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Old 03-28-2020, 09:26 AM
RockHillWill RockHillWill is offline
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Default It's started! Bill Rhine has started the restoration of the 'Mountain' car.

Bill sent me some pictures that shows that he has the car mounted in what he calls his 'elephant' stands, and the car has been stripped and work has begun. I have been to the shop several times and measured to make some aluminum items that I know he will need at some point.

Here is some history of the car.

Started building this car right after Christmas 1981. It is our own design and we built the chassis fixture as well as the body hanging template support.
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Going thru the inspection line 6-weeks later for Daytona 500 1982. We ran the second qualifying race, finishing 9th, on the lead lap and one position ahead of Bill Elliott. Minor crash in 500 - we finished 20th., one lap down.
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Car crashed in Atlanta later that year.
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Car was rebuilt, raced once more then modified and leased to Stroker Ace Movie folks where it got this paint job.
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Car located under a barn in the southeastern part of North Carolina
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It was in this condition when found.
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It is this design of the front cage styling that was what interested Bill, as he knew that this was the first appearance of this design, the triangulation of the front 'clip'. The photo does not show that cross bar that goes between the top of the vertical tubes. Note the right front upper control arm-any thoughts?
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The car has been stripped.
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Removal of some displaced sheet metal. Trying to get Bill a Tommasini wheeling machine - may have to loan him mine.
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Bottom of fuel cell container had been distorted and will be replacing the rear bulkhead as well. Note the welded in block at bottom of the truck trailing arm. First seen on this car as well. Changing angle downward increases forward 'bite' by vectoring the acceleration load to have more of a vertical component.
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Left rear quarter panel will be replaced as well
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Aluminum rear spoiler plates. (un-formed)
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Bulkhead plates for routing oil lines to trunk thru fire walls.
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Aluminum head rest support plate.
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Steel windshield and back window clips
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Last edited by RockHillWill; 04-07-2020 at 08:40 AM.
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  #2  
Old 03-28-2020, 09:40 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockHillWill View Post
Bill sent me some pictures that shows that he has the car mounted in what he calls his 'elephant' stands, and the car has been stripped and work has begun. I have been to the shop several times and measured to make some aluminum items that I know he will need at some point.

Here is some history of the car.

Started building this car right after Christmas 1981
Attachment 55754

Going thru the inspection line 6-weeks later for Daytona 500 1982
Attachment 55755

Car crashed in Atlanta later that year.
Attachment 55756

Car was rebuilt, raced once more than modified and leased to Stroker Ace Movie folks where it got this paint job.
Attachment 55757

Car located under a barn in the southeastern part of North Carolina
.Attachment 55758

It was in this condition when found.
Attachment 55759

It is this design of the front cage styling that was what interested Bill, as he knew that this was the first appearance of this design, the triangulation of the front 'clip'. The photo does not show that cross bar that goes between the top of the vertical tubes. Note the left front upper control arm-any thoughts?
Attachment 55760

The car has been stripped.
Attachment 55761

Removal of some displaced sheet metal. Trying to get Bill a Tommasini wheeling machine - may have to loan him mine.
Attachment 55762

Bottom of fuel cell container had been distorted and will be replacing the rear bulkhead as well.
Attachment 55763

Left rear quarter panel will be replaced as well
Attachment 55764

Aluminum rear spoiler plates. (un-formed)
Attachment 55765

Bulkhead plates for routing oil lines to trunk thru fire walls.
Attachment 55766

Aluminum head rest support plate.
Attachment 55767

Steel windshield and back window clips
Attachment 55768

Hi Will,
This is huge good news to see. Very anticipating progress reports, and of course "items of particular racer interest."
YEEHAW!
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  #3  
Old 03-28-2020, 11:42 AM
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Steve Hamilton Steve Hamilton is offline
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Hi Will
I’m sure this is bringing back lots of memories and stories.
The cars were so much simpler back then.
I enjoy seeing these posts, looking forward to more.

Stay healthy!

Steve
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Old 03-28-2020, 12:08 PM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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Very cool. There's many build threads here that I really like, Will. But there isn't one that makes me happier to see happening for all the right reasons.

I'm really looking forward to this one- on here and in person. Keep it coming. Thanks, Will.
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Old 03-28-2020, 12:54 PM
RockHillWill RockHillWill is offline
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Hey, Steve: What's simpler about it? All race cars are just blocks with a rubber band and four pieces of chewing gum. All you have to do is manipulate the chewing gum to bite the road equally. All you have to do for that to happen is determine the size of the contact patch, multiply that times the co-efficient of friction and then vector that load into forward or lateral force loads. Account for 'aero' by modifying the chewing gum mounts.

Lacking the ability to do that on their own, often leads folks to start adding 'components' that they think will do that for them and the result is a Christmas tree with doors, all adorned with ornaments, which does in fact make it look more complicated.

Asking your driver to tell you where his predominant hand is on the steering wheel and which foot is on what pedal and how hard will go a long way in determining your next adjustment.

This damned 'hibernation' has got me doing too much thinking. I am almost done with the 'story telling' book, and I have been spending time getting the drawings for the vehicle dynamic book moved over from my AutoCAD files to the SolidWorks software so I can incorporate the SolidWorks drawings of the chassis and tire test fixtures that I have been making into that book.

Any body figured out anything about that right front upper control arm yet?
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Last edited by RockHillWill; 04-07-2020 at 08:42 AM.
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Old 03-28-2020, 01:43 PM
Marc Bourget Marc Bourget is offline
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While taking a second look at the upper control arm, I noticed the pulley size on the alternator.


How fast were you spinning that thing, anyway? You sure weren't turning the engine under 3000 RPM!
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Old 03-28-2020, 02:01 PM
Jaroslav Jaroslav is online now
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Will. It is beautiful to meet your own history after so many years.

What has changed since then. Time, time, time.
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Old 03-28-2020, 02:04 PM
Just Lookin Just Lookin is offline
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Question Re: Right control arm

Quote:
Originally Posted by RockHillWill View Post
Any body figured out anything about that right front upper control arm yet?
Seems there is a monster sized sqaure tube brace on the bottom side of the control arm on that side to handle the forces to that side of the car.

Is that what you are speaking of?

Respectfully, excitedly "Subscribed" and looking forward to more stories.
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Old 03-28-2020, 02:43 PM
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Any body figured out anything about that right front upper control arm yet?

What I see is that it looks to be bolted together. Since the vertical support goes through the middle of it, replacing it would otherwise require a cutting torch or sawsall. Also a lot more parallel to the track than the left side.
Knowing you I,m sure there is a whole lot that went right over my head, since I never took the Redneck engineering class.

Steve
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Old 03-28-2020, 04:56 PM
RockHillWill RockHillWill is offline
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Steve, you have a good 'eye'. I used to get a boatload of crap at the track as a casual glance would indicate the need to cut it off. The bolts that you see are the bolts that are normally used with a 3-bolt upper ball joint. The owner of this car had converted it to street use, and I have no idea about the geometry that he was using, but he obviously had to figure out that it was a bolt together joint.

The difference is that I used a four bolt upper ball joint, so removing only two of them would allow a quick change over. I just had some more plates made for building the upper control arms need for the restoration.

Marc: That motor is a 'crate' motor with mostly 'street' type accessories. There was even carpet on the floor of the drivers compartment.

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Last edited by RockHillWill; 03-28-2020 at 05:00 PM.
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