My '75 2002 Sleeper

[tinkwithanr]

Finally got started on the removable front clip. I've been trying to think about how to do this for a while now. There are probably a bunch of ways to do it, but this is the best way I could come up with and I think it should turn out pretty nicely. The first step was to clean up the edge where the old nose clip was spot welded on. With the edge straight and clean, I applied some weld-thru primer to the areas that would be overlapped with new sheet metal to help prevent future rusting.

This is where the front clip was spot welded in place.





With the edges cleaned up I needed to make a template for the new metal. This section is important because it helps to block off the front wheel well from the headlight area and engine bay.






With the template made, I could transfer it to my 18ga metal and cut out the driver side plate.






Now just a plain sheet of 18ga isn't very strong. So in order to add some strength I decided to roll a couple 'dimples' into. These also mimic the OEM plate.

Traced the pattern:





Rolled the dimples and the welded in place:






And welds ground smooth.






Now here is a rough example of how the front clip will bolt on. I'm planning to use the same type of fasteners that hold on the fenders, and so I will have a bit of adjustment to help make sure everything lines up. There will be two screws in the tab along the top of the nose panel, as well as a couple of connection down along the bottom edge. Also note that the nose panel will no longer be a structural panel of the car. I will be adding more bracing across the engine bay, welded in place along the bottom edge and then a separate piece that bolts into the top that is incorporated into a strut bar assembly.





And here is a view from the inside of the wheel well. As you can see it still creates a barrier between the wheel area and the engine bay (the light you see coming through is from some rust holes that I still need to patch on the nose panel).






Then it was onto another round of plastic surgery on the nose panel. Not much left on it, but it doesn't need much either. I'll be adding some light bracing in strategic places once it's bolted back up and I know it's true and straight. As far as weight the only thing that it needs to support now is the headlights, grills and part of the front turbo lip.





To finish up the night I knocked out the passenger side panel. I still need to do some trimming along the outer edge so the nose panel can fit up tight to it, but it looks good so far.



Thanks for looking.

[tinkwithanr]

Badass. Do you plan to Upgrade your brakes?

Yup, at first they will probably just be 4 wheel disc with vented rotors up front (stock was non vented disc up front with small drums in the back). Down the road I'll probably pick up an aftermarket BBK or fab my own.

wow thats really neat. this thread is getting better and better by the post.:up:

Thanks!

[e30_neverstock]

wow thats really neat. this thread is getting better and better by the post.:up:

[A Sucked Orange]

Badass. Do you plan to Upgrade your brakes?

[tinkwithanr]

I was originally planning to work on the removable front clip today, but some other parts came in the mail so I shifted gears. What did I get you may ask?


A Class 2 trailer hitch and receiver of course!




As any of you that track your car know, normally you want to take spare tires, tools, jacks etc with you. Adding that to the fact that I want to be able to use the car on trips and vacations, the ability to haul a small trailer makes it much more practical. The Class 2 set up is rated for 3,500 gross trailer weight and 300 lbs tongue weight, which will be plenty for anything I ever need to do.


One of the biggest challenges with the hitch was figuring out how to package it with the center exit exhaust in the rear. Originally I was planning to have a fixture for the receiver that would bolt up to the underneath of the trunk frame. While this would have worked, the fixture would have been VERY heavy and a pain to store when not in use. Also the packaging of the exhaust around the fixture would have been difficult, leading to the receiver being very low or very far from the rear edge of the body. Luckily I was already building up a new trunk frame, which gave me a better option.

The first step was to clean up my bumper brackets. This is how the came on the bumper:




Then after a quick trip to the sand blaster:





They still aren't that pretty, but for now they are rust free. After cleaning those I moved on to cutting the receiver to length. I forgot to take pictures while fitting it in place, but here it is tacked in place.





Here you can see the clearance between the body and the locking pin. It's tight, but shouldn't rub on the paint when installed.





Next up was to add the safety chain bars. When towing, the safety chains is used as a last resort in case the ball or hitch fail completely. It should keep the trailer from completely detaching until you can pull off to the side of the road.





With those in place, it was time to reinforce the connections on the inside of the trunk. The picture below shows the receiver, the inner trunk frame, and a strengthening bar on top of both. The receiver is butted up against the trunk frame (you can't really see it, it's in the shadowed area underneath the top tube). The strengthening bar is to help keep the receiver from bending away from the trunk frame.All of these connections were welded fully around to ensure they won't fail.





Then I added another bar across the entire back of the trunk. This is to help keep the trunk frame tube from twisting in the center due to the moment from the tongue weight. The upper tube was notched to fit around the previously shown top brace. It will be stitch welded on both sides across the back of the trunk. The rear portion of the roll cage will tie into the far ends of this upper tube as well.





Here's a close up showing the notched area. Again, all edges are/will be fully welded.






Now why did I need to clean up the bumper brackets for this little project you may wonder? Simple, so that I could ensure the entire hitch assembly would fit behind the stock bumper.


What hitch???





View from the bottom, it was very tight packaging. (For reference, the bottom edge of the bumper is in the top of the picture.)





And this is waiting for me tomorrow:




A partial sheet of 11ga and anew sheet of 18ga sheet metal for the front end work.
:woot:



Thanks for looking!

[tinkwithanr]

I definitely plan to take part in the local get togethers. I saw the pictures from the spring picnic this past year and it looked like a great time.

[deutschman]

This is madnes!

Ones you move to the Bay Area make sure you take part in the 2002 Bay Area club events like the picnic we have every spring. I'll be back in a year after I'm done with school. I look forward to seeing you and the car at drives and other events.

[deutschman]

Excited to see how it fits together. Ones I get my own work space I am going to build another m20 02, and take my time with it. I learned so much with the last one I sold, the next one will be 1000x better and more thought out. I can't wait to see yours rolling around!

[tinkwithanr]

I think I've seen the thread you were talking about. The downside is my hood mount bars are already cut out, so I can't really use those to locate things.

Ideally I want to make it look somewhat OEM, so I'm planning to use the same type of fasteners that hold the fenders on. Looks like I know what I'm doing the weekend lol (aside from watching the Buckeye's beat down Nebraska!)

[deutschman]

I saw a thread on the FAQ a fewk tha back where a guy had made a nice removable front clip. Maybe you can find it. I want to say he had done an m20 as well.
If you cut the frame rails flush with the fenders, and make a rad support that fits right behind the hood hinges and is fastened to the fenders behind the head lights, you could bolt the clip onto both of those...

[richardb]

Beautiful work. Kudos for saving a 2002 that very few could save. What color paint are you thinking?

[Imperial88]

there isn't much i can say that hasn't already been said... You are gifted. When it comes time to drive it let me and a couple others know, i'll drive ahead of you and signal any on coming cars off the road hahaha! brilliant work thanks for sharing.

[asuj158]

sick

[tinkwithanr]

Probably not. That's pretty much where I draw the line between a turbo clone or not. While the body kit alone is close, this isn't a true Turbo, so using the decals would seem a little false to me.

I have a couple of ideas on what I want to do for paint and colors, but nothing is set in stone yet.

[downforce22]

Looking good man, I 'm loving the turbo fender flares. Will you do any type of turbo stripes?