I've found it much easier and faster to plunge to depth with a parting tool then do the angles... No charge, carry on...
Well the Willys is tucked up in its lockup but still been making bits that have forgot, was topping up with coolant and realised I had no catch can fitted I know I could use a coke or beer tin like some people use but wanted something a little better, legally it has to hold a pint but I made it hold 1.5 pints. Was going to make it in stainless but as I don't really weld much aluminium I thought it would be good practise Had a look in my s**** ally bin and only thing suitable was a piece of 5" diameter x 1/4" wall tube, A bit big really so I decided to turn it down in the lathe to .050" wall thickness. Once the turning was done I slit the tube down the side and used a piston ring compressor to pull it down to 3.5" diameter. Next job was to make some end caps, I didn't want flat ends so I metal spun some .050" flat aluminium sheet in the lathe to make curved tops, this is done by spinning the lathe at its fastest speed and pressing against the aluminium with a piece of hardwood dipped in tallow, Its gets very hot through friction, crude but it works Once made the caps were welded in place, wasn't worried about the weld as it was to be scurfed off and radiused. I had a bit of a problem welding the .050" as I really needed 1.6mm tig rods but all i had was 2.4mm rods, the 2.4 rods tend to cool the weld pool too much and also give a higher and not so neat bead. Next I spun up some threaded bungs for the top inlet and the bottom drain, also 2 more for the sight tube, these were welded in place, welding getting better with practise I thought I would give it a polish After spending time polishing it I realised I didn't actually like it polished so scuffed it up and painted it satin black, looks better know !!! I also welded on a mounting plate but forgot to take a pic .
Managed to get the catch can mount made today in between nipping round to my mate Jason to help him progress with Wiggys T bucket, again its made in aluminium and bolts to the ch***is with 3 x 1/4" unf bolts, just need to paint it black and bolt on. Also got the bottom of my aluminium welding problems, turned out the AC cleaning dial was wired backwards on my welder so when i was selecting penetration i was actually using more cleaning !!! Had be going till my mate came over and worked it out. .
WOW.....I just went thru this whole build thread, you are doing an AWESOME BUILD here! I don't think AWESOME is good enough but that's the best I can do. THANKS for all the photos & info.....HAVE FUN WHEN FINISHED & BE SAFE........cw.
Me too! Sure wish it wasn't the other side of the world! Thank goodness for the forum, so I can at least see and hear it here!
Wow Steve!! You Sir, are an inspiration!! I just read through the entire thread. I learned so much, quite the teacher!! The car looks amazing, I love that you built it in your drive. Very old school. Well done!! Bill
Well now the weather has improved there were a few minor jobs to do and a couple of changes to sort out, first one is I need to get stronger springs ordered as over the winter the existing ones have gone almost flat !!! I'm gonna take them to our local springsmith and get him to make a new main leaf, My new 5 point Simpson belts arrived a while ago so i fitted them in place. Another thing that bugs me is plug lead numbering so I numbered these both ends with clip on numbers, they were a job to get them over the 10mm leads !!! I've been searching for 2" roll cage padding but just couldn't find any so I got some 1 7/8" from Summit and tried it for fit, seems to be ok with zip tys. Something which has bugged me ever since I fitted them was the electrical plugs & sockets for the frontend, I usually use Painless as they are just so nice and work very well but when I did the job I had ran out of stock so bought some which looked indentical from Ebay, they are absolute rubbish compared to the Painless jobbies so today cut the old ones off and fitted the Painless ones, now they slot together nice & easy. These are the rubbish ones These are the good Painless ones .
Steve, you looked in B&Q or others for pipe lagging think you can get bigger sizes, works well for rollbar padding. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Steve, Had a quick look for you B&Q don't but I've found this company that do.... hope it helps. https://www.colglo.co.uk/productlist.php?category=Armaflex_and_Insul-tube_Insulation Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
No problem. Us poor brits have to think outside the box ;-) Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
You can usually find insulation in larger pipe sizes, and if it's a little loose a bit of insulation can be sliced off the larger size to make it fit properly. I buy mine from a local plumbing supply house.
Steve, Been away for several months from the HAMB. Really been missing the updates and awe inspiring bits and pieces for your Blown Willys coupe ! Looking forward to the updates for your Willys Pickup ! ! Love the Y-Block mill . . . . Dave
The Jalopy Journal
