Time to work on Ugly

[TheEnemy]

The new structure for the body mounts, and what the roll cage is getting attached to.



The front roll bar fits nice and snug to the winshield frame, which is not there. The middle roll bar still needs trimming and the body needs some trimming to get it to fit without taking up any additional space.



The rear roll bar leaning against the back, it also needs trimming to fit. It tapers in for a partial boat tail

The bottom rear box tube isn't in place yet because I will be welding the roll bar to it then attaching it to the body so I can get the welder to it.

[freebeard]

Well, there you are. It took me a moment to sort out that bottom view, w/ the rear wheel-wells on the left. So that rectangular tube "C" shape is all new?

Are you going to tie the rear bar and box section forward to the "C" part?

[TheEnemy]

All new, in the middle of the C (top and bottom of the picture) will get 2 more body mounts to replace the cracked and rusted ones there. The sections under the door frames will also double as rock sliders.

There isn't enough room to do it with the box tube, but I am connecting the top of the hoops, then between the middle and back hoop at the top of the tub I will connect them. That should strengthen and stiffen up the body by quite a bit.

[freebeard]

Along the inside top corner of the wheel-well then. Sounds like it could work.

[TheEnemy]

I'll post some pictures when I next get a chance, but the body is back on the frame.
I still don't have the bracing tubes in.
I sprayed a couple of layers of Krylon white underneith.
Seats and the lap portion of the harness in.

Unfortunetly I broke the gas tank while trying to get it ready for an event last weekend (so I didn't get to go). Went to bleed the brakes at 11pm friday night, and layed in a puddle of gas.
We have started building a new 12 gallon 3/16 steel gas tank and the bottom is going to be 3/8 with internal ribs.

It will be a little heavier than the stock 16 gallon but hang down only half as far. The rear axle hangs down lower than the new tank instead of the tank.

[TheEnemy]

Its been awhile since I updated this thread, but we finished the cage, 12 gallon custom fuel tank, and a complete rewire as well as paint.





There is still a lot of work to do but we took it out yesterday and averaged 1 gallon per hour on some pretty rough trails.

We still need to finish the windshield, roof skin, spare tire rack and tail gate... and more.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by TheEnemy

Its been awhile since I updated this thread, but we finished the cage, 12 gallon custom fuel tank, and a complete rewire as well as paint.





There is still a lot of work to do but we took it out yesterday and averaged 1 gallon per hour on some pretty rough trails.

We still need to finish the windshield, roof skin, spare tire rack and tail gate... and more.

Don't smack me for being a smarty-pants,but it would be good to see some major gussets or triangulated tubing members to stiffen up the cage.It's prone to buckling if you ever invert it.
A neighbor 'lost it' pulling telephone poles on a flatbed trailer and ended up on his roof.
The sturdy,and well-triangulated bed rack saved his bacon,and his crew.

[TheEnemy]

I was actually thinking of adding in some gussets just to make sure it was strong enough.

So I took it on a trip 160 miles one way and got about 16mpg which is an improvement of approx 2mpg, probably largely because the windshield/sail is still not installed. I couldn't get a good reading from one of the fuel pumps, because it broke down on me, and I had to fill up some place else.

edit: that was also with about 500lbs of camping gear in the back. Typical mpg was in the 12-14mpg range

[TheEnemy]

I did notice something on the drive back, that made me wonder.

When big trucks were passing the other direction the turbulance would often persist much longer than expected, kind of like it cause the flow over the front of the Jeep to cause more turbulance. It could be that the combination of driving somethig that was still an aero-dyanamic disasterpiece though a section of turbulance would cause it to drag the turbulance with it, but it made me wonder if turbulant air would cause even an aero design to create more turbulance, or for that turbulance to persist after the vehicle has cleared the turbulant section.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by TheEnemy

I did notice something on the drive back, that made me wonder.

When big trucks were passing the other direction the turbulance would often persist much longer than expected, kind of like it cause the flow over the front of the Jeep to cause more turbulance. It could be that the combination of driving somethig that was still an aero-dyanamic disasterpiece though a section of turbulance would cause it to drag the turbulance with it, but it made me wonder if turbulant air would cause even an aero design to create more turbulance, or for that turbulance to persist after the vehicle has cleared the turbulant section.

The turbulence behind a big rig extends for many hundreds of feet behind.What we 'pick up' from them would be determined by local weather conditions,wind,speed,direction,as oriented with the roadway and our position in relation to them.
Head on,you'd get the bow wave,then suction as it goes by,then wacked by the wake,with some nice buffeting.
Since low drag cars are governed by a laminar inviscid outerflow environment,driving one through a region of major turbulence would completely alter the flow.All bets would be off the table.
You may have experienced the pressure pulsations of cast off vortices within the wake of an 18-wheeler.This is the major league of eddies.