Post by bankRUPPt on Feb 2, 2011 19:56:47 GMT -6
I've been wanting to share the pictures of this restoration since the beginning. We just thought it would be best to keep it under wraps and unveil the sled at Waconia. Now, we'll take you through the restoration.
First off, a huge thanks to Greg McPherson. Greg discovered and obtained this a few years ago. Dad and I were offered a chance to buy this sled and a deal was made last summer before Ruppfest. So again, thanks for the opportunity, Greg.
Here's a few pictures of how the chassis was found. It was disassembled and preserved perfectly. The guy that had it all those years took very good care of it, knowing it was something special.
The tunnel was made with the exact same tooling used to make the 73 Magnum tunnels, only it is magnesium. The bulkhead, however, was completely hand built and unique. It is also made of Magnesium. Notice how much longer it is than a standard bulkhead. It extends nearly halfway to the back of the tunnel.
The front cross member has a unique offset. The right spindle has around 5 degrees more camber than the left. The stance is also offset to the left 1".
One of the first things we worked on while cleaning the chassis was the suspension. It was built on the 73 Magnum factory kit rails to change them to a cleated track. These are the same rails they originally used to build it. The original magnesium rear wheels and rear carrier were also used.
Here's the chassis during assembly. We decided to keep the tunnel decals original. They are in pretty good shape and are a big part of the sleds history. You can see where the 16 on the back once was.
We were also trying to figure out the spindle angles at this stage. I have a (unverified) factory widened 73 Magnum with this exact same front end geometry. In these last two pictures the spindles from that sled are in the 3rd Dimension chassis. Pretty good fit
First off, a huge thanks to Greg McPherson. Greg discovered and obtained this a few years ago. Dad and I were offered a chance to buy this sled and a deal was made last summer before Ruppfest. So again, thanks for the opportunity, Greg.
Here's a few pictures of how the chassis was found. It was disassembled and preserved perfectly. The guy that had it all those years took very good care of it, knowing it was something special.
The tunnel was made with the exact same tooling used to make the 73 Magnum tunnels, only it is magnesium. The bulkhead, however, was completely hand built and unique. It is also made of Magnesium. Notice how much longer it is than a standard bulkhead. It extends nearly halfway to the back of the tunnel.
The front cross member has a unique offset. The right spindle has around 5 degrees more camber than the left. The stance is also offset to the left 1".
One of the first things we worked on while cleaning the chassis was the suspension. It was built on the 73 Magnum factory kit rails to change them to a cleated track. These are the same rails they originally used to build it. The original magnesium rear wheels and rear carrier were also used.
Here's the chassis during assembly. We decided to keep the tunnel decals original. They are in pretty good shape and are a big part of the sleds history. You can see where the 16 on the back once was.
We were also trying to figure out the spindle angles at this stage. I have a (unverified) factory widened 73 Magnum with this exact same front end geometry. In these last two pictures the spindles from that sled are in the 3rd Dimension chassis. Pretty good fit