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Ian

Project "Why Not"

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Good job mate, like the piston ash tray :D

 

Thanks Chris, the piston is from a long dead Kohler KT-17

 

 

 

That welding look damn good.

At the rate you're knocking it out, do you think you will have this 'on the road' for the summer?

 

Morning Andrew, yes Karl can certainly weld :D     Not sure if Why Not will be ready for the summer, a vast amount of work to do still.

 

 

 

Yeah, looking good!

 

 

Neat job. :thumbs:

 

Thanks Chaps :thumbs:

 

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Another great video. It sounds to me like you and Nigel are building up to a Christmas special video.

 

Thanks mate though I'm not sure about a seasonal special, I'm even more "ba-humbug" than Nigel :D

 

 

Duels anyone? :D

 

WN288_zps62139742.jpg

 

 

Maybe not... A bit too much :lol:

 

WN289_zps3d83e468.jpg

 

 

Progress has been made although it's hard to tell from the next photo.. The axle has been put back together, diff and half shafts installed.. The axle can now be unbolted from the chassis, and the axle mounting place on the chassis has had some reinforcing..

I really need to take some photos!

 

WN290_zps2b808dc2.jpg

 

 

One thing I always pride myself on is doing everything "In house" or even "In workshop", partly because it's nice to be able to say "I made that", and partly because I'd rather spend time making something than part with money :D

So with that in mind yesterday I finally came up with an accurate and safe and strong way I could convert a Wh rear wheel with it's 5 bolt 4 1/2" PCD..

 

WN291_zpsd16cd460.jpg

 

 

To fit the Reliant's 4 bolt 4" PCD

 

WN292_zps732daa20.jpg

 

 

I found this nice length of thick plate hiding on the bottom of a shelf in Nigel's "Handy scrap metal" store.. (Thanks Nigel :thumbs: ) which is enough to make 2 wheel centers from.

 

WN293_zps1ae1d337.jpg

 

 

Let the lathe work start :D

 

WN294_zps659443e5.jpg

 

 

The bad news is this steel is rather hard so it's going to take quite a while to turn each wheel center!

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It might be worth thinking about a split brake peddle so when the front is in the air you have some form of steering

 

Hi Iain, it will have a split brake pedal, but split front/back rather than sides on the rear...

 

 

 

Wow Ian looking good mate it's all falling into place now keep it up ! :)

 

Thanks James, it's getting not as fast as I would like, but any progress is good progress..

 

 

Even though I have not posted anything about Why Not for a few weeks work has slowly been happening..

 

When I left off at the end of the last update I had just started making new wheel centers.. Like so :)

 

WN294_zps659443e5.jpg

 

 

Which eventually turned into this...

 

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The raised bit is a nice tight fit in the center of the wheel which means the new wheel center is centralized in the center of the wheel :D

 

WN303_zpsb7c76d21.jpg

 

 

And from the outside it looks like this.. Please note the widened wheel rim was used for photographic purposes only and won't be going on Why Not..

 

WN302_zpse78d8d97.jpg

 

 

Bolt holes drilled... The extra two holes were the result of me making a jig out of ally to drill the holes accurately....  The trouble with ally is it's rather soft to use as a jig and one of the new holes ended up a couple of mm's in the wrong place!

 

WN305_zpsc515b5af.jpg

 

 

Time to break out the welder.. Lot's of tacks to stop it moving with heat..

 

WN306_zps5dd04415.jpg

 

 

Fully welded in..   A mixture of neat strong welds and not quite so neat but still strong welds :D

 

WN307_zps4d543d4a.jpg

 

 

The blackish ring seen on the inside shows good heat penetration.. 

 

WN308_zps03d8e483.jpg

 

 

Next up was to remove the old wheel center...

 

WN309_zps87aed449.jpg

 

 

Once it was cleaned up you could see the join between the new wheel center and the old metal, so I carefully ground out a V along the join and....

 

WN310_zpsbe440849.jpg

 

 

Back filled the V with plenty of weld :D

 

WN311_zps89d936ee.jpg

 

 

With the welds and the raised center carefully ground down to make it all smooth and level..

 

WN312_zps02ea02dc.jpg

 

 

I could finally bolt a Wheel Horse wheel to a Reliant rear axle :D

 

WN313_zps9b0254bc.jpg

 

WN314_zps94a3f565.jpg

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Awesome job Ian

 

Thanks mate..

 

 

 

Nice job, Ian. :thumbs:  Now get t'other wheel done. ;)

 

Thanks Norm, t'other wheel is almost done :D

 

 

Welded from the outside..

 

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And the inside.. A slight change of design with this one.. A lot less metal to grind flat in the middle :D

 

WN317_zpsb01cd51f.jpg

 

 

And for your viewing pleasure... The latest Why Not video..

 

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Evening all, more progress has been made but once again things are happening much slower than I'd like.. But such is life eh..

 

Both rear wheels have now been converted to the 4 bolt Reliant pattern which is a big step forward..

With both rear wheel bolted on I could finally get an idea on wide Why Not's rear end is..

 

WN323_zps62763f13.jpg

 

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Best have a look at the front end now.. as I plan to fit disc brakes to the front I need a pair of wheel hubs and wheels that will fit....

So out came the grinder to cut the centers out of a pair of wheels that Doug kindly sent me..

 

WN318_zpsd4b79bea.jpg

 

 

The wheel centers came with a handy strengthener plate welded inside..

 

WN319_zpsd3fc4afb.jpg

 

 

A very handy strengthener plate as it turned out as it's the perfect fit inside the front wheel.. 

 

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But it was only when I put the wheel center in the lathe that I noticed quite how much the manufacturing process had warped the wheel around the center and bolt holes.. No matter how much I tried it would just not sit right/central in the lathe!

 

WN324_zps1c3b3e5d.jpg

 

 

Time for plan B.... Make my own wheel centers..

 

WN325_zpsea34f85e.jpg

 

 

Here we go again, more time at the lathe... It's a good job I find it relaxing biggrin.png

 

WN326_zps6207f6e6.jpg

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Thanks James, it will get there sooner or later.. Sooner get's my vote :D

 

Not much to report, I have made a rather big washer..

 

WN327_zpsc0e76338.jpg

 

 

Which will become the new center for this wheel..

 

WN329_zpscd71731f.jpg

 

 

Which with some holes drilled will be able to bolt on the new front wheel hubs..  Here's one of them in it's "before being cut up" state..

 

WN328_zpsdf6f967e.jpg

 

 

This wheel won't be fitted, but while I had it to hand I thought it would be too good a photo opportunity to miss :D

 

WN330_zps4ba6f7cc.jpg

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