Keyser

Now by this point I was losing it, stomping about the garage and generally being a bit of d**k, even Mrs K pointed out that if it wasn’t fun I probably shouldn’t be doing it ……. She is the voice of reason, so I walked away for a bit, but I’m a stubborn sod and really wanted quarter panels and a firewall, so with a coffee in hand I sat on my comfy chair and re-thought the problems,

The top, bottom and middle rails create a flair as they go up so the top of the cockpit is wider than the bottom, a sensible design feature, but each rail is a different diameter and radius this cause issues in itself with the shape, secondly I was trying to copy the original panels which are set just inside the curve of the rails

 

 

Although due to lack of quality control they couldn’t get that right or at least not hold it square while welding

 

 

Made me feel better  

 

So I decided to approach it from a different angle thinking outside the box so to speak, This is now the off side as I didn’t photo all the nearside fabrication as I wasn’t sure this would go any better than the previous two disastrous attempts  

 

 

My biggest problem is the multiple radius so the bar in the middle was removed along with the metal plate (both circled in red above – other colours available) the that metal plate is the backing board for the electrical components but it’s in my way, I want to modify it and I wont be able to paint the back after I finish the firewall so I’ll come back to it later

 

Offending rail

 

 

All gone

 

 

Then a quick repair to some damage I did when cutting the floor pan to shape

 

 

No one will ever know

 

 

A new template

 

 

Transfer to metal

 

 

Cut out

 

 

Marked and onto the bead roller

 

 

Gives us

 

 

I needed a different dolly for this job – I just happened to have this very special one in the Shed

 

 

 

It’s a custom dolly OK not just a bit of pipe in the vice  

 

Anyway it worked

 

 

Now as I have overlapped the panel onto the frame you can cheat when you weld by starting the weld on the thicker frame then you “push” the weld pool quickly onto the thin metal and power off before it melts (well that’s the theory)

 

 

Bottom rail weld

 

 

Side bar

 

 

Top bar

 

 

Join the dots

 

 

OK I’m engaging smug mode now – I actually think that’s pretty neat welding

 

I can’t do to much linishing as it will weaken the ridiculously thin metal

 

 

I’ll probably just use high build primer and a spot of filler to blend it before paint

 

 

Any way it looks like this

 

 

 

And the nearside got the same treatment

 

 

Inside

 

 

And the finished pair

 

 

Thank you very much

 

What a relief.

Tomorrow I may post the firewall build, but I may put some time into the 2^nd side project I have (I did mention it earlier) as I need that for the weekend – either way something will happen and the results posted for you to review

 

 

Keyser - “He succeeded in being considered totally uninteresting. People left him alone. And that was all he wanted.” ― Patrick Suskind

 

I hope he wasn’t talking about me

 

 

Another day another dollar as they say, or in this case another post.

 

This is not only another big post, well multiple posts as it is hard to keep track of the pictures after 10 – I run out of fingers   this is in fact a complete waste of time!! But as you lot have stayed with the build so far I thought it only fair that you had a blow by blow account of the failures as well, I’m not perfect and these modifications are not some bolt on part with instructions and maybe a bit of fiddling to get them to fit.

 

Each part comes from the depths of my mind – that’s a bad place top start and are then built from scratch, and as much as I really appreciate the complements on my work, the pedestal some of you have put me on is completely unjustified cause I can **** it up with the best of them  

That’s were the famous saying “something will happen” comes from as both @Beb and I are willing to try, the result may be good bad or anywhere in the middle.

 

So please join me in one that I deemed a total failure………..

 

The plan is to make quarter panels to again reduce the mud splash, protect the seats and ultimately allow me to link them into a firewall as these don’t have one out of the factory – I say factory I think it’s a garden shed somewhere  

 

Starting with some good old card

 

 

To make a template

 

 

Transfer to metal

 

 

The lovely shape was gained using a knee, a hammer and a dolly – meet dolly  

 

 

Gets this sort of thing

 

 

Then I marked it out for some bead roller action – that’s this thing, I added a motor to it ages ago so it’s a one-man operation

 

Marked out for said roller

 

 

 No pic of it rolled

That was then welded into the frame

 

 

 

I know you are most likely thinking that it looks s**t – I know I was!!

 

The weld is  bad – I’ll explain that in a moment – and it’s not a uniform curve, this is because the top frame rail and the one below it are both a different diameter and a different radius, I can do very basic panel beating but this needs the art of shrinking and stretching, a lot of it and I’m not that good, if these were mass produced they would be done in a HUGE 1000 ton plus preformed press, but I couldn’t find one cheap on eBay so after many hours trying to make it look good I gave up and ripped it out

 

 

 

I thought I know if I put a separating bar in the corner and make 2 panels it will look much better

 

 

Apparently, I couldn’t have been more wrong that looks worse than the first attempt!!

 

 

The welding is ugly because I’m using 0.9mm steel so it is light which is fine, the issue comes from welding it to the heavy frame at the edges, I have 2 Mig welders my favourite

 

 

This is my 3 phase Esab and it is an amazing welder, I acquired it cheap from a cattle grid fabrication factory that was shutting down, The fact that it is  3 phase leaves a very small customer base and keeps the price down, but as I have 3 phase I win

 

Then I have my Hobby welder

 

 

This is your average £150 Mig welder it is a SuperMig 130 (nothing super about it) it is OK……. just. Now the Esab runs .08 to 1mm wire and the heat it generates to melt the wire literally melts the thin metal before you can run a weld, the  130 runs .6mm wire which is about right for 1mm steel, the problem is getting it to run hot enough to achieve penetration on the thicker frame steel.

Well that’s my excuse, you could also argue a bad workman blames his tools so I’ll let you decide if its me or not  

 

Anyway back to attempt 2

 

 

Yup that got cut out and binned as well!

 

I told you it was a waste of time.

 

 

More coming ……………………………………………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No progress on The Bug today...................actual work squashed my plans  

 

I did however have a couple of hours this afternoon available before other commitments with daughter No 2.

I thought, rather than start on the next bit of the bug, I’d get a couple of side projects moved along a bit.

 

Side Project 1

 

One of our more senior members spotted that there maybe some off cuts of that 3mm steel and as the eco-friendly guy he is he would feel remise if he did   not suggest they be repurposed for a small project of his own, after all this would be much better than them going to the scrap yard  

After a brief email chat (he sent me the spec) I thought I’d see if I could make up some bits that would let him finish his current project.

 

First requirement was 4 x 14cm disks in 3mm steel

 

So the two bits from the rear corners of the floor pan were pulled from the scraps bin and marked up

 

 

 

Quick rough trim

 

 

And a hole in the middle

 

 

Bolt them all together

 

 

And a spin in the lathe to achieve circularity

 

 

Requirement 2

 

Chamfered edge to avoid scraping

 

Back in the lathe one at a time

 

 

To change the edge from this

 

 

To this

 

 

Requirement 3

Counter sunk screw holes to mount them with, now I figured if the edges were chamfered to stop scarping the screws would need to be flush or lower than the surface of the discs, this is not that easy with only 3mm to play with, so some test countersinks were done

 

 

When I had it just right I set the bump stop on the Mill (I Use it as a drill press as well   )

 

 

The resultant counter sink gives flushness

 

 

But after drilling they look like this

 

 

A quick clean up and degrease

 

 

Requirement 4 – There was no requirement 4 so I took it upon myself to go one step further

 

A quick trip through the powder coat oven

 

 

And I added a fitting kit  

 

 

I’ll get them in the post for you tomorrow mate  

 

 

 

I would like to dedicate this post to my recently departed angle grinder as it spun it’s last today ☹

 

 

Probably the hammering I gave it on all my bad welding  

 

Don’t worry I keep spares

 

 

 

Be Safe

 

Keyser

2 hours ago, SuperStu said:

Nice job, flat floor should help with aero and add a touch of negative lift.

 

I wish I think this does 50mph downhill with a strong tail wind - but we live in hope

 

Just got back from my call out -

 

It was an emergency call out so I took the fast response vechile 

 

 

 

 

Please note my new number plate - People always as Is that the V10?  and I say YUP I really need to get a life

 

But a PC fits in so completley justified me driving her today

 

 

 

Have a good one guys n gals

 

Keyser

 

 

I found the use of a G-clamp helped hold the shape ready for a quick weld

 

 

 

Getting there

 

 

First weld on

 

 

Then onto the other side same thing again

 

 

 

Back to the bench for the stich up and sand

 

 

Back on the frame to test the fit

 

 

The inside looks great  

 

 

 

And a delivery of sanding disks arrived (I buy in bulk to save money)

 

 

That’s as far as I am going with the floor pan at the moment, I want to look at the next part of the project before I fine tune the back edge.

 

I have just had a call out for a server fail so there may or may not be another post today –  I’m actually going to work for a while

 

Be Safe All!!

 

Keyser - “I don't want to be alone, I want to be left alone.” ― Audrey Hepburn

 

 

 

 

Looking out of the window it looks like another fine day, my work diary has 1 job in it so I’ll be out in the garage this afternoon again, I did about 6 hours yesterday I only had 1 call out and about 3 calls all day – it is ridiculously quiet at the moment!

On the plus side I did 6 hours in the Zed Shed yesterday  

 

Another long post today but we are still on the floor plan, I did say it would be a major undertaking to try and do this………………….

 

I took the undertray off to carry on with the trimming and shaping, the first job was to trim the front edge to length now I had decided how it was going to fit

 

 

That line you can see about 4cm back from the front is where I got 2/3 of the way through the cut when I realised I was cutting the wrong line so I had to weld that back up again – what a muppet!

 

Anyway did some more stich welding

 

 

Its really taking shape now  

 

 

I cut out 2 holes in the base – I’ll come back to those later in the project when I have a whinge about a design feature.

 

 

I also made a decision to make the complete floor pan removable, this is mostly due to paint, there is no way I can get good coverage on the underside of the frame work around the front end with the undertray on. My original idea was to spray the underside then weld the floor pan in and paint again, but that means welding onto painted sections or paint grind and repaint and whichever way it goes I will have badly covered areas, as this is both roofless and designed to get muddy off roading good coverage is a must!

It also means maintenance is easier although I can’t see many reasons to remove the floor pan for general maintenance, but I’m on my own and that’s what I decided after discussing options with me  

 

So to facilitate the removability (big words) I tweaked the slots

 

 

And then drilled some holes and used my “too long” bolts – new stainless shorter bolts are on order –

 

 

Bit more massaging of the armour plate with a hammer and the sides are getting close  

 

 

 

Onto the back corners

 

 

No choice other than to cut and shut this - no amount of beating with a hammer will shrink that much metal down and I don’t have a 1000 ton press so

 

 

 

 

More on it’s way ………………………………

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, andybp said:

Definitely going to have to upgrade the engine that things gonna weigh a ton

Well the old undertray was heavy weight steel so it’s only a small weight gain and it adds some safety not to mention we can bounce it off rocks without worrying to much  

 

the next one will have a bigger engine though  

1 hour ago, Beb said:

Definitely not going for a full sheet undertray.... 2 mins later... armour plating. WTF did Kim put in your coffee 

 

 

you can’t blame Kim it’s your fault, where were you when sane rational advice was needed

@veeg33     -  Trust me 15 - 20k steps a  day lots of sweat and tears it's like a gym  a sauna when the welders going full chat

 

 

@SuperStu  - Thanks mate glad you like it as long as a few gus n gals are following along and enjoying it I'm happy to write it up - I only take the mick in case I later find out no one even reads it - That way I'm covered   - This lock down does have a lot to answer for if this is the high point of your day I jest of course, I'll keep it coming (Think more Santa's sled than boat )

 

@hicksi  - I thought that was Huw's speaciality - He is the best destruction / crash test dummy I've seen in action

 

 

At this point I realised the error of my ways, this is 3mm steel, this is less like panel beating and more like armour plating!!  

 

I mean how the F**K am I supposed to bend this stuff into a nice uniform snug fitting shape

 

Pleas note the following is not a lesson in panel beating and should probably not be tried at home, It’s just what happens when I’m left alone with a bit too much time on my hands and decide to try and attempt something that sane people would just not even contemplate.

 

Ratchet straps!!

 

Please note I had to upgrade the bolts holding it in place the small ones were snapping under the pressure

You may also note I had 2 sizes of bolts too long and too short I went with too long

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a lot of pressure was applied it started to see things my way (judicious use of hammers may have been involved)

 

 

I did have to cut some reliefs into each side, only about 6 in total but all that metal has to go somewhere!

 

 

Then some fine tuning – I had to roll out the oxy acetylene and apply heat in a few places

 

 

 

 

Then back to the straps and hammers

 

 

The inside is snugging up  

 

 

Back to the bench

 

 

Trim off the excess weld the relif slots up and angle grind smooth

 

 

 

That’s it for now, more on this tomorrow – I’ve done enough typing for one morning  

 

Stay Safe

 

Keyser - “Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.” ― Anthony Burgess 

 

I went to my scrap pile – it always surprises me that no one has ever asked exactly how big my scrap pile is, I call it a scarp pile, its more of a stockpile but I acquired it over time at the best price FREE!!  

 

You may be surprised just what I can dig out from it when needed

 

Anyway as I was saying I went to my scrap pile and found this

 

 

Yes I’m going there!! It’s the best thing really   

That’s a 1.2M x 3M 3mm thick sheet of zircotec coated mild steel (zircotec is like galvanised but different Goggle it if you need more info) that however is why it isn’t rusty.

 

After roping Mrs K to get it into the garage I got out another one of my toys to start trimming it down

 

 

 

 

Add a centre line

 

 

Get a rough idea of dimensions from the original tray

 

 

 

 

Now some measurements and marking out

 

 

 

Then I started by drilling some holes

 

 

Joined the dots and test fit,

 

 

as this is one piece some fettling was required to allow enogh wiggle to get it on

 

 

Out with the air grinder

 

 

To give

 

 

Now it fits

 

 

 

 

And from inside

 

 

At this point I had to come up with a way to hold it in place for shaping but I need to be able to take it off for both the shaping and for paint later. I used these they are for roofing sheet but with a pre-drilled pilot hole they work fine.

 

 

That gets us to here

 

 

 

 

 

 

More coming I said this was big!!!.........................................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morning my avid followers I’m sure you can hardly wait to see what I’ve been up to on The Bug, or more likely are climbing the walls due to lock down and this is almost better than watching paint dry  

 

Well strap in this is a BIG one, let me start by setting the scene;

When we first got The Bug and I was underneath it you could tell the previous owner broke it while having some fun in the mud, fair enough that’s what its for, but it looked like this underneath

 

 

That’s the bottom of the seats not the skid pan they looked like this underneath

 

 

And removed the bottom from The Bug

 

 

Now two things struck me about this, firstly, surely it would be sensible to have at least a splash guard under the seat just to keep the crap of and secondly, somewhat more worrying if you happen to go over something sharp and pointy, you know like a stick, when off roading the only thhing protecting your backside is a piece of foam and a thin layer of faux leather – I don’t like that idea!

So it was always planned to extend the undertray/skidpan back to give the driver some protection as well as making the buggy more rugged,

Now I have stripped the buggy completely so the frame looks like this,

 

 

This is the removed skid pan

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see it is pretty beat up and made in lots of sections and has gaps in it, so I had to consider the best way to improve on it. In a perfect world the complete under tray would be one big sheet and extend all the way to the back of the cockpit area, this would be a major undertaking though and you would need a large piece of heavy weigh steel I’m not sure I want to go there!

Much pondering and coffee drinking took place as I considered my options –

 

More coming …………………………………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, andybp said:

good work as always Chris, did you make the last picture blurry just for me

 

Of course it was just for you I mean, after all, I'm just doing "what I'm Good at"  

 

Just need some doughnuts now

 

 

 

 

 

Morning folks,

 

Another weekend in lockdown over then

I spent most of mine in the Zed Shed obvs. I did have to give Mrs K an assist with a bit of painting but she has nearly finished now Yayy  

 

The next eagerly awaited ???? update is below for your enjoyment; this is another actual repair!

From The MOT fail list –

 

Suspension arm pin or bush excessively worn Nearside Rear (trailing arm)

Suspension arm pin or bush excessively worn Offside Rear (trailing arm)

 

 

The bush is fine, the pin is fine the hole said pin goes through on the other hand is the size of an Easter egg – one of those big overpriced Easter eggs!!!!  

The huge amount of play in the hole is what makes the trailing arm wobble really badly, when you look at the design and see that it is nothing more than a flat bit of 3mm mild steel it’s not really surprising it has worn out. Anyway I used the bar trick to check alignment and also took some measurements, it’s 201mm wide if anyone cares.

 I only had 12mm bar and it is a 14mm pin so

 

You also start to get an idea of the wear here

 

 

I considered options, one was to weld a washer on the outside face but that’s only about 1mm thick and would not last long, another was to weld a plate on the outside, an easier option but the bolts don’t have much spare thread on them when done up and I don’t want them coming off!

I decided the best repair was to replace them completely so I  cut out the bad bits -

 

 

As seems to be a thing at the moment a bit of old box from the scarp pile has the right, actually slightly thicker, steel sides  with the advantage of a built in “L” shape to make fixing it easier and I should get a stronger weld.

 

 

Cut out the bit I want

 

 

Drill to 14mm then cut roughly to shape and clean them up with the sander

 

 

Then using the bar and a steel rule to get the alignment I spot welded those on

 

 

 

After double checking both alignment and gap to be sure the trailing arm will fit back in I put a proper weld down each side.

 

Inside

 

Outside

 

 

Fairly simple repair but it looks OEM and should last another few years

 

This is the old carrier on the bolt, it shows the amount of play they had!

 

 

Stay safe guys n gals  

 

 

Keyser - Ordinary men hate solitude. But the master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe. Lao Tzu

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wanna see the video?

 

I uploaded it for your amusment

 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, ATTAK Z said:

Chris, I think you might have invented a new fairground ride - all it needs now is a motor and a couple of seat belts !   

 

We can call it the BugRocker instead of a BugRider  

 

Mrs K said it looked like some wierd Ski lift

 

she even took a video to show everyone what happens when I have to much time in the Zed Shed

Covid 19 Log Star date 1123456009 –  Supplemental.

 

So quick side project, as I sat there surveying my handy work, thinking about what else I needed to do and drinking one of the many cups of coffee I have per day to help me stay sharp (that doesn’t work as I switch to decaf after 2pm   )  I was contemplating how to paint the bloomin thing, so much to consider, and that’s without the undertray getting in the way.

I know paint is a way off, but I do like to think ahead on a project, so I have a chance to go through things in my mind before I get to them, hence pondering the paint issue.

Then it came to me the only way to paint this in one go is to suspend it somehow, I could use the winch but then it would swing about and it’s quite big!

 

So I came up with this – and it’s funny ……………..

 

Some old metal from the scrap pile

 

 

Cut, cleaned

and drilled

 

 

And some wood work to make ………………………….

 

 

 

Then I added these

 

 

They hook to the winch and it now does ninety degrees each way (well nearly ninety)

 

 

 

It works and it made me laugh

 

Keep Safe guys n girls

 

 

Keyser - Testing oneself is best when done alone. Jimmy Carter

 

 

 

Covid 19 Log Star date 1123456009 – Day 25 No sign of change fleet command have ordered us to remain on station for 3 more weeks!!

 

As promised the fitting of my lovely new brackets, (brought to you with hardly any sarcasm)  

 

So I cut off three of the four brackets as the last one looks OK and a reference point is useful

 

 

Now I need to line the little beggars up again and I came up with this – not sure it is up there with a Hunter laser alignment system but given how this thing is thrown together it should be good enough

 

I used a 10mm bar that I just happen to have laying around

 

 

Took a load of measurements, then I used another and created a mirror image

 

 

Used the wishbone for the gaps ant spot welded it in place

 

 

Took the bar out and welded it all up

 

 

 

Looks fairly straight now  

Before

 

After

 

 

I also sorted out the issues I created with some over zealous angle grinding to remove the undertray

 

 

Bit of weld and an angle grinder

 

 

You’d never know  

 

Be safe, Stay safe!!

 

Keyser -  If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone. Maxwell Maltz

 

 

 

So many comments - Thanks for taking the time and I'm glad some of you are enjoying the thread, I know I read loads of build threads online.

 

 

@hicksi- you know some random stuff mate This would make ours a Mk2 then, water cooled, belt drive and the final drive after going through the "reverse" assembly is drive shaft, it’s still a very basic engine and still uses the Chinese monkey metal for most of it

No idea where @Beb and I will go next we may just upgrade ours with a bigger engine, nothing set in stone just yet.

Don’t call it isolation please, it makes it sound like solitary confinement or something I’m far from that, yes I’m working from home (I did anyway) although I had a call out yesterday for a server fail, but I have keys so I just let myself in sorted the problem and left

I’m also home with the lovely Mrs K who is also working from home, my 2 daughters, one is on long term sick with a rotator cuff injury and the other is still having to go to work as she can’t work from home, most of the staff from the factory have been furloughed but she is the accountant and all the paper work still needs doing, but she is pretty much on her own so not high risk.

Keep the comments coming, I’m off to write the next instalment

 

Keyser

 

 

13 hours ago, andybp said:

Chris I detect a small amount of sarcasm in some of your comments please note that this is my area of expertise (just ask the poor souls i work with)

so please cease and desist 

Only a hint????? You sir have the skin of a Rhino

 

13 hours ago, andybp said:

just stick with what you are good at   eating donuts and taking blurry pictures 

At least I'm good at something

 

13 hours ago, andybp said:

Excellent work by the way do love some of the solutions you come up with 

I call it thinking outside the box section    - see what I did there did ya? did ya? O come on that was good

 

13 hours ago, andybp said:

we should have done scrapheap challenge you could have done all the work and I could look good for the camera

I agree with this and I'm sure I could do my bit - Not so sure you are up to yours though!!

 

I know 3 people from Scrapheap Challenge, if you used to watch it I know Bowser and his wife who were on it for a while and Dick Strawbridge who went on to make his own series was a Major in the Royal Signals and my old OC - small world

28 minutes ago, SuperStu said:

Given the whack it has taken, and the abuse I imagine you'll be giving it in future, any planes for a couple of structural inserts?

I'ts like anything I could make it stronger but weight is an issue it is only the 250cc version and I'm adding some "saftey" features and therfore weight already!

The plan really is to do it up, pass the MOT give it some "light" abuse for a while then sell it on and @Beb and I have plans on getting the bigger version - I say plans we just do random projects and Beb is a master at finding wierd "bargains" Mrs K hates him for that as he keeps making me spend money - but she loves the fact I'm out of her way and in the Zed Shed so it's swings and round abouts , she also likes to feed so when Beb is here she try's to fatten him up - think Christmas turkey

 

 

 

Keep the comment coming

43 minutes ago, Beb said:

Didn't realise it would take 6 hours to sandblast  

Read it again - 6 hours first day and "another day in the blast chamber" so 14 hours and that was just the main frame

But I'm having all the fun on this project Get back to licking your batteries

 

Cheers for the support - I do like comments

 

Morning, morning, morning

 

Another quick update to help pass a few more minutes of your day as you sit there wistfully staring out of the window at your pride and joy hoping the weather holds after the lockdown and you can actually go for a drive.

 

First repair  

This is a genuine non modification repair, I mentioned in a previous post that I spotted that the lower wishbone brackets/mounts were damaged, my diagnosis is that they had a fairly heavy bang on the wheel and it bent the wishbone and the mounts, this explains why all the other 3 wheel mountings are black and this one is silver.

 

 

So I assume they bent that beyond repair and replaced it, however they damaged the hangers

This is the good side

 

 

This is the damaged side

 

 

 

 

 

I think they put the new wishbone in then basically beat the bolts and hangers with a hammer until it fit

This has in turn lead to further damage as the extra pressure of not being straight has elongated the holes, as you can see after I cut the bent bits off

 

 

So the challenge was to make some replacement hangers and reset them in exactly the right place – I Love A Challenge  

 

I immediately ran to my PC and produced a full CAD design of the part; cross referenced the materials used with the steel stress and tolerance guide. I then transferred the design to my CNC programme, loaded it into my precision CNC machine and set it to produce the required parts.

No stop wait I was confused for a moment its @andybp  that has the precision CNC machine, O well lets see if I can produce anything worthwhile using only my old “agricultural” milling machine a welder and a 4” angle grinder shall we??!??

 

Here goes –

 

I started by taking measurement (I did use a micrometre) then produced my version of a technical drawing

Materials were as always selected from my steel pile as having about the correct dimensions, in this case an offcut of box as the side walls were thick enough

 

 

Cut that in half the “other way”

 

 

Cut a curve in one end

 

 

To give

 

 

Test fit

 

 

Happy with that make 3 more (I wanted a spare)

 

 

A hole is needed – the micrometre says 40mm from the inside of the curve at the closest point

 

 

Set a reference point and came in 40mm

 

Then it has to be in the middle – 30mm bar so 15mm to centre

 

 

Ha hows that for tolerance (it took about 5 mins to get that and it still moved .002mm when I tightened the stops – I only did it for you Andy!)

 I have issues – anyway moving on, a hole was drilled

 

 

Now for some chamfering I set a guide inside the vice (you can’t see it) but that gave me the correct angle to mill the parts.

 

 

So now we have

 

 

Now this is just because I wanted to try and replicate the original part

 

I ran a line of weld across the top of each bracket

 

 

Milled that

 

 

Then cut them to length and sanded them off to give the finished article

 

 

Next to the damaged part

 

 

 

Next up – alignment and fitting

 

Stay Safe!!!

 

Keyser - Remember we're all in this alone. Lily Tomlin

 

20 minutes ago, andybp said:

Is it just me or is that a double entendre

 

I'm not sure but the women don't seem so impressed

Hope you are all well rested and ready for the next exciting (or not) episode in a Bugs Life!

I have a few thigs to do on The Bug to get it up to MOT standard, Beb and I agreed that we wouldn’t mod it, which we both knew meant we will do anything we want to it  

I don’t think we have any unmodified projects between us!

I also get carried away doing these things, it is basically my hobby to spend weekends when I’m not out in cars either at meets or on track to play with them in the Zed Shed. Mrs Keyser sews and makes clothes and handbags for fun I engineer (I use the term loosely).

This brings us on to a clean up, the wiring needs a few repairs like the lights shown in an earlier post, I’m rewiring the dash and it needs a clean so I thought I’d take that out to start.

 

 

This is the battery box as you can see this vehicle needs a serious detail

 

 

The brake lines looked dirty, so they came out

 

 

The gear stick needs a good clean and maybe some paint

 

 

Yup, that’s out as well

 

Now cleaning the engine is awkward, so……………………

 

 

That came out – I’m so glad I fitted an overhead winch, it makes working on your own so much easier  

That left The Bug a bit bare

Now I can see it all I realise that a lot of the body work needs attention

 

 

 

 

I know a lot of forum users are mad about detailing but I don’t use the 2 bucket, 6 sponges and loads of chemicals and wax I don’t even start with a clay bar

I prefer the 1 container  approach for the really dirty metalwork – and I fill that container with crushed glass  

1 hour in

4 hours in

 

 

6 hours in

 

 

At this point 3 things became apparent

 

1. This is a PITA to blast as you can’t get behind a lot of the frame! You can’t even get to it from underneath due to the undertray.

2. This will be a complete pig to respray for the same reason.

3. The front offside lower wishbone mounts are all badly bent, they will need some serious attention but the undertray covers the point they weld to the frame.

Nothing else for it the undertray must go – out with the angle grinder.

 

 

Access granted - You can see the rust I couldn't clean as well.

 

The afore mentioned wishbone mounts

 

 

 

More on those and the repairs to come in another post.

After another day in the blast chamber I had the frame “clean” and ready for the repairs to start  

 

 

I’m getting a couple of hours a day in so hopefully this will keep progressing, the parts I ordered are starting to trickle in and there seems to be more than enough to keep me going until the rest of them arrive – I’ll keep you posted.

 

Be Safe!

Keyser - Being alone makes it harder to find someone to blame. Mason Cooley (So true Mason)