Project Hands-On Honda Continues

As cage construction moved along, it became apparent the centersection of the car was going to be all tube frame.

We used a hydraulic jack tubing bender from Irvan-Smith for all the bending. This is the best kind of bender for a small shop. The bend quality is excellent, and the price is reasonable. I like the fact that it bends vertically. This allows me to use a magnetic angle finder to track exactly where the bend is. Also, it works slowly and smoothly (with a manual pump), which can be an advantage when making one-of-a-kind parts.

The seat mount is welded directly to the cage. This is necessary in our case because there is no "original" Honda left in that area. Even so, always mount the seat frame to the cage. It should never be mounted to the floor or other parts of a sheetmetal car. If you were to sustain a side hit strong enough to move the cage, you would want the seat to move with it. Otherwise, you might carry door bar imprints for a long time.

As the cage came together, it was tack-welded, two or three tacks per joint. This allows bars to be removed and placed in different locations. Door bars were left out as long as possible to make it easier to fabricate internal parts.

The stock brake/throttle pedal assembly was used. Remember our premise: Don't spend money, but spend all the time and labor you want. We determined the throttle pedal throw was too short for the Holley carb we will use. The top end of the pedal arm was lengthened 1 1/2 inches.

The stock Honda steering shaft and U-joints were used. We supported the steering shaft in tubing bushings, which were welded to the car. These shouldn't fit tight, as a little clearance prevents binds. The Honda shaft is collapsible. Position it where you want, and drill a hole through both pieces for a cotter pin.

I decided to use the stock steering wheel. After carving 7 pounds of plastic and rubber away, a steel wheel weighing only 4 pounds emerged. A length of heater hose was split and placed over the rim; 28 bright orange tie-wraps were used at 1 1/2-inch intervals to hold the hose in place. Two white tie-wraps were used at one spot, marking the straight-ahead position. With the knot side of the tie-wraps facing away from the driver, they provide a positive grip on the wheel. This is not unlike some of the steering wheels with welded-on knobs. You do race with unmodified racing gloves, don't you?

A JAZ 8-gallon fuel cell snuggles in the belly of our car. The fuel cell is a plastic bladder in a metal can. No matter what you race, you should use this type fuel cell. Ours is mounted in front of the rear suspension crossmember. This adds a little to the front weight percentage. Plus, this is the most protected part of the car. The cell hangs from the "X" brace tubing behind the main cage by two straps. The straps are a 1/8x2-inch flat steel bar, and 3/8-inch Grade 8 bolts hold the straps to brackets from A&A Manufacturing. We used a lot of A&A's brackets and corner braces throughout the car.

With the cage, door bars, and all of the bracing tack-welded in place, we're ready for finish-welding with our Miller MIG welder. That put a sufficient amount of strength in the car for our next operation. It didn't take much to roll the car over on its top, and we finished our welding with no overhead welds.

With the car right-side up again, we are ready to start with the bolt-on pieces. In the next installment, we'll work on all of those pesky details that go into building a car. We will also cover the modifications made to the suspension.