Garage Odyssey

So now on to the results of my electrolytic rust removal 'science fair' experiment.  You'll notice that I used some extra solid copper wire to ground the hub rotating assembly to the spindle.  This was to ensure a good electrical connection between the two, ensuring the treatment would act on both.  Don't worry about any potential side effects on the longevity of the bearing, as I planned to replace them all along anyways.  This just allows me to use what I've already got for measurements and mock-ups.

Picking up where the experiment left off last last time, is the spindle immediately after the electrolysis treatment had completed:

Quite a difference!  Now that pretty black coating electroplated on it is actually not desirable, and needs to be removed.  Also note that some areas, like the rotor/wheel register don't have it.  That's because this process only acts on the rusted surfaces, and any rust that was in those areas was little more than superficial surface rust.  I chose to let the spindle soak in a mild acid solution (Distilled Vinegar) for an hour or so to soften the black coating, This was followed by a good thorough scrubbing with a small wire brush, revealing the bare metal underneath:

Now we're getting somewhere!  This is actually after a quick dip in water to neutralize any remaining acidity on the surface.  Also note that I was able to get the wheel speed sensor off, which thankfully when the bolt is no longer rusted in place, a conventional 6 point 1/4" socket will fit firmly enough over the external Torx head fastener to remove it.  However, at this point, my freshly bared and unprotected metal was rusting right before my eyes as the part dried.  I had heard it would rust within the hour, but we're talking by the second.  So I decided to speed up the process by using a hair dryer to get the water out of all the nooks and crannies.  It was both intriguing and concerning to watch the rate of 'flash rusting' multiply with the forced air drying.  This is where the Scotch Brite pads came in handy:

Holy crap nuggets!  I never thought the spindle would ever look this good again.  The flash rust was totally eliminated, leaving the surface of the part at least stable enough to take a few minutes and spray a coat or two of high temp primer on it:

So there you have it...A cheap, but admittedly more involved than anticipated, method for taking ugly rusted parts and making them look nearly as good as new without any fancy equipment.

Well, nearly a year has passed with no physical progress on the car.  Plenty of investigating new ideas, designing, and planning have occurred, but nothing tangible.  However, I got the perfect Valentine’s Day gift from SWEETA this year.  Garage time!  Not just after everybody had already gone to sleep, like I normally relegate myself to, but during the day as needed to take on scourge of steel…Rust.

The previous weekend, I had actually started modifying the spindles to accept a standard aftermarket lower ball joint.  This needed to happen before I could take measurements that would allow me to design a front suspension geometry that will match my preliminary rear geometry.  The problem being that I also was uncertain that these particular spindles would be worth continuing my efforts with, as they were originally purchased back when we lived in the rust belt, and looked every bit of it.

I looked into potential alternative spindle options, but decided to first see just how well these ones might clean up.  A little research into de-rusting methods led me to decide on electrolysis.  I mean, if it works on unwanted hair…So why not unwanted rust, right?

So here the setup for my little ‘science fair experiment’ that I ran over the weekend.

There is an array of three pieces of scrap mild steel* that act as the anode, being sacrificed to the car gods.  Well, I hope they were scrap.  But it’s been a long time, so I’m not totally positive.  Then again, if they weren’t scrap before, they certainly are now.

The part being de-rusted acts as the cathode, and the battery charger supplies the necessary electrical current.  The bucket is then filled with an electrolyte solution** typically made from 1 tbsp washing soda or baking soda per gallon of water.  Apparently you can also convert baking soda into washing soda by baking it…Which begs the question of whether that means you can also convert washing soda into baking soda by washing it?  Anyways, after adding 4 gallons of the electrolyte mixture to the 5 gallon bucket, I was ready to go.  Almost immediately after plugging in the battery charger, set at 12V/10A, it started to work. There was a ‘fizzing’ of hydrogen*** and oxygen being released, and while rust particles began to invade the solution.

After a while, the water began to look much less inviting.

And whenever the amperage would drop into the 2A-4A range, I knew the anodes could use a cleaning.

At this point, I would skim the surface of the water to remove the sludge buildup on the surface…After unplugging the battery charger of course.  I would then remove the part from the water (rubber gloves are helpful here), transfer almost all of the solution to a second bucket, dump the little bit of heavier sludge**** that had settled on the bottom, clean the anodes, put it all back together, and top off the water.  Remember that while the release of hydrogen and oxygen may lower the water level, the no sodium carbonate is released from the solution.  So the only need to add sodium carbonate that needs to be added is to account for any solution lost during de-sludging.

As time passed, obviously the amount of rust particulate in the solution increased.  However, I also noticed a corresponding increase in the frequency of needing to clean the anodes, and the aggressiveness with which I had to do so to get good amperage when I resumed the process.  Early anode cleaning was sufficient with a wire brush, but as the electrolyte became more contaminated I would then hit it with a flap disc on an angle grinder too.  Of particular interest was that the spindle didn't appear to be changing anymore, about 12 hours in or so, but I was still getting the floating red sludge.  So I decided to totally change out the electrolyte solution, and hit the anodes with an abrasive disc again.  Voila! There was nothing but pure electrolysis for the next few hours, with virtually no new rust particulate in the water, rust formation on the anodes, or loss of amperage.  My experiment was complete.

So, how did the parts actually turn out?  You’ll just have to wait until the next installment to find out…And I promise it won’t take another year!

*If you would rather not get or give cancer, don’t use stainless steel as your anode.  While this requires less cleaning than mild steel, it releases toxic hexavalent chromium into the solution.

**If you would rather not wage chemical warfare on yourself, much like my previous entry on Phosgene, don’t use table salt (sodium chloride) for your electrolyte.  While this will create an electrically conductive solution, it releases toxic chlorine gas.  Which can additionally combine with the released hydrogen to create hydrochloric acid.

***If you would rather not have your workspace go the way of the Hindenburg, keep your setup in a well ventilated area and keep it away from sparks or flames.  This includes pilots for gas water heaters.  It is also one of the main reasons for unplugging the battery charger every time before moving anything around on the setup.

While it might not be obvious to anybody but me, there have been two other shining points of progress over the last two months.  First was the construction of the 4 rear bulkhead supports.  These will serve dual functions of strengthening the rear bulkhead, as well as being the lateral seating supports.  They're not actually tacked on in this picture, just mocked up.  Second is the lateral tube and diagonal just aft of the shifter on the transmission, which are tacked in place now.

Between SWMBO teething, the Plague ravaging our household, more teething, and now more Plague, there has been a precious little time to spend on my dithering in the garage.  Let alone updating on my (lack of) progress.  However, I do have a few updates to make.  So I might as well get started on the longest one, while laying here bed ridden and recovering from my latest brush with death...Also known as the "man cold". Back before the turn of the year, I once again turned to painters tape in an effort to simplify the measurements and calculations required for cutting a couple of tubes.  The difference this time being that these tubes were for multi-axis (3D) angled ends. As before, lay out the desired tube path with tape.  This time, with two pieces of tape forming the opposing sides.  I found it to be much more accurate and stable by 'sticking' a small piece of scrap tube between the two pieces of tape near each end to help place the tape.  Then wrap tape across the 3rd side to form the 'top' of the cut, as well as mark the two 'sides' for finished length as well. Hopefully this picture will be worth enough additional words to salvage my poor description.

Now the tape can be removed and wrapped over the actual tube being cut.

Trim the excess.  Note that the 4th and final edge can be found by drawing a line between the 'bottom' edges on the two sides.

Now be careful how to set this up in the saw.  If done wrong, it will cut off needed extra length.  If done right it will indicate what needs to be ground off, as pictured below.

Color the excess material in with Sharpie (finally a good use for the Industrial Sharpies) and take it to the bench grinder until the Sharpie is all gone and the tube fits.

I’m not sure what it is about painting supplies, but they’re just so damn useful for stuff other than painting.  I had previously written about using the stirring sticks for setting the angle on my band saw.  Now I’m using painters tape to lay out and cut my tubes to the right…err…correct angles and lengths.

The basis of this technique is something that I picked up from a friend for making compound angle cuts.  However, I decided to use it to see if it might also be able to simplify cutting some types of 2D tubes as well.  A diagonal tube between parallel planes in a rectangular opening is relatively easy to math it out.  But it adds another layer of complexity when the opening is not rectangular, nor symmetric for that matter, and the tube is not between parallel planes.  Thus I figured this would a perfect time to practice an alternative technique.

First I spent some time figuring out exactly where I want the tubes to go.  These tubes also happen to be going beneath the transmission. So I had to make sure to avoid the lowest parts of the transmission, try to leave at least some emergency access to the drain and fill plugs, and adhere to my personal guidelines of avoiding overlapping weld joints and angles tighter than 45 degrees.  The latter of which I forgot about last weekend until after the tubes were cut, sending me back to the drawing board…Literally.  No fancy CAD programs here.  Just good old fashioned graph paper, a pencil, and a ruler.

The process then starts laying painters tape across the span where the tube will go.  Measure out the desired corner points based on the design, marking them with a Sharpie.  After that, use a large enough straight edged device and play connect the dots.

Since the Sharpie can be seen through the tape, I find it easiest to lay the tape sticky side up on the table and align the tube on top of it.  Then flip it over to clearly see where the cuts will go.

Now my band saw only angles in one direction.  To cut angles the other direction, you simply flip the part over.  With both cuts going opposite directions, only one of them can be cut with the tape side up.  Align the cut line on the tape with the cutting blade, lock it in place, and let it rip.

With the tape having been cut as well, it now becomes the transfer pattern.  To make it stick to the other side of the tube, place a couple strips of tape sticky side up on the table, lay the transfer pattern tape sticky side down on top of them, and align the tube on top of that matching up the previously cut ends.  Now wrap the sticky side up tape strips around the tube to hold the transfer pattern in place.  Roll the tube over to see where the cut needs to go, and using a center punch or scribe, mark the desired cut line in the tube.

At this point the tape can be removed, revealing the line to cut.

And voila, a finished tube!

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Somehow the acronym SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) never really seemed appropriate for my wife, so I gave her the much more deserving title of SWEETA (She Who Enables Every Thing Automotive).  Maybe it was a coincidence, and maybe it was a premonition.  There is no way to know for sure.  What I do know is that with a baby girl in the house there is one, and only one, SWMBO...And it certainly isn't my poor SWEETA.

 As weeks turned into months of virtually no progress, in the back of my mind I did start to wonder when I would ever be able to get back into the swing of things with this build.  Fortunately, SWMBO has appears to have recently approved my request to exchange the previous weekend mornings for weekend nights, by regularly falling asleep considerably earlier.  Additionally SWEETA has given this new schedule her blessing as well, by also choosing to go to bed at that time.  Thus, for the past 4 weekends in a row I have gotten garage time!

Unfortunately, I have spent more time that I care to admit relearning some of the things that I was doing without giving a second thought before SWMBO arrived.  Consequently, I have also spent far to much of this precious time redoing said things...Often more than once.  As of this weekend, it feels like it's all starting to flow again though.

Current progress is limited to having tacked in the tubes from my last update, and having cut the 4 additional tunnel diagonals sitting in the chassis as pictured below.  Yes the chassis as pictured is currently up on its side, so that's three bottom diagonals and one upper diagonal.

With the recent life affirming changes affecting my priorities, I think it's going to take some time before I'm really able to get back into a consistent pattern of both progress and updates again.  It's also that busy time of year for other activities and obligations filling our weekend schedules.  Another month has passed since my last update, but I am pleased to say that there has been at least some continued progress. Three weeks ago I managed to get a handful of tubes cut.  The long pair with the angled ends are the forward top tunnel tubes, the mid length pair with the squared ends are the vertical tubes on either side of the transmission at the firewall, and the short pair with squared are part of the top and bottom transmission tunnel reinforcement.  My next update should be of these tacked in place.

Two weeks ago was a mini-meet of local homebuilt car (Locost) enthusiasts.  There were two with completed cars that showed up, and two (including myself) that are still slaving away in our garages.  I've seen the proof with my own eyes, that these cars CAN be completed!

And one week ago I picked up potential steering rack, as this will be a critical component in designing the front suspension. The most readily available aftermarket production-based racks are probably the Ford Mustang units, which works well with my Ford component theme as well.  It would seem that similar critical dimensions can be had with the right outer tie rod end selection on Mustang II, Fox Body, and SN95 chassis Mustang steering racks.  I've been looking at dedicated manual racks, as the depowered Mustang racks seem to get significantly more negative reviews than positive.  The Mustang II manual racks are simply too slow at 1.3 to 1.4 inches of rack movement per turn of the steering wheel.  The aftermarket manufacturers have "quick ratio" manual racks for the Fox Body, but they're still a bit on the slow side at 1.6 to 1.75 inches per turn and keep nudging the budget up.  The SN95 never came with a manual rack from the factory, but also has a similar "quick ratio" aftermarket manual rack that seems to do little more than use different thread pitch tie rod ends and add cost over the Fox Body Racks. However, I do also know that depowered racks are popular with Miata drivers and typically get positive feedback.  So I when I came across an OEM power rack for a Fox Body Mustang at the right (low-cost) price, I jumped at the chance to buy it.   Before making any final decisions on the front suspension design, I will be attempting to disassemble this rack to get a good look at the internals and determine what modifications might be possible to use it successfully in the depowered state.  A preliminary check show that the Fox Body power rack appears to have ~2.2 inches per turn.

"Nothing endures but change" - Heraclitus.  It's been the better part of two months since my last update.  This weekend was my first chance to get back to working on the car.  All necessary holes for the floor diagonals were drilled, patterns were taken from the floor diagonals, and all of the floor diagonals are tacked in place now.

There is actually a very good reason for lack of progress though.  Big changes have been happening around here, and I have embarked on a new 'project' in the weeks since my last update... They say that good help is hard to find.  I'm not sure who "they" are, but I need all the help I can get on this project.  So in the Locost spirit, although anything but low-cost, we’re making our own helper.

Two weeks have passed since the last update, and as many tubes have been fitted in that time.

Before I could decide on how much to angle the forward portion of the tunnel into the foot well space, I needed to track down and pick up a "backup light switch connector" from one of the local auto parts stores.  That little plug is the point of greatest interference on the driver side of the transmission.  After mocking it up different ways, and spending more time than a grown man has any right to sitting on a table pretending to drive an imaginary car to 'get a feel for it', a decision was made.  It'll be tight, but by offsetting the transmission (and engine) slightly to the passenger side I should be able to get away with only a 2 inch taper on the driver side.  That will still leave me with a generous 15 inches of foot well width for the driver...The passenger will have to make due with a bit less.  That left me with just enough time to fit the lower tube that weekend.

As I sat in the chassis contemplating how to proceed, I couldn't help myself.  I had to take the obligatory "vroom-vroom" pics:

Heading down to the local cruise night.

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Chasing a Corvette through "The Kink" at Road America.

This weekend started out with more unconventional jigging.

Once the tubes were all tacked in place, I had to try to figure out how to get the damn thing flipped and rotated to a more useful position.  Needless to say, it doesn't look like I'll be able to maneuver the frame around for very much longer, without the assistance of my hoist.  I would dare say that it's almost starting to look like a real chassis.

One decision I've been mulling over, is how to build the upper portions of the foot wells in such a way that the transmission can be reasonably installed or removed.

With preparations for the arrival of our "garage helper" kicking into high gear, my typical garage time has been increasingly filled with more important projects and events.  Not the least of which included my solemn duty to keep some of the other 'shower' husbands occupied with a local wine, beer, and whiskey tasting tour.  However, I had a break this weekend that allowed me to make some good progress.

It began with cleaning up my workspace from the other projects that had accumulated over the past two weeks.  Following that, the next 12 tubes were cut and trimmed to length, cleaned, and prepped for installation.  This morning I constructed my somewhat unconventional jigging of the chassis, that actually held everything surprisingly true according to my carpenters square.

A few conveniently placed tacks later, and the driver side is officially in place.