Mark's 1G Winter Projects

[Goat Blower]

Reminds me of when Brent was gutting his wife's car way back when. He ended up with almost no internal structure and I think he even replaced almost the entire floor with sheetmetal. He was down around 2100 lbs as AWD IIRC. That car was so light.

Looks good! 1G love!

[Mark Leasure]

Originally Posted by Dark2g

I was pretty proud of my cage fitment tell I saw this. You are an artist sir! The pillar bars are very impressive probably best I have seen in a 1g. I really never thought about how much of the inner skin Panels a guy can cut out. That perfect notch is gonna make the welding a little better time for sure. Easier to focus on making the welds as perfect as possible! Do you weld your chromoly with red tungsten? Well done as always, keep it up

Thanks! My old cage fitment and my tig welding capability was at a beginner level. Now that I have 10 years on tig welding experience, I wanted to make sure I could be proud of this cage.

It has not been easy. The design of the cage, assembly steps, and being able to weld it has been a challenge, due to being so close to the car.

I planned ahead to use a micro torch when i made the fitment so close.

Originally Posted by MorningWood

I love it! That cage looks like it fits so well! And those joints are as close as you can get, you knocked this out of the park so far!

Thanks! I'm excited too see your project!
5

Originally Posted by Goat Blower

Reminds me of when Brent was gutting his wife's car way back when. He ended up with almost no internal structure and I think he even replaced almost the entire floor with sheetmetal. He was down around 2100 lbs as AWD IIRC. That car was so light.

Looks good! 1G love!

1g Love!

Some of the fab





I was able to take the floor bars out to finish weld them.

[Dark2g]

I have never seen a micro torch before but damn that is cool! There is so many tools that exist to make things easier. I am a little suprised you are still manually making these bends or I am at least assuming from the pics. I have seen some people have been able to mod hydraulic cylinders on your style bender before. Those floor bars are super impressive and super convenient they popped out to weld most of that up. Everything seems so tight it doesn't even look like you will have room to weld all the way around!

[turbotalon1g]

^Agreed.
I just want to watch all this in action

[niterydr]

Loving the progress, great fitment so far!!

[Mark Leasure]

thanks for the feedback guys!

At this point the cage is close to being done. I just need to get the front of the funny car cage bent and welded in. I need to buy a new 1.5" bending die for this, so i need to wait a week or two until the die shows up. I also need to figure out a custom window net setup, mount the seat, and fabricate mounts for the steering column. My goal is to have it certified this month!

My chassis fabrication confidence has grown and this has been an awesome project so far!



It's a shame I'm going to paint the cage, not all of the welds are this clean, but the majority are good like this.

[turbotalon1g]

i feel safe just looking at it.

[MorningWood]

That's turned out awesome so far!

[Mark Leasure]

Originally Posted by turbotalon1g

i feel safe just looking at it.

Originally Posted by MorningWood

That's turned out awesome so far!

Thanks guys, I'm super pumped for next year.

This was a good weekend of progress. I ordered a custom Stroud window net. They produced it in 24 hrs from my order! It fits awesome. I also reduced the size off rod used to mount the net to shave off some weight.



Everything I do I question if I can cut weighty in the process. I also ordered a new polycarbonate formed windshield from optic armor, this will shave off some good weight too!

I made a new steering column, to reduce weight and stiffen up what I had for a solution before. I machined aluminum inserts to adapt to roller bearings. The tube is 4130 1.5" x 0.035", and the shaft is 4130 3/4" x 0.049". Turned out nice.

[MorningWood]

Those door panel "scuff plates" or whatever they're called gotta be worth a few ounces :P are you going to run interior panels or shell the doors?

[Mark Leasure]

Originally Posted by MorningWood

Those door panel "scuff plates" or whatever they're called gotta be worth a few ounces :P are you going to run interior panels or shell the doors?

Oh snap you're killing me!

I have a bead roller so I'm considering making thin aluminum door panels. Once I receive the carbon fiber Kevlar reinforced doors I'll figure out what to do to finish them off.

[MorningWood]

Originally Posted by Mark Leasure

Oh snap you're killing me!

I have a bead roller so I'm considering making thin aluminum door panels. Once I receive the carbon fiber Kevlar reinforced doors I'll figure out what to do to finish them off.

Free weight savings is the best kind!

[Mark Leasure]

The cage is done! I'll be getting it certified next month. It's been an awesome project. The seat mount and belts are done too.





I also removed a little more than 10 more pounds of metal from the front driveshaft carrier bearing mount and supporting structure from driveshaft tunnel. This sucked to remove, i was drilling spotwelds for 3 to 4 hours! It was well worth that time for that much of a weight reduction. I'll need to get this thing on corner scales to see what it comes out at.



To remove the driveshaft support structure I had to cut out emergency brake cable bulkhead from the floor. I got to use my bead roller and made a patch panel, and plug weld at all the areas where I accidentally drilled through while removing the spot welds. I also stitch welded back in the floor section I cut for the tube that intersects it.

[Dark2g]

You did this so friggin fast, can tell you really have mastered tubing work. It will be interesting to see the weight after all this for sure. Your dedication to weight savings is awesome. The custom window net turned out great as well! Did you decide what color you are gonna paint the cage yet?

[Halon]

Cage looks amazing!

[Mark Leasure]

I cut the roof off! The cage is welded and I'm awaiting certification.



I also received my carbon parts!

Roof test fit.



2g dash is awesome! Took a lot of cutting to get it fit. The 2g dash is about 6" thicker!

[MorningWood]

I can't wait to see this thing in action! looks awesome!

[Halon]

The roof, the roof, the roof is all fiber

[turbotalon1g]

Holy I don't even know.

This is crazy.

[MorningWood]

Any plans on fabbing up a drag wing?