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Post by casesensitive on Mar 31, 2014 12:06:31 GMT
Jeez you must be to give it some welly if you need M12s to hold the gear lever on, mine is on with M6's. :-) More about matching the holes in the crush tubes, didn't want the bolt wallowing around! Probably could and should have used some 12mm OD / 8mm ID crush tube instead and M8s instead, but sure it's done now! My armoured gear selector from a Focus 1.8, solid aluminium gear knob off a Puma.  |
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Post by casesensitive on Apr 10, 2014 13:05:25 GMT
Looking at kiwicanfly's side panels I was struck with both jealousy and a notion that I couldn't cut those shapes with the tools (and skills) I have in the workshop. So, I've ordered one of these bad boys:  and a load of metal-cutting blades for it. Tunnels; what are ye using to cut out the cut-outs for the cross-members in the chassis? Cutting a nice neat curve with a jigsaw would be messy, filing would bend the bits you wanted to keep. I like builds where it's stated how you did a thing, because I've entered this not really knowing how to do anything properly  Been fun learning/copying though! |
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Post by airforceone on Apr 10, 2014 13:59:06 GMT
You can generally do most cut outs with good quality hole saw set, tin snips and skill saw which is the manual version of the one in your picture only cost much less.
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Post by kiwicanfly on Apr 10, 2014 20:08:49 GMT
Cancel that thing Case.
I used a jigsaw I bought on special for about twenty quid years ago and can probably be had for ten today.
The finest tooth and highest quality metal cutting blade I could get, emphasis on the quality point, but still only a few quid in reality.
I have three files, all of which were found in the garage left by the previous owner. A round one and two half round, these are course and smooth, the round is also course. All are 12 inch I think and only the round has a handle.
Four small g - clamps.
A variety of washers.
The trick is to spend the time making your patterns, do not even put the blade in the saw until the pattern is correct.
Mark the metal with a fine scriber, also put a marker pen "scribble along the area you are going to scribe to make sure it shows clear. Be careful though if the scribed line enters an area you are not going to cut if that is going to be visible later.
Clamp the sheet to a large flat surface with the clamps with minimum overhang to prevent vibrations, keep moving the clamps and sheet to keep the cutting position as close to the support as possible.
Assume a comfortable stance and start the cut, trick here is to guide the saw by the bit that the blade passes through which sits on the metal (don't know what it's called) just in front of the blade, this is how you steer it, not with the handle, that is to push it.
Goes without saying take it slow and steady.
Don't try to cut tight internal curves the blade must be able to freely move and tight curves prevent this.
finish the job with the files, (also when doing the tight radii) again clamp the sheet so you have minimum overhang and try to support the area you are keeping. I do more work with the round and curved side of the half rounds as it removes metal quicker, using the flat side only to finish, sounds odd but works.
The washers are used to mark curves on corners, just line em up and scribe round them, funny they seem to come in just the size you need for that perfect radius. I also use a few odds and ends like a bit off a line strimmer to scribe around, just happens to be 50mm.
I only use tin snips to cut away rough areas, I don't like the way they bend the metal and sometimes leave little distortions but that is just my preference.
So basically, despite my access to a lot of flash gear at work, way more than most here, I use the simplest of gear to do this. Sure I used to be on the tools but I got thrown out of sheet metal class once so I can't claim to be trained in it either.
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Post by kiwicanfly on Apr 10, 2014 21:47:19 GMT
A little bit more -
To bend the tabs on the panel you refer to I clamped a piece of ali angle to the tab lining up the edge I wanted to fold to and simply bent it over, nice clean 90 degree bend.
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Post by Paul (madeye) on Apr 11, 2014 6:30:12 GMT
A little bit more - To bend the tabs on the panel you refer to I clamped a piece of ali angle to the tab lining up the edge I wanted to fold to and simply bent it over, nice clean 90 degree bend. To add to that, I warmed the tabs up with a heat gun. It was winter when I did it and didn't want it to fracture. |
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Post by casesensitive on Apr 13, 2014 1:58:47 GMT
Cancel that thing Case. I used a jigsaw I bought on special for about twenty quid years ago and can probably be had for ten today. The finest tooth and highest quality metal cutting blade I could get, emphasis on the quality point, but still only a few quid in reality. I have three files, all of which were found in the garage left by the previous owner. A round one and two half round, these are course and smooth, the round is also course. All are 12 inch I think and only the round has a handle. Four small g - clamps. A variety of washers. Cheers, I will give that a go so, I have a box of washers, lots of G-clamps, and a reasonable file and rasp set (which I've added a new half-round to). |
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Post by casesensitive on Apr 13, 2014 2:07:56 GMT
Rear brake tart upWifey was away for the weekend, so no curfew meant a solid 18 hours on the car between Friday night and Saturday :-> Focus rear brakes were looking very grimy, so I hit them with drill-mounted wire brushes, two flapper drill-bits and a little sandpaper. I then did two coats of rust remover, and went over the surface with the wirebrush bits again.  Came up pretty well.  Masked off the wet or sliding parts and spray painted with red Halfords brake calliper paint, to match the Hispecs I ordered in red out of panic when Harry put me on the spot. It never occurred to me that they might come in anything other than black! 
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Post by casesensitive on Apr 13, 2014 2:14:14 GMT
Brake fluid reservoir Lots of builders seem to use washers, but this little nub couldn't really have any use I can see, so I had it off with the grinder. Hot, smelly plastic everywhere.   I heated the tubes with a heat gun set to 1 and pulled them off. My obsession with tapping continues, I drilled out the receivers on the chassis and the holes in the reservoir to 7mm and tapped them to M8. Reservoir would happily sit without a nut, but I put some on so that it doesn't just look unfinished.  Why M8? Because the donor provided me with dozens with nice matching nuts-cum-washers, it's what I've got :-)
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Post by casesensitive on Apr 13, 2014 2:16:05 GMT
Rivnuts everywhere   |
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Post by casesensitive on Apr 13, 2014 2:46:56 GMT
Steering column If you're just starting out throw this in your scrap pile, trying to figure out how it went into the column cost me more time than I care to admit!  After ruining my first steering column extension, I set about finding a suitable bar to make a new one to attach to the Ka universal joint. The donor's anti-roll bar was the lucky winner. At 22mm, it was probably not a smart choice really. One end I ground to a hexagon shape about 17/18mm across I think, this was pretty difficult, but measuring frequently with the callipers was the way forward. Another tool I shouldn't have started the build without. Tight enough in the end that it had to be inserted with a lot of percussive assistance, so a good fit. I replaced the manky nut and bolt in this picture with nicer ones later.   Virtually the whole rest of the bar I ground to a rectangle shape; 14mm x 16mm, so the whole bar would fit into the steering column. My first attempt I cut too short, so I wasn't about to repeat the mistake. The big chunk in the middle is where the donor's anti-roll bar had corroded pretty badly.  After marking with a pencil the point where the M8 hole was in the receiver (and having earlier welded an M8 nut to it for traction), I drilled a hole with my usual sequence of 3, 5 then 7mm drills, and tapped to M8. This broke my pretty expensive tap, which I wasn't so pleased about.  I then set the steering wheel dead straight, set the steering rack dead straight (this required doing the front suspension and steering, but that's for another post), and rammed it in. A little extra push with a big hammer and nail bar and it was all done. It's supported with zip-ties at the moment, because, of course, my beautiful M16 rose joint isn't wide enough, I'll need to get an M18 rose joint now :-< Also, how the hell do you drill an 18mm hole?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2014 7:57:07 GMT
As a warring over fitting the UJ with the persuader..
It can cause premature fail of the needle rollers as you open the distance where the pin sits in the UJ itself.
I did this, and ended up buying a new better UJ after a few drives up the road. The first one i used was a transit parts off eBay. I replaced it with a ford KA one, genuine. No issues since.
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Post by casesensitive on Apr 13, 2014 10:44:40 GMT
As a warring over fitting the UJ with the persuader.. It can cause premature fail of the needle rollers as you open the distance where the pin sits in the UJ itself. I did this, and ended up buying a new better UJ after a few drives up the road. The first one i used was a transit parts off eBay. I replaced it with a ford KA one, genuine. No issues since. Good to know, mine's a Ka one, supplied by RTR, wonder if it's genuine.. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2014 11:16:19 GMT
You need to aim for a tight push fit, otherwise the bearings get messed up.
I noticed a bit of play when the rack was locked. Enough for an examiner to look closer if I'd left it fitted for IVA.
I did more persuading than I should of lol
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Post by casesensitive on Apr 25, 2014 13:45:55 GMT
As my steering column is now nearer to 19mm in equivalent diameter than the 16mm the original was <ahem> supposed to be, I needed a new bearing. One can buy an M18 rose joint from McGill for about £20 plus postage, but then you'd need a 17mm drillbit, and an 18mm tap that could go through the 6-8mm of mild steel that the bracket would need to be made of. I'd also have to take another .8mm off the column all the way up. I even began making such a bracket, less the hole for the rose joint.  Having debated this over in the technical section a bit, I figured I'd go the kiwicanfly way and mount it on the front bulkhead. So, after ensuring they turned like I need them to (rotate in X axis, pivot in Y) I picked up one of these beauties in 3/4" (when metric doesn't have what we need, go back to bushels and ducats) for a fraction of the cost. Based on this rough idea;  I figured with a bit of bracing it could provide a really tidy way of holding the column steady through rotation. How it's put together is really quite elegant, once the bearing is placed inside the first half (like a metal easter egg!), and orientated correctly the second piece is brought into it, and the Y axis is fairly fixed, while it rotates nicely in the X. It's even got some grub screws to 'bite' into the column in case it's a bit wobbily.      Bit of 2mm mild steel load spreading, couple of square-head M8s (left over from fixing the lawnmower) and jobs a good 'un. Hopefully on Sunday I'll actually have this working. |
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