The Willomet Charger

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

A few chassis updates.

I drew up a design for the rails that would accommodate the engine setback, and had them bent by Jimmy at MRC Fab just outside Charlotte, NC.


He transferred my design, and quickly rendered it in steel.




Cleaned up and quickly laid it out on the floor - everything will trim to fit.




The whole assembly will be stiffer and lighter than my Rev1 effort.  As well, the project will also be documented and published on the YouTubes.  A buddy of mine is hosting the videos, and I will continue to manage and keep this thread updated along the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi_C2pfjul8&t=8s

Post and question, add a comment.  Jason and I read them all.

David

[djcarguy]

Maybee narrow rear rails in 4-6 '' give more tire room?   with new frame ,build cage and hang skin like a stock car?   

[INTMD8]

Looks like your design had tapered front/rear stubs or am I looking at it wrong?   Of course not going to happen bending 2x4 (guessing) but are you going to wedge section the rails for the taper or leave as-is?

Looks really nice!

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

Maybee narrow rear rails in 4-6 '' give more tire room?   with new frame ,build cage and hang skin like a stock car?   

I have the rear width planned for 38" - 40", which is pretty close to original and should easily allow for a 325 tire.  I'm still going to play with it, because you're right that now is the time to do that.  The plan is the assemble the chassis, marry to the unibody, and give it a simple 6 point cage.  Not entirely settled on the cage design, yet.

Looks like your design had tapered front/rear stubs or am I looking at it wrong?   Of course not going to happen bending 2x4 (guessing) but are you going to wedge section the rails for the taper or leave as-is?

Looks really nice!

The rear section will be a trimmed 4x2 while I will probably just press-brake some .120 and form the front.  What you see right now is just a rough layout, and needs a good bit of trimming and fitting.  I'm really excited to get it together.

David

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

It's been a minute.  Let's catch up.

The unibody is hung in the "birdcage," and the Rev1 frame is out, along with the last vestiges of the unibody rails.








Heavy duty attachment points, and nothing moved when I cut out the frame and rails.




David

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

With the rails open, I went back to original steel and got everything clean and ready to accept inner plates.



Unlike my previous effort, I designed this to be fully formed at the laser shop - no assembly required.  Just careful measurement, and loading the design into the sheetmetal module in bend tech.




Dimpled, cleco'd with still a bit of fine fitting to do




50 welds per flange per side, welded, individually air quenched


Still straight


David

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

This might be the only time the charger fits in my suburban.



Laid out on the fixture table, we built it from the center out




Chassisworks front crossmember, ready to get fit




Fully tacked, and ready to burn it all in - we went slow, and managed the shrink pretty well.  Pictured here, it's within 1/64" of square


Plan is for hot root passes, to be covered by fat caps.
 



You really get a sense of scale for just how big this car is


Back at my place.  We're in the middle of a remodel, so that's explains the huge stack of 1916 shiplap in the middle.


I've still got to do all the cap passes, T plates, engine mounts, shear plates, and more stuff I'm forgetting.

David

[nvrbdn]

That is a beautiful frame. Nice work.

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

That is a beautiful frame. Nice work.

Thank you. I'm stoked to get it into the car. Lots of work to do.

David

[Troy]

That's pretty cool! It does fit neatly in the Suburban...

Troy

[Mike DC]

Looks perfect. 


How much does that whole frame weigh?  I'm just curious.

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

How much does that whole frame weigh?  I'm just curious.

I was also curious. As you see it, that's 225ish lbs. I weighed each piece after the rough trim, so it doesn't account for final grinding, welding, or temporary bracing. That's pretty light for an X-frame. I still have to get the watts link, exhaust pass through and a few other bits fabbed and installed.

David

[Mike DC]

 
That's not too bad.  It's a fair bit more than the stock subframes weigh but you are getting a lot of structure & stiffness out of the deal. 



 

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

That's not too bad.  It's a fair bit more than the stock subframes weigh but you are getting a lot of structure & stiffness out of the deal. 

I agree. Whatever weight penalty there is, it's a worthy trade off for a stable and stiff chassis. And I should clarify, that 225 lbs includes the new front suspension crossmember, so the most direct comparable would be whatever the original 14/16ga unibody and k-member weigh.

As you said, this design is heavier, but I really don't think it's by much. Certainly it's lighter than my Rev1 design, as well as the 10ga tanks coming out of the Roadster Shop - those rails alone weigh 600 lbs.

David

[Mike DC]

IIRC the stock Mopar K-frame is a little over 40 lbs. 

   

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

IIRC the stock Mopar K-frame is a little over 40 lbs. 

That's a good data point.  The Chassisworks front crossmember comes in at 22.

David

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

The episode covering chassis measurement, Rev2 design, and basic construction of the birdcage is up.
https://youtu.be/AuOlLuBVtvQ

David

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

It's been a minute.  Let's catch up.

The latest episode is live:
https://youtu.be/uMJl7SOw1Qc

Also, I've been working subcomponent design and assembly.  Interframe crossmember:









David

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

Engine mounts are built - these took a revision to get how I wanted them.  Also, I'm a huge fan of overlay plates as a weight efficient method to build really strong stuff without relying on material thickness alone.  The tradeoff is in weld inches, which I don't mind.





















The trans crossmember is designed and at the laser shop, so I'll be diving into that soon enough.

David

[Finn]

So many dimes! Excellent work

[myk]

I'm speechless at your work.  So, without going over seven pages, you're building a Charger from the ground up, basically?

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

So many dimes! Excellent work

Thank you.  I built four to make two.  If I'm not good at TIG welding now, I will be by the end of this project.

I'm speechless at your work.  So, without going over seven pages, you're building a Charger from the ground up, basically?

You're spot on.  I'm muddling my way through, as I've never built something from relative scratch.

David

[darbgnik]

Wow!

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

Frame build, part one, is now live.  There's some good detail on how we built out the rails, because nothing "clicks together."  Part two is around the corner, and deals with the Chassisworks front suspension crossmember.

https://youtu.be/KrFf9EbDzso

David

[Willomet_Motor_and_Fab]

Part deux is up.  Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/4rRI2U514m8

David