How its made, they make it seem so easy.

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jTtYQ2UtI1s

fairly good views of last year's fiesta WRC suspension...

(which doesn't appear to have changed much since the escort wrc stuff)

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KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com

Strange, they never need a big hammer to get their parts to fit.

I really like the way the gussets are shaped in the door bars. Anyone know how they do that?

I like the shot of the door bar(x) jig @ 1:04 and the tool kit. Certainly seems they (Jarri) come prepared and ready.

Found another gem as suggested by you tube. Not as detailed in the build but still got me grinning.

Building Mk2 Escort rally cars

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Zap zap my ass...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2012 02:16PM by slidewayswrx.

Quote
ChrisKobi
I really like the way the gussets are shaped in the door bars. Anyone know how they do that?

Yeah. With a lot of money. (tool and die is expensive)

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
ChrisKobi
I really like the way the gussets are shaped in the door bars. Anyone know how they do that?

Actually it's easily done with wooden hammerforms. Each gusset would be made in two halves then welded together at the radius centerline. I use hammerforms all the time for making one-off oddball metal parts.

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Opel is a 4-letter word...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/sets/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2012 06:55PM by Ascona73.

I actually have that episode save on my dvr.

seems interesting, ill have to try and find info on that.

Quote
ChrisKobi
seems interesting, ill have to try and find info on that.

There are some good books and some DVD's on hammerforming.

Also there's:
http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/index.php
http://allmetalshaping.com/index.php

I have a few pics of hammerforming on my Flickr page too.

This was an involved project but it was made fairly easy by hammerforming:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/sets/72157624771761519/

I used wooden hammerforms to make these parts of an intercooler tank.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/4170005845/sizes/o/in/set-72157608776595955/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/4170766342/sizes/o/in/set-72157608776595955/

I used hammerforms to make the ends of the airbox for my rallycar.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/6942470508/sizes/l/in/set-72157603229723413/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/7088541219/sizes/l/in/set-72157603229723413/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/7006953126/sizes/l/in/set-72157603229723413/

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Opel is a 4-letter word...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/sets/

Wow, thats some highly skilled work! Really nice stuff. seems like it would be pretty fun to get into, I'm sure years of experience are required.
Is that alluminum you are using?

Quote
ChrisKobi
Wow, thats some highly skilled work! Really nice stuff. seems like it would be pretty fun to get into, I'm sure years of experience are required.
Is that alluminum you are using?

The air intake with the compound curves and the intercooler tanks are aluminum. But the cold air box for my rally car is steel.

The best part about hammerforms is there is very little skill involved! Once the form is made you basically beat the hell out of the metal with a plastic or wooden hammer. In fact it usually takes me far longer to make the forms than it does the actual part.

That twin throttle body intake only took me 1.5 hours to form all the metal pieces, but coming up with the design, gluing the wood and sanding/shaping it took me 6 hours.

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Opel is a 4-letter word...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/sets/

There's a sheet metal school by my house. I look at it all the time and think about how I should drop in there and check it out. Probably no time/money to take any courses but maybe find a student interested in doing stuff. Al fenders with built in flares would be way cooler than fiberglass.

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Grant Hughes

Okay, a quickie 'How it's made'. I am simulating a taco gusset you might see in the main hoop 'X' of a rally car.

Started with some white oak for my hammerforms, cut the main hammerform and backer piece out on a bandsaw and sanded a 3/4" radius on one edge. I could have used a 3/4" round-over bit in a router but I didn't have one at my shop at the time.






Using cardboard, I generated a template and cut out two pieces of sheet steel. I used .040" steel for this test sample.




Some people use c-clamps, I prefer to clamp the two hammerforms together in a vise. Of course the sheetmetal is sandwiched in between the two halves.




I used this plastic teardrop-shaped mallet to form the metal.




And in about 45 seconds to....maybe a minute, I bent the sheetmetal tightly to the shape of the hammerform. The nice part about using a plastic or wooden hammer is that it doesn't leave harsh imprints in the surface of the sheetmetal, since it's softer than the base material.






Since I'm making a taco gusset, two identical pieces were made.




Using witness marks I made on the hammerform, I layed out the final dimension of the gusset and then trimmed them both to exact size.





Both pieces tack welded together. I use a TIG with ER70S-3 filler rod. Primarily I like using TIG since the weld is physically smaller than a MIG weld and is easier to sand down, plus it's a softer weld too. Less brittle means less chance of cracking. And I know that I have 100% penetration too from prior experience. I'm far more concerned with the weld penetration than the appearance of the weld BTW.






Back side of weld:




Weld sanded down.






FWIW, this technique has been most commonly seen/used on the 'flying buttress' a-pillar gussets on E36 and E46 BMW road race cars.

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Opel is a 4-letter word...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/sets/

I have a piece of 1.5" tubing that I cut in half with a recip saw.
I have some templates that I drew up years ago (like 2005) that I keep using, but you can also use Tim Taylor's print to scale ones which I've saved here:
http://nocoastmotorsports.net/Build/Gussets/

I draw out the template on a piece of sheet metal. Then I cut it out with sheers. Then I use a hole saw to cut out 1.5" or so holes. Then I use a Mitler Bros flare to flare the gusset. I then use the cut piece of tubing to line up the bend. Then I used my body weight to bend the sheet metal around the tubing and voila, gussets. I was using the cage door bars in the past, but the bigger angle a-pillar to door bar don't have enough material to bend fully before the flared hole gets in the way.

Is the form typically wood for hammerforming? I suppose it has to be something that can hold up to the hammer...

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Grant Hughes