1/12 Camaro Radial Tire - Chassis & Rear Suspension6-22-17

[Ognib]

Clever use of the wooden clips.  Shocks are real nice!

[John Clutch]

Small update. I was really busy this week with remote control car stuff and worked on drawings for the model more than actual work, but here is some progress.

I separated the engine block and transmission. It came out nice. And surprisingly, the engine block dimensions were a lot closer to the 1:1 than I expected as far as block length and deck heights were concern. The transmission bolt pattern was slightly off, and if I was to do this again, I would have drilled the hole pattern on the block itself and then made motor plates to that bolt pattern. The bolt pattern width is very close, but the overall height of the bolt pattern is too tall for the model engine. I accomplished this by laying out the top center hole and then placing the mid plate on top and laid the rest of the holes. Im debating whether or not to make a new front plate, as Im sure I will have the same issue.
My plan for the entire model is to mechanically fasten or pin nearly all components together, within reason. There will be many brass and aluminum components made. On the engine itself, nearly all components will be aluminum, minus the kit's engine block and heads. At the moment, I have the cylinder heads fastened to the engine block with 4-40 screw s(as shown). The finished piece will have aluminum valve covers, which will be drilled and tapped 4-40 and the screw will be in the opposite direction, through the block, cylinder head and into the valve cover. There will be a copper head gasket and valve cover gasket installed also. The lower cylinder head bolts have been drilled and Ill either buy or fabricate pins to simulate head studs. Motor mounts have been drilled also. Im still debating whether or not to actually use them. My thought is fasten the dry sump pump assembly on the drivers side, and possibly an oil cooler for the turbo on the passenger side. The components will be fastened with screws and nuts inside the engine block.  The oil pan will be aluminum also and will be the last component attached to the long block. The plan is to epoxy fill the under side of the engine block, where the intake sits, and then fasten the oil pan through the top of the block with countersunk screws. The intake will cover them. If Im happy with everything (fit and finish), I have the option of epoxy filling the rest of the engine block, locking all fasteners in place. The freeze plugs will be drilled out also. Onto the third member………

The plan was to make the unit out of plastic and then paint it aluminum, then I figured I would make it out of aluminum, have it soda blasted and call it finished. The majority of the components are made but I still need to make one vertical rib, the horizontal ribs, pinion support cap, yoke and drill the hole pattern. Both vertical ribs were supposed to be part of the area that covers the ring gear, but I had a brain fart and put the left side rib in the wrong spot. It would have been right on top of the upper center mounting screw. So I cut it off and will have to make that rib separately now. Oh well. All the ribs will be .040 thick ( 1:1 = ½”) and my hacksaw blade is .036. So I will section what you see here and sandwich the horizontal ribs between with most likely jb weld (if someone has a suggestion for a better product, I would appreciate it.)

Thanks for looking and comments are always welcomed.

Clutch

[John Clutch]

Clever use of the wooden clips.  Shocks are real nice!

Thank you Ognib, they store away nicely also. You can hang them up anywhere!

Edited August 15, 2016 by John Clutch

[Ognib]

On the aluminum pieces, very fluid lines on your curves & arcs.  Manual machine?  noice

[John Clutch]

On the aluminum pieces, very fluid lines on your curves & arcs.  Manual machine?  noice

Thank you, Ognib. Yes, everything there was created on my lathe. The area that represent the cover for the ring gear took a ridicious amount of time. I dont have much tooling. I turned the profile on the lathe, then I installed it on my tool post and installed a boring bar into the chuck and fly cut it til it was the right height. Then I shimmed it on the tool post til it was at the right height to bore a 1/2" end mill through it (pinion support). Finally I parted it off the stock. The pinion support overlaps the bottom two bolts that bolt up the third member to the housing, so I made the back plate and inner pinion support in one piece, and made a sleeve seperately. Once I drill the hole pattern, I can notch the sleeve for bolt clearance. Alot of work so far but I love fabricating and I think it should look killer when Im done with it.

[John Clutch]

Nothing to report yet. Had a few mishaps with other projects, which has eaten up some time. Hopefully Ill have something to post next monday.

[John Clutch]

Small update. Made a 5 stage dry sump oil pan. Since the pics, I also drilled the mounting holes and cleaned it up a bit more. The front detail of the oil pan will most likely be attached to the belt drive system. This is made in two piece and the mounting flange is screwed onto the main body with 4-40 screws.  A set of valve covers, similar to  this design are the next items on my bench.

The 9" member is still not complete yet. There is nothing wrong other than I just dont feel like working on it at this point. I did manage to drill the mounting flange and fab the pinion cover (?) The next step is to add the horizontal ribs (5 total) and it requires cutting the sections you see. Im just not  in the mood to take a chance of screwing up what you see lol.

Thanks for looking and comments are always welcomed.

 

[John Clutch]

And just like that, plans changed!!! I was just made aware that Shapeways makes a 1/12 scale LS3 engine, which was my original plans. Started working on drawings with the intent of building it from scratch. I purchased a block and heads, plus a RS/SS grill and tie rod ends. I will still complete this SBC first, as the long block is close to be completed anyway. Will most likely purchase another kit and build a tube frame car with a blower using the SBC. Maybe with a 80s/90s theme.

[John Clutch]

Small update. Made a belt drive and valve covers (forgot to take pics of the valve covers but they are sweet ! )

As you can see, I used the existing timing chain cover bolt pattern for the belt drive. I sand it smooth and then hogged it out. What you dont  see is I built up the area behind the belt driven, to about 1/4", so I can fastener the cam and crank pulleys. I used a 4-40 x 1/4" set screw for the crank and made a sex bolt for the cam. The cam might get the dry sump pump attached to it, not sure what Im gonna do yet. 

Thanks for looking and comments are always welcomed.

Edited September 7, 2016 by John Clutch

[blackbeard]

that looks great

[John Clutch]

Thank you phantom1. I know my progress has been at a snail pace, but I hope by October, I can start spending more time on this. Im hoping to get it done by April for the NNL East. If its painted by February, I think Ill have a shot, but Im not gonna rush it

Valve Covers:  It still needs breathers but not sure where they will go. Ill build an intake first and then decide. The height of them Im not sure about, the intake will help decide that also. They are two piece, just like the oil pan, so I can fly cut them later if I wish.

Belt Drive: Went shopping for rubber bands yesterday but just couldnt find anything that would look good for the belt. Then to the hardware store looking at o-rings. Too fat.  The belt needs to be 1/2" in diameter and .010 thick to look right, since the pulleys do not have grooves. As Im starting to solder some connectors for my rc car, it hits me.......shrink tubing! I had a piece 1/2" diameter and .010 thick! Just killed the shine with some sandpaper, cut a sliver  and it went onto the pulleys PERFECTLY. Nearly zero tension. I couldnt plan it any better. My favorite part of the build so far LOL

As I mentioned earlier, this motor will not go into this project. I ordered a LS3 block/heads and will continue working on this sbc til the parts arrive.

Thanks for looking and comments are always welcome

[blackbeard]

valve covers look right at home on that motor along with the oil pan

[Ognib]

I'm diggin the belt drive, John!! 

[10thumbs]

Real decent looking metal work John.  Hey, I just had a grin.  On a German forum recently, the first time I ever heard of shrink tubing.  Great idea, looks really good there on your motor.  Nice work.

[John Clutch]

Thanks guys!

[John Clutch]

I received some parts from Shapeways, including the LS3 block/heads/covers, RS/SS grill and tie rod end kits. AND I found out that Shapeway is 10 BLOCKS and 2 Avenues away from me !!!!! You have a choice when it comes to product time on each piece. For example, the engine block would cost $6 more and it would have taken an extra week to produce. I decided to see what the "normal" production time first, and from what Im seeing Im very happy with. Its so nice that I cant believe Ill be covering all that up!!! Maybe someday Ill build an entire motor to sit on a engine stand.  I will deck the block a little on the face and cylinder surfaces, as the rest of it looks great as a as-cast piece. Same with the cylinder heads. The grill will require some finish work though, but is incredible also. Same with the tie rods.

[blackbeard]

those parts look great

[LeadFred]

John, You Do a very amazing work of the Camaro. and the metal parts, awsome! 

Fred

 

[John Clutch]

Thank you Phantom1 and LeadFred. Looking at the project as a whole, it doesnt really look like I have done much. But when I look at each component, there is actually a lot of hours there. It was never was the type to document my work. This is really the first project that im doing so. As a fabricator, the love is in the fabrication. The research is fun also, but it really consumes a lot of its time. The good thing about researching is you really start to appreciate the collection of data you put together and thats the reminder itself. My pin board is covered with drawings. LOL you would think that since the project is in 1/12 scale, that it would require 1/12th the work. Nope. Its more like 12 times more. Im in awe of you 1/24 scale guys, especially Codi. I have the luxury of mechanically fastening a good part of the components together. I dont know how you wizards achieve such a crisp detailed finish with glue and paint. Do you guys employ a team of super mice or something? LOL. Anyway.......

Im.blown away by the detail of this 3D printing parts. I chased all the holes on the block. Not only are they all there, but they are all in the right position. By texture along, I knew I needed to true up all the mounting surfaces and assumed nothing will be flat. After all, its a printed part. How flush could everything be,right? Well, these parts are alot flatter than I would have ever imagined. Thats insane to me. The cylinder heads just needed the tabs cut off, otherwise they are flat and true, plus if I wanted to drill out the bolt heads, everything would match up. Really cool stuff. 

 

Thanks for looking. 

[John Clutch]

Hello everyone!! Im back on the computer laying out the components for the past month and its been time well spent. Lots and lots of tweeking. Ill save more details for later once I have some actual work to show you, but here is a drawing for the final specs on the front suspension. The plain rectangular shapes between the spindle and chassis will be the coil over shock locations. The green represent the brake calipers, which will be located at the front of the wheel but drawn on top to just work out clearances. If you notice the two small red dots on the face of the spindle, that will be the actual location for the caliper mounts. I LOVE hot rods, particularly open wheel rods that use flat control arms, but have alot of rake to them. That stance just makes the car look like its going an extra 100 mph. It might not be the ideal position for a actual X275 car,as some of you know Im being very critical on building a spec car, but Im going with form over function on these components. Thanks for looking.

 

[John Clutch]

Small Update. Sorry for the bad pictures.

After massaging the original subframe, I decided to just cut it off and build a "aftermarket" unit. The X275 rules state that the original frame must be retained from the center of the front axle to the rear wheel opening. It also states that any bolt in aftermarket sub frame can be use, as long as the shocks are in the stock location and that the original suspension design is retained.

I chopped off the original subframe from the undercarriage and filled in the area with styrene sheet. I also reinforced the area with an additional sheet of styrene as the plan was to bolt the main canals in place, wihich is done (sorry, no pics) I used four 4-40 countersunk screws. The interior bucket needs to be sanded off in that area, BUT Im considering to eliminate the interior bucket all together now. We will see.

What you see here is the subframe section up to the control arms. There will be a round tube frame attached to it which will support the front end, turbo, possibly the intercooler, etc..... I build this are by layers. First I glued the rear conrol arm support to the sub frame rails. Next I cut the sub frame rail section that will go between the control arm supports and drilled a 3/32" drill through it and glued that in place. Then I drilled into the rear section of the subframe and cut two broken 3/32" drill bits and pressed them in place for added support, leaving enough space to cap the end with some 3/32" styrene, to lock it in place. There will be a lot more tubing added to the subframe as soon as Im happy with a lay out.

At this point, I realized that I needs to get the front spoiler on the body to finalize the round tube section. Determined that I would need to cut 3/4" (from the bottom of the fenders @ the rear) which was nearly perfect for my mini vise. The solid jaw is .730 think, plus the thickness of the hobby blade of .030, it came out to be .760. Close enough!!! I shimmed the nose .150" and go to chopping. Went very well with very little sanding.

SUGGESTION: If you decided to section a body in this manner, I suggest you spend the time cutting through the corners first, like where the front and side of each fender meets. Then start cutting through the rest a little at a time. You can see how close you are to cutting through by holding the body up to the light and look at it through the inside. I left the front center and the edges of the wheelwells for last. You dont want to cut one side off because you will not having anything to support the body and the cut will go crooked.

I hope to have the spoiler mounted, the body pinned to the undercarriage and the front section on the next update. Thanks for looking

[John Clutch]

I have more pictures but it looks like I lost them somewhere lol.

[John Clutch]

Here is another pic. The rack n pinion will mount in this location. The rear control arm support will be cut away at the bottom for motor clearance, as soon as I figure out the rest of the tubing and motor pan.

 

[Codi]

I can understand why you ditched the stock front clip.  Your scratch built clip is looking sharp John.  Go find those missing photos now.  cheers, tim

[Reeves Racing]

Look great, I would like to see those missing pictures as well.