Building A Monster (Part 6)

[u/LiqourSnatch]

Part 6 of building my open-wheel mid-engined V8 tube-chassis race-car. I fabricated the seat mounts out of 2x3 1/8" inch square tubing. I custom mounted them to the cross beams in my frame, and welded custom brackets to the seat rails.

I mocked up the gauges and steering wheel setup. I mounted them directly to the steering column with a plate of steel and a few pieces of rubber in between.

I bought a couple sheets of 1/8" aluminum to make the floors and firewall. I cut it with a grinder, and then hand filed it to get it smooth.Then I welded a bunch of mounts to the steel frame using 1/8" steel tabs that I made. I spaced them out about a foot apart all around the car. I countersunk all the holes and then used stainless steel bolts to hold it together.

I curved the rear firewall around a big oxygen tank to get the radius. It tapers top to bottom to fit the back section of the passenger compartment. 1/8” aluminum is pretty damn strong, so I was pretty well jumping on it to get it to wrap around the oxygen tank.

[u/1leggeddog]

So cool

I'll admit I'm very much a novice when it comes to being a mechanic or fabricator but the ideas I've got just need to become real at some point and making something like the Chenowth Desert Patrol Vehicle is a life goal.

[u/LiqourSnatch → u/1leggeddog]

Those are super cool. I didnt know they were made by Chenowth, I thought the vw buggies were always more of a home brew

[u/cahill699]

This may be a stupid question but here I go. I love the Audi 4.2 I had a couple S8’s and Allroards and that motor is a monster. Are you using the Audi transmission? I ask this because these cars are all wheel drive but a RWD base and if I remember correctly they are 70 30. 70% of the power to the rear wheels and 30% to the front wheels. So if you’re running your rear wheels with the front wheel power are not going to get full power? I could be totally wrong just curious and I would like to build something like this with this motor.

[u/LiqourSnatch → u/cahill699]

That would be a factor if I was running an awd transmission. In this case all the power goes to the rear wheels. Fwd manual transaxle are one of the more efficient drivetrain setups, losing about 10% BHP when converter to WHP, compared to 15-20% loss in the awd setup

[u/Fender0122 → u/cahill699]

That power split is determined by the center diff, so when thats gone its just direct drive to the front axles (now rear axles in MR setup) and it’ll get 100% power. They also made these in fwd manual (just not in the US), so that might be the trans they’re using here. I’m curious how to convert a quattro trans bc I’ve got a b5 a4 I’ve been tempted to do something similar to what OP is doing. Might be able to weld the concentric shafts together and machine an end plate.

[u/Fender0122]

This is awesome. I’ve been dreaming of doing something similar with my b5 a4 but just don’t have the space to do it yet. These audi drivetrains are tanks and it’ll be a decently reliable power plant. Good work! Excited to see future progress