Hey how about that, handy bedroom tips that are useful in the workshop.... Man, this place is useful.
I see you are using the '60s Ford philosophy of "road hugging weight" for better handling. Are there minimum weight requirements? I come from a road racing back ground of open wheel formula and closed wheel prototypes, and we struggle to run as light as allowed. I've run 2 seater cars as light as 650lbs. So you have canopy latches on both the inside and out side. That canopy is pretty large, is there a smaller escape hatch? After spending a lot of time coming up with an ingenious suspension, I think I'll co back to the lighter unsprung system. By the way, thank you for responding and being so patient with me.
Landspeed racing's "big one" is getting power to the track. Salt typically has less than .6 of the traction available on concrete or bitumen. The available traction affects the amount of thrust you can apply, or tractive effort, as the downward force on the tyres increases so does the available thrust, it doesn't alter the traction coefficient but raises the available thrust. Wings can give downforce but at the expense of drag, ballast doesn't add to drag...it just changes the rate of acceleration. Without ballast a car will "hit the wall" when the force created by cumulative drag equals the amount of thrust it can apply to the track and the wheels will just spin. Suspension helps a tyre track the surface, but can also make it difficult to set ride height which is critical in situations where cars want to lift. The suspension argument is part of a whole design package that includes budget and the available power, part of what makes the whole thing interesting.
No, two latches left and right on the inside of the canopy, you can pull the cable on the inside or the handle on the ouitside.The canopy is from the front roll hoop forward it is easy to open and we have been assured by people who've done it that "it will come off if you spin".
This is a recent post from landracing....the fun continues....<TABLE style="TABLE-LAYOUT: fixed" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD height="100%" vAlign=top width="85%">After finally waving goodbye to whatever germ had parked itself in my upper body for the last few weeks I recommenced the assault on the Sprite of Sunshine. Just sitting there in the back yard it had been giving me the irrits, knowing it needed just a couple of days of intense work to get it into shape where I could start organizing the important things like the motor...... In the book I should have written called "Workshop Practice for Idiots" there would have been an introductory chapter called "tack welds". When you use something sporadically you gradually and randomly lose skills, often without realising it. The first thing you forget when welding , or not welding is the placement of appropriate tack welds, they should be easy to remove, and they should at least be strong enough to stay there for , aw, five minutes? No , don't put that tack weld in the corner there where you can't get at it with a disc, no, don't lay a full bead, it's supposed to be temporary............ I think I got a little excited a few weeks back, everything just seemed to fit right. Well that was until I started to dismantle things a little more, the radius rods, the tie rod.......each piece that came off was a datum point that had made it all make sense. Once I had a front and a rear end, and two rails it sort of went into flux a little bit...that and the bit where I wrote down the ACTUAL wheelbase.... so I had to work it out again. It took a while to get the laser aligners calibrated but once that was organized I whacked it on the chassis jig. I welded it in all the places that I couldn't easily get a cut off wheel into and then took it back to the tank.... I'd made a start on stripping out the bottom section of the tank as it was going to be cut time soon... It left me with a few bulkhead pieces...one of them has "Front bottom" written on it.... Turns out I was still shooting a little wide and would have to narrow the chassis at the front....you'll also notice I was about to have a bit of an interference problem where the front axle was getting chummy with the rails.I haven't any photos but the chassis got notched there and reinforced with some heavy angle... After that it was time to get the rear end into some sort of shape, I'll cut some pieces of 1/4 plate and sandwich the rail and weld the 1/4 to the axle tube Looking better from that end.... It was at about this time that the Reverend turned up.... I was cutting clearances out of the tank skin..... Then I took a bold step and cut a big hole in the top of it.... from there it was just a short step to jumping in it and making brm brm brrrrrm noises. yep 5 years old.... </TD></TR><TR><TD class=smalltext vAlign=bottom width="85%"><TABLE style="TABLE-LAYOUT: fixed" border=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=smalltext width="100%" colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD id=modified_170710 class=smalltext vAlign=bottom></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Had a Porter from the same Brewery you sampled this evening. Wife and pals are doing a Patsy Cline show, women that like both types of music, COUNTRY AND WESTERN!
Hey Doc - I'm enjoying this DOCumentary! Love the new tank! Was good to finally meet you on the salt this year. Bring the tank next time... Scotty PS: Be suspicious of anything T-bag or Nexxussian say - especially about me!
Last night I went at it with the propane torch. If you notice in the pics above it has remnants of black paint sort of looking stuff on it, there is some filler and then the black stuff, dunno if it's old tar or worse, it smelled like creosote....anyway in it's former life as a pontoon the tank was obviously "cleaned up" at some point which involved a bit of bondo and a coat of something to seal it. Now, it's not getting a show finish but even for me the top section looked pretty tatty so I gave it the FLAME! A torch knocks that crap off in no time flat, it was a slightly hairy operation as everything that came off was molten/flaming.....now all the bondo is gone and so is the black stuff...I'll give it a rough over with a randomn orbital and it should clean up OK. Another little thing. On weekend I was visited by Geoff Izzard and his dad Ken( they've been around before), Ken was likely the first person in Australia to build a car using a bellytank when he built a "special" in the fifties that he ran in anything he could enter it into. He used the tank pointy end first, but we'll forgive him for that . It's an honour to have been able to get to know Ken. Geoff brought him around because they'd seen the "new" build and the excitement was too much....... Ken has offered me some heim joints that he had "lying around" to use on the little tank, now you all know I'm the sentimental kind so of course accepting parts from the first Aussie tank builder was a no-brainer.... more later. oh yeah, brrrm brrrrm BRRRRMMMMMM
Scotty, hahahahahah T-bag.........., mate, calling someone that here could get you killed. I found Trent to be the very picture of sincerity, and he gave me nice beer....as for the big fella I'm careful around anyone I suspect may have a long-boat. BTW: I didn't believe that stuff they said about you, I mean, seriously it's not even humanly possible....is it?
Not humanly but with animals weird things can and will be done in Scottys tenure. I cant kill Scotty because he saved my ass..........well his brother Rocky did, Scotty was asleep, when my tent imploded in the Sunday storm that split up our romantic encounter, they gave me floor space in a Motel 6 room I think.?..........it was 43 degrees so I may have been at the supermarket in the cooler!?!? Only a Nebraska-Oregon duo would have the AC set at "ESKIMO" when the outside air was 68!
As for the Alaskan, he is big and a good guy. WTF thought a Berkley was the ideal ride!?!?!?! Eric, just in jest, nice to meet you!~
'Not humanly possible'? Both the police reports and medical records prove it's possible. And believe me, I'm hopelessly human. I just wish there were some way to prove I was in the space shuttle that night. My lawyer says he's working on it, so I guess that's why he isn't answering the phone...
Dont get me started on my time as a witness to a drunk driver and his rap sheet. Something the guy being prosecuted..............never mind ...bestiality as well as the drinking and driving thing, but we digress and hijack
No sweat, T-bolt. Any time you need to chill, I'm there for you. Just like Nexxussian and his dad were for me. In fact, these guys are ALL A#1 BADasses!!! You're wise to hide out in Australia, Doc... Carry on with the mini tank! But be careful with that torch.
Call me, you brother has my number, beside me and my bro, you and Rocky are teh only ones that will fit our new lakester.. Sorry for the hijack......well not really
During Speedweek we went to meet a friend who is a long and well respected member of the landspeed community , but also has a rep for some lewd behaviour ,at Motel 6. As we parked outside his room, he gave the photographer a "photo op' ".....can't mention names or upload the shot but trust me it was "over-exposed"........ he was quick on the draws
Doc: Sorry to sidetrack this good thread, but - when I checked into the Motel 6, I noticed the guy in the room next to me (2nd floor) bringing in a chainsaw, a pogo stick and a very large can of bearing grease. I noted it, then forgot about it... Three nights later, I was awoken about 3:30 AM by the most horrific screams I've ever heard, while Mexican polka music blared and the chainsaw revved. This went on until about 5:00, when I saw a shadowy figure wearing a tinfoil hat, leading what appeared to be two Llamas (may have been camels) out through the parking lot. I assume this was your friend. If so, can you tell me what exotic delights I missed out on? Or do I have to join the 200 Club first? Thanks, Scotty
this is published elsewhere.....sorry about the skin pics....... Now, it's been a busy two days....the landscape hasn't changed a whole lot, but there's a lot more stuff nailed down. This could not be a more different affair than the Spirit of Sunshine's born in CAD gestation .......this is ...Cut to fit, weld , drive. Yesterday I boxed the rear of the chassis and sorted how I was going to attach it to the rear axle. I gutted the motorbike and got the engine sitting in the rails and some rudimentary mounts arranged... I gave myself a nice burn and at same time reminded myself of some little safety adages that really don't seem to change , no matter how long you've been away... Welds are hot,skin , particularly areas like the inside of the arm, face feet, back of knees are really really sensitive....foundry gloves, leather sleeves...yeah, I've got 'em....but here's a gem that I remembered while I was looking at the area 4 inches up from my hand that was missing a big piece of skin. " When you are doing a series of beads in an irregular area, like for instance,a roll cage, or even a CHASSIS work toward yourself.....that means you'll never be leaning over a red hot weld, or resting your arm on it. Today The Colonel and PJQ came over . It was all stations go Pete got busy sorting out some engine mounts Graham set to sorting the wiring for the motor. I went at the front end. I managed to nail the chassis, finish welded that and then turned to the steering box. I managed to get the mount worked out and then commenced cutting the steering column. Like an idiot I turned the shaft and it would out of the worm ....cutting a long story short it required some intervention from the Colonel, a wash and a bit of farnarkling before we got it to work properly again, good one Goggles. I shortened the tie rod....flipped the drag link upside down and it was starting to get going. Pete had the motor mounted in such a way that we'll be able to tension the chain, he also cut up the mesh from the air box and made some little covers for the velocity stacks. Grummy had the wiring pretty well sorted at this stage and so we tried cranking it, we didn't have a fuel tank so I armed myself with a squeeze bottle of gasoline and a can of aerostart.....so when the velocity stacks caught fire, and the aerostart, and my hand.........eventually it fired and sounded ( without any exhaust on it )like a golf ball been shaken inside an empty can, not exactly "tough". There still isn't any chain on it yet, The Colonel took the spline sleeve from the pinion and hopes to hog out the inside of a 14 tooth sprocket to weld to it. Here you can see me holding the piece of pipe against the primary sprocket which is what it will be welded to, stepping it out to meet the pinion which will have the cog welded on the spline sleeve. I've got about an hour and a half of daylight after work each night and then Saturday , I'll try and get to the show Sunday......busy week....
I missed the cut. The rain came down in a big way when I had about 2hrs of daylight left on Saturday, that was it.I'd been braving the light stuff but even an idiot like me won't weld in the pouring rain. I'm even smart enough to avoid wearing anything waterproof when welding or using a grinder too which was a big step on my part..... so I had a few kit changes but still spent most of the day wet.There was no-way I was going to get it driving but I thought I could at least get it rolling so I could drag it onto the truck, but no. I couldn't put it on the truck because the drag link wasn't in, the drag link wasn't in because, the body hadn't at that point hadn't been secured,because I'd only just got the radius rods done.....you get the drift. On Sunday the sun came out....and here is where it stood.... I was going to Chopped tank or no tank....the countryside is green after the recent rain( did I mention the rain?)... at one of the on ramps I saw Fat Steve heading on ..we traded places at a little bit over the limit for the next 30mins until I got to Castlemaine where I caught up with Simon and Jim-Bob...Simon has just had the 289 in his XM Falcon rebuilt, the boys were a little weary, worse for wear and tear.... then we got to the Chopped show, here's Ryan ,one of the co-props of Chopped's 32 there was all manner of stuff there, good bad and ugly( in no particular order)....I only stayed for an hour and a bit , I had to leave before I told anyone my Plymouth-weak sob story.... here's a quick selection of the turn up, Ryan at the start of the dirt drags..... the return road, I dunno but that Biscayne looks like it might be crabbing a bit..... On the way home I rang Emu Ben to fill him in on the near miss, yes I was using the hands free, "so, what's goin' on?" he said...... "er, well right now I've got a cop on my clacker with his lights on and I'm fifteen over...." turns out the cop was in a hurry to get somewhere else, he gave me a dirty look and took off as I pulled over.... I've got a gig this arvo, I have to go.....there's always next year.......
Sounds and looks like a neat show, shame you didn't make it with the tank. Whadda ya mean I'm not 'sposed to weld in the rain. Ok, I guess it's easier to wait till it's solid (snow, not far off for me at that).
OK it's nearly a year since I posted here........... we have finished the rear end swap on the Spirit of Sunshine and there are various upgrades due for the motor that we built up for last year....... It's two and half years since the car last ran. Two cancellations in a row....the next meet is the middle of February 2013....in the meantime I'm going to Speedweek...and I'll have some T-shirts to hock, there'll be one in the auction at the HAMB BBQ at the bend in the road... Hope to see some of you guys there.....
Be great to see you my friend. For those that dont know the HAMB-BQ at teh Bend is Friday around 5ish. I will be setting up around 3
The Jalopy Journal
