Springfield Flyer.

[floydjer]

Good things come to good people Mike. That is why my life sucks.😂😂😂

[tauruck]

I disagree.
No duck side of the Moon is a valued member.
We love you Jer.
I do. You're just fine. Patience brother.
Check me. 12 years!!!!. Day by day, one inch at a time.

Things ramped up. I got a rear wheel mocked up albeit without the axle bearing.

Here we go. I had to first carry said wheel from the duck side of the workshop. Yes, the lighting in there is poor because fluorescent tubes cost money. I don't hang in there and
have better things to spend a few bucks on. I used to buy a box of tubes from the wholesaler!!!. 😂

A few things are quite clear. I'll need a wheel guy that works out, traction will not be an issue and I'll need bigger chutes.
These are industrial wheels that would be right at home in a train yard.

I first had to drill out the holes for the larger ARP NASCAR studs. The guys that made the wheel centres drilled them to 14mm so the stock Ford studs don't even fit.
I got this huge wheel on the press and by the biggest stroke of luck when the rim is against the main tube the drill is dead centre. Any shortage of throw and I would have changed the PCD.
I use Copper Compound as cutting fluid. It works and I have stock.

I have to cut out the bottom rail to get the wheel and axle in and I'm saying to myself the cut is going to be a problem.
The cutting disc is going to get pinched for sure. This is a really long structure and something has to give!!.
The tube just fell out.

I couldn't find wheel nuts so I scrounged in my dump box and found Porsche aluminium ones and they fit.
Bolted that huge wheel in my Titan Jaws portable vise. It was given to me in 07 and I viewed it with a jaundiced eye because it looked like Fong Kong scrap with a fair paint job.
I abuse this tool. I clamp stuff it it, cut into the jaws with cutting discs, it gets full of resin, I hold parts in it to weld, clean it off and abuse it some more.
It's actually Australian made and is probably the best thing ever made Down Under. The jaws extend about 2' and it holds anything. If it goes down I can shut the door and walk.
You should get one!!!!.

Axle bolted and I hump the thing over to the liner. I slide the axle into the tube without the bearing collars and I'm clear on all hardware. Where it's close I can move components inboard.
It's sitting off centre front to back and hanging down in a negative camber attitude but that's mock up. Clear on tire growth and it's flush with the chassis rails. Not sure on the rear end being on centre but it's a small fix. Happy days.

I'm getting the axles ready for mods so I removed the old bearings and I never nicked the axles. Getting the old studs out is easy if you have a tool. I have a press but it doesn't have a hole in the table. it's a one inch beast. I use the plumb bob and mark my "hole". The torch just discoloured the metal so I called Guido to borrow a magnetic drill. His was sold.
I held the axle upright with a tube socket over the stud flange and all 5 were out in minutes. I still find complicated solutions for simple problems on occasion but not so much anymore.

Some pics. Next order of business is to build the Norwegian plank box mould to make floor panels. Screw and glue baby!!!😁

[floydjer]

🤔 If you think a tool is the best thing to come from Australia, Take a good look at some pics of Olivia Newton John when she was young....Carry on 😂

[tauruck]

When I was young she was cool.
These days there's a long cool woman yet to be dressed in my life.
I see no one and only have eyes for her.

The other day two brilliant cops were in my yard. Some coward kicked my gardener Aubrey while he was sitting on the paving digging out weeds.
I could have sorted the coward Old Testament style and that is exactly what he wanted. Long story. I chose the boys in blue.
The guy asks a few questions and wants to know if my partner is a man or woman?. Know the 3sec rule?.
This thing could have gone seriously sideways. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Anyway Jerry my old mate here's just another boring update.
5 moulds in one and an oven.
I scored a pile of these Norwegian floor planks from the neighbour.
That morning I was lying in bed and trying to figure the best route to build a box I could use as a mould for making the floor panels.
I have a sheet of toughened glass, wide enough but not long enough and bonding fences onto it is all kinds of crazy.
There's an MDF board and it's fine but also not great.
Then the missus calls me. Dinesh says he has a load of these planks he's tossing.
I looked over the wall and there was my answer I "thought".
These are tongue and groove, have a smooth slippery base and should go together like Lego.
Maybe when they're new??. I found some Aluminium window frames from a job that never happened so I used one.
Right length and width.

I used self tapping screws and countersunk the holes. It's 2.4m long and 1.1m wide. I need 800.
It looks good until you run a flat object over the surface. The joints are bumpy so I'll have to sand.

[tauruck]

I split some boards for fences and lips.
All cut to size and ready for bonding after I sand the panel and fill the joints.
When I've made all the rectangular panels I'll modify the mould for making the nose piece floor and the rear one.
After using it for that I'll break it down and fit 4 female profiles for holding sandwich material panels made with honeycomb cores.
Known as cut and fold. This huge flat panel will also be used to make the flat side panels for the body.

The last pic is the back side where I added stiffeners to try pull the boards level.

When the other panels are all made this contraption with double as the floor for the oven I have to build for blow moulding the canopy.
More on that when the time comes but I need a long box because you can't blow mould a triangular part. A compressed oval will give me 2 canopies in one
that I can cut.

[floydjer]

Multi-use cast offs.....I like that. Carry on.

[tauruck]

  Thanks Jerry. On a mission.

[tauruck]

To each and every one of you who have inspired, motivated and contributed to the greatest adventure of my life!!!🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻✝❤

[tauruck]

Weird happenings.

New sponsor. All good. The director calls me early this morning.
Never spoken to or met the guy. I have to be at the factory at 9AM tomorrow.
He has work for me. This can't be true but is. Jesus is good to me.✝🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[tauruck]

I had a great meeting.
Got a top secret project in the works from it. My experience as an area denial specialist might come in handy. 😂😂😂😂😂😂
On my first visit I met Craig the engineer and his partner in crime Henk in the factory.
Today I met Sid the director in the front office.
Gave me the full tour of the whole facility.
They have everything except a composites department.

I have access to materials, powder coating and even decal cutting besides the machining.
A one stop shop.
I'm getting wheel covers rolled next week and the sides will be laser cut so the hard graft is all but eliminated.
Got to find a 30* involute cutter for the splines but I know a guy so hopefully that will be solved too.
Pics later on parts I finished.

[manta22]

I had a great meeting.
Got a top secret project in the works from it. My experience as an area denial specialist might come in handy. 😂😂😂😂😂😂
On my first visit I met Craig the engineer and his partner in crime Henk in the factory.
Today I met Sid the director in the front office.
Gave me the full tour of the whole facility.
They have everything except a composites department.

I have access to materials, powder coating and even decal cutting besides the machining.
A one stop shop.
I'm getting wheel covers rolled next week and the sides will be laser cut so the hard graft is all but eliminated.
Got to find a 30* involute cutter for the splines but I know a guy so hopefully that will be solved too.
Pics later on parts I finished.

Great news, Mike!

[tauruck]

Neil, my FB page was blocked. I started over and eventually Joline got in touch.
Thanks brother.
Things are moving now. I'm happy.

Yesterday I tackled the hardest fab work on this project so far.
The individual runner manifold injector bung WAR!.
I've got 16 bungs. 8 are machined right through. The others are blanked off at the bottom by 2mm.
Floydjer's brilliant solution. If I need all 16 injectors I can open the blanks.
Getting them siamesed, pointing in the right direction and angle is a mind bender so I reverted to a drilling jig for starters.
I spent the whole day getting 4 runners semi finished. I was out by 21h00. Gone!!!. Woke at 06h00. Mentally exhausted.
Pics in a few hours.
God Bless you man. Great to hear from you.✝🙏🏻👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻

[floydjer]

Contrary to the opinion of most? I do have lucid moments Mike.

[manta22]

Neil, my FB page was blocked. I started over and eventually Joline got in touch.
Thanks brother.
Things are moving now. I'm happy.

Yesterday I tackled the hardest fab work on this project so far.
The individual runner manifold injector bung WAR!.
I've got 16 bungs. 8 are machined right through. The others are blanked off at the bottom by 2mm.
Floydjer's brilliant solution. If I need all 16 injectors I can open the blanks.
Getting them siamesed, pointing in the right direction and angle is a mind bender so I reverted to a drilling jig for starters.
I spent the whole day getting 4 runners semi finished. I was out by 21h00. Gone!!!. Woke at 06h00. Mentally exhausted.
Pics in a few hours.
God Bless you man. Great to hear from you.✝🙏🏻👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻

Thanks, Mike. My Facebook page is blocked too. Some vague " violation" of FB rules but I suspect their algorithm just randomly does that.
That sounds like a tough project!

[tauruck]

I'm only on that platform to keep in touch with my sponsors and my LSR mates.
No where I had dinner with who and what I'm cooking my extended family junk.

This manifold started out great. Podunk CNC machined the most incredible runners for a Ford Cleveland on the planet from a template made with cardboard.
The factory 4V Boss heads are not perfectly symmetrical rectangular pieces. They look like they got a little soft and warped but Podunk made a perfect match.
No port matching required.
I built a heavy duty jig off of an Edelbrock Torker manifold, cut each stanchion to the exact height and angle and even had threads in said jig for perfect location.
All the welder had to do was fry things together. It was all cleaned with Acetone and went to him in bubble wrap.

Stage one went great.
The plenum flanges were drilled together and runner holes cut for exact location. I even made spacers to keep the angles and levels consistent and supplied all this clamped in position.
No welder in history ever got a job where all he had to do was weld. Dunc and I go way back. His father, an ex F1 engineer was my mentor and got me winning in F2.
Duncan is the guy that built the Toyota Gazoo trucks that won all the Dakar Rally races.

A no brainer job paid for in advance and he screwed it up by giving the job to his "latest" intern who dispensed with my spacers, lost or took my 8 clamps and custom spacers and sent a Banana back to me.

My missus does all my delivery and collections on most and in this case I dropped the part off and she picked it up it which was a good thing.
With me seeing that Banana at the race shop I would have come before a judge. No man would have been left standing. Some guy said just throw it on the milling machine and take out the waves.
I wish?. If we had I would have had no material left front and back.

Dunc and his crew are in the rear view mirror but if I see him again he'll never want to look in a mirror again. Yeah, I pray all day but I'm human and times like these call for a manly response.

Back to where we are.
I blued all the runners and used a stiff straight edge to scribe the centre of each by running it down from top to bottom on the leading edges right across the bank.
I'm using what little brain power I have and make things up as I go because I don't have a mill. The only tool I can't carry here is my big Mig machine. My stuff is handheld at best.

I know the OD on the injector bungs is 22mm so I went through all my Starrett holesaws to find a 22. Closest was 19mm and from experience all these hole saws cut slightly oversize so I decided to go with that one.
Then I had to make a drilling jig. Podunk machined 10 runners so I used a spare to shape a piece of 5mm plate to the contour with the gas torch and a hammer.
I found centre and cut a slit in the plate for visual alignment.