New Bones

/ Racing / By

27 November 2007

I’ve been super busy, I thought this time before the holidays would be nice and lazy, instead, I’m working my tail off. I don’t know if I’m going to have Peyote back together before we leave for Maui. I’ve got the new frame done. Now I need to paint it and start building. I tried hard to save the old frame, but it was just too far gone. And once we cut some of the tubes to straighten the TR3 part of the frame I discovered that the original roll cage to frame welds were not well penetrated, the tubing wall thickness was a bit on the skimpy side (.860 everywhere), and the rust monster had been hard at work. I’m glad I never stuck this thing on its lid. I’m pretty certain the roll cage would have collapsed, or at least been compromised, in any kind of rollover.

The new frame weighs about the same (28 pounds heavier). We went down a little on the tubing diameter (to 1 1/2″ from 1 5/8*) and used .134 wall for the roll hoop, brace, and driver’s side intrusion bars. The rest is 1 1/2″ .860 wall. I made the driver’s compartment a little bigger by cheating the side brace out with a curve at the end, and added footwell intrusion protection. My little friend in the Corvette demonstrated how important that is. Another inch or so and my feet would have lacked wiggle room.

Yes, there’s a TR3 frame under all that tubing
It’s not exactly a birdcage–more like a bearcage
A little jog to accommodate my girth
The skinny tubes support the body. In the original Peyote these were made of conduit. That might be a little lighter but a pain in the butt to bend precisely and to weld.
Temperature guages. How cool is that? I generally just splash some temperature indicating paint on to show if the transmission has been toasted.
Gorgeous transmission, inside and out.

Thought you might also like to see the new transmission Tony Garmey (Horizon Racing) built for me. It’s almost too pretty to stick in a car. Dog box guts. I like the little temperature gauge labels. Much prettier than my usual splash of temperature sensing paint.

5 RESPONSES TO “NEW BONES”
Brother Dave Says:
December 14th, 2007 at 3:21 pm e
Just so you know that someone is STILL paying attention.
I couldn’t tell but is that a new subframe too? Lots of welding and fabrication. Are you doing it all freehand or do you have a jig of sorts?
Speaking of MOJO and keeping it in place, I’m positive this latest Peyote revision will be as fun, and as forgiving as the last one.
And speaking of keeping on, when is the Infineon (sp?) race? I need a plane ride.