Ian

Thanks chaps, but I disagree.... Your see why A close up of that gauge for you. After looking at the photo's of the front of the hood, I just wasn't happy with the way the new slot's looked... A reminder for you. But what if the slot's were wider to match the original slots?? A quick bit of masking and a squirt of matt black paint to trick the brain into seeing wider than they are slot's and it looks much better.. So Monday the slot's will be widened and tidied up. I didn't enjoy the filler work on the wheels at all.. Too small a space to sand easily!! But once the wheels had had a coat of IH white paint it was worth it I didn't plan to go quite so far with the bodywork before the shows, but I may of got a bit carried away.. The fender pan was panel beaten to get the shape as best I could before being hit with filler/bondo.. A bit more filling and sanding to go but it's almost there now..

Evening all, I'm feeling quite shattered this evening so I thought I'd do an update why I'm still awake.. I don't know about you lot but I find it quite hard to type when I'm asleep The first job on the hit list was to tackle the fuel tank.. Once I had drained the water/cleaning solution out and dried the inside, I took the tank well away from the public and stuck a blowtorch in the filler hole... I already knew from the smell of the tank there was no explosive vapors inside, but I had to try to make sure.. Nowt exploded so I warmed up the grinder and welder and set to.. The outlet pipe was welded to the inside of the new plate first, then the whole thing was welded on a bit at a time to make sure nothing warped.. Not the best of photo's but the tank outlet is now above the carb inlet, I just need to fit an inline filter and tap somewhere.. The welds have now had a light tidy up, sprayed with red oxide and the inside sealed up with tank sealant just to make sure it doesn't leak this time. While I was waiting for the tank welds to cool I fitted an extra gauge... I've no idea what you would call it (a better photo coming tomorrow) but it's basically a vacuum gauge which has been following me around for more years than I care to remember.. So I fitted it All the new panels are now painted and bolted down.. Yes I will be painting the bolts I have always been a bit worried about the engine getting too hot due to not enough air getting to the radiator, so today I cut a few extra slots in the front of the bonnet.. This isn't the best of photo's and the slots do look better a little further away, but I think the extra slots need to be wider to closer match the original slots.. What do you guys think? Although I won't have time before Rural Past Times to do a full paint job, I do want to get the wheels painted.. So off came the rear wheels for a bit of "hide the welds with filler" action... I'm not looking forward to sanding them tomorrow! While the rear wheels are off I thought I'd take a look at the fender pan.. This join does not look to bad.. Until you put a straight edge across it!! Lot's of loud hammer work later and it's getting there.. And thus that's the story so far..

Another thing to remember with these rear mounted gas tanks is not to let it run dry.. They can be a nightmare to get the fuel flowing again!

Some parts of your body we just don't want to hear about old chap Thanks Andrew, yes WN will be at Rural Past Times

Great photo's Norm, it's interesting seeing two Marlin kit cars.. Not something seen every day.. Many years ago I had the honor of using a borrowed Marlin as an everyday car for 6 months.... 2 liter Pinto engine with a Granada 5 speed box... It used to go sideways everywhere in the wet.. Drove it through snow, floods, everywhere.. It was great fun but the rear tyres didn't last that long

Oops, sorry Chris

Thanks mate, anyone know where I can get some 24" diameter plastic pipe?

Thanks Max, yeah the speed runs will be fun Ouch your internet is slow! Do you think I could hire myself out as a muck spreader? Hi Andrew, I'm not sure air horns will be needed... The loud exhaust and manic laughing is sure to get peoples attention It's been a busy few days in the workshop, with Rural Past Times coming up I was even in the workshop Sunday! The wiring was 99.9% done by Sunday lunch time, just one safety switch to fit when I get it.. So I spent the rest of the day fabricating this.. Now you see a mess of wiring.. Now you don't A closer view for you. A lot of template making time went into getting the side panel looking just right.. Speaking of templates, here's the right side template taking shape. Transfer to steel. Bung steel in the sheet metal folder.. Fold a 90 degree bend.. And then forget to take photo's of the other stages, so have an almost finished side panel shot instead I didn't get as much done today as I would of liked, but some more panel work has been done. A top cover for the main body tub was made, and as the fender pan sits a bit lower than the body tub I made a curved panel thingy to help blend the two heights together.. It will also add strength to the front of the fender pan when it's fully welded on. A view from afar.. Pete dropped in for a visit today which resulted in the fuel tank being removed!! The reason? Well, Pete had not heard WN running and as I needed to check my slimmed down wiring loom still worked and I didn't cut out anything that I shouldn't of, we decided to fire her up.. It was at this time that the leak free tank decided it wanted to start leaking, and I started to wish I had put the tank sealer in that I had bought!! Then I had a better idea.. Unless WN's engine is warm she has always had a bit of a starting problem with fuel not getting to the carbs.. The problem is the tanks fuel tap is below the carb fuel inlet.. Even though the actual tank is above the fuel inlet and logic says that gravity will do it's thing and get fuel to the carbs through a looped pipe, gravity seems to have other ideas! Also when I tried to drain the tank I found the vacuum side of the fuel tap wasn't working that well! So the plan is to cut off the old fuel tap, weld the hole up and fit a new fuel outlet at the base of the front face of the tank which is the side facing you.. This will put the tank outlet above the carb inlet The only problem is the tank was half full of fuel today, so after draining and soaking up the last dregs of fuel with a rag, I filled the tank up with a water 1001 stain remover solution... I know washing up liquid is traditional, but I didn't have any.. All being well any fuel vapors will be gone by Thursday when I'm at the workshop next, and I can cut and weld it without fear of being blown up!

Great work Max, I bet you can't wait to get her piped up and sideways

Fantastic work Richard, is there anything you can't do?

Nice work Norm, if I borrow Nigel's plough to hang behind my GT between you, Tom and me we could start a WH ploughing team

Nice work Tom, it looks like you will be having fun at Rural Past times Although I worked the old 312 quite hard at times I never hitched a plough behind it, it will be interesting to see how it does..

It's never fun!! I've made an adapter thingy to power the air horns from one of the rear tyres... The downside is the more horny you get the more lopsided you become Hi Max, I'm not really sure as I tend to upload the bigger videos overnight.. I'd guess maybe 4 hours which may seam a long time but the video is full 1080p hd at 50 frames a second.. The vid is 1.28GB is size, the raw footage comes in at a massive 5.19GB! While were on the subject of videos, I've just order a cheaper version of a GoPro camera, if it does what it says on the tin (ok, box) there will be some interesting on board footage to come I didn't get as much done yesterday as I would of liked, but any progress is good progress The slimmed down wiring loom is now fully wrapped up in black tape, 90% routed and plugged in.. Working out where to put the voltage regulator took quite a while.. In the end I made this bracket and welded it to the chassis. The "open" design is to let air to the back of the regulator to help keep it cool. I also make up a couple of these.. Which were welded to the battery box/tray thingy. Ideal for mounting the starter solenoid.. Oh, and a bit of news... Nigel and I were explaining to a Gent yesterday about WN and telling him that we were struggling to find somewhere to do some speed testing, and the car park is just too small.. The said Gent said, "No problem, bring it up to my place"..

Thanks Mark, I'm not sure what's going to happen with the dash. I may change it at a later date for something more Wheel Horsey.. We shall see. Thanks Iain Don't worry Max the raw steel look will be staying for now.. Today I managed to get the ignition barrel fitted.. Space is getting a bit tight in there! Marking out the correct place to drill a hole through the panel for the ignition barrel was interesting to say the least, but I'm happy with how it turned out. The barrel is flush with the panel.. While I was drilling holes in that area I also fitted the choke control. And now onto a part of the build I was dreading... Sorting out the electrics!!! I forgot to take a photo of the wiring loom before I started but once all the old insulation tape was removed (a horrible sticky job!) I worked out which bit's of the loom I needed and which could go.. This is the removed pile, basically all the lighting, brake lights, indicator, and horn circuits.. The loom draped over so I could work out what has to go to where.. Starting to look a bit better, well tidier at least If all goes to plan I hope to have the wiring done and the engine fired back up tomorrow.. Fingers crossed I didn't cut any wires I shouldn't have And for your viewing pleasure here's the latest WN video... It's a bit of a long one so best get a drink ready beforehand

Your lucky you managed to get him out so quickly, I guess he didn't know he's "rights" as a squatter or would of been in there for at least 6 months

Evening chaps, today has been all about metal.. To cover the hole that normally has a plate with an ammeter fitted I made up this plate... The curved bit covers the steering column where it pokes through under the dash. I forgot to take any photo's of it so have a snap taken from the video footage. Working out where and how to mount the ignition barrel was fun. It will go under the dash towards the left which will mean drilling a hole through my freshly made panel above.. Here's the mounting bracket next to the barrel.. The bracket also stops the bike steering lock pin from popping out should the key be turned the wrong way.. And onto today's main attraction... The dashboard.. In my haste to get it to fit yesterday I ground a bit too much metal off on the bottom corners. It would of been easy to ignore the gaps if they hadn't of bugged me so much.. So... Off came the dash panel, the offending corners were cleaned up and clamped to a small slab of brass.. Extra MIG metal added to build the corner back up.. One gentle tap later the brass came off the dash.. This is the underside.. You can see where the weld picked up some dirt from the brass. Some very careful grinding later and the corners were sorted On a roll now 3 holes were drilled for warning lights and the starter switch, before I attacked the dash panel with this flap wheel thingy in the pillar drill. The end result after a couple of coats of clear lacquer looked like brushed stainless.. I like the look but I'm now wondering if my airbrush paint will still be any good after 7 odd years, and if I have any fine line masking tape

108 I think

Turning garden tractors into trains does seem to be a strange obsession all round the world... This one was spotted at Tractorfest in 2013, somewhere under the bodywork is a Wheel Horse! Nice score with the 3 point

A cracking job I bet it felt good to paint over the pink primer It made me grin

Welcome to MOM behoof, I can't add anymore to what's been said above... Your C-161 looks a nice machine, those 16hp Kohlers do have some power

I thought red mist only happens when your racing! Nope Doug, the paint will stay on.. It's not a Westwood I'm not going to answer that Andrew as everything I come up with is rather crude... I used to work on the railway you see, some parts of the training stay with you forever Well, I did try to get a photo of all the finished steering in place, but my lens isn't that wide.. So have a photo of the new steering box, it looks far neater than the old box. Buried behind the column is the relocated expansion bottle... Not the ideal place to get a funnel into but it's the only place it can fit.. You can also just about see part of the crankcase breather, yes it's the bit held down with the zip tie. Getting a bit more pressure to the front brakes turned out to be quite easy in the end. Rather than raise the whole master cylinder as I have previously mentioned I just raised one end.. The front brakes won't lock up but they will certainly help with slowing down which is just how I want it. So, with WN steering and stopping I thought it was time to make a start on the electrical side of things,,, I needed somewhere to put the starter button and warning lights and maybe the choke.. And I also needed a new dash plate.... I think this panel came from a WH 314-8 I bought for parts years ago.. That fills a hole I just need to work out where to put the lights and starter button... That's something for tomorrow..

Yep, it's amazing how agile he is at 100 when he hears the kettle boiling Happy birthday mate

I really must stop using laughing gas on my welder As it happen the Mayor of Mower land (see link below ) was driving my GT so you never know... Scroll to bottom of page http://myoldmachine.com/topic/1282-the-workshop-moving-thread/page-4

Black is the new er.. Black Is the paint a bit on the satin side, me likes

No need for a roll cage and parachute Kev, the built in "clench control" system will stop the driving from getting too wild....