[DeTomaso] Front Cross Member Replacement

[Nauman, Ed]

Hey Charles,

	Give me your address again.  I will have one of your load cells
done tonight and I will put it in the mail tomorrow.  The drawing didn't
specify the width of the slot, so I was going to cut it with a 0.125"
keyway cutter.  If you need it any other dimension tell me now so I can
get a different cutter.  I should have the other two done by Friday.
Sorry it has taken so long.  I have been so busy with work and the
Pantera that I've been averaging 4 hours of sleep a day.  I bought a
lower front valance from a sheet metal guy in England a couple of years
ago and decided to put it in.  I discovered that the front cross member
was rusted out and very week.  So I put the car on blocks and pulled the
suspension, radiator, grills, wiring, and head light buckets off.  I
fabricated a real stiff jig to lock the suspension mounting tabs in
place so that nothing would move.  I cut out the cross member and
cleaned all the undercoating from the front of the car including the
inside of the wheel wells.  I fabricated a new cross member and some
triangular gussets from 2" x 0.125" square tubing.  Next, I cut some 18
ga. Sheet metal to fit the existing body sections on the inside of the
wheel wells and frame rails.  The body was not rusted.  I just thought I
would stiffen it up a bit since I had it apart already.  I MIG welded
the sheet metal, cross member and the gussets into place.  I seam welded
the rest of the body in the front half of the car.  This essentially
doubled the thickness of all the structural body components from the
rear of the wheel wells forward.    Added to the solid steering rack
mount I made a couple of years ago, it should stiffen the body up quite
a bit.  Anyway, I primed the whole area and shot it with some high end
($140/gallon) truck bed liner.  Oh yeah, I also welded in some real
sanitary mounts for the new fluidyne radiator I bought last week.  I
bought some stainless steel wire mesh and fabricated a new grill for the
valance.  The whole thing came out real nice.  At this point the
suspension is back on.  My friend Robbie is a body man so he came over
and smoothed everything around the new valance and primed it.  He will
probably shoot it this weekend.  It has taken almost 6 weeks to
accomplish this effort after working 12 hours a day at the "Lazy-L".  I
will take some pictures and send them to you.

		
	Cheers,
		Ed


-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Buthala [mailto:Charles.Buthala at TRW.COM] 
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 5:06 AM
To: Nauman, Ed
Subject: RE: Could you quote these for me.

Ya 6061 is fine.  If the load cell bodies are slightly different it will
not matter due to calibration.  Have you ever replaced the output
bearings in your ZF?

>>> "Nauman, Ed" <ed.nauman at lmco.com> 3/16/2007 12:35 AM >>>
I think your sketch has enough detail to work from if the numbers are
correct.  Is 6061 OK?  I have some in the shop that I can use if you
want.

			Ed


-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Buthala [mailto:Charles.Buthala at TRW.COM] 
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 6:13 AM
To: Nauman, Ed
Subject: RE: Could you quote these for me.

I have been trying to get my ZF put back together and have not worked on
the dimensioned and tolerance drawings for you.  The ball bearing hole
is not critical, it will be epoxied in so whatever is easiest will be
fine.

>>> "Nauman, Ed" <ed.nauman at lmco.com> 3/14/2007 7:54 PM >>>
Hey Charles,

	I finally have some time to do this.  I have one question
regarding he mounting hole for the 1/4" ball.  Do you want a flat bottom
(end mill, round bottom (ball mill), or a 135 degree cone (drill point).
It doesn't make a difference as far as machining effort goes so let me
know.  I would suggest a round bottom for uniformity.

		Ed


Edward A. Nauman
Senior Staff Engineer

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
"The Skunk Works"
Mail Stop 0157
1011 Lockheed Way
Palmdale, CA 93599 
Voice: (661) 572-7350
Fax: (661) 572-3507
Cell: (661) 305 7636 


-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Buthala [mailto:Charles.Buthala at TRW.COM] 
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 12:57 PM
To: Nauman, Ed
Subject: Could you quote these for me.

This is just the first round of figuring these out, I will create a
drawing of each one.  There are three load cell bodies shown in the
attached spreadsheet.  Can and would you be interested in making these
for me?