tidy-up in my shed :lol:
 
Hi that is one cool looking cruiser one of the best job I have seen thank for the pics and good look with the move. Keep up that top job
 
Some excellent engineering gone in to that! Keep up the good work
 
I figured an update is well overdue!

So the workshop move went ok. House move is sorted too. I haven't had as much time on the truck since the move as I would have liked. There are also a few things I have had to redo, big ol learning curve this is turning out to be.

First redo job was to sort out the front Lower link mounts on the chassis side, what I had come up with was too boxy and wouldn't let me tie in the roll cage to the chassis the way I wanted to. So this is what I had

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This is the tie in from the roll cage to the chassis that was clashing with the original link mount:

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This is what I now have:

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I think this setup will be less prone to getting caught up on stiff so all in pretty happy with how it turned out. I did have to take about an inch off of the links to make it all line up ok. The numbers on the 4-link calculator still look good with this change.

Next redo job was the tube that runs from windscreen bar over the cab to the rear. This is the tube highlighted in Red below. I had to move the rear stay inwards as shown by the arrow as the rear shock mounts will be welded onto this tube. The first version caused the shocks too be too close horizontal hoop so the shock would foul on this as it articulated.

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After that I moved onto bracing the cage:
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Roof bars going in

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Cross bracing the roof

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Windscreen Brace going in,

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The shock mounts are done too, but SWAMBO is beckoning so I'll try update further later tonight.

Ryan
 
It's only been 2 months Ryan :lol:

Shame there's so much suck-it-and-see, but at least you're going back in there to fix the bugs.

Looking good though... :thumbup:
 
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Looking really good Ryan from when I saw you and the build last time! Hat's off to your progress and skills... good on you mate!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
Ryan

What size rose joints have you gone for please?

Can I have a link or specs please?

Can't wait to see this up and running.
 
So thought I'd better got round to that update on the shock mounts.

After cycling the front end I found that the wheels were fouling the lower hoop on the front, so que the Sawzall...:unamused:

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Anyway, the are the front mounts, I am going to have new tabs cut that will replace the ones on the hoops at the moment. Reason being I want to make the tabs rounded to match the radius of the bends. I'll be able to get more weld on that way and also add some further bracing by fixing them. Plan then is to fit a removable bar from each hoop to provide further stiffness.

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When cycling the suspension I noticed a deep "gouge" of sort on the front left shock shaft. I was really puzzled about this as I have been handling them like I would a new born. I was off to Wales the following weekend for King of Wales and took it along to speak to the King guys there to figure out if it was a defect. The firs thing the king guys asked if I was welding on the car with them on. Apparently they see it quite a lot and what causes it is when you have the earth "far" away on the chassis and the earth tries to shortcut through the shaft. So I have two new shafts on order as the right hand shock shaft has some minor pitting in it from the same thing. Luckily the shafts aren't too expansive.

The rear mounts are a little less exciting...
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And then I also started bracing the mid section of the cage. I was holding off on this until I spoke to the tech guys at the wales race to make sure what I was doing would comply. IT does so all good on that front.

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Other than that, I have had a slow steady stream of parts coming in so hopefully have this cage done soon so that I can get onto something else. I'll be happy to not notch any tube for a while!

For anyone thats interested here is a pretty sound round up of the Wales race, It was really good.

 
Brilliant Ryan, looking forward to seeing you in the next one! :thumbup:
 
Well I figured an update is due...



In case anyone is interested the King of Britain race took place last weekend, was a great event. I really cannot wait to get this thing finished and start racing!









Anyway onto the update.



I built a cradle for the fuel cell to sit on, I'll be adding in a few sections of angle iron to the base to stop the cell from being able to to move and then making up a set of formed metal straps that will bolt in place to replace the ratchet straps.





Next I needed to sort out the rear lower shock mounts, I needed to move them in a couple of inches as the tyres were getting a bit too close to the shock body at full articulation. I made the new mounts with a few options in terms of mounting locations, the extra holes will also give me somewhere to bolt the limit straps to which will stop the shocks from ever extending when airborne.




Then after that I went on to mount the cans for the rear bump stops. The bump stops currently have 4" of travel which is a bit too much considering I'll have approx 6" of compression available from ride height. To reduce their stroke a friend of mine will be machining up spacers to put inside them that will reduce the stroke to 3".





Then onto the front end, the more I looked at what I had ended up with the less happy I was with a myriad of things. Initially the plan was to race modified and keep the car resembling a 70 series which is what the front end was built around, but given that I have decided to rather race Legends where the car doesn't need to resemble a production vehicle it seemed silly not to redo the front end. There are two reasons for the decision to change classes.


Firstly, Modified class in Europe just doesnt seem to be growing. At king of Britain there were only 5 teams racing in this class. In contrast Legends class had closer to 20 teams racing and the numbers seems to be going from event to event.


The second reason is the steering. I have been talking to the guys over at PSC in the states and they have pulled their 4500 class steering kit due to some issue and they basically said I'd have to cobble parts together. The cost and time needed to do this to race in a class with so few teams competing didn't make sense. So now I'll be running a standard full hydro steer setup.


The elements I wasn't happy with on the front end as it stood were namely the shock mounts and the rake of the shocks, they were leaning pretty far back and I wanted them a little more upright. I also needed to figure out how to provide a lower brace across the ends of the chassis rails.


So out came the grinder to cut off the front end...




After a bit of playing around in Bendtech I came up with this, the blue being the new front end:







I started with the lower brace first

There will be additional russetting going on the top and bottom of where it welds to the 45' plate.

Then onto the rest of the front end

I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. The angle of the shocks are better and I am overall happier with the way it looks. The next step will be to add in additional bracing. Something along the lines of the blue and yellow lines in the pic below. The yellow line should extend to the outside upright (A-Pillar)


Thats it for now. Other than additional bracing in the cage I am now getting to the point where I need to start mounting various components which I am looking forward to. I feel like I have been cutting, bending and grinding tube forever!
 
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Man I love your work! :clap:

Its looking so good and that front end is a massive improvement, especially the angle of the shocks. :thumbup:
 
Hey guys,

Figured a quick Pre Xmas update was in order.

Well I figured out the driving position, and after much deliberation, conceded that I would have to go back to LHD. Reason being that with the engine being low and as far back as I can get it the throw of the clutch pedal hits the back of the block. So by moving over to LHD there is plenty of room for the pedal throw.

So, onto the update. I finished up the tube work for the doors and the support tube for the steering wheel.

Next I needed to finalise the plan for the radiator, which I was going to mount above the fuel cell following the angle of the cage but the rad ended up too close to theta of the fuel cell so I opted to rather shift the fuel cell back and mount the rad vertically between the cabin and the fuel cell. Once I had the height figure out I fabricated two little towers for the pins on thread mounts to slot into.


Then I made up tabs for the plates on the top pins to bolt down onto effectively sandwiching the rad into place.


Then as I had shifted the fuel cell back a bit it protruded above the live of the cage, so I fab'ed up a removable crossbar to protect the fuel cell in the event f a roll, this will also serve as a good mounting point for the spare wheel bracket.

 
Isn't the top rad tank and the hose a bit exposed Ryan, in a roll-over?

It seems mighty close to that top tube, unless there will be more tube protecting it. :think:
 
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