A little tubing work.

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We looked at a few units before my Son decided to buy this one, and Auto Twirler makes 4 models. This is the "Pro" model and he upgraded it to air over hydraulic rams which make it much easier than pumping the jack handle to raise the car up.

That one you pictured looks pretty good too, just a different company going at the same idea a different way. One thing that impressed us was that the Twirler does not use a bolt to tighten down on the tubing to hold everything in place, it uses specially cut clamps that go around the outside of the tubing. Over time, as you tighten down one that uses a bolt the bolt will dimple the tube below which eventually makes it harder for the piece of tubing over it to slide smoothly over it.

We also looked at another one on display at Turkey Run last year before Dan pulled the trigger on the one he bought, and what we didn't like about it was that it used two pieces of steel that run the length of the body instead of a single one, like the Twirler. It seemed to us those two pieces of steel would be tripping you when you were working close up to the car.

Like I mentioned, it was a little hit to his wallet, but this thing should last for years and lots of projects.

Don

All the things you mention on the twirler are great features. You're right it's a different take on the same idea, but I think the twirler just ends up being a much more stout unit. I hope it works well for you for years.

Thanks, Bob. Yep, we tend to overbuild everything and I should have known Dan would err on the side of heavy. He knows the car will be a little heavy to be super competitive, but he just wants to have some fun with it and drive it a lot on the street.

Don

It may not be super competitive, but it will be fun, and over-building will ensure that if (god-forbid) something were to happen, he can race another day.
 
Last night Dan got his upper torque boxes installed, so that does it for the rear suspension. Now he just has to finish up the rest of the cage.

Don

 
LMAO!!!!!!! My son looked at the pics and asked me "Why is he building a jungle gym in his car??" LOL

Haha, that is what I keep calling it too. :)

Dan had a couple of questions about how certain bars needed to be run to qualify for an 8.50 certification, so I found a phone number for the SE Regional NHRA tech inspector. I called him and Larry turned out to be super helpful. Turned out two bars needed to be changed to qualify, so out came the sawzall and in about an hour Dan had them changed to meet their specs.

Today he is in the process of welding up the extra holes in the floorboards, then he is going to wrap up the rest of the cage. He is going to run two bars out through the firewall to the top of the subframe.


Don
 
My Son was on vacation this week so he got a lot done on his cage. I hadn't seen it for a few days but when I went over to feed the stray cat that stays at our shop tonight I was pretty impressed. This thing is going to be one strong car. :):)

Don







 
Wow Don, it looks like he has been doing this all of his life. Absolutely beautiful work. It looks perfect, very very nice.
 
Thank you. I guess you can tell I am pretty proud of the work he does, as I am with his Brother too. Both of them have surpassed anything I was able to ever do on my best day............and that is the way it should be. :)

Don
 
Definitely artwork on that cage Don! I imagine he has a killer powerplant lined up for this car if he needs a cage like that, especially for a "street" car!
 

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