Assembling the Chassis of STALKERV6 #29

Page Five

The battery is a U1-3 Lawn and Tractor unit from AutoZone (sku #021706, $24.95 + $8.00 core). It has the same cranking amps as the type 51 sometimes used in the Stalker but fewer reserve amps due to its smaller size. But since the Stalker is a warm weather car for me, I think this battery will have plenty of honk for stirring #29 into action. I really like this location better than taking up footwell room or having the heavy battery up on the cowl firewall.

Another advantage of this location is the extremely short battery cable length required. I bought one 32" #4 cable for $3.99 and a couple of #4 connectors. The cable was cut into two 6" long lengths with a connector on one end, and the new connectors were attached to the free ends. As you can see, the resulting cables are very short which will assist with hot starts.

The battery just fits forward of the right firewall and between the starter and frame diagonal. The header has to be removed to get the battery into position. I fabricated a holder from 2024 aluminum strap and angle. A 1/4" x 8" bolt was used on the forward end of the top strap to secure the battery in the holder. Not visible is an angle on the inboard frame rail that keeps the battery off the starter.

The tractor battery spins the S-10 starter very nicely!

Here is the coolant recovery tank plumbing. The tank was purchased at Autozone. I used 3/8" fuel hose instead of the provided clear plastic hose since it was routed close to the headers.

The plastic tubing was used for the vent line which runs from the tank back to the firewall area near the battery.

Update: In order to install the heater, the recovery tank needed to be moved. Here is the present tank which is a sports water bottle. A bicycle bottle holder is attached to an aluminum plate which is in turn attached to the frame. A hose runs from the radiator into a hole in the bottle. The hose has a diagonal cut on the bottle end and extends to the bottom of the bottle. The bottle is vented via the open spout.

Update: The sports bottle worked fine, but just didn't look like it belonged under the bonnet of a fine motorcar. The bottle was removed and in its place went a Jaz recovery tank from Jeg's, part #547-602-025-01. It fits perfectly in front of the idler pulley and has fittings for both a line to the radiator and an overflow. It is a much more substantial piece than the sports bottle and looks very automotive.

3/10/04

Its Alive!

On a beautiful spring-like morning we rolled #29 out of the shop and rechecked all the fluid levels. All the wiring except the alternator field lead had been completed. I vacuumed out the fuel tank and added three gallons of go juice. Michael stood near the fire extinguisher as I turned on the ignition switch. The changing tone of the fuel pump rattle told us the pump had primed and gas was being sent to the carb. A squeeze on the throttle confirmed this as the accelerator pump shot gas into the engine. The starter was engaged, and almost instantly (actually, before I was really ready!) the engine bellowed to life.

Wow! What a wicked sound! The tiny little car barked with a full-blown bellow that would make any hot-rod proud. The oil pressure light had gone out and nothing was squirting out of the engine. There was quite a bit of blue smoke for a while; I suspect the valve seals may be weak in our engine, but after running a little while, the exhaust cleared.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had guessed correctly on the polarity of the ignition coil. The tach worked properly and before long the water temp began to creep up as the thermostat opened. The only leak was a slight seepage around the water temp sender and a nearby plug on the manifold.

Even though the timing had not been set other than eyeballing the distributor when it was installed, the engine picked up beautifully off idle. The only carb setting I changed was to lower the idle speed.

After running in the engine for a few minutes, we shut down so we could hook up the alternator. I had purchased an adapter (Pico 5328C) which is a short pigtail with the Camaro (CS) four pin alternator plug on one end and a two terminal ( I suppose older Chevy) plug on the other. The terminal marked "L" on the adapter was open which was the terminal I expected to use for the warning light on the panel. I found that one of the pins on the adapter would indeed energize the alternator and the 13.5 volts on the bus confirmed the alternator was working. I still don't know if I have a valid warning light since the lamp doesn't light with the ignition on and the engine off.

Update: The alternator and warning light is now working. I modified the alternator connector adapter by moving one of the pins over to the "L" terminal on the alternator. When 12+ VDC was sent to the alternator via the warning light, the alternator energized and the warning light worked properly.

I jacked up the rear of the car and confirmed a signal was being sent to the speedometer. The speed was way off but at least the speedo was swinging the needle. Since the speedo is electronic it will need to be calibrated. The oil pressure light began to glow below 1000 rpm as the oil warmed, but since the sensor is set to close at 20 lbs, I suspect this may be about normal for a hot idle.

Stalker #29 is now a real car! It appears we have nothing serious to address before we finish the car and put it on the road. Paperwork will soon be on the way to the State of Alabama so we can get the titling process underway.

Matter of fact, I even drove the car! We were about to push the Stalker back into the shop when I told Michael, "Wait, this is a car; I'm gonna drive it back into the shop!". So the Stalker slunk the ten feet back into its lair under its own power. I glanced up at Michael and he was grinnin' like a fool!

It drove very nicely, too!

3/11/04

Since I am not using the engine side covers. I cannibalized them for other uses. Panels were cut for the shifter "box" that extend the tunnel sides up to the top of the cowl. I didn't bother trying to make them airtight in the open cockpit car, but they will stop a lot of engine heat and fumes from coming up the tunnel into the cabin. It turns out the angle cut on the cover stock is exactly the angle needed to make the panels match the angle of the dash. The angle of the firewall is the same only going the opposite direction. Once one panel was cut, it was used as a pattern for the other one.

Me thinks this looks a lot nicer than having the shifter and wiring stuff in view. Since only four screws hold the upper panels in place, they can be easily removed if necessary.

Since I hadn't used up all the engine cover stock I fabricated heat shields for the upper headers. The flange already bent into the cover stock was used for mounting the shields to the inside of the frame longerons and only required minor tweaking to fit nicely.

3/13/04

It was soon after I had the pedals installed that it became very apparent that there was no way my wife and daughter were going to be able to enjoy the Stalker from the left seat. Their 5'4" frames were just too short to depress the clutch when the seat was back where I was comfortable in the car. Since that day I have known that a seat adjustment system was going to have to be designed for our car since Michael was also having to stretch to get the clutch disengaged.

A conventional track design was ruled out since there is a frame crossmember under the seat; raising seat tracks enough to clear the frame member would put me too high in the cabin. So it became apparent that the seat adjustment would have to be designed around moving the back of the seat off the seat bulkhead.

I am happy to report that #29 now has a seat adjustment system that works very nicely and allows almost eight inches of adjustment! I trial fitted my daughter in the car and she can manage the pedals just fine without using all the adjustment available.

The system is very simple and uses an X-brace to secure the back of the seat to the bulkhead. This photo shows the brace in the most collapsed position, but this is actually an intermediate position because I will take the brace completely out of the car when I am driving. The angle brackets overlap when the brace is removed and a 5/16" eyebolt is dropped into one of the overlapping holes which secures the seat to the bulkhead.

This photo shows the position that works best for Michael.

Here is the brace in full extended mode. Six inches of adjustment is possible with the brace plus a couple more inches when the brace is removed.

The angles came from the race car section of Lowes Home Improvement along with the steel straps and hardware.

Extremely height-challenged folks will be able to drive #29! The steering wheel must be removed for someone to enter the car with the seat this far forward.

Actually, I don't think I will ever need the seat this far forward, but it shows the range of adjustment available with the X-brace design.

The bottom of the seat has a piece of carpet glued to it so it will move easily in the bottom of the car. I didn't worry about fastening the bottom of the seat to the frame since it can't go anywhere once the driver is strapped into place.

It is an interesting by product of the design (due to the angle of the seat bulkhead)  that as the seat is adjusted forward, the seat back moves into a more upright position which is precisely what a shorter driver would need. The brace holds the seat very securely with no "wobble" even in the forward position.

The X-brace is held in place with pins which I made from 5/16" bolts. The clips are also from Lowes. No tools are necessary to adjust the seat.

I intend to fabricate a plate with fixed pins for Michael so he can quickly set the seat for his favored position without having to adjust the X-brace. But the brace will be carried in the car so it can be quickly configured for drivers of any height.

Continue to Finishing STALKERV6 #29

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