XRBrati Underway....

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 10:41 am

demonfire wrote:so, what's it registered as?

Who said it's registered?

I figured I was safe going down to unload the semi parked in front of my house and back up to the garage.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:52 pm

That's a mighty large load to haul without a radiator.

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 2:32 pm

Colin wrote:That's a mighty large load to haul without a radiator.

I guess I forget to post these in this thread...

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:15 pm

Finally got final prep done on the roof panel. I'll bond it in within the next couple days...

And here's a shot of the filler panel I glued in a few weeks back - this is the passenger side....

Rotisserie · Post by **Rotisserie** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:25 am

ahh.

theres nothing quite as satisfying as progress...

EVIL_XR4 · Post by **EVIL_XR4** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:50 am

So is the back going to have some kind of window or what?

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:25 am

EVIL_XR4 wrote:So is the back going to have some kind of window or what?

Absolutely. Hell, I've already got a spare set and gasket should they ever get broken.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:35 am

Dual sunroofs would've been cool.

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:16 am

Colin wrote:Dual sunroofs would've been cool.

Yea, I agree.

My initial plan was to use the entire T-roof of the Brat, but the deeper I got into the project, I realized just how difficult that would be, and I had to scuttle that plan. It also wouldn't have been consistent with the bare-bones, sporting nature of this project.

Some people have suggested that this would have been much easier with a solid-roof car, and while that's true, I'll end up with a much stronger roof this way because of the center "T" and perimeter overlap. In fact, it was recently brought to light that the roof sheet metal on the sunroof car is thicker than the solid roof cars.

The one thing I'm struggling with a little right now is the fact that the adhesive specifies an overlap bond of 1". I've got 3" across the front and center, and 5" along the sides. But I think given the roll-cage that's already in place, I've got a significantly stiffer body overall, so exceeding the overlap spec won't be much of an issue.

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:38 pm

Okay, we're spooling again...

The Volvo pipe and Mustang inlet hose fit so well, I almost hate to replace them - they look factory.

Close-up shot of Bob's elbow. For the moment, that's the tailpipe too!

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:49 pm

Time to give this car a roof! Here's a shot of it being "clamped" in place last night, after adhesive application...

Why the inconsistent array of weighting, you ask? Well, unfortunately, we had a little accident with the roof panel the day previous. I mean, you install a turbo, the car demands a test drive, right? Well, here's what happens when you drive around with a piece of unsecured sheet metal on the roof.

It wasn't quite as bad as it looks, but I did need to clip off those two forward "wings" that go down the A pillars, as they took the brunt of the "unintended landing". The panel still wasn't the perfect match it had been, hence the ~100 lbs of persuasion weight. It'll be fine, but I was spitting nails at myself for awhile.

Here's the end-result...

Post by **anglin** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:50 pm

DPDISXR4Ti wrote:Close-up shot of Bob's elbow. For the moment, that's the tailpipe too!

When I got my current road car it had even less exhaust than that. I just had the cast elbow off the turbo pointing the exhaust gases downward. Believe it or not, it was WAY quieter than with a downpipe only. I drove it 20 miles home just like that and then put my Borla dual setup on it.

BTW, I love seeing the progress pics...

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Mon May 05, 2008 10:20 pm

anglin wrote:I just had the cast elbow off the turbo pointing the exhaust gases downward. Believe it or not, it was WAY quieter than with a downpipe only.

Yep, it's WAY quieter than when I had the N/A header on it. That thing sounded down-right knarly - I kinda miss it now.

anglin wrote:BTW, I love seeing the progress pics...

Well, I've got 31 days to make a bunch more. I'm at a point now where the drive-train seems solid and it's all about making the thing street-able enough to drive to Carlisle and back. Do-able, but still a challenge.

XR4 · Post by **XR4** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:44 pm

No offense but that thing is ugly as {%@.
But a funny storry me and a buddy took the hatch of my parts car the other day and we were looking at in a siad dude you could so use this as a truck. Now that i see some one acually did it thats freaken nuts.
PS. I'm jealous because that has to be the coolest thing i have ever seen.

Post by **Ed Lijewski** » Wed May 07, 2008 2:42 pm

[Note to John Brennan: Reference "The Emperor's New Clothes" lesson here, too?

]

YMMV