Kristen’s Puma Build

Today I thought I’d tackle the trailing arms and shocks to see how it all goes together.  Needless to say that it looks really, really good and my aim of having it rolling by Christmas almost looks do-able!

I’m a little unsure about what length the trailing arms should be and the round thingy (love those technical terms) that connects to the drive shaft seems to be too far to the right of the trans tunnel but there’s still some more adjustments to make.  I also still need to make up the extra brackets for the shocks to attach to the diff and the one where the rose joint that’s on the end of the panhard rod attaches to the right hand diff bracket.  Once I get the alignment right the welding can start.

With Richard’s help today, I also winched the engine up to see what changes if any I need to make to the engine hoist when I come to put the engine and gearbox in.  It turns out that the sump has a slight dent in it so I’ve drained the oil and will remove and replace the sump cover to make sure there’s no damage.

After much work on the diff, Richard (he who lift’s heavy things) and I lifted the diff into the car.  It’s now ready for me to turn so that the drive shaft is pointing towards the engine rather than at the floor, add the brackets, tack them, align the trailing arms and then take it out again so the brackets can be completely welded in place and the diff painted before it can go back in.

Maybe my hope of having a rolling chassis by christmas is not that far fetched after all.

More work to do yet.