Since my last post we closed on our property 2 1/2 acres including a good sized pond covering about 1/3 of the property. A few out buildings and a 1200 sqft shop with heat in the floor. It's never been used as anything and the in floor heat has never been utilized. I'm in the process of doing a buildout to finish the interior and make use of the in floor heat. Three reasons for purchasing this was the shop potential, the property setting and the price. The house and shop are setup for an outdoor wood burning boiler so we purchased a used one. Being in the country we have a propane tank we use as a backup if needed. The whole strategy behind this move I'll cover in another post. Since I'm retired time is my best friend to finish all this at a very resonable cost. Here are some pics to see what we have and what I'm doing. The end goal with the shop is to have a fully self supporting Formula Racing operation.

Been a while

Refreshing my memory about login, posting etc. A lot has change since I last posted. We're in the middle of moving, staying at relatives until a new home is purchased. We have an offer in on a property with a nice size shop, separate garage and a nice home all on 2 1/2 acres. More later.

MIND WAIT

Ok, so now the proposal is finished. Did all the home work, came up with what we thought were some very clever ideas.  Got it all put down on paper so the concept has some words and meaning behind it. All the actions we could take are not so overwhelming that it looks impossible. It will take an increndible amount of work for it to perform properly so the outcome is correct, but it is all possible. At that point delegence of perception and execution with keeping your eye on the ball is critical. So it's been handed in so now it's wait. Mind wait - it works the BRAIN ASSET hard.

HAMMERFORMING A COUPLE OF PARTS

I’m hammerforming this part to go around the roll bar at so I have a spot to tig weld the body support bar. I will make two, one for each side. They will be held on with the engine mount bolts that are vertically throught the bulk head and go into the aluminum plate that actually bolts to the valve cover. The engine in this chassis is partially stressed, meaning the engine block itself carries some of the load stresses induced into the chassis during competition

To soften or anneal the aluminum (it's a T6 hardness so it's tough) so I can work with it I put a layer of acetylene soot on it. This is .065 6061 aluminum.

Now heat the aluminum very carefully, just enough to remove the soot. This will take it to about 750 -800 deg! The aluminum is very close to melting so be carefull.

Soot is gone the aluminum sagged because it was so close to meltdown!

Now it's relatively easy to shap around the wood block I made for the final shape. The block is exactly the proper dimensions as the area of the rool bar.

Here it's easier to see the shape I made relative to the roll bar. The form has to be exactly the same dimensions, since the aluminum will wrap around it.

Final shape, this will fit exactly.

another view, easier to see.

 

Hammerformed the aluminum using the hard wood tool I made. The wood is a hard maple.

 

 

CHASSIS TUBE ADDITION & SCCA IDEA

I"ve gotten a couple of emails recently that are very good. The first was from the SCCA technical director confirming that our car has been homologated properly and that the idea of adding a bar to the chassis is within the rules! The other I just got is from the President of the SCCA stating that the idea I sent to him is good and that it has his backing! I would expalin more here but it's way to premature to put names to what I have in mind, but so far so good. Remember this stuff is all behind the scenes manuvering and is time consuming but very necessary. It called "doing what it takes to get it right" . There is pictures of the proposed chassis bar addition on our FB page here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fastdad/132790816771142?ref=hl

QUESTION

So would anybody be interested in the rules SCCA (Sports Car Club of America www.scca.com/ ) has for our Formula Continental car? Rules can be boring to read thru but it is a very import detail to learn no matter what type of competition one is involved with. If your interested go here http://fastdad.net/ and drop an email and let me know, maybe join FASTDAD's club to keep updated on whats happening.

FASTDAD & FASTMOM & YOU

Coals lowered down into position. Use the special handles that come with the grill.

  We use the HOBO GRILL continuously because it cooks so nice with excellent flavoring. Here's how we used it the other evening. FASTMOM makes this superb Spinach Pizza with feta cheese, sliced black olives and browned ground beef with olive oil instead of red sauce with spices (garlic, salt-pepper, etc) So here it is in pictures. The HOBO GRILL ran @ 425 deg for about 35 minutes. We had the pizza on a stone, used charcoaled wood for coals for added flavoring. We used fewer coals but lowered the grate closer to the coals. It was on position 4 inside the HOBO GRILL. With the throttle & exhaust controls it was easy to maintain the temp. Anyhow we ended with an excellent SPINACH PIZZA, wood fired at home! The evening was terrific! You can have this grill!

Coals good and hot! Ready to lower into the grill.

Add captionGetting the HOBO GRILL fired up

Pizza on the stone. Tinfoil deflects the heat from burning the edges of the pizza. Use the handles that come with the grill to lower into position

HOBO GRILL IS NOW DOING IT'S MAGIC!

Grilling temp is easily controllable with the convenient throttle & exhaust controls. CAN HARDLY WAIT!

HERE IT IS! About 35 minutes later one EXCELLENT SPINACH PIZZA!Getting the HOBO GRILL fired up

It's healthy, excellent flavoring, wood fired pizza in your home!! Man this was really good! You should do this with the HOBO GRILL!