Flatlands #1

FlatlandFSJ · Oct 28, 2018

Bought myself a new lil welder so that I could do the aluminum interior work myself. With 0 experience and being a broke mofo I decided against a Miller and got a 185 everlast

Dashboard and center console getting fit

Switch panel deal

Lil gauge cluster idea, this is taking a bit to get ironed out the way I want.

More panels , this one is spaced out from the inner foot well, hoping this air gap can knock down on some of the heat from the header.

Inner foot well for reference

Rocker guard/fancy foot hold

FlatlandFSJ · Oct 28, 2018

Sway bar link mounts, these have a top plate as well, just don't have a picture right now.

Trued up the mid ship shaft andbearing, didn't have a dial indicator so I rigged up something for a reference point at least.

Stuck a real motor inband accessories on it, had to change a few small things between the mock up and real block nothing major tho.

And then immediately started pulling parts that weren't needed for mock up once I knew it all fit.

Welding..

Head mounts

FlatlandFSJ · Oct 28, 2018

Before the trans went to be built we decided to chop it for the ultra bell.

Never done this before, so I made 2 cuts and then final fitted with a 40grit flap wheel.

ridered3 · Oct 28, 2018

Glad to see some updates on this build.

The rocker guards/fancy foot cutout with your name cut into it is a nice touch.

FlatlandFSJ · Oct 28, 2018

Stripped it all the way down for final welding and some work on the bottom.

Need more room in the shop already...

Flopped it over to get to the hard to reach spots.

Decided that wasn't easy enough so I put it on it's lid and put the roller table under it.

Ahh..much easier to finish the boxing plates on the link mounts

As well as welding out this kinda stuff.

Patterns for the skids, got it all tabbed out for the skids when it was flipped

And back right side up...

This gets us pretty much caught up

Chipping away at the aluminum tonight, still trying to figure this Tig thing out

FlatlandFSJ · Oct 31, 2018

Trying something different with the shoulder harness tabs...hopefully they keep Ray in the buggy.

Winch mount and bump stops, ended up leaving them in boarded for now, if we start hurting shocks or bending bolts I'll address it down the road.

It clears... barely

This particular spot is proving to be a lil tricky, had to make a lil extra room down here for activities.

FlatlandFSJ · Oct 31, 2018

Random aluminum work, this part is taking a bit to figure out, first time doing any kind of real work with aluminum.

Found that masking tape works pretty good for getting stuff tacked together in the buggy.

Got a little further with this thing tonight as well

FlatlandFSJ · Oct 31, 2018

Re: Re: Flatlands #1

ridered3 said:
Glad to see some updates on this build.

The rocker guards/fancy foot cutout with your name cut into it is a nice touch.

Thanks, those took way to long to cut out and will end up getting ripped off at some point.

ridered3 · Nov 1, 2018

Re: Re: Flatlands #1

FlatlandFSJ said:
Thanks, those took way to long to cut out and will end up getting ripped off at some point.

That always seems to be the case for little details like that, but it's a neat little signature piece.

twostep · Nov 6, 2018

Great to see an actual build thread again with active photo links! Also love to see someone else still using the old school fab techniques.

What ultra bell are you using?

FlatlandFSJ · Nov 6, 2018

twostep said:
Great to see an actual build thread again with active photo links! Also love to see someone else still using the old school fab techniques.

What ultra bell are you using?

Thanks, I enjoy making the little brackets and junk by hand, some say it's not worth it and they are probably right....but it doesn't bother me

It's an older one that we picked up in the forsale section. It's JW's standard th350/th400 ultrabell so we will still need to run the conversion spacer and flexplate.

twostep · Nov 7, 2018

FlatlandFSJ said:
Thanks, I enjoy making the little brackets and junk by hand, some say it's not worth it and they are probably right....but it doesn't bother me

No doubt that some tabs and such aren't worth it but for all of the custom parts what choice do you have unless you've got 10g's to drop on a plasma table. Besides, there is a lot of satisfaction to be had from doing it yourself.

AEH · Nov 7, 2018

Looking good. Is the front sway bar mounted to the front axle and linked to the frame or am I seeing things? There is no good place on my buggy for a conventional installation and I have been considering just that. I haven't seen it done, but I can't see why it wouldn't work.

FlatlandFSJ · Nov 7, 2018

AEH said:
Looking good. Is the front sway bar mounted to the front axle and linked to the frame or am I seeing things? There is no good place on my buggy for a conventional installation and I have been considering just that. I haven't seen it done, but I can't see why it wouldn't work.

Yup, it's attached to the front plate/truss on the upper link mounts. It's been done a few times, screamin' blue had one mounted this way in the front a while back and you'll notice alot of the bouncer guys have started mounting them axle side in the rear as well.

onetoncrawler · Nov 14, 2018

very nice work. :smoke:

1tonyj · Nov 14, 2018

onetoncrawler said:
very nice work. :smoke:

Thank you....Dillion is doing a great job!

Roof panels are coming together

1tonyj · Nov 19, 2018

early stages of the hood getting roughed in

FlatlandFSJ · Nov 19, 2018

Don't know how this will turn out, but I'm giving the fancy hood thing a shot as you can see from Rays post.

First cut and roll.

Little bit closer

Fitting it the best I can, some spots are better then others...

Hoping that this works, usually I'd make a cardboard template and use it to figure out the bends

Turned out decent I guess, I left it a bit tall so I could fine tune the angle.

I'm still unsure of how I'm going to attach this lil scoop, I bent a flange into it with the plan of maybe using rivets.. worse case I'll hack the flange off and weld it on there.

As of now I'm working on laying out the center bit on the hood, it's a bit bland being flat across it,trying to figure out something to break that up. Scoop is down at the right height..give or take a fuzz.

AllGoNoShow · Nov 20, 2018

Don't take this wrong, I appreciate the work that went into that hood, the fab is top notch. But I don't think it fits the build. Just my humble opinion.

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