BUILD THREAD “The Juggernaut”

[motorheadmike]

Oh, forgot to mention, you lose the use of the factory seat belt boxes this way too. Not a big deal for me because I’m using Corbeau harnesses anyways.

Everything is a compromise.

 

[RegalRegal]

Lots of test fitting, mock-ups and measuring, but it was starting to take shape…

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Once I had the basic shape and heights established that I wanted everything at, it was time to get all the gaps closed up and welded together. This was an EXTREMELY laborious and time consuming task, it took me nearly 3 weeks to complete. At first I couldn’t figure out why, but after doing the math on it, it all made sense.

Every bend has to be welded back together in 2 sections: The side first to preserve the shape, then the flange. So with 4 crossmember pieces each having 2 bends in them each, that was 8 bends. Each bend has 2 sides, so now we’re up to 16 sections, plus the flanges, so times another 2.

That’s THIRTY TWO sections to weld in, not including the joints between each of the pieces!

Here’s how the process for each section went:

First, the gaps in the inside bends had to be welded up…

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…then the inside corner cleaned up with the cutoff wheel:

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Once the corner was done, then the face could be dressed:

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Next was to cut out the “fingers” on the flange and make a curved piece to fit.

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Then, burn it in, dress it out, and move onto the next.

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THIRTY TWO TIMES!!! It literally took forever.

Anyways, I digress. After a while, I was finally getting the sections completed and ready to go:

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Once I finally had all the sections done, it was time to start trimming them down to size and joining them together. I made a couple of little bridge insert pieces to add strength to the joints…

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….then clamped them into place and burned them in with some rosette welds.

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I used a long piece of heavy duty 1x1 square tubing as my fixture to make sure everything joined together flat, straight and true.

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Damn if it wasn’t actually starting to look like something now!

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I got 3 of the 4 sections welded together and metal finished out, but I purposely left the 4th section long and unattached. Just in case the lengths were unequal side to side. It wouldn’t take much of a discrepancy to have it not fit properly.

So that meant the next step was to create and weld in the inner wall on the driver’s side. That had to start by digging out the driver’s side pass-through and getting it Cleco’d in place too:

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I spent an entire evening just cleaning up the pass-through and making the inner wall section for the driver’s side. Then the tubing had to be marked and cut down to match the wall.

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And that’s pretty much where I’m at now. I don’t have any pictures of it yet, but the driver’s side inner wall has been fully welded in and ground flush, and the crossmember has been started on finalizing and getting positioned. It may not be terribly exciting for you, but it’s a mini milestone for me and I’m REALLY looking forward to the next steps.

Sorry for the long posts and all the pictures, but I was waaay behind on getting y’all up to date on this.

D.

Nicely done, looks great.

 

[69hurstolds]

Oh, forgot to mention, you lose the use of the factory seat belt boxes this way too. Not a big deal for me because I’m using Corbeau harnesses anyways.

Wait, whut? You mean it's not going to be stock? 😵

You know it's going to be so much easier when you repaint my car when I drag it up there with the trunk full of toonies $$$. The hardest part would be putting on the rock guard. 🙂

I guarantee you that your car will end up in an e-magazine article somewhere when you're done. Totally impressive artistic solutions to obstacles with not much more than a welder and a grinder.

If it wasn't named the Juggernaut already, you could consider it the "Slick Brick". It's going to be form + function.

 

[L92 OLDS]

Wow, unbelievable work and a testament to your skill. It’s really an art form. it will be a shame to cover it up. Nice job!

 

[84dragcutlass]

I was wondering about the seat belt retractors that normally take up this area but it makes sense that you would be using the aftermarket seat belts. I had thought about putting a sleeve in the frame of Punkin Patch and running the exhaust out that way since it doesnt have the body mounts to worry about anyway. IF i get that brave i might do it, not like its going to make that pile O'crap any more weak.

 

[Flyers9928]

Amazing work as always D. Your skills continue to impress! Keep up the great work .

 

[mclellan83]

 

[Supercharged111]

What's the finished product that you envision for the back seat area?

 

[Rktpwrd]

Nicely done, looks great.

Thank you!

Wait, whut? You mean it's not going to be stock? 😵

You know it's going to be so much easier when you repaint my car when I drag it up there with the trunk full of toonies $$$. The hardest part would be putting on the rock guard. 🙂

I guarantee you that your car will end up in an e-magazine article somewhere when you're done. Totally impressive artistic solutions to obstacles with not much more than a welder and a grinder.

If it wasn't named the Juggernaut already, you could consider it the "Slick Brick". It's going to be form + function.

Form meets function is totally the idea Mike. While it’s a nice thought, notoriety and magazine coverage isn’t the reason for building this. I’m sure you already know that. It’s merely to make me happy and stretch the limits of my own capabilities. Nothing would make me happier than to see my vision for this car come to reality, and even more so by my own hands.

Wow, unbelievable work and a testament to your skill. It’s really an art form. it will be a shame to cover it up. Nice job!

Thank you very much for the kind words. I too feel that it’s an art form of sorts. It may be a shame to cover it up, but I will always know it’s there and what it took to achieve, and that will have to suffice for me.

Amazing work as always D. Your skills continue to impress! Keep up the great work .

Thank you brother, I will certainly try!

 

[Rktpwrd]

What's the finished product that you envision for the back seat area?

Good question, but not so easily answered. Basically I’m going to try and achieve a somewhat “factory appearing” look if at all possible. Although it was very obviously never a consideration, I want the new rear floor to look like it might’ve come that way, if the factory made it. Pretty tall order considering the extremity of the side exit exhaust. modification.

What the finished product is going to actually look like is a complete mystery at this point, it’s just too hard to try and visualize all the different angles and contours that it might incorporate. That’s part of why I’m so excited to get to this point, starting to make and mock-up new floor sections isn’t too far off.

Worst case scenario if I totally hate one version of it, I’ll modify and change it around until I’m happy with it.