Frame rail plates are done! One step closer to getting that firewall re-upholstered.
Looks amazing!
Carey sent me a few pictures of where my spare tire holder will end up. We had it moved up pretty far before, but this didn’t allow us space for my dry coil pack and mount (see last picture below!).
At least we know the tire fits with the rear engine lid on (we are learning the hard way about making any assumptions with this car — it has been unpredictable from day 1!)
Attachments
Images (4)
Assumptions is my favorite breakfast cereal, some in the morning always makes for an interesting day!
That coil bracket is sexy. That's some Project Binky level stuff, right there. Carey is killing' it!!!
@arajani wrote: "we are learning the hard way about making any assumptions with this car — it has been unpredictable from day 1!"
You sure that's a Beck? Sounds a whole lot like a CMC!
Interestingly, @Gordon Nichols, it isn’t a Beck at all (and that is the basis of most of our pain). It is a CMI body, which means all of the proportions are different.
As for the spare tire holder, the Beck frame has an integrated place for a spare. It is probably the 10th such item that we have “assumed” would work based on our prior experience with my last car (a Beck!).
LOL! Welcome to custom fabrication. Nothing fits, cut and try and CAD(carboard-aided-design) are the words to work by! Are you paying Carey enough, Anand?
I know you're not stingy. That's why my comment struck me as funny!
arajani posted:@DannyP -- I have a lot of faults, but being stingy is not one of them. With my last build, I actually asked Carey if I could pay him more...
I do think that some projects unintentionally go way beyond the original intent and budget especially when doing custom work and at that point you enter into the fog where it becomes hard to know what is needed to ask or pay seeing that neither of you want to take advantage of the other.
I personally have had that happen, and we were friends, so we met where we both would have no regrets and keep our relationship.
@IaM-Ray: Carey and I have that sort of friendship, too. In fact, there have been many opportunities for him to spend my money recklessly to get something done quickly, and in spite of my urging, he has not.
At one point, I actually owned 6 air cooled cars/trucks at the same time, and have slowly sold them all for a variety of reasons. The only car I care to keep is this 550, and that is largely because I admire Carey so much and think so highly of the work that he does. It will be a great reminder of our friendship to walk in to my garage and see it sitting there 
Anand
It does get harder to drive all the cars and take care of all the cars, when you have more of them. I mean, even if your just taking them to your mechanic it takes time.
As to your friendship with Carey, sometimes when you get into a hobby and find a craftsman that you like, you develop a work/ friendship that can grow into a lot of fun. Glad you guys are enjoying the ride personally as well as car-oling or should I say Carbuilding
arajani posted:Carey sent me a few pictures of where my spare tire holder will end up. We had it moved up pretty far before, but this didn’t allow us space for my dry coil pack and mount (see last picture below!).
At least we know the tire fits with the rear engine lid on (we are learning the hard way about making any assumptions with this car — it has been unpredictable from day 1!)
That's dead-sexy Anand. I was gonna say about the spare tire. They need to be way back there to fit in the U space made by the clam's inner panel, and leave room for the coil(s). Carey & Co nailed it, as usual.
BTW the "seat" for the spare tire can be either bolted through a drilled edge of one of your trans ribs or (better, I think), fixed to a bracket spread over the tops of the side covers and bolted through one or two of those fasteners on each side. I think either is preferable to running a Beck-style shock tower cross tube (like mine has) and setting it on that (like I did). Your chassis has the correct triangulated rear frame member, which should impart all the stiffness the shock tower brace does—and more.
@Gordon Nichols I wish it was a Beck, it would have been done LONG ago... LOL It started life as a CMI and I've changed just about everything about the car (that was possible).
One really cool thing that has come out of this car is I now know exactly WHY Chuck made the changes he did to the car in the 80s. There is just SO MUCH that doesn't make sense from a production/service/common sense standpoint it's comical.
The biggest challenge has been trying to improve on some really bad shortcuts, some of which were quite frankly dangerous, to say the least. The fuel tank was a great example. We simply wanted to support it better so that it didn't come through the hood on a hard stop (or god forbid a frontal impact), BUT it was done so half assed originally because it NEEDED to float around to fit under the seal lip of the front hood, and in order for the hood to close... 40+ hours later, it's right...
Some things I just couldn't do anything about... I HATE single circuit master cylinders, but its already up against the front beam and crammed into a tight space left to right, and the pedals are as far back as possible... so there is just no way to do do anything about it. This is one of the major changes Chuck made to wheelbase, in order to fit a dual circuit cylinder without changing front end geometry... so in this case it's just one of the shortcomings we have to live with.
OK, back to work for me. I have 3 cars being delivered as Christmas presents over the next 10 days...
And here I thought I had it tough...
Didn’t realize I was getting my car before Christmas...SWEET!!
Which Christmas?
Didn’t realize I was getting my car before Christmas...SWEET!!chines1 posted:Which Christmas?
BWAAHAAAHAAAAHAAAA
Good one - both of you! 
Great stuff SantaCarey
Christmas delivery,,fantastic....Me, if i wake up Christmas morning, thats all I need:}
Carey’s master mechanic, Mike Fincher (who is quite a character) sorted my wiring last night.
Everything works. There was one brown “power” wire under the tank, so everything came apart up front. AGAIN! (Carey has a hit out on whomever wired this car originally-it’s that bad).
Oh-and my original Pre-A turn signal switch is faulty. A relay blew up in Mike’s face when he was under the dash. LOL. Oops. Time for a new switch! Oh the joys...
I’m just going to use a Type 2 6 wire bus switch and then we will wire my crank trigger and get my oil system finished. I want to hear this thing start!!
Attachments
Images (2)
"...Mike Fincher (who is quite a character)..."
Oh we're all familiar with Mike, Anand. He's "quite a character" at Carlisle and online as well. 
That is really laying down for the job... right fit
Carey got the spare tire mount fabricated — it looks great. The mounting hardware is a bit tricky, since I don’t have an original 519 split case transmission. The normal tire mount bolts to the bolts that hold a split case transmission together, which is the tough part.
Attachments
Images (1)
Today's Tech Tip: When inverted under a Speedster - Spyder dash for electrical follies, get yourself a sleeping bag or a quilted moving pad folded into thirds to lay on, both are super comfortable.
Paddy O'Furniture pads work as well........
@Alan Merklin we use old seat cushion bottoms. For the concrete we have large cuts of plush house carpet the guys drag around the shop. Does wonders for the knees and feet...
Using a sleeping bag when working under a Speedy dash is really more a safety thing than a comfort item.
People have been known to twist just the wrong way and get trapped there, having to spend the night in the garage.
It's probably a good idea to have a few days of emergency water and a cell phone with you, too.
Anyone besides me actually fall asleep under a car ? I went out back to my shop about 7PM was working with the car for a few hours up on a mid rise scissor lift, I woke up at 1AM still holding a ratchet :~)
Alan Merklin posted:Anyone besides me actually fall asleep under a car ? I went out back to my shop about 7PM was working with the car for a few hours up on a mid rise scissor lift, I woke up at 1AM still holding a ratchet :~)
And this was when you were a young fellow, right?
Spare tire seat looks awesome!
Alan Merklin posted:Today's Tech Tip: When inverted under a Speedster - Spyder dash for electrical follies, get yourself a sleeping bag or a quilted moving pad folded into thirds to lay on, both are super comfortable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene-vinyl_acetate
Have you even tried one of these EVA foam pads? You can cut it and lay on it and even fall on your knees and you won't get hurt. They use it to build bridge decks.
Alan Merklin posted:Anyone besides me actually fall asleep under a car ? I went out back to my shop about 7PM was working with the car for a few hours up on a mid rise scissor lift, I woke up at 1AM still holding a ratchet :~)
I fell asleep one time working under the front end. I think I was working on the fuel pump. Woke up about 5 seconds later when the wrench I was holding smacked me in the face!
I have had Charlie(my dog) wiggle under there and rest his head on my chest. Michelle and I laugh about that one still. He was "helping"!
The guy under the dash looks like me! At 69 I can still do it! Not much room under there to work.
Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi posted:The guy under the dash looks like me! At 69 I can still do it! Not much room under there to work.
@@Jim Gilbert 69 is the new 50 now a days 👍
calmotion posted:Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi posted:The guy under the dash looks like me! At 69 I can still do it! Not much room under there to work.
@@Jim Gilbert 69 is the new 50 now a days 👍
The idea is to have an escape plan.... help, pull me out