Projects Belly Tank Build UK

Nice A ...A....Avatar. yes that's the word I was after.

 

My buddy had a similar liquid/liquid cooling system for his dyno in his garage. (He ran the exhaust stack out the roof - in a housing subdivision!!)

 

You may need more volume in that tank for ice as well.

 

You may be right Tman, its only going to see short course action here in the UK so I'm hoping the water tank will be big enough, its got around ten gallon capacity beetween the heat exchanger and the main water tank. The water from the main tank is pumped through the heat exchanger with an electric pump, so should work quite well for a limited amount of time, not really going to know till I get some test runs in.

 

Had a day stripping it all down yesterday, looks like its about to get airbourn in this shot

Welded together both my engine stands so I can swivel the chassis while finish welding and painting.

 

Looks terrific, what are the dimensions of the C channel?
Thanx,
Tom

 

Thanks Tom, C channel is 3 1/4" deep 1 3/4 wide and 0.200" thick its a metric size but thats a close translation to imperial.

 

That should be fine. We use a simple bilge pump to move it

 

Outstanding build, will be watching thread, hoping to make it to Pendine in May, hope you make it too.

 

You are a true ARTIST and show some amazing mastery!

 

Excellent work, Jamie. All the gear and all the ideas for a change.
Mart.

 

Cheers Mart. Been meaning to ask what cutter your using in your boring bar, in your video I noticed its got a carbide insert, left hand lathe cutter? Ive never been very good at sharpening lathe tooling so the idea of inserts for my boring bar is apealing.

 

I was at a boring bar last night.
Left alone

 

Hope you all had a good festive season and happy new year to you.
Got a couple of days in at the workshop over the holidays, finished all the welding, about ten hours solid welding, got it in the paint both and shot it with some 2k satin black.

Decided I needed more castor angle, the 36 front radius rods have about 7 degree built in, but thats not a lot for a straight line car so have pie cut the rods and realinged the spring perch to compensate. This should give me about 15 degrees of caster, still not a massive amount but should do the job.

Also got to use my Delapina (uk version of Sunnen) hone for the first time since I rebuilt it last year, put new kingpin bushes in the font spindles and honed the bushing for a nice slip fit on the new king pins.

 

I've just read the whole thread. Fantastic skills and a great eye for what looks right! Progress for one years time is quite impressive as well. Bravo!
Matt

 

That all looks really good. The caster angle is about what i ended up with and for the speeds i will be getting with a Willys 4 that will be plenty, you should be able to go faster on a longer run. Looking forward to lots more progress as the push is on for May!! JW

 

Gota laugh at that

 

Some great engineering in this build, looking forward to possibly seeing it at Pendine!

 

Been in the paint booth again and painted the axles and all the bits so I can get it back as a rolling chassis in paint!, looking forward to putting it all back together.


Also started putting the quick change together, first one I've done so lots of studying Vern Tardels how to quick change book and Youtube.
First step was to machine the Ford pinion down to fit in the rear bearing cover, started turning with carbide insert but it was hard going and the shaft was coming out sort of hexagonal so finished up with a tool post grinder.


This is a magnesium center section so I was a bit worried about using a tourch on it to warm the case and install the bearings, thought it might burst into flames, so used a couple of heat lamps instead, worked really well the pinion just slid in nicely with just a gentle tap to seat it.

Pinion and lower shaft bearings in.

 

You have made and still making great progress, very cool. JW

 

Jamie, will send you a pm.

 

More work on the quickchange this week, I think if there was a guinness book of records section for the most times a quick change has been assembled and disasembled during setup then I'd be a winner.


Litle trick out of the Vern Tardel book, welding a bar in to remove bearing races with a slide hammer.
New bearings going on the carrier.

And after many many atempts fitting side bell shims and pinion shims I finally got the correct backlash, preloads and a nice contact pattern on the crown wheel. To say this stage was labour intensive would be a massive understatment.

 

A bit more weld in the bearing cup and you won't need the slide hammer, it will fall out. Impressive car and fabrication.

 

I was going to say that too, quick tip from my high school auto shop teacher, just take the MIG welder and weld a bead all the way around the inside of the race and when it cools off it will fall out.

 

Yeah, usually 3 or 4 spots an inch long is enough. doesn't take a lot. Only has to shrink a couple thousandths. I worked on earthmovers for many years. Surprising how many blind bearings there are with no way to get behind them.

 

Finaly got the tank back on its wheels..

Also started machine work on the engine, boring it out ready for big pistons

Striped the steering box for a bit of inspection, fresh grease and adjustment, there's some pitting on the worm and sector but it adjusts up ok so will do for now.

All back together and ready for a spot of paint.

 

Nice work Jamie. Good to see another Buma in action, and I see you have the honing tool also. How cool is that?
Mart.

 

If mine looks half that good in paint i will be happy...you must be very pleased with what you have built.What is the spacing between the two vertical pieces of the roll age behind the seat? JW

 

Thanks JW, spacing is about 4 1/2 to 5" between rear uprights, I think the spacing could vary a bit depending on your harness setup.