More chassis....and exhaust !

Couple of quick updates on the work connecting the front and rear chassis rails to the main floor section. All tied in together now.

Just to get some perspective to how tight the interior space is, temporarily set the Kirkey race we picked up into place.....and yes, did sit in it and make the requisite "vroom, vroom" noises.....

Quite evident that we'll need to do some work on relocating the current shifter location on the transmission in order to be able to row the gears properly.

Also did some work on modifying the factory S2000 exhaust header by chopping off the original section just past the four-to-two merge location. Given the low profile of the chassis, determined the best location to route the exhaust would be down the passenger side of the transmission tunnel, down the centre beside the driveshaft location, and out under the rear differential. The muffler will ultimately be located transversely behind the rear subframe with the tip out under the rear valance.

Started off by locating the new merge collector in the desired spot beside the transmission and proceeded to cut up some small sections of mandrel tube bends and straight tubing to get the desired shape we were looking for. Tack welded the parts together temporarily and will complete the finish welding on the bench.

Tube bender

Spent some time this weekend finishing up the build of the tube bender that we'll need once we get to the upper portions of the chassis, namely the roll cage and strut tower bars.

Finished cutting out all the material specified in the Trikes bender plans, and got to work welding the assembly together.

Mocked up the hydraulic/air ram to check for fitment and identified a tight spot on one of the inside tubes where the ram housing interfered with the pivot swing. Grabbed the grinder and proceeded to remove about 3/16" from the housing...pivots like a charm now. Also added some castor wheels to make it easier to move around....this thing is heavy !

Added some paint for rust protection. Next we'll add the new tube die and give it a test run when the steel tubing order arrives.