Stigian 1,234 #76 Posted January 24, 2011 Good morning Guy's.. Its incredible how you just plunge ahead and build with no blue-prints to fall back on Ian. I couldnt do what your up to with a full set of engineered plans rolleyes.gif . Its allways exciting to hear about your progress. Thanks, Mike.......... Hi Mike, thanks for your kind comments I've always been a "throw all the parts in a pile and work it out from there" kinda engineer. I've never really been able to draw out accurate plans and work from them, partly because my plans always tend to change slightly, but mostly because I find it easier to hold a part up and work out how it can be made fit Funny your working on a american tractor brake rotors , and in here in the us make brake rotor hats for a aston martin............ Life can be a strange thing Chris Mike these guys shoot from the hip. That is talent. Thanks Chris, I'm not sure about Talent, more like guess work and blind luck After all that saying, "I don't draw plans" here's a few kinda plans.. Even though I have quite a good idea on the chassis mods, it would be quite hard for me to explain in words, so I quickly cobbled up a few diagrams to help Red is original Wheel Horse, yellow is the extra steel I've got to add.. Oh... These plans are nowhere near "to scale". Side view.. From the front. And from the top. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bitten 134 #77 Posted January 24, 2011 Looking good Ian. Glad to see that you are back at it.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #78 Posted January 29, 2011 Hi Bitten, yep it's full-ish steam ahead with this project now At the end of my last (non plans) update I was busy at the lathe creating a very big washer As luck would have it when I turner the washer over it fitted the Kawasaki Gpz 305 brake disc a treat With a notch cut out of the original Z200 disc mounting flange .... The Gpz disc could be fitted on the new wheel hub. And a side on view.. A quick check to see if there was still enough space for the Gpz caliper... Plenty If one caliper per side isn't enough steering/stopping power, it will be easy enough to fit a second caliper each side.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #79 Posted January 29, 2011 Almost up to date now, this was yesterdays work. Garry on the lathe creating a second Gpz brake disc adapter plate fo the other side of the 'orse. Rob on the pillar drill, drilling out some wheel bolt holes. By the end of the day we had the disc bolted on using the original Gpz bolts.. And the wheel bolt holes drilled and threaded. The nut's on the back of the brake disc bolts will be welded on and the tread sticking out will be trimmed off. To finish the day off a wheel rim was bolted on just to check it would Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sparky-(Admin) 21,860 #80 Posted January 29, 2011 Your a lucky man Ian, good friends, good tools, good cofee, good smokes, and a good workshop . The progress is lookin great. Mike.......... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Allis nut 0 #81 Posted January 30, 2011 Wow that thing is gonna be awesome!!! You have some excellent fab skills!! Are you gonna put a blade on the front? Or is it gonna be a toy? I cant wait to see the next update!!! Keep up the good work!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #82 Posted February 6, 2011 Good morning from a slightly wet but very windy UK.. Roll on summer or at least less windy weather Your a lucky man Ian, good friends, good tools, good cofee, good smokes, and a good workshop whtractor/thumbsup.gif . The progress is lookin great. Hi Mike, thanks for that Yes I am quite lucky to have a good group of friends. Fine chap's all of them. Wow that thing is gonna be awesome!!! You have some excellent fab skills!! Are you gonna put a blade on the front? Or is it gonna be a toy? I cant wait to see the next update!!! Keep up the good work!! Thanks Paul. I'm not sure about the excellent fab skills, just learning as we go along. I do keep thinking that this beast needs a blade up front, maybe once the build is finished and I've ironed out any bugs. Is it gonna be a toy? Lol nope, this will be a full on working machine A few updates ago I mentioned that the reason I never really draw up detailed plans is because my plans tend to change a bit.. Well, case in point here. While having a quick measure up for the front and middle axles, I had one of those "quick panic" moments when I realized that I would not be able to get 22" long axles on my lathe As per normal, a quick smoke and coffee was all that was needed to work out that if I moved the inner bearings out a bit, the new shorter axles would fit on my lathe. Some extra metal is needed to have something to bolt the inner bearings onto. So here is the latest version of my er... plan. The green bits are the extra bits of steel needed. While on the subject of colourful things.. Garry had a play with the settings on his camera while I was welding the nut's on the back of the brake disc flange thingy.. In red-ish.. And blue-ish.. Shockingly, for a little while I have ran out of bit's that require lathe work, so the time had come to start welding all the machined bits together. The first flange clamped on.. The wheel mounting flange thingy was big enough to get four clamps on. I did have a few concerns about my welding skills as getting a good even weld on corners has never been my strong point.. But I am very happy with the results.. Must be getting the knack of this welding lark In this photo you can also see where the grub screws have been fitted. Drilling and tapping a thread that lines up perfectly with the key-ways was a bit worrying as well, but luck must of been on my side as the threads came out in just the right place Some of my best welding to date.. A bit chuffed about it I did a bit of Fleabay shopping the other day which resulted in quite a heavy package arriving... Bearings.. 20 tapered bearings in fact. These bearings are not quite as wide as I would like at 1/2" wide, but finding tapered bearings that are an inch wide with a 1" bore proved impossible Which is why I ordered twice the amount of bearings I should need, and came up with this badly scribbled design for mounting two bearings in one holder and a place to get a grease nipple in.. After a while I decided that this bearing holder looks quite like a standard trailer wheel hub, but working in reverse.. The bearing holders will be machined from this 1 1/2" thick slab of steel.. So the power hacksaw was dusted off and fired up for the first time in a year! It was a shame the already slightly knackered saw blade decided it didn't want to have any teeth after 10 min's of sawing!! Oh well, some more blades have been ordered.. That's all for now Folks other than I'm waiting for a steel quote to come in which should be tomorrow. If it's as cheap as I'm hoping then all the structural steel for this project will be ordered tomorrow.. Yep, not long now until the serious chassis work starts :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neil 2,410 #83 Posted February 6, 2011 im looking forward to seeing this grow ian , when do you anticipate on completion wish i had your skills Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #84 Posted February 6, 2011 Hi Neil, I can't commit myself to a completion date (sooner rather than later would be nice), but with another house move on the cards at some point this year I can't see it being finished this year.. The plan is to have it at least rolling on it's wheels before we move house. As for my skills, I'm self taught. Don't be scared of trying something, have a bash it. Practice makes perfect.. Or very close to :thumbs: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sparky-(Admin) 21,860 #85 Posted February 6, 2011 , but with another house move on the cards at some point this year I can't see it being finished this year.. The plan is to have it at least rolling on it's wheels before we move house. What a drag having to move agian Ian. How many house moves is that in the last year or two? Too many thats for sure. But you definitly have the "knack" of welding pal! They looked proffesional . Mike.......... PS....maybe you'll get lucky and the new house will allready have a good size workshack! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AMC RULES 37,144 #86 Posted February 6, 2011 This is such a cool thread. :thumbs: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zieg72 209 #87 Posted February 6, 2011 This is such a cool thread. X2, always an enjoyable read... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #88 Posted February 6, 2011 What a drag having to move agian Ian. How many house moves is that in the last year or two? Too many thats for sure. But you definitly have the "knack" of welding pal! They looked proffesional whtractor/thumbsup.gif Your right Mike it is a bit of a drag having to move again, but at least it should only be (he says with fingers crossed) the one move this year. It was two house moves last year Strangely Garry mentioned that the work on this project is looking professional.. I told him to go and wash his mouth out with Detol and a wire brush PS....maybe you'll get lucky and the new house will allready have a good size workshack! That would be nice Mike Even though the move isn't going to happen until September we are already looking and trying to find a place with "out buildings" as the letting agents like to call them.. This is such a cool thread. thankyousign.gif Your welcome. X2, always an enjoyable read... Your welcome X2 I missed a photo from my earlier update (sorry), nothing exciting just a close-up of the brake disc mounting flange to show where I had to recess the bolt hold so the shoulder on the bolts will wind in the right amount and hold the disc firmly in place. I thought my scribbled out diagram for the bearing holders looked a bit too messy and hard to understand.. So here's the computerized version Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
farmer 1,078 #89 Posted February 6, 2011 Hi Stigian, Quite a project, I'm not an engineer, and any knowledge I have is very basic. but I cant help but wonder, dont you think its asking a lot for 1 driving wheel to push 4 large unpowered ridged wheels sideways when turning? Weighting the driving wheels may help, but its a lot of torque on small axle stubs BTW Where are you going to hang the deck :thumbs: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #90 Posted February 20, 2011 Hi Rex, that's quite a good question... The answer is.. I hope it will work! Just re-read your question dont you think its asking a lot for 1 driving wheel to push 4 large unpowered ridged wheels sideways when turning? All the wheels will be driven, they will be linked with pulleys and belts, which will give a lot more turning force than one driven wheel. Weighting the driving wheels may help, but its a lot of torque on small axle stubs I don't think a lack of weight will be a problem BTW Where are you going to hang the deck I think a nice big dozer blade on the front will take care of any long grass Bit of a big update this time, so maybe now's the time to make a coffee or smoke before continuing Last time I left you with a computer picture thingy of my bearing holder idea. A start was made by machining smaller lumps of rusty steel into something much more pleasing on the eye. This years entry for the "Modern art" award! 4 out of 10, 5 was on the lathe. The next 5 need to be cut from the BIG slab of steel which is not going to be fun! The big news is all my chassis steel has turned up Lot's of 2x2" (sorry 50 x 50mm, my brain can't cope with metric) box section, some steel bar for spinning up four stub axle things and some quite large 6 x 3" rectangular box! This 6x3 might was a bit bigger than I wanted, but as it may turn out, being bigger might help make the vehicle smaller More on this at a later date Needing a break from standing in front of the lathe I stripped 'orse down to the bare basics, plonked some wheels on the bench and got the tripe measure out. The steel on the bench was delivered by mistake! (sorry for the rubbish iphone photo) Pete dropped in last Monday to say "hi" and "bye" for a while, Pete and his Wife flew out to Cape Town Wednesday to spend at least 5 weeks with their son. So I cooked him up a special lunch..... First time food has been cooked in one of my Workshack's in years! Moving make to things a tad more on the metallic side, the chassis was stripped to almost naked and clamped firm! Clamped firm for more welding. I looked the the extension the chassis had already received and decided that I should take idiot who did it to court for very bad workmanship!! Trouble was that idiot was me To try and make good my sins, the chassis extension was cut off, cut apart, and welded back on straight... Oh... and extended an extra 2 inches. With sparks flying the front axle mount was soon sliced off.. Won't be needing that any more! More sparks as more unneeded metal came off. I can't remember what these were the remains of, it's been a few years since they were sliced off. It is/was a C125 chassis. And to finish the first part of this update, a cleaned-ish up chassis with a 9 3/4" extension. More to come very soon, I need to nip out for a smoke and my rum and coke seems to of drained it's self out the glass :drool: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #91 Posted February 20, 2011 Smoke smoked and glass refilled After what feels like years of standing in front of the lathe machining lot's of different sizes and shapes of metal, it feels good to be able to make a start on something that looks like I'm getting somewhere.. and thus the chassis strengthening work has started The first new metal to be cut was one of the lower chassis rails, as modeled by Garry. The new "starting to look a bit chunky" chassis. At this point only the lower rails and front uprights have been tacked in place. A view from the top, you can see all the "where bits will go" markings. Trying to think ahead is the name of the game with this project, it's handy to know where bit's go before other bits are welded on. One such thought was about the engine, the rubber mounted engines have oil drain pipes on the base, and I needed to know where that pipe would be sitting on the chassis. A rough measure up showed it would be roughly in between the 2 new uprights! Bit of a pain as I had planned join the uprights together with more box! I can work around it easily, it's just best to know these things before I go to fit the engine in a freshly painted chassis only to find it won't fit because I welded some metal in the way!! Oh, if your wondering why I'm using angle iron for the lower rails there are a few reasons... Partly because it matches the top chassis rails.. Partly to save a bit of weight (this machine will be quite heavy)... But mostly so I can bolt the trans to the chassis Flicking back to the lathe for a minute, the first of the bearing holders had what I'm calling a "centralization hole" drilled in the middle. This hole is needed so I can bolt a jig to the block, it will also come in handy for centralizing the block when it go's back on the lathe to be bored out for bearings. If your wondering why the hole is not in the center of the tool marks on the block, the largest faces were faced off first, then the sides were machined down which moved the centers of large faces.. HHmmmm... I think just maybe the rum and coke has kicked in, sorry if I'm rambling on a bit In an attempt to stop rambling, I will try and keep things simple!! As I have to make ten bearing holders a jig makes things simple to drill mounting holes in exactly the same place on all ten. Line up, bolt on tight, and use the drill to mark where the bolt holes go.. This photo is simply called "Max Clampage" The engine drain pipe still bugged me as we had only worked out where it would end up with a very rough measurement. But with the chassis uprights firmly tack welded in place, the chassis could be moved to the floor to have the engine dropped in place to check once and for all. Yep!! The drain pipe falls exactly where the rough measurements said it would! The last photo for this update shows not only an upside down chassis, but also small cross-member thingys that fit bottom and top between the uprights. When they are all seam welded together it will make a very strong place to weld the out riggers onto. That's all for now Folks, thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings :thumbs: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sparky-(Admin) 21,860 #92 Posted February 20, 2011 As allways you give a great update Ian! My engineering skills are non-existant so I have no idea how this will all come together. Nice work as usual . Mike............ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horse Fanatic 49 #93 Posted February 21, 2011 Love your posts, keep them coming! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dwayneGT 6 #95 Posted February 25, 2011 :thumbs: Eagerly awaiting your next update! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
corn53 4 #96 Posted February 26, 2011 :thumbs: Awesome work!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chris11 184 #97 Posted March 5, 2011 It is really moving ahead. glad to see the updates. Please if you need anything. Please let me know thanks........ I think Mike and i are going to start a STIG FAN CLUB the U.S. chapter................ :thumbs: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duff 206 #98 Posted March 6, 2011 I think Mike and i are going to start a STIG FAN CLUB the U.S. chapter................ Sign me up, too! Duff :thumbs: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chris11 184 #99 Posted March 7, 2011 Your in Duff. Now we need t shirts made............ :thumbs: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #100 Posted March 13, 2011 Hi Guy's sorry it's been almost three weeks since my last update, life and other issues has kept me away from the Pc. As allways you give a great update Ian! My engineering skills are non-existant so I have no idea how this will all come together. Nice work as usual Hi Mike, I'm also wondering how all this will come together As ever the so called "plan" keeps changing slightly as I come across problems and work out "workarounds" to them, but that's all part of the fun of building something "one off". Love your posts, keep them coming! Thanks Glenn, I will ( He says after not posting for 3 weeks ) whtractor/thumbsup.gif Thanks Bitten. Eagerly awaiting your next update! Await no longer Dwayne Awesome work!!! Ta muchly Corn53 It is really moving ahead. glad to see the updates. Please if you need anything. Please let me know thanks........ Hi Chris, yep this project it starting to look like something has been happening now Please if you need anything. Please let me know thanks........ You had better get a pen and paper Chris, it's a bit of a long list I think Mike and i are going to start a STIG FAN CLUB the U.S. chapter................ whtractor/thumbsup.gif As a RedSquare member do I get discount when joining the Stig fan club? Sign me up, too! Your in Duff. Now we need t shirts made............ biggrin.gif Your in luck guy's, I don't think my ugly mug has any copyright issues :thumbs: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
