Thread: NX2000 Awd Conversion

5-3-09

Fuel cell is now mounted in the car.


It is welded to the frame rails right now but it will also be welded to the new floor once it is laid (new floor will sit on the flat horizontal pieces). I was planning on doing a diagonal piece at the 4 horizontal pieces welded to the frame rail as extra support but as of right now its already strong enough to hold me (about 205 lbs).


One issue I am going to run into is where I’m going to put my muffler. With the fuel cell being where it is there isn't a lot of room left over for a muffler. Now I could put the muffler before the sub frame and just run piping back to that spot for it to exit (Wisconsin law requires exhaust to exit after rear wheels). Another option is to find a decent muffler that’s small enough to fit in the gap (if you know of a small muffler let me know).

how are you gonna do the exhaust?

still figuring that one out, i'm thinking I will have a muffler before the subframe and sneak the piping back to the exit in the bumper

5-4-09

Ended up making the diagonal pieces for extra support after all.


Started on my new floor.

First I cut a piece of cardboard that would fit over the gap and weighed it down.
After I had the weight on it I went underneath and traced the gap onto it.




Once it was traced I cut it out and traced that onto my sheet of 16ga sheet metal. I clamped it to 2 chunks of wood which I placed on some sawhorses so I could cut it out with my grinder.


Here it is all cut out


Make sure to test fit it to see if anything needs to be trimmed down.


Here it is set in place with the fuel cell. It overlaps a little in a couple areas but nothing that will matter much.


As I tack it down tomorrow I will be shaping it so it flows with the floor of the car. After that I can make the cover that will bolt to the floor and cover up the fuel cell.

Looking real good, making me consider converting to RWD!

as for the rear subframe mounting point, I think using a 4 link type frame is a better idea.



the square can star from here, go to the rear body panel.



another view of what you did.

IMHO, it would be more solid like this,

Can't really do a setup like because of ground clearance issues and it may get in the way during suspension travel otherwise I thought about it. Thats one reason why I made my brace for in the car tie into all 4 bolts.

^^ gotcha, but this is really really making me consider doing a RWD conversion since i have a NX shell and a S14 Shell.

do it up if you have the time, patients and tools

5-5-09

Finished up boxing in the rear brackets.


Painted the inside mounting plate pieces.


Tacked the floor down today. I have to play with the settings a bit on the welder so I will hopefully be able to zoom right along instead of doing all tacks.


Tore down my fuel and brake lines. They are horrible so I’m just going to replace them with braided lines.


Almost rusted thru

5-6-09

Worked on the floor today. In order to weld the new floor piece down with out burning thru I had to do tacks first. I would do a tack leave a gap and do another etc... for awhile. After you have the first set of tacks done it should be cool enough to do tacks in between the ones you just did. Once you finish up the second set you can now weld the new piece in place by starting on it and traveling to the tack.


Here it is welded in place. It is a slow and steady process to do.


After I ground down the welds I laid seam sealer over the welds. Also I used a long drill bit from underneath to mark will the bolt hole is so that I could use a hole saw on the top side.


Primer


Paint


Undercoating


Started tacking some sheet metal around the cage to prevent stones from hitting the fuel cell. The sheets will not be welded completely up because if a leak or something happens I want it to be able to escape.


Had 2 braided (with plastic coating) brake lines made up to replace the two rusted ones that ran from the front to the back. I will be running them thru the inside of the car so the weather wont affect them.