MS LIBERTY a Wild Weasel's belly tank

[manta22]

Hmmm... maybe I spoke too soon-- the idea of a panel flailing away on the end of a tether at high speed is not one I like-- it could beat the car to pieces!

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[Elmo Rodge]

Then could it possibly be hinged? Wayno

[Jon]

In industry most burst panels are solid mounted and not reusable.






Cheers
jon

[kiwi belly tank]

You guys might have wandered off on an over thinking tangent.   
  Sid.

[Dr Goggles]

You guys might have wandered off on an over thinking tangent.   
  Sid.

here was me thinking that's what ear-drums are for..... It is ANOTHER one of the contingencies you need to take into account when building. To someone like Tony it might look like small beer, their roadster is being built with an isolated tub from what I remember, for most of us sacrificial safety items are hard to quantify........the crash testing we refer to in LSR is post-mortem and what with so many different shapes ,weights and forms it is a complex thing to get your head around. That leaves us with the fact that a lot of the intrinsic knowledge of crashes is in the heads of the officials who deal with the aftermath and we trust them to come up with safety revisions that are relevant and based on sound engineering principles.


The "large volume explosion" scenario isn't one I spent much time thinking about during our build, however our compartment is largely plated in and there are escape routes for gases in the engine bay but I will be considering "weak spots" to be incorporated in to the cowl.

[SPARKY]

According to DD the weak spot is between the steering wheel and the seat back---but then he's an eng mgt guy---

[SPARKY]

Well we found out yesterday that our nose transplant operator was not quite on top of his game---he assummed that originally the holes in the sheetmetal would have been semetrical---well his ASSUME was wrong turns out the side seams were the defining markers---  we are off 3/8" the seam to seam  measurement to the ground is slightly off---they may not be exacty right but they are closer than my ASSUME was- Use the "Dodge" tape measure,  sparky.

WELDER is happy--Quote:  "Ohh, does that mean you are going to have to cut all these tacks loose?"  yeah---"Well while its off that means that you will clean and prep the weld area correctly this time RIGHT!!"   LOL  Marty I get it, I get it!  lol

[38flattie]

Looking great Sparky! I can't wait to see it next month, and catch up with you again.

[SPARKY]

been mooting around with the steering stuff:  Marty bout had a heart attack when I told him that I had ordered a steering wheel from a low rider online when I told him it was not chain he breathed a little easier---  this thing is ROUND Mr. Barrett you will be happy to know 8 3/4" in Diam. with foam grips. finally worked out the strg--swing up system today without the lift strut---will do it later---should be no issues.  primitive but virtually no slack in the strg. wheel rotational movement.

[SPARKY]

Good day so far---lots of little things and a HUGE thing---we have a NEW lower and upper tail section picts to follow we will be busy---Marty came by and welded in the bung of the tanks we are down to two more fittings--- then the tanks can be installed we are getting close to installing the tank

[SPARKY]

   Whoooeee  WW got some new tail feathers to cover his bare butt---we will be sending him to the tailor to get them fitted to his bones :-P

This is going to be FUNNN we used a HF cheap A laser to shoot the side of the tank to see what the shape will be---we plan on transfering the parobola to the skin then cut it with a plasma cutter then weld in the flat inserts  should lend itself to intresting graphics and or paint!!

The Guys (Tom, Marty, and Chris),  at Atomic-SW Fabrication did an OUTSTANDING job breaking the top and bottom of the car---can't wait to get it attached

[SPARKY]

Well today was a day of making patches---Alum. hole patches---sorta like round-to-its--- but in alum  we are trying to get the body in shape to permanatley attach so that we can start putting other systems in!!  we cut a lot of doubler rounds to weld in to back up the filler patches  really it's like cutting paper dolls---just MUCh MUCH slower!!!

[SPARKY]

when I do a fly by at Sky Harbor to drop Linda off---- I will then recon some specialty fastners -- at 2 suppliers that Marty told me about----for attaching alum panels for attacing inspecion and access panels

[robfrey]

Sparky,
Did you check Aircraft Spruce? They are probably a one day ship to you. Maybe two. I am not qite sure what you are trying to do but when it comes to to fastening aluminum aircraft style panels, I'm betting they have what you need.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/hapages/NAS517.php

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/ha/fast_anchor.html

[maguromic]

If the panels are going to come on and off I would use camlocks.  I get mine from Coast Fabrication and they have just about any grip length you would ever need.  Get there catalog, its free and is handy for all the measurements and diagrams in it. http://www.coastfab.com/hardware.html  Tony