Fuel Tank - Finished

Well, finished off the fuel tank installation today,
First stop was Clark Rubber for some small rubber bumpers to fit to the chassis to insulate from the tank and some Neoprene for the straps to insulate from the tank.

Some careful bending to get the straps to fit neatly and all bolted up

Tank Straps & T-Bolts, some more Progress

Here's some more pics of the straps progress.

Received the T-Bolts back from HPC coatings.
As usual, first class finish and service.






























Straps held together with Stainless Steel Rivets.
















Straps finished,
Ready to install.














This is as far as I got,
Need to buy some tank strap rubber insulator material, and some pads to insulate fuel tank to chassis.












Almost there.
More pics soon.

Tank Straps & T-Bolts - Unfinished

I like the look of T-Bolt designed strap clamps and V band clamps, Turbo clamps etc, and thought I would try to replicate this for the fuel tank straps instead of the usual hole in a strip of material bolted to the chassis.
Initially I thought I would be able to buy this type of product but after searching the web and calling several clamp manufacturers, I found only 2 that would custom make small runs of parts, Clampco in the US, and Hilton Manufacturing here in Australia. There maybe others, but I couldn't find them.
I visited Hilton, in Dandenong, they are truck tank and band manufacturers, they make T-Bolt Band Clamps but the scale is far too big for my use and their tooling cant make what I needed for my application, so that left Clampco in the USA,
I sent an email with my specs, and they advised they make this item from 1-1/4" x 60 thou strip (32mm x 1.5mm) with 3/8" (10mm) T-Bolts  to any length required, it came with a hefty US$900 price tag excluding freight.
So I decided to have a go myself.

Firstly, the T-Bolts,

First effort was a poor looking result, butt welding a 10mm bolt shank to a 10mm rod,

Second effort was much improved, 16mm rod with a 10mm hole through the middle, then a bolt with the head cut off inserted in the hole half way and welded in place from the top.
Ground off to finish the part, I made 5, 4 off to be coated, 1 to use in a forming jig I made for the straps.










This is the forming jig I made from 2 scrap pieces of angle iron, a hole between them for the T-Bolt to be pulled through.

In this pic, the strap is about to be pulled into the slot.

The straps were laser cut from 1.5mm polished stainless,






As you tighten the nut, it pulls the T-Bolt into the groove forming the strap around T-Bolt end.













This is the second jig I made from another bit of Angle Iron, a hole in it for the T-Bolt to hold the strap firm against the vertical angle, then 2 bolts through the horizontal with a bar bridged between them.
The bar is placed so it will press down just in front of the t bolt forming the strap around it to make a "P" clamp.

In the end, I stuck it in the press instead of winding the nuts down.

Pressed and formed.

Straps finished but awaiting the T-Bolts to return from coating.

After assembly the straps will be closed up and held with stainless rivets.

The rivets take no load other than holding the assembly closed.





More pics when I get them finished and on the car

Tail Shaft Part 2.

Fitted up the tailshaft; Length between the uni centres was 240mm when fitted, with 40mm retraction, so I can slide the flange off the spiggots and remove and drop the shaft out through the chassis if required.
The sliding shaft is a standard Spicer part, custom length built for me by GJ Drivelines in Keysborough, Melbourne and fitted with 1350 series universal joints between the Sonnax flanges.

The Sonnax flanges have 1/2" mounting holes, the diff flange has 12mm threaded bolt holes, so I drilled out the diff flange holes to 1/2" and then used 1/2" x 1" Unbrako shoulder bolts and lock nuts to fasten together.

The gearbox Tri-flange has 12mm holes in it, I tried to drill these out to 1/2" as well, but the flange material is so hard I  couldn't even scratch the surface, so I turned down the shoulder bolts to 12mm diameter. (double shoulder i.e. 1/2" through the Sonnax flange dropping to 12mm through the Tremec OE flange)
The shoulder bolts accurately align the holes like solid pins.