Projects My GN Cycle Car tribute build

Professional shops will not apply rhinoliner over bondo or similar body fillers. When I customized my running boards, I used JB weld as filler and found it not bad to work with at all. And no issues with the rhinoliner! More expensive then filler though.

 

Been working on the exh a little the last couple days. Went to bolt the PS flange in and noticed that some of the bolts are not going all the way into the block. Noticed the same issue on the DS. Not necessarily the same homes. Not sure what is going on. Did have to cut qty 5 of the CAT 3/8” dia. bolts down to match the “correct” length, but still they are too long in some of the holes. I don’t seem to recall having this issue when I first got the flanges, but maybe I never tightened them down all the way. Also forgot that I inserted tubes in the collector tubes and Y-pipe. At first when I tried to fit the second Y-pipe into the flange I thought they had screwed up, and used a larger dia. pipe. Lol! So more fiddley work as the only correct size pipe I had lying around was rusty and painted. I’ll just use them to keep the outer pipe square and in position during welding.
I also cleaned up the thru holes for the mounting bolts on the PS flange and deburred the outside edge. Will media blast everything before applying some high-temp exh paint.
Decided to go to Ogdensburg, NY as well as my buddy said he got Covid and might not be able to come down.

Hard to see, but some bolts are sticking out further than others, and I think all the 3/8” bolts are sticking out about 1/16” - 3/32” too far.





PS exh flange with inner “locating” tube, and forward outer tube which will be welded to the flange.

 

Clutch pilot bearing/hub ***y with return spring.




Was wondering how/what attaches to the main pivot shaft to move the fork. After a bit of searching, I found this pic on the Van Pelt site. In particular, Part no. 7503. Not sure if I should try to find one, or just fab something up. That will definitely be down the road though.

 

I guess there's blind holes and perhaps some you may need a sealant on if they are in the water jackets...at least shortening isn't to difficult...

 

Yeah. Not sure if some are blind and if others are thru holes. Go to go back and do some reading/ research to verify everything.

 

PS exh flange with collector tubes tacked into position. Now onto cutting the collector tubes that go on the large exh tube.

 

First of the collector tubes that go on the PS main exh pipe. Fits perfectly. Made it longer than required as I wasn’t sure how long I cut the ones for the DS. Think it is about 1/4” too long. Should have done both sides at the same time. D’oh!

 

Got them all cut out and tacked onto the main exh tube. Just wanted them located properly and fixed so I can scribe more accurately their position and subsequent openings in the large tube.

 

Was thinking of offsetting all four smaller collector tubes to account for the difference in the exh port opening locations between the two cylinder banks. The PS cylinder bank is rearwards by about 7/8” compared to the DS cylinder bank. I want the main collector pipes to be symmetrical in terms of their longitudinal distance from the front. I’m figuring I should be able to account for that delta with the flex pipes.

 

Started raining out last night, so had to bring my truck into the garage, so niw cannot work on the exh. Will clean up and media blast the T5 main body cover and shifter base. Not sure if I can use that shifter base as I need to come up with a linkage setup to move it outside of the body, or mod the AstroVan setup.

 

Ready for primer.

 

Think this is all I need to relocate the trans shifter. Need to stay focused though… Lol!

 

Won’t blast the shifter base since I cannot dis***emble it further. Don’t need any blast media in the joint. Soaking in the parts washer.

 

Shifter base and cover primed. So much fiddlely work…

 

I think I’ve sorted out the lengths of all the bolts on the DS exh flange so they don’t bottom out. The threaded hole depths are all over the place. Wanted at least 0.050” clearance between the bottom of the bolts and the bottom of the threaded holes.
Bolted up the flange with the flex pipes and the collector. Not sure what happened, but the flex pipe for the second outlet is about 1.5” too short. Looking to see how to secure the collector pipes to the frame.




My helpers were snoozing on the job again. Lol!

 

Now, that looks a bit better.

 

Been a while since I last posted. Got caught up with issues with my eldest’s daily driver, then she decided to buy another, which lead me to inheriting hers. Had to go with her to see her new purchase twice which was a 10 hr plus drive each trip. Then I got laid up with a cold, bad back, and stomach pains all at the sand time. That took me out for 3.5 weeks, and I’m just starting to get to work around the house.
Got the PS exh manifold pipes mounted. Only two of the exh bolts had to be shortened. Started to mock up the PS collector. It’s almost in the correct position. with respect to the DS collector. I just used an already cut piece of the flex pipe on the first exh port. I think it needs to be lengthened by about 2” so I can move the collector rearwards a bit and a bit further away from the frame. So much fiddlely work to make this exhaust. I’m also short qty 6 of the clamps. Might head into town tomorrow to pick up some more.

 

Looking awesome.

 

Good stuff.

 

Ordered the exh clamps. Will be in next week. Cut the remaining flex pipe pcs for the PS side. The flex pipe on the second exh port on the DS is too short, so will need to cut a new pc. Overall, the symmetry is pretty good for a first mock-up attempt.
My youngest surprised me last fall by enrolling into the mech Eng program and last week out of no where she says she was interested in the Formula SAE car her university is building. She also expressed an interest in getting a job in motorsport. I was like WTF!? I’ve been working on vehicles ever since she was born, and she never expressed any interest whatsoever.
So, now we’re going to see if we can get this thing started when she comes home next month for spring break. I’m really pumped now, but no promises…

 

So, 2.5 hrs netted me this little feller. Spent a good hour putting stuff away, and looking for stuff (still can’t find my mini-tube cutter). Made a crude wire template from an old coat hanger. The old back is starting to ache a bit, so that is it for tonight.

 

Went into town yesterday to pick up the exh clamps, but they still weren’t in. Also, started to gather the parts to connect the engine to the radiator.

Just this was CAN$440!



Having trouble locating a 180 degree U-bend that will connect to the water pump inlets. Went to 3 separate auto parts places, and no luck. Plenty of silicon stuff on-line, but I don’t want silicone. Stopped by the metal shop to get some 1” tube and 1/8” thk strip to mount the collectors. The devil is in all the details. Still tons and tons of work to do before it can be fired up.

Some possible candidates for the U-bend from the Gates catalogue.

 

Went to back to CarQuest and NAPA the other day to see if they had the Gates U-bend (P/N 21805), and no luck. Shows no stk anywhere, so they thought it was discontinued. Did order the Gates 90 degree bend (P/N 20357) for the manifold outlets, as well as a Gates 3’ length of straight hose (P/N 24028). The Ideal exh clamps were still not in. D’oh!
Started looking into the coolant pipe routing and making schematics to identify all items required. Still on the fence about making a coolant reservoir that would mimic the oil reservoir? on Richard’s GN JAP. That would likely be a project in itself, but I did find some nice old fire extinguishers that could be modded to give the correct look.

 

Think I will forgo the coolant reservoir for now. I need the space for the coolant pipes coming off the manifolds, plus I need room for the oil filter which I would like to fit in that area if possible.
Started on piping off the manifolds. Will need to use a coupler to bring up the outer diameter closer to the hoses’ 1.75” ID.. The 1.5” copper pipe is 1.625” OD with a a wall of 0.050”, so ***uming the wall thickness is the same for the coupler, it’s OD should be 1.725”. I plan on adding a hose bead to the couplers as well, but still need to figure that out. D’oh! This stuff is heavy!

 

If I understand correctly..
Could you just expand the pipe, like a muffler shop, to your correct diameter?

 

For sure if I had the right tool. I used to work for a company that made HVAC systems for buses, off-road, and construction equipment, etc. We made and brazed our own heat exchangers, and had a guy making some interesting tools to form copper tubes for prototyping and speciality jobs. All his tooling was pneumatically powered IIRC. I have a bead roller, but the dies are too large to fit inside the 1.5” copper tube.

 

Ya it's always something maybe a local muffler or HVAC shop could do it. Just a thought I had. I'm enjoying your build a lot.

 

Thanks, I’m enjoying the build most of the time. Lol!
I did a quick search on manual swagging tools, but none seem to go up in size to 1.5”.
You got me thinking. Rather than spending more money on couplers I’ll look into seeing if it makes sense to make something like this using my lathe. Could probably do something similar for the hose bead. We used to get several parts spun as well at the HVAC company I worked for.





Came across this for making the hose bead, but I might have posted this before. Think I’ll just order it, but my credit card just expired, and they didn’t send me a replacement. D’oh!

 

Been reviewing the rad location and my layout. In my layout, the rad sat between the frame rails to keep it as low as possible to maintain the body line along the top. However, the radiator is wider than the inside of the frame rails which means it would sit higher than on my current layout. However, I still might be able to keep it just below the body line along the top if I angle it at 20 degrees vs the 10 degrees I have on the layout.
During all this I repositioned the rear axle and couldn’t figure out why the location was more rearwards than on the layout. Finally, I discovered the delta was a rounding error in the conversion factor I had on the layout. I was using 1 mm = 0.14” (rounded off), but I should have been using the actual figure of 0.137”. Made a difference of a couple of inches!
Also, decided to mock-up the seat/seating location just to confirm I fit. I still need to complete the backrest, but location seems pretty good, but angle of seat bottom (10 degrees) seems like a lot (at least without the seat back). Don’t mind my messed up socks. Been battling the washing machine with an overload situation, and they got wet from dragging out soaking blankets. Always something to fix…

 

1mm = 0.03937007874" — approximately. It's easier to work the other way round, because 25.4mm = 1" exactly.