Project "Why Not"

[Ian 2,417]

Fantastic work Ian.

Another masterpiece from the Shack!

 

Thanks Andrew

 

 

 

Looking great and I love the action shots. The last picture looks like something you would see in a John Wayne movie.

 

Iain

 

Thanks Iain.

I've been compared to a lot of people (mostly Rednecks) over the years, but never John Wayne

 

 

 

You will certainly be losing your hat Ian

 

The secret is to wear the hat backwards.. More aerodynamic that way

 

 

Well chaps, WN now has a fully working suicide shift.. Working out the linkage was quite easy, making it all fit between the chassis and steering rod was not so easy..

Your have to wait til the next video to see it in action I'm afraid, but here's a few photo's to give you an idea.

 

Pulling back on the shifter pushes the rod at the base forward..

 

 

 

Which pushes on the top of the L shaped pivot thingy and thus causes the next part of the linkage to be pulled down..

 

 

 

Which pulls down on on the cut down bike foot shifter and thus you have 1st gear.. I'm sure you can work out how to get the other 4 gears

 

 

 

I've no idea which model Wh this pedal came from, but it makes a great clutch pedal..

 

 

 

By sheer luck the Honda's clutch cable couldn't of been a better fit.. With the cable routed over the top of the engine, the end that need to be connected to the pedal ends up about here.. That should make it very easy to connect

 

[the showman 4,074]

I guess in racing circles that's called a ratchet shifter

[Ian 2,417]

Evening chaps, yesterday I got WN's clutch pedal sorted...

 

Up..

 

 

 

Down....

 

 

 

Now you may of noticed when the pedal is in the down position the pull on the cable isn't ideal, but this was soon sorted when I found a matching pair of pedals in a box under the bench!

 

 

 

Of course I had to use a matching pair of pedals, so the newly found clutch pedal had a little trim, and extra hole drilled for the cable to attach to, and fitted.

The clutch has a nice feel to it. a bit of travel and not too sharp..

I need to fit a stopper to stop the pedal from falling back which is why it's held up with a spanner

 

 

 

As for the brake pedal, here it is almost in place. I need to trim about 3/4 inch off the inside to get it a little closer to the engine to make enough space for the throttle pedal.

 

 

 

Sorry about the finger in the photo   but here you can (just) see the matching pair of bike master cylinders. They came from 1000cc bikes (no idea which bikes, it was a long time ago) and should be more than up to the job.

As you will of guessed one is for the front brakes and one for the rear..

The front's being bike calipers will be easy to plumb in... As for the rears, I have worked out a way of linking car and bike brake lines together that does not involve jubilee clips , but more on that when I get there.

 

 

 

Yesterday Nigel was looking for something to do, so I gave him one of the rocker covers to strip of paint and give a very quick polish.. Very good it looks too

 

 

 

Unable to stop himself at this point one of the exhausts was pulled off to have the ally clamp polished and a coat of high temperature paint..

 

 

 

Which lead to the question of what colour the engine should be painted.. Not having any gloss black between us part of the engine was quickly masked up and hit with more of the high temp paint.. Now it has dried to a matt finish it doesn't look that good, but while it was wet it looked great.

So the engine will be going gloss black with a few select ally parts polished up

 

Right side...

 

 

 

Left side

 

[meadowfield 1,900]

 

I can almost smell the burning rubber and fear  excitement....

[Ian 2,417]

 

I can almost smell the burning rubber and fear  excitement....

 

Hopefully it will only be burning rubber you can smell

 

 

A little bit more progress has been made...   Brake pedal moved inwards a bit and what will be the throttle in place..

 

 

 

Sometimes the best solution is the simplest one..

As you know I am using two bike master cylinders for WN's brakes, one front brakes, one rear, but I also need a way to set the balance on them, or more braking at the back than the front as it's otherwise known..

I did look at brake bias valves but other than Chinese cheap rubbish they were all rather expensive!

I could of built a linkage using cams to apply different pressure to each master cylinder until a thought hit me..

 

As you will of seen by the photo in my last post I had been thinking of having the MC's next to each other... But what would happen if one was above the other?

 

Taaa Daa

 

 

 

The higher you go up the lever the more it goes forward, so the top MC (rear brakes) gets more pressure and sooner than the bottom (front brakes) MC 

All I need to do is weld the MC frame to the chassis, change the lever bit for something a bit stronger and connect it via a rod to the brake pedal..

A little fine tuning will be needed I expect, but I'm rather hopeful this system will work

 

[Ian 2,417]

[meadowfield 1,900]

Another great update Ian

[Ian 2,417]

Thanks Mark

 

This morning while looking at the photo's of the master cylinders I had a flash of inspiration as you do..

 

This won't hit MooTube for a little while but I thought I'd give you a sneak preview..

This is the prototype so it needs a bit of refinement, but you will get the idea

 

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc140/Stigian/Why%20Not/th_Brake%20Demo_zpsgirdmxlk.mp4

[nigel 1,876]

Pure genious

[Stormin 4,458]

[Ian 2,417]

Pure genius

 

 

 

Thanks Guys..

 

 

Only a small update guys..

 

Happy that my strange braking system will work, today I started to refine it a bit.

 

New connecting lever on the left, prototype on the right.. As you can see I decided it needed a bit of shape to it

 

 

 

Here it is fitted..

 

 

 

The handbrake lever looked like it had been pulled from an old Marina or something, so I gave it a "Wheel Horse" make over. The bottom half will be covered by the side panel..

I think it looks more the part

 

[Ian 2,417]

Evening chaps, a bit of an update for you.

 

The braking system is no finished bar a bit of plumbing and finding somewhere to bolt the reservoirs to.

 

A few photo's of the finished linkages..

 

 

 

 

 

WN now has a working throttle pedal.

 

 

 

A simple bolt on bracket converted the pedal from push to pull.

 

 

 

To stop the clutch and throttle pedals from flopping backwards I made a couple of these anti-flop stopper thingys.

 

 

 

Time to move onto a different part of the build, fuel and air.

 

Here's the tank I'm using, I bought it from Nigel long before the workshop move.

 

 

 

To make sure the engine gets enough fuel I needed to fit the Honda's fuel tap, which means I need to cut a bit out the Honda's tank..

Even though the tank had been empty for many months with no cap of tap fitted it still had that old petrol smell..

So be be sure it wouldn't blow up when I cut into it I used my old trick involving some rolled up paper and a blow torch....  And yes I did light it outside

 

[Ian 2,417]

Well, nothing went bang so out came the grinder..

 

 

 

Strange baffle thingy.. I guess it's there to stop dirt from entering the carbs..

 

 

 

About to go under the knife grinder

 

 

 

After fuel tap pipe enlargement surgery..

 

 

 

I had to lower the fuel tap to give me a fighting chance of getting some sort of air filter fitted!

Yes the fuel tap outlet is lower than the carb fuel inlet, but as the tank is above the inlet gravity should still do it's thing and fuel the carbs up.

 

 

 

The old fuel tap hole was blocked up by screwing in the end of this bolt and some welding.

 

 

 

I still need to make some brackets to bolt the tank down but as it will need to go in and out a lot while I sort the induction side of things out that job can wait a little while..

 

Speaking of induction, this was the carbs to air filter box pipework.. I only needed the carb ends..

 

 

 

Which were a perfect fit over this 2 inch diameter pipe, or part of a Reliant prop shaft to give it it's full name..

 

 

 

The plan is to plumb this pipe into both carbs and stick and air filter on both ends....   This time I will make sure I get the right size filters

 

[Ian 2,417]

As it turned out the remains of the Reliant prop shaft was too short, but I did have these Reliant axle off cuts which could be welded together to get enough length.

 

 

 

A template for cutting out notches.

 

 

 

A nice tight fit..

 

 

 

Lot's of cutting, grinding and welding later..

 

 

 

I need to "port" the inside a bit more to help air flow.

 

 

 

Fitted to the carbs.

 

 

 

 

But will the hood stand still fit??

 

I had to trim a little off the hood stand, but yes it fits

 

 

 

The left side was an even tighter fit with the fuel tap present, but fit it does..

 

 

 

All I need to do now is by a pair of correct size air filters and trim the tubes to length..

 

Speaking of air filters, I thought it would be a laugh to put on the way over sized filters I had bought a few weeks ago

 

 

 

 

And to finish off this update, here's the last two parts I need to fit before I pull the whole thing apart for final welding....  Test drive time is getting closer by the day

 

[Ian 2,417]

[slf-uk 914]

Another great update and video. My 7 year old lad is as much interested in this as I am.

 

Pleased you remembered to remove the U/J from the end of the section of prop.

 

Iain

[Ian 2,417]

Thanks Iain, good to see your boy has an interest in mechanical stuff at an early age

I was lucky with the prop shaft, the end with the good UJ was the end I needed

 

I've just ordered new front tyres and some more suitable and more traditional looking air filters which should arrive next week... Not long now chaps

[Ian 2,417]

Evening chaps, today's progress for you..

 

The expansion bottle is now fitted in the only place it could go.. It's a bit tight in there!

 

 

 

The bottom of the bottle may look rather close to the prop shaft but the is a good inch gap between the two.

 

 

 

The carb tube air filter thingy now has a couple of tabs to bolt it to the hood stand.. The carbs now have extra support which they never did on the SilverWing but did on earlier models!

 

 

 

The battery box is now mounted although I need to add a little extra bracing.. The battery comes out through the top.

 

 

 

 

And playing around with hood hinges..

 

[Ian 2,417]

Evening chaps, it's been a busy day in the workshop..

 

I wasn't happy with how the battery box sat this morning, so I cut it off and started again..

It's a bit hard to get photo's as it's tucked away in the chassis, but it has a mounting bolt at the back, two underneath...

 

 

 

And one on the side..   Plenty strong enough now

 

 

 

A rare photo of Nigel smiling

 

 

 

A very narrow axle..

 

 

 

And lot's of parts on and under a fold up table...

 

 

 

Which can only mean one thing..... The strip down has started so I can fully weld up the chassis

 

 

[Ian 2,417]

Morning all, a bit more progress for you..

 

Starting at the top... Brake fluid reservoirs mounting bracket.. Only tacked on at the mo.

Middle...                   Bonnet hinges...

Bottom...                  Two bit's of box welded to the engine frame... These will bolt to the chassis and will add vital strength to that area..

 

 

 

Getting the engine out was interesting, slide it forward and lift at the same time!

 

 

 

Engine frame bolted back on to help keep things in line during welding... Plenty of surface rust to be cleaned off!

 

 

 

A view you would only normally get if you were lying on your back and had just been run over by WN

 

 

 

I did make a good start on the cleaning up and welding yesterday, lot's of joints like this needed welding up..

 

 

 

A few more parts have turned up.. New front tyres, sorry for the rubbish photo..

 

 

 

And some shiny stainless pancake air filters..  These are for a 1098cc MG Midget engine so two of them should flow more than enough air.

 

 

[slf-uk 914]

It's surprising just how much metal you have in that frame. The panels do a great job of covering it. Are you planning to weld on some tabs for holding the wiring and brake pipes?

 

You should have used Triumph rather than MG filters, it would have been faster then

 

Iain

[Charlie Smith 192]

Brilliant work Ian

[diggerjames 543]

Wow Ian I've just caught up,with this amazing project looking good mate !

[Stormin 4,458]

Thought up the colour scheme yet, Ian?

[Ian 2,417]

It's surprising just how much metal you have in that frame. The panels do a great job of covering it. Are you planning to weld on some tabs for holding the wiring and brake pipes?

 

You should have used Triumph rather than MG filters, it would have been faster then

 

Iain

 

Hi Iain, yep there is a fair few feet of box section is the frame, it should keep it from twisting during launch

I'm not sure about how to hold the wiring yet, but I do have a Wheel Horsey solution for holding the brake lines in place.

I'm trying to think up something witty to say about the Triumph air filter, but it's just to early in the morning for but brain to work fully

 

 

 

Brilliant work Ian

 

Thanks Charlie.

 

 

 

Wow Ian I've just caught up,with this amazing project looking good mate !

 

Thanks mate, she's getting there now

 

 

 

Thought up the colour scheme yet, Ian?

 

Hi Norm, the engine and rear axle will be going gloss black, the rest will be normal WH colours. To add a bit of sparkle some of the engines ally bit's will be polished up

 

 

Well, what a week that has been! My step daughter has been seriously ill for a few weeks resulting in her being rushed into hospital for an emergency operation last Monday. Since then she has been staying with us and quite rightly so my workshop time this past week has not really been much!       The good news is Lisa is now recovering quite well, and life is slowly returning to normal for both us and Lisa

 

 

What workshop time I have had this week has been taken up with welding..

The inside of the chassis where it meets the front axle has been plated up giving it a smoother look and thus changing my plans on how the front end will look..

 

 

 

The outside of the same bit of chassis could of been welded up and ground smooth, but it would never look as smooth as the inside bit..

 

 

 

So a cardboard template was made and some WH panel off cuts were dug out.

 

 

 

Resulting in....

 

 

 

 

The very front of the chassis under the axle needed tidying up, and as the whole build has a Hot Rod feel to it I thought the chassis needed the same touch..

Three bits of plate and a bit of box tacked together.

 

 

 

Which go here.... I would of welded them on but early Wednesday morning I ran out of welding gas.. I wondered why the last of the gas vanished very quickly and found a welding burn hole through the rubber pipe!  So watch out for flying sparks guys and girls!

 

 

 

New gas didn't arrive until late Thursday afternoon so instead of welding I did some cutting..  Eight plates marked out on some 5mm thick steel.

 

 

 

These would of been easy to make had I not wanted the curves!

 

 

 

It wasn't until yesterday that I got the chance to weld all the new bits on.. Lot's of welding and lot's of grinding the welds smooth, but it was worth it