Practically Classics Forum

Remember that continuous welds can cause distortion - possibly why your dad's efforts went wrong. A friend made a large metal bench (for making fence panels) and hadn't realised that and, in spite of my suggestions, did nice solid welds and had the whole lot to cut out again after it distorted so much that one leg was about two inches off the ground!

While skip welds may look weak, they should be able to survive whatever you pull with the car - the bolt holes through the boot floor will probably be the weakest point!

tractorman wrote:the bolt holes through the boot floor will probably be the weakest point!

I hear you loud and clear on that one, as when I removed the old tow
bar bracket they only use 2 bolts on each side and one of the bolts was
through the full box frame and into the boot the others were just into
one side of the box section of the frame.

And that one bolt was in a nice neat hole inside the car but came
through a much larger hole in the frame. the others had all had larger
holes than was needed so the hole bracket had moved back on that
one neat hole that was from the boot through the frame and to the
tow bar bracket.

That hole in the boot isn't neat any more!
So I will be also using tome tube to act as booth spacer and to reduce
the holes dimensions in from underneath to that it is a tight fit with the
box section.

I pulled the tow bar bracket out of the shed and bolted it up with the
help of a couple of jacks. I then got the bit that have yet to be welded
to it to check that they are fit for purpose (even if I am not!)








I had to use a hammer to hold up the bolting plate and the tow bar
ball and pin, as I had no strength to hold it up with my left arm!




Then I put the back box on the trolly jack and jacked it till it was
wedged in the right position so it wouldn't move and fall on me, but I
would still be able to do some measurements and mock up positions for
parts.





As you can see in the above pictures, I have more space than I realised.
This is down to one thing, with used 'C' bar rather than a box section.
And forgot to adjust my calculations accordingly.

Now for checking how to mount the exhaust hanger rubbers.




I marked the exhaust back box so I new where the centre point was
previously to make things easier. T then put a perfectly straight metal
bar under the back box to balance the rubber on.






I need to make a couple of tabs to be welded there on the bracket so
that a bolt on each side can be used to act as a pin for the rubbers.
I will be pre drilling the bolt holes first to make life easier.

I must correct myself a second time this week, one of the guys on
the lx forums point this out to me. Whoops I did it again!

The dodge intrepid does have it's engine longitudinally and uses the
same 3.3 v6 engine that I am using.
(picture of a 1995 intrepid engine bay)



But is actually front wheel drive, as it uses this transmission.

I haven't done anything on the car today for one very good reason.
My parent's had to get the boat sorted, and then take it down to the
marina at Hartlepool. So I didn't want to get in the way and delay or
stop them fom doing it!




This means I can move the car out a bit and do more stuff as my
dad will be spending his time at the marina to relax after work.

It also means mother will have more washing lines across the
drive, so I end up getting garotted!

A little work done to make the final bits for the towbar bracket
and it's bits to hold the back box. To get to identical shaped tabs
for the exhaust to hang from I bolted the two together.

I cleaned the paint off the adapter bracket I bought a while ago,
this so that it can be welded to the main towbar bracket rather
than drilling holes and weakening the 'C' bar's strength. I cut a
small triangle to be added as reinforcement for when man
handling those plugs.

Then 2 plates with all the bolt holes as the tow bar bracket for in
the boot. I wasn't going to use the same thickness of plate as the
angle iron used on the brackets as that would be overkill!

With all the angle and thick plate you will have enough weight there to tow a chieftain tank. Good progress though. Is it just for general use the car or do you have another motive for it with the extra power and AVRE tow gear?

Peter-109 wrote:Is it just for general use the car or do you have another motive for it
with the extra power and AVRE tow gear?

I had to google AVRE which stands for Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers.
Mother's cars have been used for hauling all her horsey stuff around mainly.

Mine was the one for towing fully loaded trailers or a horse box with
motorcycles in it. And then there is the vehicle recovery aspect, I mean by
that the neon was pulling the discovery off the garden and out of the mud,
as well as other vehicles long before the engine went pop!

When the UK had all those floods, the neon was wading in and pulling vans
out of the water on the Castle Eden road, so that other could get through.
And it was all those vehicles which had am air intake close to the floor which
sucked up the water into their engines which got stuck.

Thats why I also fitted the tougher springs which gave a firmer ride & a little
more ground clearance.

Also to add to the above, I found that in the best point of jacking
the neon up to doing anything on her was the towbar bracket at its
central point. As this spread the weight better and was less likely to
crush the sills with the weight of the petrol & LPG tanks in the back.

I previously used the box section which is below the spare wheel well
as it is used for the suspension, but that is further under the car
than is really practical. This the best picture showing the bar to the
hub from the box section running across the spare wheel well.

Well I have ordered the exhaust pipe bends from the local auto
parts store, and will be there in a day or so. And as the weather
is forecast for rain for the next few days but I will soon have all
the parts ready for dad to weld together, and hopefully finish off
the back end of the old girl.

After looking at the weather forecast for the next 10 days, this
Thursday is supposed to be the only dry day.

Sorry I've not been any fit state today after watching my Boxer dog
Danny (Snotty) die of a heart attack and not being able to do anything!



When you consider I don't get out much and friends don't live close by
the dogs keep me company and have always been apart of the family.

Danny was always there to make fuss of me, and kept wanting the
attention he probably never got by his previous owner.

He was a rescue dog and had a known heart condition, and was far too
under weight when my parents go him from the pound over a year ago.

When he got himself into a state when the postman came to deliver the
post, I let him out into the garden, but his breathing didn't claim down,
I found him on the grass next to the bay window struggling to breath.

I phoned my parents but by the time they got home it was too late , as
he had been dead for me what seemed an hours but could have been 5-10
minutes.

I couldn't stay and watch dad dig the grave at the bottom of the garden,
or watch danny being covered in earth