new Lathe!

Finally got a lathe today.  I have been lurking on CL for quite a while.  The guy who had this used it for miniature engineering.  He had an incredible collection of tiny steam engines that he had built.  He had done a lot to this machine to make it work better, and add functionality.  The bad news is that it was totally wedged into the back of a very capable shop with a lot of equipment.  It took us something like 3 hours to get it out and into my car.  I don't know where I will put it yet, but I have a couple days to figure it out while I wait for my headers.

how to drain the stink

I spent the weekend working on the exhaust clearance issue, and figuring out what I want to do for an acetylene torch setup.  I cut the subframe back some more and cleaned it up.  I see three options for the interference issue from last time:

1) modify the subframe:
Pretty substantial. The current header is pointed more or less through the middle of the subframe in structure that I can't just remove. I think I could weld a box tube and some doublers underneath to blow the center section away, but it will be gnarly. Since this subframe is pretty highly stressed, the less I have to chop on it or weld to it the better. As it is I already have to be very careful to make sure I am at least as strong as the original.

2) build a new subframe
Will look cleanest in the end but is the most time consuming.

3) get a different header
Could give me the quick way out if i can find cheap headers.  My first thought is block huggers which outlet straight down near the middle two cylinders.  I think this creates new problems for me (exhuast now outlets where my rack and new subframe are).  Also, block huggers are worst for making power.  My next less intuitive option is to go with a tri-Y:

 

Even though there are more tubes, I lose the flange and the outward cant that is pointing things through the subframe.  To make sure I am not wasting my time, I took some measurements of the image below.  Since I know the distance between the primaries on the engine, I could scale up anything I measured in this image.  I think I may have a collision, but it will be in a different place, and if it is less substantial, I could get away with less subframe modification.  Shipping to me is free, so all it costs me to try is the return trip.  The stakes are big enough, that I figure it is worth a shot.  So I put my bid into the summit fairies. 

 

These are wicked cheap by the way $165.  If they are no good, I may try the block huggers before commiting to the chop and hack campaign.  There is always the kugel option, but that is a long way down at this point: I would have to buy their headers, and their subframe >$1500.  This would also likely mess up my rack location and suck me into their steering arm pieces and the engine frame (>$1700).  So this is sort my whole autonomy at stake here.  Worth a few trips to UPS.

subframe positioning

I decided to try and use the original subframe by cutting the middle out.  to clear the trans:

I plan to clean this up, and weld some plate onto the open section to put the stiffness back.  I think I will also add a piece of square tube to tie the left and right together again.  This tube will connect at the furthest forward point on the subframe (right side in the image above).  It will go through the high area in the sump and hold the rack.  It will be hard to squeeze the exhaust through.  It was hard to get a good picture, but see below.  Probably good that I am figuring this all out now before the engine frame is done and the engine position is totally locked.  

 

planning the subframe

I don't have a lot exciting to share just now.  Now that the engine is placed I am designing some structure.

The structure must:
Hold the engine
Hold the suspension
Hold the rack
Be rigid for each of those things
Attach to the frame and the undercarriage
Dodge the sump
Dodge the exhaust
Be manufacturable by someone one with just cutting disks, drills, mig machine, and possibly a tubing bender
Allow servicability of reasonable items (no good if I have to remove the engine to change the oil filter etc.)
be cheap to make

I have a safety net in all this.  The kugel parts for this part of the job run about $3k All together.  I expect I should do this for ~600-1000 in material.  At that rate I can do it all a second time, and still have some real money left over.

I have some ideas from looking at as many other focus's on the web as I can find.  I will keep you all posted as I start to zero in on a plan.

engine placed

Placing the engine is pretty critical.  Too low, and there won't be enough ground clearance, or room to get the structure and the rack under the engine.  Too high and the hood has to be cut.  Too far forward and the radiator won't fit, and the shift lever won't line up.  Too far back and the exhaust won't make the turn to go under the car, the brake lines don't have room, and the engine may rattle against the chassis while driving.

Also, the engine must be between 1° and 3° downhill towards the back, dead level on roll axis, aligned with the center line of the car on the yaw axis.

As complicated as that sounds, pretty much I shot for as far back as I could get without hitting stuff, and as high as I could and still maintain pitch angle.  As we saw last time this meant chopping a bracket inside the tunnel.  Once I had the proper angle on the engine, I found that the transmission collided with both sides of the tunnel well before getting to that bracket.  I decided to massage the tunnel in a couple key spots with a BFH.  It worked beautifully.  Car steel is very soft to facilitate stamping and forming.  Even in the spots where there was a doubler, it wasn't hard to knock some good dents.  In stubborn spots I put the back of a ball peen hammer in the precise spot I wanted, then hit the front of the ball peen hammer with the BFH.

 

This all allowed the transmission to go so high that its entire top hit the entire top of the tunnel.  I think it is safe to say that any higher would be impractical.  I lowered it a tiny bit from here and called that good.
 Next was the angle.  I measured before starting the projects and found that the rear fender is 0.25 inches higher than the front fender at stock ride height. Since I know the wheel base, I could measure the current fender heights and figure out what angle the car is at compared to how it should be, and adjust engine angle to account for this.  I started out with the angle finder flat on top of the lower intake manifold.  I had previously noticed that the sump seemed at a different angle so I checked it across three sump bolts and saw it was vastly different than the top of the intake.

I figured that the tail shaft of the transmission is really what matters so I checked it and got the same measurement as for the sump.  

The engine didn't hang level on the roll axis.  I hung some weight from the header to torque the engine to level.

For the yaw axis I held a board against the inside of the bumper and measured the distance from the left and right edges of the crank pulley to the board.

I was psyched that engine did not shift at all when I released it onto the stand.  The leveling feet that capture the screw heads worked really well.

Just for a sanity check I scoured the internet for someone else with this engine trans combo.  I found some pictures and ground clearance info for another guy's set up, and they were identical to my placement as far as I could tell.

engine and transmission height

Today I wanted to look at getting the engine height right.  Before I scattered the focus I measured the distance between the top of the tire and the inside lip of the fender so that now with the car up in the air I can see where the ground is and see what my engine clearance is.  My guess was right on the engine being low.  The drain plug would just barely drag along the ground. So the engine needs to come up about 5 inches for stock ride height.  7 or 8 inches is probably better.

I saw the shifter was not hard against the tunnel, but when I jacked the transmission, there was a lot of resistance like something was hitting.  There is a bracket in the tunnel that was holding the old tunnel inhabitant, the exhaust.  I previously cut the exhaust hanger off, but the bracket is still in the way.  You can't see in the picture but there were a series of studs that held on heat shielding with tinnerman style nuts.  I zapped those off while I had the cutting disc in hand and everything out of the way.  I also made some sharpie lines from the reference hole I drilled for the shifter so that with the trans back in I can evaluate the shifter position.

This bracket was colliding with the transmission tube along the top that holds the shifter shaft.

engine + tranny on jig

I wish I could tell you that from yesterday's post I picked up the transmission, slid it into the clutch and bolted it up.

It was more like:

1. Lift the engine
2. Disassemble the stand and remove
3. Circular saw the stand in half since it blocked the jack from lifting the transmission
4. Take out the trans put it on a furniture dolly and slide it back in.
5. Lower the engine and shim
6. Slide on the trans and bolt up
7. Lift engine and jack trans
8. Reassemble the stand
9. Lower the engine and shim

Completed that in one hour which was exactly my time budget, and progress goal for today.
BTW as you can see, the trans fits in there really nice.  I have plenty of room to dogleg the shifter under the center console if I need it, but it won't need much.  The shifter is only about 2 inches forward of where the focus shifter was.  The engine feels really low right now.  I think I have some fiddling to do yet.