Ian

Do you smoke your coffee with or without filters Neil? it is indeed.. Does strange things to the mind... Or maybe that just the welding fumes

I need to come and pay you a visit for some test driving Nigel, your having way too much fun there

Nice videos Nigel, good to see Noddy getting a thrashing..... I like the new decoration on the red bars at the front

Looks like a fun time Nigel. Did the boy wonder win? I'm not sure but where they are racing looks local to us both? I may be wrong of course, it is a Sunday after all

The new axles needed some key-ways cut in them... I was going to do it the easy way this time.. A slot mill was bought and this bit of bracket work was made for holing the axle on the lathe. An action shot. A freshly cut key-way.. Now you can start to see why this build had been taking so long to do.. 20 bit's hand made on the lathe, and these are just the front and middle axle parts! The front axle being mounted.. And a visit from Andy (Wheeledhorseman). All four axles mounted, bit hard to see two of them though.. Three wheels off the ground, getting close now to the first real milestone Which was a rolling chassis A quick bit of hood stretching.. And off the bench she came.. This was the first time I had been able to have a good view of her all the way around... I was very happy Pete having a drive And that I think is a good point to stop for now, thanks for reading hope your all enjoying this build..

While on the subject of engines I might as well post this here.. Another Fleabay find but this time a good one... A Kohler M20 with seriously low hours... Less than 1 hour on it when I bought it!! It was bought new as a spare for a wood chipper, only it was never used just started once in a while to make sure nothing seized! As you know this engine runs and sounds great This may not be in the right order of the build, but there you go.. Confused.co.headscratch! At this point (I think it was at this point but can't be sure!) I still needed to make the middle and front axles.. One axle taking shape. One machined and two blanks. The part the wheels actually bolt on to were cut from this thick steel.. Same about the hole in it, but that's an easy fix. Machine a bit of bar so it's very slightly too big for the hole. And bung it in the freezer for a few hours to shrink.. When the time was right the hole was heated to make it expand a bit.. The shrunken bar was then dug out of the freezer and beaten into the hole.... I don't think it will come out now You can just about make out the bit of bar during turning.. Marked out for wheel bolt hole drilling. Cutting the threads.

Back to the "fitting the controls in a tight space" problem.. After measuring both the C-175 body (which has all the right holes for the controls) and the Raider body I found they were almost (and I do mean very close) the same width.. Lot's of measuring and marking out.. Chopped! Welding old and slightly less old together. A little filler bit. Ta-Daa.. I'm now getting very confused working out when and in what order things happened... All my photo's are numbered but something has gone amiss somewhere!! So have some engine photo's... I was never sure the 12hp engine I planned to use was powerful enough, so I took a chance on a very cheap Fleabay engine... Of course the package had to arrive at the shack in style A Kohler M18 engine in kit form.. Bit's everywhere! Even though the bare engine turned over by hand the valves wouldn't open on side, so the case was split.. Problem found... The camshaft gear was missing a few teeth!! Add in the very deep rust pitting in this barrel meant the engine was only fit for parts! Oh well, at least I paid less for it than the parts were worth

Morning chap's, it's about time I got some more of this build posted up, so here's some more More steel was added to the chassis, the small box section running front to back is to add some more strength and give me somewhere to bolt the inner axle bearings onto. When it came to adding the extra steel on the right side I ran into a drive belt problem! The pulley on the 8 speed trans was so low the drive belt would have to "around" a bit of structural chassis!! A removable section in the chassis just wasn't an option! The solution landed on my bench a couple of weeks later when this large lump of Wheel Horse C-175 was bought.. The Eaton 1100 hydro trans has it's drive pulley mounted up high on the pump... It's behind the cooling fan on the far side... Working out how to get the hydro control levers etc... Inside the skinny Raider body was going to be interesting Meanwhile getting the wheel hubs off the new trans was proving to be a pain.. One hub puller with a stripped thread! After lot's of repairing/breaking my hub puller, the wheel hubs eventually came off with the help of a grinder!!

Thanks Paul much appreciated, though I'm sure your just looking for any excuse to sample some more of my 1st class coffee

Thanks Chris, I will PM you later about it.

That doesn't look too bad Chris, who cut the large bit out the side of the front panel? Looking at the rear, I'd better make a template from Kenny's hood I will PM you at some point today Chris. Sorry Kenny, no more progress on your parts. I did start straightening your seat pan out yesterday, but my balance went on holiday so I thought the shack was not the safe place to be.. Fingers crossed I'm back in operational condition tomorrow.

Hi Chris, I can't help you with your dipstick, but Welcome to MOM.. Good to have you aboard

Morning chaps, yes I'm looking for a cheap lawn sweeper... I raked my lawn yesterday and I'm just getting to old to collect the grass the manual way I don't mind which make the lawn sweeper is as long as the brush is powered by the sweepers wheels.. Anyone have a lawn sweeper they need out the way?

A very productive way to sped your winter Andy.. Making a former out of wood to press the repair patches show real dedication.. A fantastic Job Sir

Thanks Neil, yep the rusty look would be the way to go... It would feel a bit strange making the fresh steel rusty after cutting out the rust that was there

Once the engine starts to rev a bit they settle down and dance a bit less... It's still a better dancer than me Don't forget to video your engine starting Mark.. Oh, and don't forget to check for hidden debris I check the timing by comparing the debris flying out is in time with the woodpeckers head butting the trees.. You have to times the woodpeckers banging by at least 100 of course

Hi Paul, I'm no engine expert by any means, but pressing the guides in seems the sensible way to do it.. As you say i would give a constant pressure.. I don't know if you can shrink fit valve guides in, you know put them in the freezer for a few hours to let the cold shrink them.. It should make them drop in easier.. Just don't let your wife know your putting engine parts in the freezer

Evening chaps, a bit of a progress report.. The bit of time I had yesterday was spent trying to work out how to make the trim/strengthening strips.. Despite numerous attempts I couldn't get them right.. Eventually I realized that the insides of the hood do not go straight down (or up if the hoods the right way up), but curve, which makes them impossible for me to make out of one bit of steel which I had been hoping to!! Not sure what to do about that.. Maybe make an inner and out part, clamp them to the hood and weld them together... Any thoughts on this guys? This is all that remained of the hood mounting bracket! After a quick blast in the cabinet. Best break out some more steel, a little bit thicker this time.. The new MIG welder did well on this thicker stuff, I'm still struggling a bit with the thinner stuff though.. It will come in time The refurbed mounting bracket.. The outer edges need to be shaped to match the curves of the hood.. Can you spot something strange going on with the hood shape??? I don't know why I haven't spotted this before.. The left side is slightly taller then the right!! Not by much but it's there all the same! After a lot of looking, hammering, looking again, hammering some more, yet more looking, and more hammering I think I have it sorted now... What do you think Guy's, have I got it right now or do I need to hammer some more? Out of interest I thought I'd run a wire cup brush on a grinder to see how the surface rust came up.. I quite like it... If it were mine I'd be tempted to leave it as is and wipe some oil over it once in a while

Happy Birthday Tom, here's hoping you get all the WH bits you need :thumbs:

Thanks Paul. Hi Neil, Your right it won't take much to get it running nicely.. Next time I fire it up it will be fully wired (including key start ) and charging system.. Fixing the fuel leak from the tap will help a bit as well.. I might even bolt the engine down Ah yes, the clock.... Your have to ask Pete on that as it was nothing to do with me... I think Pete had a bit of a clock fetish that day.. Maybe I should warn he's wife

Ouch!! It's a bit like catching that hidden large lump of rock when snowplowing!! You only want to do it once as the feeling of being launched over the wheel isn't that nice

That looks a fun way of spending a few hours I have to ask... How many times did you get the rake caught behind trees?

No real news on these repairs I'm afraid.. Lot's of visitors over the past few days has stopped me from getting much done.. But I have spent a bit of time today finding lots of ways of not making the hood trim/strengthening strips correctly!! But I think I have it worked out now.. Photo's to come when I take them..

Pete and I thought it would be fun to try and start the Kohler engine I bought that used to live under a saw bench.... You might say it was interesting