Project Countach

 I spent the month of April assembling the main frame. I started by welding the two rear frame rails separately (the horizontal pieces and 45 degree pieces) with the rear section clamped onto the Corvette rear end to form a baseline. I noticed that there were some issues with the alignment of the two rear frame rails, so I boxed them together using some 3/4" tube I had laying around to keep them aligned. Next, I welded the main body structures. This took a bit of aligning with the laser level and numerous shims, but it was done. I then started dry fitting the front suspension pieces to the front of the frame. The upper shock mounts were the most nerve wracking of the entire thing!! I triple checked the measurements beforehand, and still had to look up numerous examples afterward to be 100% sure I didn't fuck it up. I started cutting the smaller inner frame this week, but have not had a chance to weld anything else together after the main frame due to work and other priorities....

 The first part of the month of March was spent honing the final design, and then mulling it over for a bit to make sure I didn't have any more changes. I then created shop drawings for cutting and welding, as well as a materials list, to order any supplement steel pieces. Once those arrived, I organized them and started working on marking the steel for cutting. Instead of a typical chop saw, I utilized a "steel demon" blade in my miter saw and circular saw, in order to cut the pieces. It was a bit tricky, but the angles were precise, and the work was well worth it. I used a circular sander bought from Harbor Freight to square up the edges to minimize any gaps. It took me a week to cut all the tube for the 2x4 tube part of the frame (the "backbone"), and a couple of days to weld the components together. I need to clean the shop up so that I can weld the backbone of the frame together in final assembly. In April I will be working on that and cutting the pieces fo...

 Lots of design work in February! I went through several iterations of frame design in CAD. I also utilized our 3D printer for each iteration. I think I am close to a final design. I am certainly able to start work on the main frame backbone (the 2x4 steel), but details like seat size, body position, etc. I am still trying to work out. Like I tell my boys, we can design this a million times in CAD easily but making changes once we cut and weld are a lot more difficult (and expensive)! The final design will be based on the lowest one in the 3rd pic below. Yes, I still have our Christmas tree up. It's cheerful and helps my depression.

 When we left off, I had started plotting in data into the CAD tool, and got the rear suspension assembly. In Jan, I received the front end Mustang II suspension components, as well as a few pieces of 2x4 steel tube to get started. The mustang II crossmember was measured and cut to fit the 2x4 tubes to the correct ride height, per the instructions I got from Heidts. One thing I did was to take copious measurements of the body, in order to make sure I got the chassis correct. I tried taking pictures and pasting them scaled into CAD, but the distortion from the distance to the camera was too great, so I opted to take measurements and follow those instead. I then bolted the wheels to the rear subassembly to determine ride height and chassis mount points height. The wheels have a 1.75" thick wheel adapter to go from the C6 Corvette hub to the wheels I have currently. I had to buy an extra 1/4" thick spacer as the rim rubbed against the knuckles of the rear spindles. I had to take...

Since I decided to build a new chassis from the ground up, there were a few things I needed to do so I didn't fuck this up. I refreshed my knowledge on chassis design and welding processes via You Tube. I bought a license with ProgeCAD to start assembling my model. It's a product similar to AutoCAD and so it's very familiar to me, having used AutoCAD in school and professionally since the mid-90's. While I do have AutoCAD on my work computer, I don't want to utilize that computer for this project, plus I may use this program for other work. My only criteria were to use as little as possible from the Fiero, and to not have to design and build suspension components, so I decided to buy pre-built assemblies. I bought a Mustang II front end assembly and a C6 Corvette rear assembly. The Mustang II will be here next week, but the Corvette part has been here for a month already. I've been taking measurements from it, as well as ordering wheel spacers and adapters for t...

2021 was a hit and miss year for me. I tried many times to re-start this project but for one reason or another, I just could not muster up the motivation to keep going at it. I put the new body on the car adnd found myself chopping up the frame to make it fit properly - too much chopping. I bought a new engine which is still brand new and un-tested, and new exhaust parts, and chopped the frame further to make those fit before giving up. I tried selling it twice and each time I could not sell due to the low ball offers I kept getting. I was still nostalgic for the thing after all, but I could not stand the condition it was in after all this time. So, I was stuck in a place where I did not want to work on it, and I did not want to sell it. The kids did not want me to sell it. I needed a big kick in the pants as to what direction to finally go in. In October, I lost my ability to fly due to a medical condition, so that hobby became shelved, freeing up time. I then decided that if I were t...