Today was one of those days where you say to yourself “I think I’m going to do X”, and then you realize that there are three other things to do before you can actually get to X. So instead I worked on a few things that needed to get done.
First was trimming the hatch so that it was no longer rubbing on the afterburner (results shown in the picture above). This had to be adjusted because of the repositioning in order to move the afterburner higher for more ground clearance.
Next I thought I would work on the mounting points for the exhaust tips. I moved them into position where I thought they would look good, but this is where I realized I was going to have to finish the back of them first to make sure I have enough clearance. I need to add two 45 degree pipes to make a Y on the back of the exhaust tips. I then need to make sure that the pipe will clear the bottom of my trunk. I likely order some pipes tomorrow so that I have them for next weekend.
You can see below that it will be fairly tight for clearance on the side of the trunk floor pan, but the exhaust actually looks really good!
Since there wasn’t much more I could do with the exhaust until I get some new tube bends, I focused my attention on making an area where I’ll be able to mount all of my electronics. The electronics include things like the Arduino board, relays, suspension brain, amps etc. I’m going to be making the mounting surface out of plywood but I need mounting tabs to hold the surface in-place.
I decided to weld on a few tabs to the top of the lid that covers the rear axle. This will allow me to lie the plywood flat on the top of the lid and bolt it down on the sides.
I have a couple of concerns for the electronics back in this area. One is that it sits directly below the seam where the top of the hatch meets the body. So I’m a little concerned about water possibly leaking down onto the electronics if I don’t have it super tight. cleaning out some water is one thing, but fried electronics isn’t going to be fun for anyone. The second concern is around being able to access the equipment when I need to make adjustments.
It’s really an awkward area to get into right above the axle, and there’s lots more room above the fuel tank with a way to access it from the rear of the passenger cabin. So I decided that I would extend the mounting area to some angle pieces going up to the bar behind the seats.
These bars needed to be removable so I made some tabs on the end of them to be fastened to the same anchor bolt as what will be used for the plywood. Then I ran the bar on an angle up to the bar behind the seats. I finished the top end of the bar with tabs so that they can be bolted to the chassis.
I didn’t have time to finish the bars or add the bolt points to the bar behind the seats, but at least I now have a better idea of how I’m going to handle the electronics rack.
Building The BatBerry 