Miniature Automotive Gladiator.

[Diplomat_Wagon]

'Tis springtime finally here and I'm gonna build a mini derby car to run at the halftime show for the first stock car race day on the season in May or June, date hasn't been set yet.

Anyone need any K car bits?

 

[69.5CUDA]

i want a camera mounted in that !!!!!!!...sounds like fun to me...i hope its a 5spd.............those autos ummmm like to break easy.....im sure you will probably weld the diff but if not atleast put in a diff saver!!!!!!!

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

It's an automatic, you would never want a manual transmission in a derby. I'm just gonna run it as it is. If you weld the diff you will break an axle if someone hits you in a spinning wheel.

I am thinking about pulling the diff pan off and welding the spider shaft in place though.

 

[69.5CUDA]

totaly weld that dif pin in!!!!...they walk out way way way too easy...but hell the diffsaver plates are like 15$ and bolt on to a pair of ring gear bolts

 

[Dr.Jass]

Definitely weld the diff pin. It doesn't even have to be a good job--one bead overlapping the diff case on either side will keep it from walking out the other. A ton less work and money than the plates. Maybe $.05 worth of wire?

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Definitely weld the diff pin. It doesn't even have to be a good job--one bead overlapping the diff case on either side will keep it from walking out the other. A ton less work and money than the plates. Maybe $.05 worth of wire?

I can't remember off hand, isn't that pan a bitch to get to? :hmmm:

 

[Dr.Jass]

Don't ask me. I've only owned one FWD auto Mopar, and it never broke a damned thing.

 

[69.5CUDA]

no..its actualy pretty easy....i did a set of diff savers with the trans in my van....cant imagine the car having that much different of a crossmember being its the same engine and trans.....well...was...

course even if it was in a slightly bad spot..3 bolts holds engine and trans in there.....yup 3 bolts..4 if its a manual and has the bobble strut

 

[68R/T]

I can't remember off hand, isn't that pan a bitch to get to? :hmmm:

Removing the pan isn't that bad, but the welding might test your skills as a contortionist. :doh:

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Removing the pan isn't that bad, but the welding might test your skills as a contortionist. :doh:

Worse then a roll cage?

 

[68R/T]

Worse then a roll cage?

Less room....think of it as if you were going to weld something to the back of a radio....while it's still in the dash. :doh:

 

[Stretch]

The diff is cake to get at on those.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

So I got lots done today.

I figured since there are hardly any rules for the mini derby class here since it's quite new so I made some "changes". :shifty: :toot:

Hillbilly lift. :giggedy:

I removed the struts and welded a thick washer I had cut in half around the strut shaft, it's not the best thing to do but it's not like to has to ride nice or last forever but it is completely hidden.

Next I took a bunch of rags and packed them into the dust covers of the brand new shocks the previous owner had installed on here.

She's going to ride like a lumber wagon with metal wheels.

Moved all the slightly important electrical components inboard away from the crumple zone.

Picked myself a quick and easy 0.0003 horse power! :dance:

Got the fuel lines through the floor and since I can I'm going to run the exhaust out the hatch window hole. :dance:

"Up periscope!"

Got the cover off the diff and will be welding that sloppy spider gear pin permanently in place, easy as pie to get in there to weld.


I also got my hands on an empty 20lb propane tank for a barbeque that I'm going to make into my indestructible fuel cell.

 

[69.5CUDA]

hmmmm i thought of something that would make for a pretty sweet shock and struck setup...a tiny bit of flex but no chance of breakage.....the "bump stops" you find on struts..stack a whole mess of them on the strut and re-install that way she can "lift" a tiny ammount but wont crush out either..kinda a weird one but its "bolt on" with stock parts...if rules ever came push to shove LOL..just enuf give to keep from breaking things....hell if you wanted more lift..go grab a set of minivan springs and struts..its a bolt on part but a few inches taller if memory serves correctly....hell ive got one out if you want a measurment

oh i thought of a WEAK link you need to be aware of...the lowwer front motor mount..these will crack they will break and they will take the bellhouseing out with them.....im talking about the engine/trans side ive had the bolts walk ive had the damn thing crack in half etc..the weak part of it isnt where it attaches to the car but how it supports the engine and mounts the engine to the trans...REMOVE it and have a good look at it add some plate to it and full weld it up....id hate to see someone get one good shot at your nose and bust the bellhouse out and end you where you sit......ive broke atleast 4 of these in the last 3 years..this last one i went to town on taking care of cracks and adding material..obviously a manual puts more forces onto it BUT a hit in the derby will be worse right?

yeah im raking my brain for the weak links ive found abusing my minivan

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

I know which mount you're talking about and if I remember correctly it didn't appear to be a factory piece as I checked all the mounts Friday night when I jacked the car up and put it on stands, I think it has been replaced so I think I should be good.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Just hope you don't come up against a Chevette. While prepping for his second year of demo competition with his, 72sickness started tangling with snsspringer in his '65 Imperial demo car (they're friends and were working on 'em at the same place--a farm with lots of room). 72sickness got punted hard off the dead end of a road... all he could do was brace himself. Those little bastards are tough. He still ran the car, and if I recall (Stretch will probably know) I think he won for the second year in a row. He definitely placed.

If you've never seen a pre-'67 Imperial in a demo, you're missing out. Snsspringer's has been through countless heats, and it now has a little bit of damage to the rear frame. I can totally understand why most places don't allow them. One hit on a mid-'80s Crown Vic/LTD, and the passenger's side rear door was nearly on the trunk lid... through the back window. That car simply ceased to be. The passenger's rear tire was under the back bumper. Greatest hit in demo history. We talked to the LTD driver a week later, and he'd missed two days of work (Monday and Tuesday--the demo was on Saturday), had a broken thumb (steering-wheel backlash), and was still sore and moving slowly. His explanation: "I got Imperialized." He couldn't believe how hard that car hits... but then again, they're so strong you can hit someone with the front end at 35MPH and go right through 'em. Tom uses the front more than the back, in fact... because he can.

God forbid they allow Pacers in your class and someone has one. Those things are unbeatable. The best derby I've ever seen was on TV, and the winners of the two classes--compact and full-size--had to square off for the title. Early ('64-'66) Imperial v. a Pacer, on pavement no less. The Imperial won, but not easily... and that Imperial was a lot worse for wear after that matchup. I was astounded by that little AMC. I doubt either one of those pilots made it to work the next day!

 

[69.5CUDA]

get me a shot of that mount.....even if its been replaced i doubt its any stronger..i actualy added plate to mine and full seam welded it just to keep it from comming apart this time around.......the rubber end and the body end are meaninglessly indestructable but the engine end of it...WTF were they thinking its a huge piviot waiting to break off and take the bell with it

ive seen shove-it's in a demo and they are ANIMALS if you can keep em runnning LOL..same with the pacer...id swear the pacer was built on an imperial chassis using early 50s mil spec dodge truck body steel......and i remember the days of imperials out here....you just watched them take everyone out untill a couple of them would have to square off on eachother...i still ponder how tankish an imperial wagon would have been.......

 

[Dr.Jass]

Snsspringer figures he hit 72sickness going about 30MPH with the Chevette at a dead stop. I know the Chevette went over a large log across the end of the road and if memory serves, it cleared it. He got hit hard. It turns out the way he got hit actually worked out well because when the demo started, the back end of the Chevette sorta folded in on itself like an enveliope, and hits to the back eventually did no more damage. They just got him unstuck most of the time! :dance: Yeah, it does seem like the lead engineer on the Pacer took a job at AMC after he left a career designing... I dunno... battleships? Coast Guard icebreakers? Car crushers?

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

I think the other cars are a Tempo/Topaz and a couple Cavalier/Sunfires.

I think my biggest weak point on this car will be the rear end with it being a hatchback with no package tray or rear seat support, just a giant empty hole.

It's gonna fold up bad.

I'm planning on running in-car cameras in this one too because I can. :dance:

 

[Dr.Jass]

Chevettes were all hatchbacks too, y'know, as were Pacers. Remove the gas struts, close the hatch, and just buzz a quick weld on the latch hook with it shut. You're outclassed in the momentum department (prepare to be sore the next day), but that's not always bad... as my friend used to say about his Fiat X1/9, "Why wear my seatbelt? If I get in an accident, the whole car will be thrown clear of it!"