Mid- Engine Modified Sports

[manta22]

Thanks, Jon-- only my humor is lame.

Today I got to try out my $9.99 HF paint spray gun. It’s not a Binks but then it isn’t a $400 gun either—not that a Binks would make any improvement to my paint job. It isn’t a bad spray gun at all.
 
I had previously sprayed a 2-part epoxy primer on, using the Eastwood trick spray can and let it cure for two days. I used a Scotchbrite pad to lightly scuff the primer and then wiped it down with a lintless cloth to remove any dust, etc. The topcoat is a 2-part polyurethane made by Deft “for painting aircraft & aerospace equipment” according to the label. I bought 10 cans of it for $20 total so I really scored on that buy. The label says “Component A Pigmented Polyester Resin MIL-PRF-85285D, Type 1 Class H (MIL-PRF-85285C) Color:33528 Yellow”. The small can says “Component B – Aliphatic Isocyanate Resin etc, etc”. Maybe someone is familiar with this stuff.
 
It looked like a whole can was going to be more than I needed for the Mirage front subframe so I only mixed up half of one can (1 can = 1 quart); it turned out that I had half of that left over and had to throw it away. The trick to getting the el cheapo Harbor Freight spray gun to work right is to run some solvent through the gun before trying to paint with it. The gun is shipped with some sort of preservative which needs to be flushed out, otherwise the paint job will be a mess.
 
The gun was cleaned with xylene before I put it away; hopefully I will be able to use it again. Next step—driving 169 blind rivets.
 
I didn’t choose the “school bus yellow” color—it just turned out that all the cans were that color. Coulda been worse—coulda been purple or even pink.
 
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[38flattie]

I like it!

[manta22]

169 rivets later...here is the subframe that supports the front body and radiator. I finished cleaning the panels with xylene and denatured alcohol to remove some nasty tape residue and then lightly went over them with an angle grinder using a yellow 3M bristle brush to brighten up the surface.

 The panels were fastened to the steel tube framework with Cherrylock CR4623-04-02 blind rivets. These are A286 superalloy so I am fortunate to have a little air/hydraulic rivet gun which made pulling the stems a breeze. FSI makes it-- a really nice gun. To seal the faying surfaces against salt & water, I ran a bead of Dow Corning 738 silicone sealer on the tubing before riveting on the panels.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[robfrey]

Lookin awesome Neil!

[manta22]

I removed the front suspension of my black Mirage today so that I can finish welding some places on the chassis. As long as they were being removed anyway, I thought I’d weigh them to see how heavy each side suspension is.
 
The weight is 45 lbs—this includes the Mustang upright, aluminum hub & wheel studs + lug nuts, big brake rotor, aluminum ‘88 Corvette caliper & bracket, ball joints, tube a-arms, all the rod end bearings, and mounting bolts. Also included are Aldan aluminum shocks & coil springs.
 
This is a little heavier than I had guessed but still not bad. Together with the wheel & tire, the total unsprung weight on each front end is 45lbs + 32 lbs = 77 lbs. Actually it is a little less than this because the inboard ends of the a-arms are supported by the chassis.

Just out of curiosity, I put a few more of the disassembled black Mirage components on a scale to see how much they weighed. Here is the data:
 
Front subframe with riveted panels installed: 21 lbs
 
Aluminum Howe radiator: 12 lbs
 
Wilwood rack & pinion complete end-to-end: 10 lbs
 
Front anti-roll bar, mounts, & drop links: 4 lbs
 
Bassett front wheel & Goodyear racing slick: 32 lbs
 
Bassett rear wheel & Goodyear racing slick: 49 lbs
 
Although I haven’t weighed them, published data indicates:
 
Porsche G50 transaxle: 142 lbs
 
Donovan all-aluminum SBC: 390 lbs
 
I hope to weigh the Mirage body sections and the chassis + roll cage later.

 
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[Koncretekid]

 
I didn’t choose the “school bus yellow” color—it just turned out that all the cans were that color.
 
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

And what would be wrong with yellow?? You can send a few of your "spare" cans my way!
Tom

[DND]

Hi Neil

You might want to start looking for places you can add some lead to keep your car planted, so you can get a bite and keep it from trying to fly.

Lead is your friend in LSR

Don

[manta22]

Don;

If the car is reasonably light then some lead ballast will be even more effective. Having decent aerodynamics will be a big help, too.

Tom;

Yellow is OK but pink or purple might get me laughed off the salt. 

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[38flattie]

Neil, the parts seem pretty light, collectively.

That's probably a good thing, because now you can add any weight to needed areas!

[manta22]

Yes, that was the idea.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[manta22]

Since I am removing stuff to clear the chassis for final welding, I decided to replace the 10-32 screws that fastened my switch panel to the threaded inserts in its mounting brackets. I had some Southco captive screws so I drilled out the holes a little larger and inserted these finger-operated panel fasteners. They will make removing the panel to get access to the rear electrical terminals much easier.

Looking left to right, there is a pushbutton starter switch, master off switch with a spring-loaded guard, ignition “on” switch, and seven switch/circuit breakers for various electrical components such as fuel pump, ignition box, instruments, 24V power converter, etc.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[manta22]

I weighed a few more components as they were removed from my black Mirage:

Battery box and internal battery hold-down bracket: 4 lbs

Instrument panel (complete) and switch/circuit breaker panel (complete): 5 lbs

Titanium shear plate: 3 lbs

Heel support aluminum floor plate with pedals: 7 lbs

Clutch & brake master cylinders and fluid reservoirs + mounting hardware: 4 lbs

I'm doing this out of sheer curiosity-- I have never seen this type of information published before and I've often wondered just where a vehicles total weight comes from. At least for this build, I'll know that for sure.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Back in the dark ages I sold big Ford trucks -- and there was all of the weight information available for each and every item and option.  And some went further -- such as if you substituted the 55-gallon fuel tank for the standard 75 gallon tank - - the weight would be listed as a negative number (the smaller tank weighs less than the big one).

The list was (obviously) a big bunch of pages long.  I don't remember if they gave the weight for the custom cigarette lighter vs. the standard one -- but I wouldn't be surprised. . .

Anyway, you'd be able to determine the weight of the entire semi tractor, before ordering -- if you were very patient and liked playing with the adding machine.

[manta22]

Wow, that's amazing, Jon.

These days it's hard to find out much about a new vehicle except the color choices.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[manta22]

I removed the titanium roll cage top cover plate today—it weighed 7 lbs.
 
Regards, Neil