Gary Lewis

Had a good conversation with Scott after church today. First, he asked questions about the dimensions shown on the page I gave him of the tow eyes, and I discovered that there are extraneous dimensions in that view. But he said that when I get it nailed down he's going to send the drawing out and have the tow eyes laser cut. Man, that will make it sooooo easy! :nabble_anim_jump:Next we discussed the material thicknesses of the spare tire carrier plate, the round disk in the drawing below. I had it spec'd at 1/4" and he said he'd go 3/8" given that the spare tire will be hung from it and trying to move when going down the road.Which lead to the thickness of the tubing for the swing arm. He suggested either 3/16 or 1/4" due to the twisting effect of the tire, which is hung off the back of the swing arm on that 9" piece of tubing, as shown below. After a bit of discussion we settled on 3/16". And now I'm wondering about placing a gusset under that piece of round tubing?Last, he suggested that instead of welding the two allthreads to the angled part of the swing arm, which are there to hold the Hilift jack on, that we weld nuts to the arm so the allthread can be changed out if needed. I like that idea a bunch!THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN!

They are supposed to, but don't always. One of our members, Welderscott, brought his '78 over yesterday and we checked the rear brakes - way out of adjustment in spite of him having backed up a lot. So I wouldn't rely on that feature to work. Instead, I jack the wheel up and adjust until I can turn the wheel any more by hand. Then hit the backing plate a few times with a mallet and make sure I still can't turn it. And then I back off 9 or 10 clicks and call it good.

Ok, I think we are together on this. The plan could be changed to beef up the joint, but the way it is designed should easily be strong enough. And if I start changing anything there's a ripple effect that I might not catch until the last minute, so I think I'll stay with what I have - at least until Scott reviews it. One thing that isn't in the materials list but should be is strap with which to close the ends of the bumper. (At what point in size does "strap" become "plate"?) I'll need a foot of 4" wide strap to do that. And how do you position something like that in order to tack it? Can't wait to see a master at work. And speaking of "plate", I've spec'd the tire carrier piece as being 1/4" thick. It is a 9" diameter disc and I'll weld a stud into it at the top on which I'll "hang" the spare tire and then run a couple of bolts into the disc in the other holes. (I'm thinking it'll be a lot easier when holding that heavy spare up to just align one hole.) But is 1/4" thick enough? There will be a lot of force on that plate as we bounce down the road and I sure don't want it to bend.

Well, that's some progress even if you got stopped. At least the stripper is working on the pan. As for the bolts, I feel for ARP as there are a myriad of different water pumps & timing covers, as well as different accessory mounts. So having just the right bolt lengths has got to be tough. But hopefully they will work with you to get the right ones. However, what are you going to coat those bolts with to make sure they don't corrode?

I've not seen those either. But according to the MPC E0TZ 17696-E's are Type 9.

I use MAPP gas in my "propane" torch and it works well. Easily got the floor hot enough to braze. And I used the flux-coated brazing rods. On the rust, I'd try a chisel on it. You want to make sure that nothing is going to come loose, either while brazing or later when the floor flexes.

At the risk of typing while you are typing again... I could change out the lower piece and make it either 3 1/2" or 4" square tubing. That would let me drill through it and then the welds are just to hold it in place on the pivot rather than take the load. But, that would mean that I can't have the stop for when the tire carrier swings 180. Or, if I do have that stop I'll have to move the pivot point inboard some. I think I'll ask Scott how much weight the current design's welds can take. And, what the odds are of egging the sleeve with our welding as we don't want to cause the bearings to bind. Another thing to remember is that there will be support on the inboard end of the swing arm. And a clamp. So any time we are going down the road the thing is supposed to be literally bolted down to the bumper. Given that, there shouldn't be a huge load on the welds and the pivot.

I apologize for the pic, but it is what I have at the moment until I can re-learn playing with TurboCAD in 3D. (I'm missing how to put the work plane where I want it, and when I try to do something it isn't where it is supposed to be.) Anyway, several things to address, inc thickness of the material of the swing arm, height of the lower arm (from the other thread), and the pivot pin fit into the bumper. You are right that the thickness of the swing arm doesn't need to be 1/4" since it is triangulated. But, all of the force will be on the bit that attaches to the pivot, so I want that to be stout. How 'bout if I use 1/8" all the way around on the swing arm? That will reduce the weight by 50% and make the welding easier as well - except for the ends of the fish mouths as that material will taper to nothing. Maybe I should cut it back so it is 1/8" thick as well? As said in the other thread, the lower piece of the swing arm will be 3 1/2" tall. And you can see from the drawing of the RuffStuff pivot that I'm going to use the sleeve is 4" tall, so that let's me take full advantage of the sleeve and weld all around on it. Also shown is the 6.13" length of the stem of the pivot. That will let me put the stem completely through the 5" bumper and weld it both top and bottom. But, as I'm looking at this, there's 6.5" from the tip of the stem to the sleeve. I'd better check and see how high I have the pivot above the bumper. I don't want a whole lot of the pivot sticking out below the bumper so I may have to machine it down a bit.

Let's say the bottom tube is taller rather than wider. The 3 1/2" height instead of 2 1/2" for the rest of the tubing means it engages the full length of the pivot. And, IIRC, the stiffness of a tube goes up with the square of the height, so a 3 /12" piece will be almost twice as stiff as a 2 1/2" high piece. Plus, we have almost 1/3 more area on which to weld. As for the thickness of the material, let's take that up in BB's Transformation and keep it all together there.

Looks good, Larry. Amazing how much difference a good power source and ground can make. And the silver bead is great. I need to do that to mine.

Good idea, Jim. The tubes are 2 1/2" square for the vertical and angled pieces on the swing arm, and 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 for the horizontal piece. But a 2" hole saw would be the thing to use as the tubes that go into the fish mouthed openings are 2".

I found similar holes in Big Blue's floor, and I cleaned it really well and brazed it. Then I coated it with POR15. You can see what I did starting here.

No, I don't have oxy/acetylene to cut with. But Scott knows a lot of people so surely someone can do that. Or, that water jetting option might be the way to go, and I can easily output the tow eyes as a DWG. Good idea, thanks. As for the link, I'm joining a rectangular tube with round one at right angles so it is pretty easy. But to answer your question, the width of the tubes are 2 1/2", and with a 1/4" wall they are perfect for the 2" OD of the tube that will be inserted. In the view below you can see the two places to be fish mouthed. One is the pivot point in the lower right, and the other is in the top center where the two square tubes hit the round tube to support the spare tire. The pivot point is pretty straightforward, but on the latter I'm thinking I'll have to join the three tubes of the swing arm together and then fish mouth the top two to ensure I have a good joint at that point. But your idea of using a hole saw is a good one, and while not as precise as a fly cutter it should be very good.

Yes!! Fish mouth! I’m not in Apple’s garden save for on this iPhone. Do they have one for Windows?

Well, it has been a while since I posted on this thread, but with today's discussion with WelderScott I think it is time to revive it. Especially since I need to re-read parts of this thread in order to refresh my thinking.So, Scott came over today to have us check out some things his '78. And when we got done we looked Big Blue over. During that he asked about the bumper/spare tire mount and suggested that we make it. :nabble_anim_jump:He was serious, so I've now dusted off the drawing and am trying to re-learn how to use TurboCAD in 3D. (It isn't intuitively obvious to the casual observer.) And I've created a materials list. I'll hand off some printouts to him at church tomorrow, and will start thinking about this seriously.But I'll document most of the work in Big Blue's Transformation - unless it should be in a thread of its own. Thoughts?

Well, I have a bit of news. Scott/Welderscott has convinced me that we should build the bumper/spare tire carrier. He was over today to check out some things on his '78, and when we got done we looked Big Blue over. During that he asked about the bumper/spare tire mount and suggested that we make it. He was serious, so I've now dusted off the drawing and am trying to re-learn how to use TurboCAD in 3D. (It isn't intuitively obvious to this casual observer.) And I've created a materials list. I'll hand off some printouts to him at church tomorrow, and will start thinking about this seriously. I'm thinking that I can cut all of the materials to size as well as do the machine work, and then he'll come over and we will weld it up. I'm really thrilled with this as the welding on this needs to be very well done since the trailer hitch will be part of it. And Scott can weld it, that's for sure. As for the "machine work", let me think a bit about what will be needed: Fisheyes: The swing arm for the spare tire has a couple of pieces that need to have "fisheyes" cut out of them to weld to the tube that will support the spare tire itself. And the lower part of the swing arm needs to be fisheyed to weld to the pivot. I'm wondering if I can use a flycutter to shape the openings. But I'm not sure that'll work as they'll be unbalanced. Bumper Openings: There are several openings planned in the bumper, which is a 4 x 5 x .25" rectangular tube. I have a plasma cutter that can cut 1/4" material, but I could mill the openings out to ensure they are precise. Perhaps use the plasma cutter on the openings for the tow eyes and receiver, but machine the hole for the pivot for the spare tire swing arm to ensure it is precise and the swing arm pivots properly. Tow Eyes: These things are 1" thick and not only have several holes in them where they will bolt to the frame, they'll have the eye hole in the end and have quite a bit of material removed from them. So I'm going to have to put a new blade on the bandsaw that has a table 'cause I'll need to use it to rough in the shape and then mill it to the final dimensions. Spare Tire Carrier Plate: This is the plate that the wheel will bolt to and it will be 9" in diameter. So I'll have to rough it in on the band saw and then turn it round on the lathe. But that means I'll have to ensure the 2" carrier tube is inserted to it squarely so I can use it to chuck in the lathe. Hmmm, I wonder if I can chuck the tube in the lathe, push the plate onto the tube and against the chuck, and then tack it in place. Anyway, I think this is going to happen!!!!!!!!!!

John - You asked what shocks I have on Big Blue. Here's what I know: As Acquired: Installed by Vernon, they were B46-1615 in front and B46-1618 in the rear. Looking at his receipts he bought two of each from Allshocks.com and they were a total of $267.80. The fronts are marked 24-016155 and the rears are 24-016186. Fronts Now: When I installed the D60 with Superduty springs I needed longer ones, so bought Bilstein 6248's from Sky Offroad for $190/pair.

I kept my evaporator and merely flushed it. If your pressures are equal, I'm thinking your compressor may have an issue. Here's a forum for where I've spent a little time: https://autoacforum.com/ Gary, it's really hard to say as I did all this in near 100 degree heat and high humidity. When I drove it, it was very hot and it came down to 60. But like I said, I do have concerns about my compressor. I know more in the weeks to come. Granted it is only 84 degrees today, but I put another can of R134a in so I could test and got these readings: Engine RPM: 1500 Low: 35 psi High 250 psi. Outlet air temp in the passenger's left vent: Doors open and in Normal: 62 Doors closed and in Normal: 59 Doors closed and in Max: 47 Note that this wasn't really a fair test because at about the time I shifted from Normal to Max I heard the belt-driven fan come on and that took the outlet temp south pretty quickly. I think the doors closed/Normal temp reading might have been lower if I'd waited before switching to Max, but after closing the heater valve and cooling the heater core down it would have taken quite a while for it to heat back up, so I didn't wait. And there was almost a steady stream of condensate hitting the pavement. Plus the receiver/dryer was wet as were some of the metal lines. It cools well if I could just keep the refrigerant in it.

That is a LOT of weight, so I'm not surprised that little stand wasn't up to the task. Glad you didn't break it. Anyway, good luck cleaning up. I spent a loooooong time with a pressure washer to clean up Big Blue after all of his leaks. What a mess!

John - My temps were colder than that with similar pressures - before the leak I can't find took away the refrigerant and the pressures dropped. So I'd say you have a problem. Reno - Sorry you are having these problems. Hope you get it sorted soon. I don't have any guidance for either of you. I've given up and am taking Big Blue to a pro on Monday.

Welcome! Glad you joined. What part of NC? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we can add you if we had a city or a zip. But, you may run into problems finding the map, so I need to explain what is going with the forum. We are in the process of being moved to a new server, so I've had to take the "redirect" off, which means that if you click on the link sent to you in an email you'll go directly into the forum and not the website, so there is no menu. (I know, that's ) So I keep a few tabs open on the website itself where you'll have a menu. But when the move is over I'll put the redirect back on and the link in the email will take you to the website as it used to do.

Many of the opening sizes are shown on our page at Documentation/Cooling Systems/Radiator Support. And there you'll find this:

It is nice, but I'm not sure it is worth $7500. Still, that's just the asking price.

Unfortunately no. We are moving the forum, but it is Weebly that has this code.

I put it back to this: . That got rid of the banner and let's me see the embedded code at 110% and I can see Bullnose Forum if I turn the logo off. This isn't a huge deal, but as I age it may become one. Someone may need to remind me.