Stigian 1,234 #101 Posted December 4, 2014 Looking better all the time. Keep up the good work. Thank you very much Sir I've just read this thread from the beginning and its amazing, completely mad but who cares about that. I almost built a trike a few years ago, plan was to use an old Moto Guzzi lump. This build reminds me of it. Can't wait to see it finished. Thanks Horse46, yeah it is a bit of a mad build but that's what makes it all the more fun I bet your thinking about fitting an old Moto Guzzi lump in a Wh now Looking Good. Thanks Fabricator. Morning all, the tale of Why Not's chassis continues with some more metal being added on Monday.. The front of the engine cradle had some mounts welded on, the small holes need to be drilled out a bit so I can weld some crush tube in, then they will be ready for bolts. A couple of diagonal strengtheners. This small bit of box will be the front body tub mounts. I think the chassis is starting to look quite good now Which has got me around to thinking that's it's about time I got the axle narrowing finished and narrowed the axles... Which is why I spent a lot of yesterday getting my lathe all bolted down and up and running Cutting/cooling fluid is pumped from this Ford screen washer bottle as it has been for years.. But this time the pump is powered by a model railway controller thingy, ideal for changing the speed of the flow If all goes to plan tomorrow I might even get both axles done.... But to tide you over here's my latest "Why Not" video.. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #102 Posted December 5, 2014 Well chaps, no going back now To stick the axles back together, I starting with a bit of notching.. Like so.. Not quite the perfect fit but better to notch out not enough material than take out too much at this stage.. Using one of the old fashioned thick cutting discs as a grinding disc I could remove a little metal at a time and keep it flat.. Until I had a perfect notch.. The overlap is 1 inch by the way.. That's a much better fit To make sure the welds had something to really bite into and fill up all the edges of the joins very deeply V'd. Time to start welding, but it wasn't me who did the welding!! As Nigel's boy Karl is a coded welder and he happened to be about today I asked him if he would be kind enough to weld my axles up for me.. And a grand job he made of it too.. Thanks Karl A finished pair of half shafts The plan was to shrink fit some sleeves over the join but as Karl knows what he is doing with a welder and the extra heat caused by shrink fitting then welding a sleeve could well weaken the shafts, the sleeves will be staying off.. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
km3h 543 #103 Posted December 5, 2014 Wish I had both your skill and imagination. Great job. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #104 Posted December 7, 2014 Wish I had both your skill and imagination. Great job. Thanks Nick, the skills you can learn but imagination is down to you.. Just look around for inspiration, there are plenty of wonderful machine's here at RS to get the brain cells going The latest Why Not video for you all.. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JC 1965 1,530 #105 Posted December 7, 2014 Well as usual Ian it looks great so far. can't wait to see more. You have some amazing skills. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prondzy 3,883 #106 Posted December 7, 2014 very nice project! I know you didn't want to modify the tins in the beginning but seeing the angle of the frame in front of the radiator to the hood rails it would look pretty cool to notch out a small angle in the hood and make the grill stand at an angle more so it looks like an upside down freight train or the profile of a 7. just my two cents. keep up the good work 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #107 Posted December 13, 2014 Well as usual Ian it looks great so far. can't wait to see more. You have some amazing skills. Thanks Jerry very nice project! I know you didn't want to modify the tins in the beginning but seeing the angle of the frame in front of the radiator to the hood rails it would look pretty cool to notch out a small angle in the hood and make the grill stand at an angle more so it looks like an upside down freight train or the profile of a 7. just my two cents. keep up the good work Funny you should bring this up, I was looking at the front of the hood the other day and thought it looked a bit upright and not as mean as I had in mind! Looking at this photo there is enough space between the front of the hood and the engine frame to "lean" the front of the hood inwards at the bottom... You have certainly given me something to think about Duels anyone? Maybe not... A bit too much Progress has been made although it's hard to tell from the next photo.. The axle has been put back together, diff and half shafts installed.. The axle can now be unbolted from the chassis, and the axle mounting place on the chassis has had some reinforcing.. I really need to take some photos! One thing I always pride myself on is doing everything "In house" or even "In workshop", partly because it's nice to be able to say "I made that", and partly because I'd rather spend time making something than part with money So with that in mind yesterday I finally came up with an accurate, safe and strong way I could convert a Wh rear wheel with it's 5 bolt 4 1/2" PCD.. To fit the Reliant's 4 bolt 4" PCD I found this nice length of thick plate hiding on the bottom of a shelf in Nigel's "Handy scrap metal" store.. (Thanks Nigel ) which is enough to make 2 wheel centers from. Let the lathe work start The bad news is this steel is rather hard so it's going to take quite a while to turn each wheel center! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevasaurus 22,910 #108 Posted December 13, 2014 Just re-read this thread and caught up, Ian...what a great read Mate!! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #109 Posted January 1, 2015 Just re-read this thread and caught up, Ian...what a great read Mate!! Thanks Steve, here's a bit more for you to read Even though I have not posted anything about Why Not for a few weeks work has slowly been happening.. When I left off at the end of the last update I had just started making new wheel centers.. Like so Which eventually turned into this... The raised bit is a nice tight fit in the center of the wheel which means the new wheel center is centralized in the center of the wheel And from the outside it looks like this.. Please note the widened wheel rim was used for photographic purposes only and won't be going on Why Not.. Bolt holes drilled... The extra two holes were the result of me making a jig out of ally to drill the holes accurately.... The trouble with ally is it's rather soft to use as a jig and one of the new holes ended up a couple of mm's in the wrong place! Time to break out the welder.. Lot's of tacks to stop it moving with heat.. Fully welded in.. A mixture of neat strong welds and not quite so neat but still strong welds The blackish ring seen on the inside shows good heat penetration.. Next up was to remove the old wheel center... Once it was cleaned up you could see the join between the new wheel center and the old metal, so I carefully ground out a V along the join and.... Back filled the V with plenty of weld With the welds and the raised center carefully ground down to make it all smooth and level.. I could finally bolt a Wheel Horse wheel to a Reliant rear axle 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
19richie66 17,531 #110 Posted January 1, 2015 NICE! Guess thats one way of doing it. Keep going......... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #111 Posted January 4, 2015 NICE! Guess thats one way of doing it. Keep going......... Thanks Richie.. The second rear wheel is almost done, it just needs the welds tidying up a bit with the grind.. A slight change of design with this wheel center, I made sure I didn't have as much this time to grind out the center 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #112 Posted January 11, 2015 Morning all, more progress has been made but once again things are happening much slower than I'd like.. But such is life eh.. Both rear wheels have now been converted to the 4 bolt Reliant pattern which is a big step forward.. With both rear wheel bolted on I could finally get an idea on wide Why Not's rear end is.. Best have a look at the front end now.. as I plan to fit disc brakes to the front I need a pair of wheel hubs and wheels that will fit.... So out came the grinder to cut the centers out of a pair of wheels that Doug kindly sent me.. The wheel centers came with a handy strengthener plate welded inside.. A very handy strengthener plate as it turned out as it's the perfect fit inside the front wheel.. But it was only when I put the wheel center in the lathe that I noticed quite how much the manufacturing process had warped the wheel around the center and bolt holes.. No matter how much I tried it would just not sit right/central in the lathe! Time for plan B.... Make my own wheel centers.. Here we go again, more time at the lathe... It's a good job I find it relaxing 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jparkes43 329 #113 Posted January 11, 2015 like it ian, good to see even little bits happening, she is wide but that will held will some stability james 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prondzy 3,883 #114 Posted January 11, 2015 Looking good! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JC 1965 1,530 #115 Posted January 11, 2015 Great progress Ian, I love the look of this project. Can't wait for the next update. Thanks so much for the videos. Thanks for sharing. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #116 Posted January 18, 2015 like it ian, good to see even little bits happening, she is wide but that will held will some stability james Thanks James.. Yep the extra width will help with stability which can only be a good thing Looking good! Thank you Sir Great progress Ian, I love the look of this project. Can't wait for the next update. Thanks so much for the videos. Thanks for sharing. Thanks Jerry, here's the next update to keep you going... I hope to have enough video footage tomorrow to string another video together, so keep ya eyes peeled for the next vid maybe Wednesday.. Not much to report, I have made a rather big washer.. Which will become the new center for this wheel.. Which with some holes drilled will be able to bolt on the new front wheel hubs.. Here's one of them in it's "before being cut up" state.. This wheel won't be fitted, but while I had it to hand I thought it would be too good a photo opportunity to miss It's not a JD wheel, it was just painted the wrong colour at the factory The time had come to cut one of the centers out... The wheel is slightly too large to fit on my lathe, but it will fit on Nigel's lathe with a few tweaks.. A bit of chain drilling and chisel work later.. The inside of the wheel had some extra cutting to make the hole a little larger.. And on the lathe the wheel went. The inside taking shape. A few hours later... And to finish up this small update, a groove being cut in one of the new centers. This will center the new center in the rim 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #117 Posted January 21, 2015 Evening all, a bit more progress today with one of the front wheels almost finished.. Two new wheel centers, can you spot which one is finished? It slots into the wheel like so from the inside. And looks like this from the outside.. A close up for you.. I couldn't be happier with the fit I need to grind a V shape into the two parts of the wheel to give me something to fill full of weld.. Once the weld is cleaned back you won't know it's not original.. Until you look at the inside of course The wheel is a nice tight fit on the wheel hub.. I have also been thinking about the front brakes.. There is just enough room to get a Kwakasaki Gpz 305 caliper and a small brake disc inside the wheel, though I have a feeling I might need to make my own brake discs!! Has anyone ever tried it and did they work? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jparkes43 329 #118 Posted January 21, 2015 some nice progress, erm i dont see why you couldnt make your own disc i mean how hard could it be or could you just mill down the original caliper? james 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horse46 519 #119 Posted January 21, 2015 I have to keep checking I'm not on Brit chopper when I read your posts Stigian, this is the kind of bonkers I used to look forward to reading when I was into building choppers! I've never made my own discs, I always found stuff that could be made to fit, however I thought about it for at least a minute and then and idea sprung forth MAYBE, ok it's a big maybe, but a REAR motorcycle disc might work, they are much smaller in diameter, and some of the older types have a bit more centre to them, which could help for making new holes ? some nice progress, erm i dont see why you couldnt make your own disc i mean how hard could it be or could you just mill down the original caliper? james I'm not sure James but they may have to be a certain steel or treated for extreme heat? I could be wrong as well lol. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horse46 519 #120 Posted January 21, 2015 I was thinking you could make one of you wheel centres and bolt weld?? to the centre of a disc like this ( if it was small enough to fit) just an idea of course, not really thought ot out properly, but who knows food for thought. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jparkes43 329 #121 Posted January 21, 2015 (edited) yes but i was thinking if you made one it wont be vented (yes you could slot and drill it) but not vented and at why not speeds that might be a problem? because it will over heat? james but ive never tried to make one i mean you could try!! Edited January 21, 2015 by Jparkes43 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horse46 519 #122 Posted January 21, 2015 Of course James, what am I thinking, its a tractor, speed isn't going to be a problem.......Stigian?? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jparkes43 329 #123 Posted January 21, 2015 Of course James, what am I thinking, its a tractor, speed isn't going to be a problem.......Stigian?? ha ha ha, its only 10MPH isnt it james Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C-101plowerpower 1,606 #124 Posted January 21, 2015 ha ha ha, its only 10MPH isnt it james add another 0 Ian why not use a chute like top fuel dragsters? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jparkes43 329 #125 Posted January 21, 2015 This. james Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
