Ian

Gritting already James! Are you expecting snow anytime soon?

Evening all, I have started a little project that I have been meaning to do for a long time, a panning camera jig thingy.. This should make my videos look more professional and hopefully make them more enjoyable for you all to watch... The first part needed was the gearbox out of this very old and abandoned kiddies electric car.. I forgot to get a photo of the gearbox so here's a pic of what remained of the car when I'd finished cannibalizing it. While dumping the remains of the car on the rubbish pile I thought I'd have a quick look at the scrap pile... Hhmm... Those tubes could come in handy Back in the workshop some choppy weldy later, a 8 inch wide tubular track was made. Now I needed something to roll along the track, a sliced up cart axle and some used bearings got things rolling.. Yes I did commit the sin of welding the bearings to the axles, but the bearings feel the same as before the welding so hopefully all will be well. Something to mount the camera would be handy, so an old tripod got the chop. To motorize the contraption I am using a CB radio power pack, a New Holland tractor wiper motor and the speed control gubbins from a rechargeable drill that has knackered battery's. The two axles were joined together by using a cut down New Holland tractor wiper motor bracket which just happened to have the right size hole to fit the tripod cut off. As you can see the wiper motor isn't fully fitted yet. The idea is the wiper motor slowly winds a length of string onto a shaft and pulls it along the track.. The speed control does work but the motor does make some squealing sounds at slower speeds.. Something to have a think about.. I will add the electric car gearbox to slow things really down whilst doing time lapse filming. I hope to have it all fully finished and tested tomorrow, so stay tuned

Ooooo.. Me like that a lot Any chance of a video to hear the engine running? Can't beat the sound of a V8

Great photo's Norm, thanks for posting them. I do find it hard to turn off the part of my brain that looks at the 27 T and thinks hot rod

That's fantastic.. Love it

No idea on the starter I'm afraid, but as this is (I think) the first forklift on MOM some pictures would be cool

Evening all.. A bit of trimming, re-shaping and carefully grinding back the welds later and the tank fits again. One of those little milestones, the first squirt of paint on this project.. An even bigger milestone.. With the frame work finally done it was treated to a couple of coats of the red oxide stuff. The poor light in the workshop made it look like a very dark thin coat! But the biggest milestone yesterday was getting the frame in it's top coat, a very classy shade of satin black All I have left to do now is everything else, which is quite a bit

That's a hell of a big space James, I'd need a golf cart or a Why Not to get from one end to the other!

Morning all, let's start this update with a very good reason to buy a decent Mig welder... As I've been going round welding up MT's frame there has been the odd weld or three to tidy up... This was gone with my old MigMate hobby welder, and even though I was welding from underneath it looks horrible and not very strong! But once it was all ground back and hit with my Murex TradesMig 165 it looked like this So there ya go boys and girls, bin the hobby Mig and get something more trade like but nothing new (Made in China) and cheap... My Murex is at least 20 years old and will outlast me I expect A heat shield has been made from some thick ally to stop the exhaust cans from melting the seat.. The rear mounts are just captive nuts welded onto the seat mounting plates.. The fronts were mounting brackets that I think used to hold the bodywork on.. Strong with a threaded hole.. That will do nicely Slowly the frame is getting weled and cleaned up.. Some more strength was added a the front where new tubes meet old... Yes the square plate is offset, but so are the lower tubes.. By this point I was starting to get bored with the "weld, grind, weld, clean off some rust, weld, grind, weld, grind" side of things, so I dug the fuel take out and bolted it in place.. Even with the bars, gauges etc bolted on you could see down inside the tank from the front which really bugged me.. So it had to be covered over but I still wanted some air to blow under the tank.. The last bit of my first (and very rubbish) mig welded came in handy once again, this time donating some louvers. Some cutting and welding later... Welded on the tank though a bit of trimming is needed.... The tank will fit in place as it should, you just can't get it on

Oops! Just a silly fun photo

Yes even I fluff my lines once in a while... You tart...

Your right about that lack of grease nipples, but the bearings are bearing and not bushes.. I've got a little box with all the little ball bearings that fell out in it..

Great work as always Richard.. The 12 ton press will make life easier on the joints

I think you might have enough lift there If it snows this way this winter all I can do is try and clear it with Why Not... Not ideal but doing lot's of donuts might move the white stuff about a bit

I have to agree with Norm, you certainly live in a beautiful place George

If there was more than one Nigel I'd never get anything done Thanks Norm.. A bit more of the same in the next video with a splash of "how did he do that?" The strip down continues.. Right side A arms and hub. Left side and rear shock... Quite amazingly I have had no problems getting any bolts out, a few were very tight to say the least, I think only 2 small ones have broken and they only held the original bodywork on anyways so they are not needed now. Lot's of welding has been happening, you may remember the sump/engine guard mounting brackets that I couldn't weld on upside down.. Ground back... Ok, this is a different bracket but you get the idea And fully zapped up.. It ain't gonna move now Speaking of welding, you will now see why I didn't want to get the engine running before fully welding the frame up... Lot's of bit's to weld that just couldn't be done with the engine in! There has only been two bolts that were a right pain to get out, but that was only because I didn't have the right tool was the swing arm bolts with "big ar$e" 17mm Allen key bolts! But yesterday I was able to borrow the right tool, a 17mm Allen key thingy that fits on a ratchet (Thanks Karl) and after a lot of force that bolts freed up with a loud crack.. Of course the swing arm bearings are shot.. An almost naked frame.. The sump guard is doing a great job of keeping the frame steady on the bench

Thanks mate, I'm quite liking them too While busy welding the mesh on the left side I thought I could feel my right leg getting warm! For some reason I forgot to tuck my jeans over my boots this morning, the foam in the tongue had caught alight and was taking my jeans with it!! Oops! Fire put out and the mesh welded on.. With MadTrax on axle stands it was time to start making something heavy.. A engine/sump guard made from some rather thick and heavy diamond plate.. The diamonds are on the other side. A big thank you to Nigel for offering me the plate to use. A test fit after cutting it to shape. The front of the guard needed to be bent up a bit, after cutting it part way through and beating it with a big hammer it was time for some heavy duty welding.. Me like my Murex TradesMig. Another test fit to test the... er.. fit.. I needed something nice and strong to mount the heavy sump/engine guard to the frame... So I started slicing up some nice thick angle iron. Sliced, cleaned up, drilled for a bolt, and a captive nut welded on.. Welded on. Although my welding is getting much better, I just can't get the knack of welding upside down for some reason!! Which is why the mounts will be fully welded on when I can turn MadTrax on her side.. One of the mounts had to go on the side rather than under the frame tube... Nice welding eh I think the engine/sump guard is strong enough You may of noticed a gap between the top of the leg guard thingys and the frame.. Which is why I made a couple of these.. They slot in here.. Welded in.. That looks a lot better now. I had to find some storage space for a lot of parts, so the "rack sort of thing" under the bench was turned into a big shelf using er.. metal shelves.. So why do I need parts storage space? Well.... This started happening. Followed by even more of the same. Until finally I had reach this stage by the end of play yesterday. On Monday that last parts will be stripped off, then some serious welding can begin Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings, comments and questions are always welcome.. To finish up this update, here's the latest video fresh off of MooTube where you can see MadTrax being stripped down and even two of me at the same time... What more could you want eh

You can't beat the smell of new rubber Nice tires there Alain, bigger always looks better

Looks like you had a fun day Koen Nice to see your ready for any eventuality, extra fuel, a funnel and loads of spanners hanging on the PTO lever

Thanks Richard, having a "proper" Mig welder certainly has helped with the welds. My old "hobby" Mig just didn't have the oompphh behind it. Not much to report, both er... foot/leg guards have had an extra bit of tube welded in making sure the shape matched the outer tube. And one side has been treated to a coating of steel mesh... That should do the trick.

Mid 50's here at the mo, it's certainly cooled down a bit.. No idea what this winter will bring, hopefully another mild one like last year.. No snow would be helpful.

Looks like you have been having great fun doing the garden, one thing worry's me though... You might want to fix a seat to the roller, if you tripped over while steering it with the draw bar between your legs you would be in a while world of pain! "eye watering smiley"

On your next trip over there could you please bring me back John's barn? It's a fantastic building.. Nice video Chris, looks like you have a racing circuit all worked out through the long stuff

The foot peg mounts needed some strengthening.. They won't move now but I will add a bit more strength underneath. Due to the engine being offset to the left, the frame rails are not the same which meant the left side foot peg stuck out a bit more than the other side.. Chopped.. Push the ends together.. And weld it up.. I have welded the joins inside as well. With the foot pegs now sticking out the same amount both sides I needed to think about something to stop me running over my own legs with the rear wheels... So more recycling, some steel mesh and a mower handle.. The section of small louvers I will use later.. I needed to bend a couple of slight but long bends in the tube (mower handle now swapped out for a better one which also turned out to be Honda.. In keeping eh ). Running it over with the quad and even my Gt-14 didn't work, so something heavier was needed.. Please note Nigel busy eating to add to the weight I'm sure there was a length of tube there a second ago I think Nigel's truck did the bending trick As it turned out we decided not to use the long bends in the end and went for something shorter. Mostly welded on each side. The photo's do make the angles look a bit strange.. The tube heads towards the wheel before bending up.. It's hard to tell but I think they both look the same each side.. Once some steel mesh is welded in the feet shouldn't go through. And that's this thread up to date again..

Monday MadTrax went back up on the bench to do all those little jobs that I couldn't do on the ground. Thank you Rob and Nigel for your help. The exhaust system gained a guard to stop any legs from getting burnt.. The system will be heat wrapped also. Recycling time.. This was part of a Wheel Horse cutting deck.. Lot's of chopping and welding later a battery box bracket was born. A couple of captive nuts were welded to the bracket so the battery box can be welded on. To hold the battery in the box I welded a couple of bike straps together. Finally fitted... Yes the battery does come in and out easy, and no the swing arm does not hit the battery on full compression despite how it looks in the photo