Plastic Fantastic 2

seems I forgot to mention the lathe.

I bought a Siamp lathe. Siamp is still in business-ish, this model is early 60s. It has power feed in both directions, water cooling, 14x42, gap bed, 2" through spindle, it also does metric, SAE, and whitworth (which I had no idea was a thing until I bought the lathe).

I paid $400 for it.

so plans are underway - to get the 3 phase into single phase by using a VFD. If you don't know what they are.... here's a bit of a primer - the short is they can fake the 3rd leg for 3 phase and allow you to run 3 phase on single phase power. but wait, there's more (in my best Billy Mays voice), because you now have control of the frequency, you can speed or slow the motor quite a bit with a simple dial knob, you can also program an emergency stop that uses the motor to stop the spindle, it also can reverse in 1/4 turn of the spindle.... I've seen this work and I like it so much that I'm going to change my press brake motor back to 3 phase then control it with a VFD.... so pictures

the controller on the wall
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very nice..i run into whitworth stuff all the time on the British sports cars....right up to about the mid 60s.....mostly left over brake parts and unions on the 60s cars. pretty standard on the early 50s british cars and before. And slowly phased out in the late 50s. you never know what you are going to find on old British cars.
 
bobs77vet said:
very nice..i run into whitworth stuff all the time on the British sports cars....right up to about the mid 60s.....mostly left over brake parts and unions on the 60s cars. pretty standard on the early 50s british cars and before. And slowly phased out in the late 50s. you never know what you are going to find on old British cars.
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working wiring? no rust? :D
 
SuperBuickGuy said:
bobs77vet said:
very nice..i run into whitworth stuff all the time on the British sports cars....right up to about the mid 60s.....mostly left over brake parts and unions on the 60s cars. pretty standard on the early 50s british cars and before. And slowly phased out in the late 50s. you never know what you are going to find on old British cars.
Click to expand...

working wiring? no rust? :D
Click to expand...

Wiring?? working?? NO, prince of darkness said so......
 
So I had some time to fill tonight,so I worked on the Corvette
so I threw on some filler
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I don't know how there managed to be a low spot here, but alas a bit of fill and all is good
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it's important to note that when you fill over the door seam; you should not get too distracted otherwise problems may occur
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and yes, I did cut it open in time on this side.... the otherside I was a bit late.

the distraction
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powered up but I think the motor is wired for 480 and the controller is for a lower voltage - pros will answer this question tomorrow
 
I'm so used to winter mixes that I wasted about half a sheet of filler.... whoops
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but got a few more spots done... I can really start roughing it in this week then start with the high build coats and guide coats...
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again, this is filler work but every minute I spend on it is one minute less to completion...edited

and for those wondering why I'm working on the back not the front.... to get the edge, I moved the door back then when the gap follows the door seam, I'll move the door forward and have perfect gaps front and rear.... at least that's the pleasant theory I'm selling myself
 
sanded on it a bit more, I need to order some high-build primeredited
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I also need to finalize the door edges and for that I may have to get clever.... tbc
 
time to start the car - that means I need gauges
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wiring instructions... ugh
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and control for the various systems
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the first switch is to power the ignition, the column switch will turn on the non-engine functions.
yep, still a BBC
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So I got some work done on the Corvette, however this fiberglass was jamming up my lift
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it's a 818 kit car.edited it was assembled by an amateur and while it is dangerous, it also doesn't fit worth anything either.... however, this little thing is blindingly fast.edited It has a WRX motor in the back - making it a mid-engine car.edited The guy who built it bought a lot of good parts - and fortunately the builder, Factory Five (the kit builders) made it well enough that even the most amateur is safe....ish.edited Tighten bolts people... just sayin'

anyway, outside of a bit of help on that,edited

my most hated task... wiring
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I need to have gauges to start it, since my lathe isn't done, I can't finish the rear install nor the front suspension.... so this is the task that is most ready to move forward
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beside that, the sanding continues.
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I love your ambition and execution. This has been a fun build to watch. :-)
 
look what arrived
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the whole point of this is how dimensionally close it is to a design that is 40 years older.... at least the lower arm, the upper arm is quite a bit different
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SuperBuickGuy said:
look what arrived
xZW3wZA.jpg

the whole point of this is how dimensionally close it is to a design that is 40 years older.... at least the lower arm, the upper arm is quite a bit different
​​​​​​​ir1Z1XF.jpg
Click to expand...

I'll be following your adventures with the suspension mods there. I did a similar thing a while back, but with spare C4 parts I had laying around.

Are you planning to keep or change the stock C3 trackwidth with these parts?

Just curious, how do the lower A-arm inner pivot to ball joint lengths compare between the stock C3 and the C5 parts?

Keep the pictures coming. :thumbs:
 
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