Able Dog Belly Tank

[Pickle]

The decision to run solid front and rear was made after a lot of back and forth between us. It was not a decision made lightly. The sprung vs. unsprung debate has played out on these boards more than a few times and we have heard and carefully weighed the various positions. For us this is the right decision. If we find later that we need to change it, we will, but to start we are solid.

Wobbly, are you referring to the rear brackets? When we had winters redo our rear we talked for some time about how it would mount. We were advised that this configuration would be more than adequate. The tubes were chosen for this application. If I'm not seeing something please let me know.

[sailingadventure]

Looks like a great start. Keep up the good work.

[Rex Schimmer]

Pickle,
You might consider using Strange Engineering funny car spindles, they are made so that the axle boss can be moved up and down with relationship to the spindle. These are used by the funny car people to adjust corner weight as their frames are not flexi flyers like top fuel. If you would want a very small amount of wheel travel (probably less than 1/8 inch) you could substitute belville washers in place of some spacers and you would get some spring action. Almost any motion, even with belville washers, will greatly reduce the shock loads that your welded axle will see. I have attached a pic out of their catalog.


Rex

[Pickle]

Time for an update.

I finally have a roller!! its so good to get that thing on the ground. Its amazing how different it looks low, I got used to seeing it up on the table. I also got the engine and trans in.

In regard to the front suspension I rebuilt the whole thing and set the axle under a mount so I can adjust left and right weights. Now the fun stuff starts time for the bits in the back. Here are some pictures for ya.

James

[Pickle]

And some more.

[kiwi belly tank]

Definitely a stout piece! What's the rotary content plan?
  Sid.

[Dr Goggles]

Time for an update.

I finally have a roller!! its so good to get that thing on the ground. Its amazing how different it looks low, I got used to seeing it up on the table. I also got the engine and trans in.

In regard to the front suspension I rebuilt the whole thing and set the axle under a mount so I can adjust left and right weights. Now the fun stuff starts time for the bits in the back. Here are some pictures for ya.

James

The day we hoisted ours of the jig for the first time and put it on the ground I was laughing like a maniac, the other guys were like "what's so funny?"

"LOOK HOW LOW IT IS!!!!!!!!

it's a fantastic feeling..... looks great BTW.

Goggles

[Pickle]

Yep so its officially a rotary. The flathead that was going to be donated to us was built and sold so we had this in the back of the garage and figured what the hell. With the 2X swept volume it puts us in F/BGL. I guess we will see what we can do.

[BHR301]

With a rotary nobody will ever mistake your car for another when the engine is running..

Bill

[kiwi belly tank]

Yep, them there metric water pumps have their own sound alright!
  Sid.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

"WHAT?  I CAN'T HEAR YOU.  SHUT THAT ROTARY OFF!!!"

[Rex Schimmer]

What size rotary are you going with? 12A or 13B? I could not see from the pic, is the inlet port in the rotor housing or are they in the side plates. The peripheral style motor plate is the one that makes the big hp. I worked on several IMSA teams back in the early 80s that ran the 12A in the RX7, we did a lot of engine development and actually got around 310 hp at 10500 rpm from our injected motors. I hear that the 13Bs are makeing 340-350 these days. Really looking forward to seeing (and hearing)your  car at the 5 mile!

Rex

[Dr Goggles]

We nick-named the 13B RX7 that Dave Partridge ran here "Swearing Around Children" because no-one wanted to hear it. It had a megaphone on it just to be sure, if as they say "loud pipes save lives" then that thing should have been capable of bringing people back from the dead.

I just read through this again, wow, we're like lost cousins or something.... There's a lot (for reasons I'm sure you understand) that I like about this car.

[Pickle]

The rotary is a 13b rew from a 97 RX7 from japan. We are plan on running a big single turbo so the output will be around 600 or so. we will see how it goes with what we got. I have built a few rotaries in the past, all in street trim, but they made upwards of 500 at the wheels. With this one ill pull out all the stops so who knows.

Rex, it will most likely use the side ports in the irons. Peripheral ports (PP) work great with an NA set up but with forced induction PP has too much overlap and you loose too much of the intake charge. With a turbo you really only need to do a large street port or a bridge port. Today an NA PP will make 350 or so with injection, where the sky is the limit with forced induction.

Goggles, i get that. I feel like the SOS has inspired a lot of my build. Its such a beautiful car. Like you I feel that design and function can coexist in our builds. I love the way my car looks. If it runs half as good as it looks we have a winner. Honestly a lot of people have been asking, what do you think it will do? I reply with, If it gets down the track I will have a smile on my face. I started this build with only the desire to run at the salt. If I get to do that, it will be worth it. Anything beyond that is gravy.

cheers

James

[Buickguy3]

   They ran several Rotarys at the drag races at Seattle International Raceway back in the '70's and they made them pit about a block away from all of the other cars. Talk about discrimination. The word obnoxious comes to mind.
    Doug