Introducing the Stig Special

[dsholler 54]

Stupid question, as I am sure you have already thought of this.. are you going to be able to change the oil.. open the tow valves etc with those fenders? From the pics it looks kinda tight in there...

[EZRYDER 1]

You are some crazy dude! But brilliant!  Kudos. I am sure you make many of us feel like amatures (which I am) but I hope your real profession is some kind of well paid

 

 

Engineer.  If not, why not?

Larry

Long Island, NY

Hey Ian..

Dang it starts to look really good now... cant wait to see the BEAST whit paint and doser blade on..

who knows i might get to Ardingly this year.. for a test drive LOL....

 

Thanks Lars, it will be quite a while until she if fully painted and even longer until the dozer blade is sorted.. But these thingys take their time..

You more than welcome to have a drive at Ardingly.

 

 

It's been quite hard to get anything done on this build this week, Monday's fiasco with the 312 has left me very short on energy for the rest of the week but steps forward have been happening over the past couple of days.

 

All the joins have been welded and ground down, the missing patch has been patched and the curve on the top of the fender has been straightened by clamping it upside down to something strong with a bit of box each end to raise it off the something strong. then applying too much force with a big G-clamp in the middle until it sprung back straight...  

I may of missed a few photo's of that process in action but here's one after straightening.

 

 

 

One of the jobs on the fender I have been putting off is trimming the outer lip to the right height, mostly because I don't a narrow but long enough straight edge to mark it out with..

So today I decided enough was enough and grabbed a roll of masking tape......   The tape looked a lot straighter in real life than it does in the photo.

 

 

 

Trimmed, de-burred and given a quick lick of paint.....   Yep, really happy with how the fender looks.

 

 

 

If I don't get out to the shack at the weekend, Monday I can start mounting the fenders and work out how to sort the bit of body just in front and behind the seat.

[Stigian 1,234]

Stupid question, as I am sure you have already thought of this.. are you going to be able to change the oil.. open the tow valves etc with those fenders? From the pics it looks kinda tight in there...

 

It's not a stupid question, it is getting a bit tight under there.. Plenty of space for oil changes and as these Eaton 1100 trans'sss don't have tow valves that's not a problem

 

 

 

You are some crazy dude! But brilliant!  Kudos. I am sure you make many of us feel like amatures (which I am) but I hope your real profession is some kind of well paid Engineer.  If not, why not?

Larry

Long Island, NY

[Stigian 1,234]

Hhhmmm The quoate thingy went all weird then!!

 

Thanks Larry, glad you like the build... Nope I'm not some kind of well paid engineer (if only), just a very enthusiastic immature amateur 

 

 

 

The fenders are getting there slowly, but getting there..

 

Bolted down at the back. I still need to add one more bolt just to the right of the 3 point arm, but before I do that I need to replace a bit of rusted and cracked steel on the fender..  A job for tomorrow me thinks.

 

 

 

I could only drill two of three inner fender to tread plate holes in situ, So off they both came to be bolted together on the bench for the last hole to be drilled.

 

 

 

While the tread plate was off it got a bit of a trim to the top. More on why when I get to that point of the build.

 

 

 

To keep the front of the fender from moving about during driving, a nice strong way of mounting it the chassis is needed..

 

Take a couple of bit's of angle (one for each side) and trim one side down to a pleasing taper.

 

 

 

Weld a plate with a couple of holes across the base. This is the right side mount.

 

 

 

And the left side almost in place.. Just need to drill a couple of holes to bolt it to the inner fender, and drill and tap a couple of holes on the chassis for er... Mounting the mount. 

 

 

 

 

To finish off this update have part 47 of my build videos.... Enjoy..

 

[Stigian 1,234]

Howdo all, so far it's taken me 45 min's to tripe this much!!  A mixture of watching the very strange weather and a feeling that I might get a photo opportunity I have been waiting for!!

 

 

Anyway, onwards with the left fender and time to sort out the  last bit of rust in this corner.

 

 

 

As I needed a repair patch with a curve in it I thought using this fender pan off cut would be ideal.. Would you look at that... I didn't know these "Raider" and others style fender pans were different sizes!!  I can't remember which fender pans these were/are before I cut them up!

 

 

 

Marked out for cutting and an undersized patch..

 

 

 

New over sized patch welded in

 

 

 

Trimmed, welds cleaned up, and bolted down.... I wish all my other repair patches had turned out this good! 

 

 

 

Front fender mount tacked on to the chassis. This will be bolted to the chassis but I need to buy some new drill bit's first!

 

 

 

What you couldn't see from the last photo is the fender mount has now moved inside the fender. It keeps the outside of the fender looking clean with only a couple of bolt heads showing.

 

 

 

So there you go peeps, the left side fender is officially finished as far as fabrication and mounting it...

 

Tomorrow I'd better make a start on the other side..

 

 

Just in case you were wondering... The photo opportunity I had been waiting for was a chance to get a good pic of this beauty...  

 

 

[meadowfield 2,570]

very good  pic!

 

...good update too

[Anglo Traction 761]

'Fab' Fab work as usual Ian.  Beautiful Bird's Eye shot of 'Barny the Birdie' Barn Owl..........one of my favourites. Give me the Countryside living any day.

[EZRYDER 1]

This is Larry again from Long Island NY. What do you do for a living? If you are not an engineer then you should at least be making custom Wheelhorses for good pay!

Howdo all, so far it's taken me 45 min's to tripe this much!!  A mixture of watching the very strange weather and a feeling that I might get a photo opportunity I have been waiting for!!

 

 

Anyway, onwards with the left fender and time to sort out the  last bit of rust in this corner.

 

 

 

As I needed a repair patch with a curve in it I thought using this fender pan off cut would be ideal.. Would you look at that... I didn't know these "Raider" and others style fender pans were different sizes!!  I can't remember which fender pans these were/are before I cut them up!

 

 

 

Marked out for cutting and an undersized patch..

 

 

 

New over sized patch welded in

 

 

 

Trimmed, welds cleaned up, and bolted down.... I wish all my other repair patches had turned out this good! 

 

 

 

Front fender mount tacked on to the chassis. This will be bolted to the chassis but I need to buy some new drill bit's first!

 

 

 

What you couldn't see from the last photo is the fender mount has now moved inside the fender. It keeps the outside of the fender looking clean with only a couple of bolt heads showing.

 

 

 

So there you go peeps, the left side fender is officially finished as far as fabrication and mounting it...

 

Tomorrow I'd better make a start on the other side..

 

 

Just in case you were wondering... The photo opportunity I had been waiting for was a chance to get a good pic of this beauty...  

 

[Stigian 1,234]

very good  pic!

 

...good update too

 

Thanks Mark

 

 

'Fab' Fab work as usual Ian.  Beautiful Bird's Eye shot of 'Barny the Birdie' Barn Owl..........one of my favourites. Give me the Countryside living any day.

 

Ta muchly Richard. Gotta love living in the country, I'm not sure my brain could handle living in a town... I be a country boy me

 

 

 

 

 

This is Larry again from Long Island NY. What do you do for a living? If you are not an engineer then you should at least be making custom Wheelhorses for good pay!

 

Hi Larry from Long Island NY again...    As much as I would like to work I can't. I suffer from a condition called Dystonia, which basically means my body does what it wants when it wants.. This could be anything from my lip curling up a bit to a full on "no control over my body fit/seizure" sort thing.

I'd never make any money building custom Wh's, this project has taken (with a lot of help) almost 4 years so far!!     It will be finished one day 

 

 

Thursday was a beautiful day down in Kent which was handy as I needed to move the Wh's about so I could work on the right side fender...  The beasty outside..

 

 

 

And back in her traditional spot in the shack..   So with chair placed in a sunny and wind free spot in the shack and coffee in hand 15 min's was spent working out a plan of action for the day.. Very nice it was too until I tried to stand up and got that "warning, this is about to turn into a bad body day" sort of feeling... And it was.. Sigh..

 

 

 

Yesterday was a better day and it was nice to able to get some work done on the beast..

 

While adding fresh steel to the back to replace the last bit of rust on the fender..

 

 

 

I was working out where to remove some metal from the front.

 

 

 

After lot's of scribbling and ing I just grabbed the grinder and went for it free style.. Think it looks quite good.

 

 

 

 

As per the left side, the right side tread plate got a trim at the top. The battery tray was also cut off whilst I was at it as I plan to make box to hide the battery in.

 

 

 

Bolted on from the back.

 

 

 

The almost invisible patch.. I still need to give this end a little trim and add the final bolt..

 

 

 

And this is how she looked at the end of play yesterday. The front fender mount still needs tack welding to the chassis, but that and the above mentioned trim and drill is all that is need to get the right side done

 

[Stormin 9,981]

Looking good.

[Stigian 1,234]

Thank you Stormin

 

Work has continued at a slow but steady pace this week..

 

A bit more panel making, marked out ready for cutting.

 

 

 

A bit of bending..

 

 

 

It fit's here, just in front of the seat.

 

 

 

Or it will fit once I have sorted out a little bit of sagging on the left fender..

The problem is not the fender, it's more of a lack of metal underneath to support it... I may of trimmed the panel a tad too much!!

 

 

 

But before the under sized panel comes off to have some metal added, I want to add some metal to it

 

 

 

Thoughts in cardboard..

 

 

 

 

The next day Pete dropped in and went a bit mad taking loads of photo's.. 

 

 

Turning that bit of cardboard into steel..

 

 

 

A little trim here..

 

 

 

Tack welding.

 

 

 

Smokin!!!!

 

 

 

Can you spot what's different?

 

 

 

I think it looks much better with a bit of shape to the sides.

 

 

 

 

More to come in a little while, domestic duties are calling 

[meadowfield 2,570]

Getting there.... How's the snow down there? We ae getting it good up north, over 24 hours of it so far.

Removed the plow and chains last week cos I was sick of banging my shin!?,?,?,?,.,,!! :D

[Stigian 1,234]

Snow... What snow???   We did have a couple of hours of heavy snow first thing this morning but none of it settled... Then again it wasn't forecast...   They are forecasting snow here for tomorrow so we shall see what happens

I stashed my plow away yonks ago, I now use a 3 point for catching my shins on

 

 

So off the fender/under seat pan came to be widened a tad each side..  Over sized extension bit tacked on.

 

 

 

Both sides tacked on and trimmed to size.

 

 

 

Cutting another patch..

 

 

 

Which fit's in here.

 

 

 

Seam welded and ground down both sides.

 

 

 

While the left side fender was off the front got it's curve cut to match the other side,

 

 

 

Returning back to the back, bit's were bolted back on and the curved panel was welded on to the flat panel and to both fenders.

 

 

 

A quick squirt of rust oxide and a couple of cuts later the fenders are removable again. 

 

 

 

This is how she looked at the end of play yesterday, I think the body work is coming along nicely. 

 

[Lars 526]

Starting to look Nice now Ian... nice fab work on it...

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,300]

The fender mod looks great!

Mike.....

[Ed Kennell 38,001]

Great looking lines on the fenders and seat pan.

Have you considered covers for the wheel sprockets ?

[bowtiebutler956 650]

 Fantastic work Ian! I really like the way the body is starting fit together.   Still can't wait to see that seat gone though!

 

Matt

[dbartlett1958 96]

 Fantastic work Ian! I really like the way the body is starting fit together.   Still can't wait to see that seat gone though!

 

 

Matt

Matt,

 

I get the feeling he is hanging on to that seat just for you!

[bowtiebutler956 650]

 

 

 Fantastic work Ian! I really like the way the body is starting fit together.   Still can't wait to see that seat gone though!

 

 

Matt

Matt,

 

I get the feeling he is hanging on to that seat just for you!

   

[Butch 194]

How hard is it to change a flat tire?

[wheeledhorseman 574]

It's gonna look sooo good when it starts going red Ian - can't wait. You're doing a grand job there mate!

[Anglo Traction 761]

 .Spot on with the Fender/Guards design. look's the Dogz Ian. Oh ! and just spray the exposed foam on the seat Black....just to confuse Matt   

[bowtiebutler956 650]

 .Spot on with the Fender/Guards design. look's the Dogz Ian. Oh ! and just spray the exposed foam on the seat Black....just to confuse Matt   

 Richard, no can of black paint is going to fool me, at least not for long, maybe.  

 

Matt

[Stigian 1,234]

Starting to look Nice now Ian... nice fab work on it...

 

Thanks Lars.

 

 

 

The fender mod looks great!

Mike.....

 

Ta muchly Mike.

 

 

 

Great looking lines on the fenders and seat pan.

Have you considered covers for the wheel sprockets ?

 

Thanking you kindly Sir...  Covers over the wheel sprockets will be happening as the front sprockets tend to drag in snow, mud, grass, children and small birds at the mo   I have the steel to make them ready and waiting..

 

 

 

 Fantastic work Ian! I really like the way the body is starting fit together.   Still can't wait to see that seat gone though!

 

Matt

 

Thanks Matt... I thought you liked the look of the seat???

 

 

 

 Fantastic work Ian! I really like the way the body is starting fit together.   Still can't wait to see that seat gone though!

 

 

Matt

Matt,

 

I get the feeling he is hanging on to that seat just for you!

 

How did you guess?

 

 

 

How hard is it to change a flat tire?

 

Dunno, not had a flat on it yet..     I'd guess maybe just over an hour depending on how many coffee breaks are had.   There is quite a bit of dismantling needed to get a wheel off.

 

 

 

 

It's gonna look sooo good when it starts going red Ian - can't wait. You're doing a grand job there mate!

 

Thanks Andy, when the red paint starts going on it's going to be a sweet moment.. I'm sick of looking at the brown paint now.

 

 

 

 .Spot on with the Fender/Guards design. look's the Dogz Ian. Oh ! and just spray the exposed foam on the seat Black....just to confuse Matt   

 

Thanks Richard, I don't have black paint at the mo, but will black duct tape do?

 

[Stigian 1,234]

AArrgghhh... I just clicked on the "back a page" button on my mouse and lost everything I had triped

 

Let's try again shall we?

 

 

I should have the battery box built by now, but got a little distracted by making something else!!!

 

The distraction started by scribbling a few lines on a bit of old computer case.

 

 

 

Which soon looked like this after a bit of cutting and shaping.

 

 

 

It could fit here..

 

 

 

Or maybe set back a bit?

 

 

 

This panel was only made just to see how a panel in that place would look, I don't like the way the holes are set out so I probably won't be using it..

 

It was only when I opened the hood that I realized I needed to make another part of the puzzle before I could work out exactly where the panel could go anyway..

 

 

 

Sooo, Pete started shaping a bit of hard wood..

 

 

 

While I cut out and oval-ish bit of steel.

 

 

 

Yep, the wood is to act as a "former"  (is that the right word?) to shape the steel around.

 

 

 

Lot's and hammering and arm ache later..

 

 

 

And then there were two..

 

 

 

The third part of the puzzle marked out for cutting..

 

 

 

As I don't want the inside to rust all the surface rust was cleaned off before getting a coat of red oxide.

 

 

 

Can you guess what it is yet? 

 

 

 

Some interesting ways were found to hold the steel in place for welding!!

 

 

 

Almost there..

 

 

 

If you had not worked it out by now, it's a fuel tank 

 

I just need to seam weld it all and add a filler cap and fuel tap..

 

It's not a perfect shape but nor am I so were well suited

 

 

 

 

I almost forgot!!   Here's part 48 of the build video's.. Enjoy.

 

 

Edited March 27, 2013 by Stigian