'70 Vert - waited long enough...

[Xghobo]

Mine wasn't too bad 

[soundcontrol]

Mine wasn't too bad 

Not at all! The left trunk hinge looks great! 

[Cuda_mark]

It's motivating to see all of the other e body verts that are as bad, or at least near as bad as mine. Every once in a while, I go look at it and get in this mode of "No wonder my wife cried when I brought it home (literally), what the hell have I done...". Seeing this stuff just shows it can be done. Full steam ahead.



-=C

I started my vert before I got married...it was part of the deal. I told her that she couldn't 2nd guess me on any part of it.

Now she's the one pestering me to finish it already!!!

[moparx5]

that pic is perfect !!!!! i would be proud to drag her home

[Cuda416]

Alright, been a while but I'm back...

Picked up a bunch of steel to build my jig and been mulling over some options. Not trying over do it, rather trying to maximize my use and "storability" of this thing.

Went round and round with alternate designs. Some used "I" or "H" beams, but I wasn't able to find any that fit the bill, which is surprising because everything around here is made of steel...  Then I started thinking of using "C" channel. The general idea was to mimic a certain pro chassis cart/jig that uses what look like heavy "girts" or "purlins" facing each other with a gap for bolts to go through. pretty cleaver if ya ask me. Allows for all sorts of "jigs" etc. I'm not a total fan of the "girts", I saw another one where the guy used "C" channel, 4 inch I think. He spaced them apart, but his are back to back (flat to flat) but the same premise applies.

So, now I'm thinking of a combination of the AMD carts and this "C" channel method. The "C" channel would be the "top" longitudinal rails, and the 2x2x0.180 will be the ladder structure underneath. Overall, the two "ladder" sides, would be joined at the ends and maybe the middle, by a "cross" support in an "X" shape or similar. These would be held together with bolts.

The top rails, made from either facing or opposing "C" channels, would be mounted to the top of the longitudinal "ladders" and locked into position using pins welded through the ladder tops.

I know this  , but this is all just ideas floating around in my head for now.

The benefit of this is of course that it will accommodate pretty much anything without any cutting or welding other than the initial build and I'll be able to disassemble it and chuck it in the corner when not in use. 

I'll draw something later and post a picture.

in the mean time, any ideas would be appreciated.

-=C

[70vert]

I started my vert before I got married...it was part of the deal. I told her that she couldn't 2nd guess me on any part of it.

Now she's the one pestering me to finish it already!!!
[/quote]

Haha, same here. Mine was junk when bought it 30+ years ago and I did the best I could with my garage & friends to get it going. About 8 years ago my wife said to just spend the money and get it rotisseried, replace all the rust, new top, and interior. I didn't waste any time kicking that off, but still took about 3 years.

[RacerX]

Alright, been a while but I'm back...

Picked up a bunch of steel to build my jig and been mulling over some options. Not trying over do it, rather trying to maximize my use and "storability" of this thing.

Went round and round with alternate designs. Some used "I" or "H" beams, but I wasn't able to find any that fit the bill, which is surprising because everything around here is made of steel...  Then I started thinking of using "C" channel. The general idea was to mimic a certain pro chassis cart/jig that uses what look like heavy "girts" or "purlins" facing each other with a gap for bolts to go through. pretty cleaver if ya ask me. Allows for all sorts of "jigs" etc. I'm not a total fan of the "girts", I saw another one where the guy used "C" channel, 4 inch I think. He spaced them apart, but his are back to back (flat to flat) but the same premise applies.

So, now I'm thinking of a combination of the AMD carts and this "C" channel method. The "C" channel would be the "top" longitudinal rails, and the 2x2x0.180 will be the ladder structure underneath. Overall, the two "ladder" sides, would be joined at the ends and maybe the middle, by a "cross" support in an "X" shape or similar. These would be held together with bolts.

The top rails, made from either facing or opposing "C" channels, would be mounted to the top of the longitudinal "ladders" and locked into position using pins welded through the ladder tops.

I know this  , but this is all just ideas floating around in my head for now.

The benefit of this is of course that it will accommodate pretty much anything without any cutting or welding other than the initial build and I'll be able to disassemble it and chuck it in the corner when not in use. 

I'll draw something later and post a picture.

in the mean time, any ideas would be appreciated.

-=C

Maybe we can kick around some ideas and share knowledge as I need to build a jig also...

[70rag383]

It's motivating to see all of the other e body verts that are as bad, or at least near as bad as mine. Every once in a while, I go look at it and get in this mode of "No wonder my wife cried when I brought it home (literally), what the hell have I done...". Seeing this stuff just shows it can be done. Full steam ahead.



-=C

You're in good company...all verts should be restored!

[RUNCHARGER]

Wow! Nice car 70rag!

[anlauto]

Never seen those "in (metal work) process" pictures before 70rag383, thanks for sharing

[Cuda416]

It's motivating to see all of the other e body verts that are as bad, or at least near as bad as mine. Every once in a while, I go look at it and get in this mode of "No wonder my wife cried when I brought it home (literally), what the hell have I done...". Seeing this stuff just shows it can be done. Full steam ahead.



-=C

You're in good company...all verts should be restored!

I couldn't agree more. Those pics are definitely a sign of things to come. I suspect that's about as bad or worse than mine. Awesome job.

-C

[Cuda416]

As promised, here is a follow up to my jig post.

At the moment, just brain storming really, my plan is to make it "adjustable" and "disassembleable" (my word, it belongs to me, you can't use it.... trademarked and copyright... Phht).

Here are to the first two formats I'm toying with.

The first one, has the "rails" mounted longitudinally, and the second one orthogonally to the center-line of the jig. I'm leaning towards the second version since the orthogonal mounting would allow for almost as much fore and aft movement of the "rails" but also give more side to side adjustment without "adding" a "slider" to the top of the rails in example #1.

On the other hand, jig #2, would allow the main structure to be quite a bit shorter. Less material, less storage, and less cost.

The last pic is the proposed cross section of the "adjustable beam rails made from "C" channel. The gap allows for a bolt, nominally 1/2" to slide along the length. The thing holding it together, is a piece of rectangle tube. The "C" channels would be attached to that tube using several plug welds. Alternatively, in the interest of being able to break it down to damn near nothing, could be done with through bolts.

I'm in no hurry, hell it's been 9 years and I'm still working on my sons Valiant so for now, I know the base is going to be like the AMD units, and I am relatively sure the "rails" are going to be a thing. Just need to come up with a good way to secure everything. At the moment, it looks like 3/8" square "U" bolts are good for around 1000 lbs each. Using those I could strap the "rails" to the top of the jig platform and not worry about things moving around even if I put some serious force on something. (no, not frame pulling force, but definitely BFH force.).   The platform sides, will be held 36 inches apart by three supports, front, middle and back. These will connect to the fronts of the sides with 1/2" bolts using 1/4 plate brackets. When disassembled, there should be no "protruding" parts or brackets anywhere.

The base will of course have casters and leveling feet.

Anyway, that's what's running through my mind at the moment.

-=C

[YellowThumper]

Cannot help with frame thoughts but glad you will be resurrecting another vert.

[larry4406]

Any update on this?

[Cuda416]

Very little unfortunately. Been working on everything BUT the jig/car but finally making "some" progress.

Much of my free time was spent going over various designs etc for how I want to build my jig. Finally deciding on a way forward that should be able to be used on pretty much any car I need it for going forward. I'm not an engineer so I took a while and came up with several different design ideas "testing" them in my head by drawing it, then leaving it for a while, getting home owner stuff done, then coming back to them and asking myself it I still thought it was a good idea. More often than not, I scrapped ideas and came up with better ones.

I have at this point...

Built the sides of the main frame (16ft long and 12in high)
Cut parts for the "cross" beams that will be adjustable.

Need to...

Build the cross beams
Cut and build the "stand offs"
Cut and build the front/rear/middle segments for the main frame

for the cross beams, I decided to use a section of 1.5" tube welded through both pieces of C channel to hold them at the correct distance. There will be 4 sections welded through two 50" lengths.

I have some free time to dedicate to this now so I'm getting back on it.