Here's post number 2...I'm a moderator on another board and love the spam bots as much as you do...

Canuck, nice package, phantomjock will be jelous of your upper A arms I'm sure.

And welcome!

Ralphy

Thanks guys - any thoughts on what I've got to do?  I'm thinking that the only solution is to just fabricate the fram to the minimum dimensions and then fit it into the car.  There doesn't seem to be any point to trying to fabricate around the existing sheetmetal.  It's not what I was thinking, but it does seem to be the only solution. 

Any sources of companies that will shorten my drive shafts?

Craig

Canuck - Welcome.
I would think if you lived near a decent sized city there would be a couple of driveshaft shops.  I know of one or two around Denver that even dealerships contract out to because they can have a one day or less turn around, even with balancing.
For online shops you could out Randy's Off Road or most any big off road site is likely to have references.  When my '59 is more complete, I plan on dragging it down to a local shop and having one built.
Good luck with your build!

I'm not at all familiar with that breed, but it looks like it would be no different than shortening the jag halfshafts? Can they be disassembled to the bare shaft and stuck in a lathe?

This was what I understood.  There is suffecient material to do the respline.  I'll have to call around and find out who'll do this sort of work.  Welding is out of the question - there's lots of room for machning.  



 

Canuck, went thru your posts. I don't see any mention of width difference?

Ralphy  CTRL + Q to Enable/Disable GoPhoto.it

I missed it! I was just wondering if the difference weren't much you could squeek a little here and there. What about your wheels can you bring them inward much?

Ralphy

Too bad.  I have tried all kinds of tricks to shorten half shafts and can confirm none of them worked for me. Welding up the diameter with special wire, rod, pre, post heating heat treating and carburising the welded area after cutting splines. Ect.  I wound up with stripped splines every time.  The only time I had any luck resplining an oem half shaft was when I found larger shafts I could cut splines on both ends to get the length I wanted. Even that proved difficult due to an unusual alloy that did not anneal well enough to remove sufficient hardness to enable me to cut the new splines at a realistic rate with a high speed steel cutter.  Normally I will sharpen the tool before starting and it will last for 28 to 31 splines before the bottom of the spline became unacceptably rounded . On that job I had to re sharpen the cutter every fifth spline.  In a nut shell, paying someone else to make a pair of new ones has to be a better way to go.

You gotta be able to discover a regional generate base company to do that for you. I will need to reduce my own when I shift the motor aft - and it seems my regional store has a strong popularity.  You could get the areas and develop one up - but I want my own unique in a lathe to examine for stability. .. . . .  .

"""Surfers Rent A Car
http://www.surfersrentacar.com.au/
2/11 Northview Street Mermaid Waters Gold Coast QLD 4218
Phone: (07) 5572 0600"""
Cheap Car Hire Brisbane

Last edited by JimpetRICia (4/12/2013 11:41 pm)

Craig, maybe this guy can do you up?




Here's a good video showing some pros and cons of three types of couplers. U joint, CV joint and Thompson CV joint. I'll add it to my videos. What he doesn't mention is the CV's ability to slide and change length.






Ralphy

Last edited by Ralphy (4/13/2013 2:46 am)

tyrellracing wrote:

I have herd of people cutting splines with cut off wheels too. I have yet to see a succsessful splined shaft using this method.  Its hard enough to cut splines using a deviding head that fit properly let alone doing it free hand and getting the correct spacing, spline count and depth.  My only thought seeing vidios of home cut splines made free hand is "You cannot be serious"   It would require a great deal of luck for that method to work.

Ya, yikes!  My family used to own a large machine shop...I always marvel at the ingenuity of people that need to get things done.  We all do the best we can with what we have and at least he has a shield!  I do my best to build cars that are safe, fast, and reliable.

Hi Guys,

I've been making progress...albeit slow.  I've had to cut and reposition the brackets on the parts as the clearances were too loose and I didn't want to cause a stress crack from having the mounting tab bent.  As usual, I'm worried about powder coat thickness we'll hope for the best and adjust the bushings as needed.  

Anyway, here's what I've done.

The back plane (at least that's what I'm calling it) was cut and I added in support by creating a rather curvy "tube" out of 16 ga.  There was no way anything straight was going to work properly or look cool.



It's TIG welded all the way around - fully boxed.  Strong as heck.



The brackets that hold the lateral link were fabricated using 3/16" steel and TIG'ed in place. 



Then to get the axle measurement, I mocked up the rear using the differential and the hub.  No binding (mind you I'm two links short of a suspension at this point).  




The axles worked out to be 3" shorter (which is good as I narrowed the rear 6" overall!).  You can see the upper strut mount point on the upright.  My current plan is to work out a pushrod system for an inboard mounted coil over.  I still have to fabricate the front crossmember and rework the arms and make adjusters.  Should keep me out of trouble for a bit.

Craig
 

I haven't forgotten about you guys.  I've been busy on a number of projects and have now got back to this one.  If your frame is rusted out...start with a new frame and design around the parts...here's where I'm at now.

I've run into a few problems.  At first glance the Volvo frame notch appears to be centralized in the fender opening.



But it's around 1" biased towards the front of the car...this caused the upper control arm (UCA) to hit the back of the frame when Matt and I finally got the sub-frame mounted and tacked in place.  So I took a week off and made a few parts like bushing holders etc.







I then attacked the back of the car with my trusty sawsall and removed large sections of the trunk.  It's just easier to start from a "clean slate" - the replacement rear frame rails are being tacked up this week and should be in stalled over the weekend.  I actually cut the frame back further than is shown in these photos...but you get the idea.  The entire section of frame that sits parallel to the ground was removed and will be replaced by 3" X 2" 3/16" wall steel tube with provision for a coil over.  Then it will be recovered with sheet metal and finished.  The idea is to create a rear frame that is able to handle all the associated loads that the IRS brings to the table instead of what Volvo had in mind which was a frame to handle your luggage.





There should be lots of room to still use the spare tire well...if it's about 2" shorter in length.  My spare seems to fit just fine.  That's a relief.



The rear seat/trunk closing panel was also removed instead of hacked to get access to back side areas that need welding and reinforcing.  This needed to happen anyway as I've got a new parcel shelf that doesn't have enormous holes hacked into it for speakers.



The subframe has gone in and out of the car numerous times and I was finally comfortable with the modifications to the rear structure that I was able to remove large parts of the car to get this done.  You've seen what had to happen to the spare tire well...and here it is going back in last night.

A little welding along the seam (after I put in a filler strip) and it's now installed.



Spare tire just fits with the addition of the 2 X 3 - I've had to wrap the structural member around the tire well to join into the frame rail.  All fabricated with 10 gauge steel.



Shrinking the radius on the well required some pie cutting and careful fitting.



Here we are tacked up and ready to weld.



And welded in place and ground...welded inside and out just to ensure strength and prevent pin holes.



The original subframe used eccentric adjusters to alter the toe and camber of the rear wheels.  I didn't allow for this provision in my subframe as it's difficult to fabricate and I'd rather just complicate my life.  So, I decided to go with adjustable suspension links in all positions (including traction bar).  This will allow for complete control of the suspension adjustment within the stock geometry.

So we start with fabricating a very precise jig using the old arms as reference points.



Side registration - sides are clamped and this register picks up the busing and allows you to get the arm out of the jig post weld.



Cut and re-weld tube to make very tight fits to the arm brackets which will be reused instead of bending up new ones.  The old ones are perfect and should save some fabrication time.



Grind off the old welds very carefully and then cut the old bars off...seamed tube - wasn't expecting that.



Bushing holders are then cleaned and blasted and fitted with 3/4-16 adjuster bolts.  Bigger is better with suspensions as far as I'm concerned.



Careful fitting (this takes the time) before welding makes sure everything is going to come up roses.  



All TIG'ed and ready to party.



Cut and thread the DOM structural tube...didn't take pictures.  Then carefully prep the area for weld with a good weld prep zone and use a little emery on the tube to remove any contaminants - these welds have to be flawless.



And bang - done.



Each set of arms took a day to fabricate (about 4 hours - I have a job people).





All welded parts are allowed to cool very slowly (about 1 hour or so) in my sand pit.



The camber links are next.

First fill a few holes.





Build a long threaded sleeve.  I would have used nuts...but I had the tap and more threads are better - actually this allowed for the taper that I wanted.



Tight fit into the tube.



Plug welds and pie cuts.



And done.



For the toe adjuster, I stubbed the end of the original ball joint link with a steel shaft and fit it into the end of the tube.  Followed by a good root weld and a cap with the TIG and it's strong as hell.  No pictures for some reason.



Here are all the links installed.  I had to modify the frame to accommodate the poly bushings as the originals were used for fabrication and the poly adds about 60 thou of width.  Total PITA, but it's done.  Next time I'll remember to fabricate WITH THE PARTS I'M GOING TO RUN - rookie mistake #-o .