1936 Bugatti Atlantic Replica Project - Donor Vehicle / Chassis - RABUGGI

Apologies to dial-up visitors; this page has gotten a little heavy with images.

Well, here we go!... [07-15-06] A donor vehicle has been bought.

The Donor Vehicle: '91 S10 EL short bed 2WD, 4 cyl. 5 spd. (plain & simple! - no PS, no AC, no cruise)

Couldn't find a decent long bed with a 5 speed. This is a short bed (108 in. wb.), so not the desired 117.9 wheelbase of the long bed. However, it's reasonably priced and low miles for a 15 year old, so the engine and tranny should have some good life left without a lot of work there. We'll figure out some way to add 9 inches.

Initial... Verify some of the assumed or approx. dimensions for the Concept Layout...

• Basic engine, bellhousing, tranny dimensions [09-06-06]
  
• Harness labeling?
• Drive it some to find out what we really have...
• Replace leaky L. rear axle shaft seal, broken frt. sway bar links. [08-09-06]

Tasks...

Frame: [08-18-06] Bought a salvage long bed frame. Paid some more, but no uncertainty now about lengthing the short frame with fish weld or whatever. We can start work modifying (cutting off unnecessary fittings, etc.) this chassis before taking down the donor.

[08-30-06] The salvage yard (Gibson's; Neenah, WI) long bed chassis

Disassemble, Clean-up, paint chassis.

[~09-19-06] Some of the stuff removed from the frame

Locate/fabricate: engine mounts, rear tranny mount, radiator mount (all rearward ~33.5 in.).

[10-17-06] Some cleaned-up parts, the trimmed frame, and "cardboard" engine mount mock-ups...
We'll sandblast and paint the frame after the mounts are welded up.

[10-17-06] Front engine mount pieces, coming along

[10-29-06] The frame flipped for welding the front engine mount bottom (3x3x.120 A500 steel square tube)...
Coincidentally, the new front mount is very nearly at the location of the OE rear engine mount.

[10-31-06] Welding the rear engine mount (3x2x.120 A513 steel rectangular tube)

[11-06-06] Necking down the frame for a little more clearance under the seat bottoms...
The 'boxing' (last two images) of that area should restore the modulus we lost in reducing the section height.

[11-08-06] The frame, engine mounts, and "notches", pretty much done and ready for sandblasting and painting.
The rear engine mount is just lying there for the picture; it will be a bolted in assembly.

[11-09-06] Piggybacking the frame to the sandblaster

[11-22-06] The frame, back from outsourced sandblast, prime & paint

Phooey! After starting to assemble some chassis components, I noticed that the frame had some warpage in back. It was straight before we started working on it, so it must have happened when we were welding on the necked-down section and weren't sufficiently vigilant for that sort of thing. It's only about an inch over the width at the tail lateral member (~1.4 deg.), but now's the time to try to correct it.

[12-20-06] Frame correction bend clamp-up:
We'll try to bring down the tail left side with a compensating bend at the "kick-up" section over the axle.
Calculations say that it will take about 5600 lb. from the 6 ton jack to yield the frame rail at that section.

[12-20-06] Frame correction bend clamp-up:
The wood compression stubs should prevent buckling of the frame "C" channel section.
A stack of four scrap pieces of 12 ga. cold rolled should distribute the load from the 6 ton jack.

[12-20-06] "Before"... The pine boards and the added green level lines give an idea of the distortion.

[12-20-06] "After"... Better - and I don't think we wrecked anything.

Reassemble chassis with 2" drop spindles & 3" lowering springs (to get the ~3" total needed with the expected lighter weight), 3" lower rear springs & 1" lowering blocks, "lowering" shocks, new: brake rotors, pads, calipers, bearings, drums, shoes, slaves, ball joints, bushings, front sway-bar links, rear axle shaft seals, [shortened driveshaft, custom radiator, fuel tank behind axle . . .]

[01-10-07] Some screws are finally starting to go clockwise... even if some is just test assembly.

Next...
Strip donor for: engine, transmission, rear axle, steering gearbox, ECM & harness, master cylinders, tank. Drain coolant, fuel. Dispose of obvious excess stuff; salvage/store small useble items.

[04-20-07] The little blue truck's last breath


[05-25-07] Time for a web page image update... Engine, rear axle and steering gearbox are cleaned up and mounted.
Engine to mounts fit is good. Harness, clutch and brake masters, fuel tank, are about to come out of the donor next.


[07-02-07] Our original plan for the exhaust system was pretty lame. This shows rework on the transmission mount to provide clearance for the S10 O.E. header pipe to a catalytic converter and decent muffler. It takes the exhaust down the wrong side, but hey, we're making it left-hand drive too.


[07-16-07] This fuel tank mount assembly (2x1x.120 A513 steel rectangular tube) looks like it should work for the salvaged S10 tank.

[07-18-07] Mount and tank fit-up looks OK.


[09-05-07] Old Blue on the way to the bone-yard; he's given about all he can give. (Yes, I know the rule about not throwing away anything until the project's finished, but if there's anything needed later that he still had, I'll just buy it.)



[09-11-07] [09-12-07] The exhaust system with the 5 little tailpipes... Good grief, it took a long time to finish up this simple assembly.
The new short driveshaft visible above is from Denny's Driveshafts, Kenmore, NY


[10-16-07] Radiator mount - needs some shrouding and baffling next.
Radiator is a "Radpro 130" from the local radiator shop.


[10-16-07] Firewall-floorboard-tunnel mock-up start


[11-19-07] Radiator baffle, shroud, and hoses

57SC Home	Donor S10/Chassis	Wheels/Tires	Body Pattern	Body Molds
Body Parts	Hood/Radiator	Systems/Wiring	Glazing/Finishing	Interior

    Last tinkered with November 30, 2007   R.A.B.