Ian

It was at this point I started to have a few of those "Groundhog day" sort of moments! Having worked out how to make a shaft that fit's over the gearbox splines, has a bearing at the other end and also has a sproket in the middle, I proceeded to make a mess of things 3 times! Attempt 1... Having just checked the bearing fit I forgot to tighten the tailstock back up for the final cut! The result was some nice deep gouges! (not seen in this pic as I trimmed some more off to check which tools cut best) Attempt 2... Counted twice what I should of done and took too much metal off making the bearing a loose fit! Attempt 3!!! All was going well until I broke a small drill bit off about 1/2 inch in!! No way of getting it out! Attempt 4... In it's raw state And attempt 4 in it's finished (and correctly sized) state. Not a perfect finish inside, but the measurements are right. The splined bit pressure fitted, a nice tight fit.. It will be welded on then the welds and overhang will be tidied up on the lathe. And finally with the bearing, I still need to buy the sprockets but as they will need boring out to fit the shaft I could get on and make this part.. I have just started making a sleeve to fit over the TB input shaft... Let's hope I only need to make it once

It was at this point my hands were not too happy about beating and shaping metal, so I thought I do something less hand straining on the lathe.. This UJ was part of the drive system when I thought lot's of UJ's were a good idea! The problem is I had also welded a splined bit inside one end, and the said splined bit fit's the splined shaft that comes out the bike gearbox! It's a shame to chop a UJ up, but when needs must.. Here's what's left of the UJ on the lathe having just broken through one end so I can get to the splined bit. The hidden splines.. Knocked out with a hammer and drift. All that work for this little bit of steel slid on the gearbox shaft! Thanks mate Time to think about mounting this large lump of 90'd drive! This 10mm thick steel plate should be strong enough Lot's of lathe and drill action later... (all the action coming up in the next video). Bolted on..

Nah, I just don't like making things easy for myself Back to the rear light and I needed some sheet steel to make it from. This will do.. Yes it came from our old tumble drier and still has some fluff on it to prove it A grinder with a 1mm disc was used to cut the long slices, a sharpened screwdriver (yes it was a very old one of which I have many) was used to chop the ends out. No idea why certain photo's like to turn the wrong way! Lot's of time spent with a file later and the lens almost fits. Time to bend the edges round, wanting a nice curve some bar stock was used for beating around. Ta-Daa. A lens check. "Let there be light" And held in postion.

Great photos Mark, you certainly did get hit by the snow! Thought I'd drop in your C4 in the snow video here

A great story Chris, I'm only 5 years behind you, been playing with WH's for 10 years now..

You know me, why do it the easy way? Thanks Richard, it's getting there, hope to have it test driveable in a few months. Let's start this update with the latest video.. Lot's of timelapse bits Back to the headlamp but only very quickly.. When it came to wire the lamp in I found there wasn't enough space around the outside of the bulb holder to run the wires,so three holes were dilled and then slotted to feed the wires through. Time to turn to the other end of NadTrax.. Starting with a cardboard template.. Which fits about here.. I'm sure you will of guessed by now it's for a rear light.. Even though I've no plans to put MadTrax on the road it needs a rear light to balance out the front light.. Not having any rear lights that will fit I need to make my own, starting with this Honda Silverwing light lens. Trimmed to shape including the lens inside. Hard to hold in position and take a picture! I have an idea on how I want the rear light to look, template time.. Rubbing dirty fingers on paper to make some marks and then cutting out didn't work too well.. No idea why this pic keeps turning around! Template number 2 involved cutting lots of bits of cardboard but it looks much better and is much more usable as an actual template Turning this into steel is going to be fun The transfer box gear stick needed a tweak so it wasn't in the way of any knees, so it was moved in by an inch, lengthened and a new hip and groovy know was put on the end It needs a little tidy up but it looks good

I most certainly will be making a cover for the battery, it's in an ideal place to get covered in all sorts of mud and stuff.. While digging through the Quadzilla wiring loom for connectors to pilage I found something that would most certainly be a good upgrade.. So this small bracket was made.. It was welded onto the frame just under the seat. If you hadn't guessed it holds up a modern fuse block, much better than the oold Honda one With the 4 wheel drive bit wired in, the time had come to think about lights starting with the er.. headlamp.. Not having the correct bulb holder (which would of been for a really old style bulb anyway) I had this problem to overcome! I had an idea on how to solve the er..gap problem but not the materials until Nigel found me this old pully.. Thank mate No photo's of all the lathe stages (plenty of that in the next video) but the pulley ending up looking like this.. The shallow slots were done with a milling bit in my pillar drill. Not ideal as the bed does try to move sideways! The bulb pokes through like this. Then the whole thing drops into the back of the lamp bowl. The little black slot through the bowl is a handy bolt hole, as is the one the other side Now something to hold the bulb to the holder. Starting with this.. Thanks again Nigel It was turned into this.. Which of course fits here.. I found some nice small bolts to use but I didn't have a tap to cut a thread..... So I made one Best test it.. Yep it works... Lots of drilling, thread cutting and countersinking and bolt shortening later.. Tad-Daaa A lot of work for something that won't be seen

Having already mounted the voltage regulator the wrong way ie bolted directly to the frame, I needed to find a good way of rubber mounting it.. Which is where the random bit of Quadzilla comes into play as it has a few holes already with rubber isolating mounts in it... Just not quite in the right places..... Soooooo.. Chop of the unwanted bits. Slice 4mm from the middle. Weld the two halfs back together. That should be strong enough Drill a hole. Bash the bend flat. Drill a second hole then test fit. Cut and grind the bracket to shape. Bolt the regulator back on to the bracket. Bolt the whole thing back on to MadTrax, plug the wires in.... Job done

Now, back to the wiring... This isn't what's left of the loom, it's all the bit's I didn't need mostly chopped from wires that were too long! As I went along all the crimp connectors were removed and the joints soldered up before being wrapped in tape.. At least I know the loom won't pull apart now Battery end of things. This bit of the loom was a massive mess with lots of crimp connectors! It looks way better now The front end splits nicely into two, it will split nicely into three when the headlamp is wired in.. Speaking of the headlamp, these "not yet connected" wires go to the Quadzilla switch gear and are the very wires that give life to the lighting circuit. And the horn Monday was spent turning this mess.... Into this non mess...... A day well spent

The wiring isn't too bad (well it feels that way now most of it's sorted), only 2 fuses and 2 idiot lights, but I do have a lighting circuits and the 4 wheel drive mode circuit to add.. And as the horn switch works I might as well try and find something loud to wire into it Thanks Ewan, I wasn't sure what she would sound like, but I like what I hear With the wiring (mostly) sorted I couldn't tidy the loom up without knowing where all the wires would run to... All of which means I had to find somewhere to mount the battery! The only place for it to go was just infront of the rear R/S wheel (no pics as it's hard to hold a battery in place and take photo's at the same time), no ideal but it just would not fit anywhere else! I had already built a battery box, but hope to mount it??? This TB mount looks a good start Lot's of chopping and welding later it looked like this Inside view. Outside view. Checking the battery box fits.. TB/Batt mount bolted back on to MadTrax Battery plonked in place.. It feels nice and strong with no movement and will hold the battery in place no problem

Thanks mate, that's quite a compliment coming from The Showman Distance isn't a problem in these days of cheap postage Thanks, it will be when it's up and running again

Even though I bought a C-312-8 from Chris in the not too distant past, It's missing a couple of vital parts like the engine and trans, so I needed to get something I could use.. This C-101 popped up very local at quite a good price Unfortunatly the boonet/hood isn't part of the deal so anyone have a spare C/Raider bonnet going spare? The fender pan is in good condition, but once again it's not part of the deal... Another fender pan has been thrown in (no pic's of it yet) but it is missing a bit of metal from the middle and needs a bit of work.. Engine.... It has one and it is part of the deal 10hp Kohler that spins freely but had no compression! Those with sharp eye's will of noticed a couple of bit's missing from the engine... Yep no carb or... Starter motor! I might have enough incomplete carbs on the shelf to make a good one, and I'm sure I have a starter for it somewhere but so far all I've found is a starter for a Kohler twin.. Think it might of come from a KT The trans is an 8 speed which is nice.. Last Friday Rex popped in for a coffee and the engines lack of compression got the better of him and he just had to have a look.. Problem found... The exhaust valve was stuck open, that large gap shouldn't be there! Head off to have a look... Followed by lot's of penertrating oil and some gentle taps with a rubber mallet saw the valve close again.. (not quite closed in this pic) Spinning the engine with a bit of pressure on the valve soon had it moving freely up and down again.. The cylinder wall has a bit of scoring, but not too bad though the engine may be a "smoker" when it's running.. Someone has been in this engine in the not too distant past, the head has been cleaned at some point as all the crud/carbon is only a thin layer.. Other than a wipe with a cloth the piston is as found... Someone has cleaned most of it! The plan for this machine??? Find the missing parts, get the engine running and just use it

Although the wiring was operational enough to get the engine running, for some reason I just could not get the two warning lights on temp guage to work... These three! The one place where the lights/temp guage connect wiring wise is the voltage regulator which should (or so I thought) power the lights etc.. Now I will admit to to getting the power leads to the battery around the wrong way once, that coupled with finding out the regulator should be rubber mounted to the frame (so it doesn't earth through the frame) rather than bolted directly to the frame as I had done once! So... Everything pointed to a fried regulator being the problem, a replacement with correct mounting bracket with the rubber bits was ordered.. The result??? No Change! The problem is this black wire from the regulator, there should be power in it but it was missing! Time for a coffee and a bit of research on the internet to find out exactly what the blasted black wire does.. As it turned out it's the wire the regulator uses to keep a check on the voltage and should be connected to a live.. At the front-ish of the loom is this connector that has been taped up as I thought it wasn't needed... Yes it's the other end of the black wire and it should of been connected to a live feed form the ignition switch! "Bangs head and has one of those Doooohhhhhh moments"! With that black wire connected to a live this was the result I know that in the grand scheme of things a couple of warning lights isn't a big deal, but it was really bugging me as to why they were not working!

Morning all, to try and keep this in some sort of order, here's the latest 2 MadTrax videos.. The 1st vid is lot's of metalwork, the second is wiring and the 1st start of the engine

Time to sort the steering.. The problem I had was the Quadzilla steering column didn't fit the mount on the frame, and the gauge pods I made would not bolt on! But I still needed the bottom of the column as it does the steering bit! So I needed the Honda top half and the Quadzilla bottom half, of course they are not the same diameter and one would not slide into the other! A little bit of lathe work later had the solution to joining the coulnms together and keep them straight.. A close up. To make sure nothing would move lot's of holes were drilled so I could plug weld through to the adaptor thingy.. My Murex Mig welded won't go all the way up to "Spinal Tap", so I turned it up a notch to 6 and zapped the parts together.. Cleaned up.. The good news is the column ended up exactly the right length, straight and the top and bottom halfs lined up, so it was bolted back in.. To celebrate the light and gauges were also bolted on.. MadTrax looks kinda strange with no wheels, tank or seat on! I would Now onto something fun, or not.. Wiring!!! I had already removed anything not needed from the Honda CX loom, but I also needed to splice in some of the Quadzilla loom! With the Quadzilla loom trimmed back to what I actually need things didn't look that scary! I now need to find an "easy to read" early Honda CX 500 wiring diagram to double check which wires do what as the loom had been hacked about before I started at it!!

Morning all, back to the metal work.. The removable bit needed to be made bolt-in-able, so some more metal was added.. Some captive nuts would be handy to bolt it on, but I didn't fancy burning my fingers trying to hold the nuts in place while welding... So may I introduce to you all the sacrificial pencil Not only does the pencil screw into the nut very nicely, any pencil that burns off is easily removed from the thread Welded in with not a welding splat on the threads in sight Ok, this pic may be of the opposite side to the above pics, but it does point out the big hole in the end of the tube where it's been cut off.. To fill the holes I found a couple of washers about the right, cleaned them up and clamped them onto a bit of brass plate. THe holes in the washers were then welded up, the weld won't stick to brass.. Then a couple of "trimmings" were tacked on to give something to hold on to. Once removed from the brass they looked like this.. Or this!!!! Washers welded in.. And once the welds had been cleaned back the removable bit was bolted back in..

Looks nice with a bit of snow down Norm, it's more snow than we have had down this way... Apart from the time my Wife got snowed in at work.. 4 inches down in a little over 2 hours! Quite amazing to see St Leonards beach cover in snow! You need to hang a cistern on the pole behind the toilet and plant it up

Thanks for noticing mate Somehow I don't think Wheel-Vo will be ready by August mate, but please feel free to drop in the workshop when your down this way Thanks dude, it's going to be a while until anything really starts on this project, but starting it certainly will do

You never know Norm, I'm on a bit of a push to get MadTrax done so I can start on Wheel-Vo Starting with a video to try and keep things in order.. To finish off the strengthening on the left side I needed a couple of small plates to go at the bottom. Due to the small size of the holding them in place just wasn't going to work without setting fire to my fingers, so I welded a couple of small off-cuts to the plates to act as temporary handles. Plates tacked in place.. Once the plates had been fully welded on the time had come to tackle a job that thus so far had caused me lot's of head scratching.... Removing the rear diff/final drive thingy.. The right side already had a removable plate.. The left side didn't, but if I could make it removable them I might stand a chance of getting the rear end out.. HHmmm... Some nice welds to cut through! But before I started cutting metal a template was needed! Ok, I needed the bit's marked F and R but the off-cut in the middle is a funky shape This was part of the Quadzilla front end.. some cutting needed but it's just the right thickness for what I need. Here's the plate cut out of the frame and the extra couple of bit's of steel which will make the plate removable.. With all the parts bolted back on some tack welds were added. Back on the bench the now removable plate was clamped around some box and a bit of angle to hold it all square while I zapped the joins up.. Don't think it will be moving now Now to try and get the rear end out.... Eeerrrr! Ummmm! Until eventually I was left with this open space... Which was only possible once I had cut this bit of tube out the frame... Another bit to make removable! The rear end on the bench.. Rob picked up a wire brush and started to attack it to see what it would come up like Not bad but I fear some mechanical cleaning help is needed..... Now where did I put those wire brush cup thingys that go in the drill???

We all have a "must build" project in mind, and this is mine.. Over the years I have restored WH's Built things that go on them such as a snowplow and harrow... Added a couple of extra wheels - The 6x6.. And even made a fast fun machine - Project Why Not.. Wheel-Vo is the silly/stupid one As you all know I paid The Showman a visit the other day and came back with a car load of WH.. A 312-8 although with no engine and trans it's more like a 300-0 Here it is back in the workshop thrown in a rather neat pile The plan? The title should of given you a clue, I'm on the look-out for a cheap Volvo that will give up a 2.3 turbo engine, gearbox, rear axle and maybe a few other parts, then sell on the rest to get a few £££'s back.. Of course a standard WH chassis won't be suitable so I'm going to have to build one.. A lot of work ahead but I can/am collect parts while I'm finishing Project MadTrax.. There won't be any real updates for a while but I can keep you updated as to how the parts collecting is going.. And of course... Video's

It was good to catch up with you again Chris, thanks for selling me er.. 3/4's of a Wheel Horse.. It's nice to have something red back in the workshop, being WH-less for 1 1/2 days was hard to cope with

Not much to report, I have made a good start on the left side with the suspension mount strengthening.. When I put the TB in I had to cut a bit of tube out, so back in it went.. A close up. The captive nut is for the TB side mount. Only a couple of small plates to go in at the bottom and a lot of welds to grind down..

Forgot to add this..

Amazing work Alan, your attention to detail put's my builds to shame..

It's been a long while since I last went to the cinema, back in 1991 to see Terminator 2!!