69 camaro top doorslammer

doing this tutorial style for a guy on a yank forum so follow along if you want. The only difference between the brass I 'm using or styrene rod is what its made out of and how it attaches together. 1st off grab the body you're using (doesnt matter what it is the principal is the same). Trace along the INSIDE of each side of the body and the ends, mark out the wheelbase centres, back door line and wheel openings


then work out the center of the body and mark it place motor in position and mark front and rear of block and rear of gearbox


(this isnt the motor I'll be using but it is the same dimensions)


layout of first bars, the rear crossbar wants to be about halfway between the back doorline and rear wheel opening, depending on your engine the main rails will be about 20mm(just over 3/4 inch apart

Will be watching can not solder if my life depended on it

Sweet! Will be looking forwards to this series

Watching.

got the bits above glued( soldered ) together and started on the bracing for the floors, Depending on your body style, the bars at the front of the floor may slant back or forwards for the firewall depending on your engine position

next up I make the main hoop and the framing around the door

note you'll want to shape these as close as you can to the profile of the body.

you will see that the hoop and door surround bars dont reach the bottom of the body thats so when they're attached to the rest of the frame they wont hang below the body line

you'll see the front pillar bar in this shot above, once the bodies been thinned down a little in this area you wont really see it anymore. Now I've missed a couple of pics here ( I apologize for that ) cause I kept getting interrupted but you'll need to make the front bars that go from the bottom chassis rail just ahead of the front wheelbase line back to the firewall/pillar bars, this is what the top rail and the front struts will attach to.
The top rail goes from about 10 mm above the bottom rail running parallel to it to the bar between the sides of the main hoop. you can see it at the back of this old pic, take note you will need a dogsleg bend in the drivers side top rail so the seat will fit, will try to include a pic of that tomorrow

heres what it all looks like so far


the frontal frame overhang is where the fuel cell goes

That is just amazing work mate

Thanks mate, dunno about the amazing though, right first up heres that dogsleg bend I told you about to give the seat clearance by the gearbox

then I started bracing the top rails

the firewall and back of the cage


Make sure you leave enough room not only for your slicks but also the four link bars ( I might have to move mine outwards a little as i dont have a diff yet.
Note the start of the funny car cage is not fixed in yet, nor is the front cross bar for the roof

this is so you can test fit your seat, drivers floor etc while there's still room to get a finger or two in
the cage in

yes its all in there, the cage out

Cool stuff, great to watch it develop.

Amazing Brett, !! .. um.... well.... arr...........

Sorry, but thats all i can say, AMAZING!!

....excellent build instructions.

Cheers guys, Sorry I should have said at the beginning, I'm using 1.6 mm brass rod which I think roughly = 1and 5/8 chromemoly tube. I use an 80 watt iron, flux applied with a small paintbrush to the joint and normal ( resin core ) solder. I dont have any heatsinks but would recommend them if you do. ( Though with the heat of my iron I'm in and out of each joint pretty quick so it hasn't been an issue for me yet ). Basically get your pieces to be as tight a fit as you can, paint the joint with the liquid flux, touch the hot iron to the solder then touch the joint presto its done. A smaller tip on the iron helps with tidiness ( mines huge thats why they're a bit messy) but once I get some cash I'll invest in a new tip. Anything else you want to know, please dont hesitate to ask, and if you have any better tips for soldering please dont hesitste to say.
Cheers Brett

That's crazy dude!!!!
Great work though

Absolutely nuts!!! You're crazy dude!! Lovin' it!

Ah crazy , that might explain it got asked a question on another board, might as well include it here.
Practical question; when you're joining some tube, how do you hold it all in place, making sure it's square and so forth, keeping in mind you're also holding the solder AND the iron?

with my teeth. which is even funnier as I dont got half of them, Besides who said anything was actually square? I dont actually hold the solder, just touch the tip to it then to the joint. Just try and get the joints to butt tightly against each other as square as you can and they kinda hold themselves, There is times where one of those third hands or a vice comes in handy to hold the main frame while adding some bars. You can see how the start of the funny car cage is just sitting in place in the last set of pics above. I will hold it up a little straighter but it pretty much will hold itself in place while I'm getting ready to solder it. Most everything I do is eyeball engineering with trial and error (not sure I should be saying that lol) but I do recommend using the proper tools when you can

Right carrying on, On pro mods and I'm pretty sure top doorslammers whilst most of the floor pan can be aluminum there must be a steel plate of such and such thickness under the drivers seat, which usually goes on to of the bars

also put the tin for the firewall

while it looks pretty bad at the moment a bit of work there will bring it up nicely. Added the bars that the engine plate will bolt too and cage for the fuel cell

added the rear end support

these bars need to fit inside where the four link mounts to so they dont interfere with each other. I would recommend not adding these if this is your first as it will be quite tight the add the four link mounts ( although that in turn makes adding these bars tight so suit yourself).
Obligatory mockup shot

with the invisible body kinda

couple shots of the seat I made today, yes the holes should be rectangular but once the padding's on you wont see that they were round

Looks cool

Thanks Guy. got the floor pan and the inner sides of the wheel tubs done


wheel tubs, roof bracing ( seat fits thru windscreen gap, very important to check you can still get it in the car) .Also made all the mounting tabs for the front struts and made the four link mounts



once the firewall 's been sanded I think it should look alright. Its not a necessary step but will make the car look more complete in the end.

doorslammerfan wrote:...seat fits thru windscreen gap, very important to check you can still get it in the car...

Yep. Been there, done that (although not with brass).
This is coming along. How much more expensive than plastic rod is brass?

I got 10 3ft long 1.6mm rods today for $11 bucks, anything smaller I have to go to the hobby shop where its about $9 for 4 10 inch long bits. Evergreen is around $9/ $10 bucks a pack with the bigger sizes having less in them. The problem I have with my hands is I cant keep a tight grip on anything, the smaller it is the worse it gets.so holding things for glue to set can be a real killer.With the brass I usually get a real good fit and dont have to hold it much at all and it doesnt try to spring back to its natural shape unlike styrene. A guy in our club is supplying me with sheet brass off cuts which is a bonus, other wise from the hobby shop its about twice the price of styrene sheet.

Made up the fire bottle, air bottle for the shifters , parachute levers and brackets and fitted sleeve for steering column. Also added the last couple bars at the back and the driveshaft tunnel although it'll cover more gearbox than the driveshaft as it'll be pretty short.. Finished bottles are 7 pieces each plus the lines.



bit blurrier than I thought sorry

Zoomies ! and engine mockup, looks about right I think . Also scratched some seatbelts and hardware, they look a lot better in person than in the pics, I think

, Amazing work mate!!

Thanks for the info.
I'd just burn myself doing the soldering but it's good to know.
I use a lot of different things to hold bits together while glue dries - blue tac and clothes pegs most commonly.

Heres the bits used to make the lower a arms and front struts
assembled and in place


you might also have noticed the bars that will hold the front clip in place should I be brave enough to cut it off


Fred I use a lot of pegs for building too but dont find them much use for building roll cages. Most kit cages arent to bad with super glue because all the bends etc are pre formed for you, when it comes to this kinda stuff I just prefer the brass.

I can't wait to see this car finished