Introducing the Stig Special

[Stigian 1,234]

Morning all, the saga of the hood continues... But only for one pic in this update.

 

A couple of days has been spent cleaning up the inside of the hood a little bit at a time..

It has been quite a nasty job cleaning off old paint, a bit of surface rust, some not quite set fiber glass which was put on in a hurry to cover the worst of the surgery before Ardingly last year, and of course loads of that thick red oxide primer which just instantly clogged up anything I tried to use to clean it off!!

Oh, and a few welds that I really should of ground off before starting on the top side filler work!! The good news is by being very careful with the grinder and not letting the heat build up I managed to clean up all the welds with only a couple of very small bubbles appear in the filler above..

 

Anyway, here's the underside of the hood after cleaning and a quick blast with the red stuff. I do need to add a little filler to hide the worst of the surgery, but not much..

 

 

 

What I should of been doing next was putting the hood back on the beast so I could work out things like repositioning the exhaust and working out how to get air from the engine into the air cleaner.. But due to a slight scheduling cock-up the hood hinges were and still are stewing in a jar of vinegar to get all the old paint and rust off!!

 

So I had to look for something else to do..

 

After lots of ing and measuring I had this...

 

 

 

Which turned into this...

 

 

 

Then this..   Can you guess what it's for yet??

 

 

 

Yep, you guessed right it fit's here... Almost..

 

 

 

That's better.... All I need to do now is to make it out of ally.... A nice fun job for today..

 

 

 

 

To finish on a funny note, our water bill arrived yesterday... about six times the amount it normally is!!!      The water board seems to think we are using 272 gals of water a day!!

 

 

So after a quick bit of maths 272 gals works out at 73984 cups of coffee a day, or 3082.6 coffee's an hour...  Or  51 cups a minute!!   Now I know I drink maybe a little too much coffee, but that's a bit much even for me

[Charlie Smith 142]

Lovely job on that hood, and thats alot of tea and coffee your drinking there... ;)

[dsholler 54]

Clearly drinking that much coffee has enabled you to multi-task, so you drink your coffee while taking a shower, washing your clothes, and watering the garden.

[wheeledhorseman 573]

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one who does one job only to discover there's something else I should have done first Doh!

 

Andy

[Don1977 604]

Do you have a swamp around the water meter are have you seen any new disturbed areas leading off the property? There was a fellow in South Carolina that had a nice little pond until the city found where he had wet tapped the city water line. 51 cups a minuet can't be right it would have to be more than that for all the trips you would have to make out behind the building.

[Anglo Traction 759]

looking forward to seeing that Looooooooong Hood fitted and painted RED. Shifter plate will be a nice touch........Reckon your Water Co  Meter Reader had too much Caffeine  

.................it must have a tendency to make you think Oversize !!!.

[Stigian 1,234]

Lovely job on that hood, and thats alot of tea and coffee your drinking there...

 

Thanks Charlie.. More coffee than tea really.. I'm not a fan of "normal" tea, but I do like a cup of camomile once in a while.

 

 

 

Clearly drinking that much coffee has enabled you to multi-task, so you drink your coffee while taking a shower, washing your clothes, and watering the garden.

 

It would be some serious multi-tasking as all the coffee going in would have to come out as well... Could be interesting while trying to hang out the laundry!

 

 

 

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one who does one job only to discover there's something else I should have done first Doh!

 

Andy

 

I think it's something we all do from time to time Andy. I knew I should of done the inside first, but my brain needed the inspiration of seeing the correct (ish) shape to the top of the hood..

 

 

 

Do you have a swamp around the water meter are have you seen any new disturbed areas leading off the property? There was a fellow in South Carolina that had a nice little pond until the city found where he had wet tapped the city water line. 51 cups a minuet can't be right it would have to be more than that for all the trips you would have to make out behind the building.

 

Hey Don, funny you should mention a disturbed area around the property... The water main was replaced fairly recently, in fact they started 6 months ago which is when our latest water bill is charged from!!! Our feelings have been made known and an "investigation" has been launched!

Your right about 51 cups not being right, I based my calculations on half a pint and forgot to double it when converting gals into pints.. So you can double the 51 cups a minute!   That's very nearly 2 cups a second!!

 

 

 

looking forward to seeing that Looooooooong Hood fitted and painted RED. Shifter plate will be a nice touch........Reckon your Water Co  Meter Reader had too much Caffeine  

.................it must have a tendency to make you think Oversize !!!.

 

Howdo Richard, with a bit of luck the looooooong hood should be painted and have some of Marks excellent decals decorating the sides..

I think that the water board hadn't had enough coffee when the read the meter and read the wrong one. All the meters were replaced and moved a bit when the new water main went in.. and this was the first time the one ones had been read!

[Stigian 1,234]

In between trying to fix my Wife's work computer a lot (Why did Microsoft think Vista was a good idea??) I did managed to get shifter plate almost finished..

 

Starting out with the old and used sheet of ally, a rectangular plate was cut out and sprayed red so I could see the pencil marks..

 

 

 

The trouble was my brain was working on measurements taken the day before and I managed to cut the height 1/4 undersize...   The over size length was intentional!

 

 

 

At least I can use it to make the battery box lid

 

 

 

After a lot of searching about the place looking for some more ally of the same thickness I almost gave up and resigned myself to using some much thinner and more bendy ally to make the shifter plate..

 

And then I spotted it..

 

Hidden behind the pillar drill, still with a protective white plastic coating on it, leaning against a white wall, with all sorts of other steel and ally off cuts leaning against it.!!

A sheet of unused painted ally of just the right gauge I was looking for..

 

What amazed me is when Rob dropped in yesterday we worked out that I have had this new sheet kicking about the place for at least 14 years!!!!!!!

 

 

 

Now were in business.. After cutting out an over sized  rectangle this time, and the template being firmly fixed to the ally, chain drilling could begin.

 

 

 

Drilled..

 

 

 

The time honored way of cutting between the chain drillings is to find a really old screw driver, sharped the sharp end and use it like a chisel...   Which is exactly what I did...   It's only ally after all.

 

 

 

A short while later...

 

 

 

 

Now the boring bit!!   This is where I was glad it's ally and not steel...

 

 

 

 

Ta-Daa 

 

 

 

 

Not quite right, but very close... The outsides of the motion levers rub a little, the 3 point control lever hole need a bit more taken out so the lever can be pulled all the way back, and.... As much as I don't want to do it the panel needs a 1/4" taken off each side just to make it a lot easier to get the panel on and off..

 

 

[Charlie Smith 142]

Looking really good, keep up the great work!

[Stigian 1,234]

Looking really good, keep up the great work!

 

Thanks Charlie, were see if you still say the same thing when you get to see the beast at some point over the next few days

 

 

A little more progress was made yesterday. The shifter plate is now finished (apart from cutting out a couple of bits of ally to fill the slots under the motion levers..

The good news is by making the motion levers and 3 point control holes a little bigger to sort out the slight clearance problems, it also made it a lot easier to get the actual panel on and off... Which means I don't have to lose the 1/4" off each side as mentioned yesterday

 

 

 

 

A start was made on hiding the worst of the hood extensions scars inside the hood..

 

 

 

 

After a lot of digging through tins and jars of bolts and bit's, four of these beauty's were found..

 

 

 

 

Just the thing for doing a job that Ewan's excellent C-121 build thread reminded me to do...

 

Drill holes for and fit the tail lights before paint goes on the fenders...   Thanks for reminding me Ewan 

 

[fabricator2009 48]

Super nice Ian. Keep up the good work.   Ken.

[Stigian 1,234]

Super nice Ian. Keep up the good work.   Ken.

 

Thanks Ken, much appreciated.

 

 

 

A bit of a boring update I'm afraid..   I think it was last Thursday or Friday that the new fuel tank had it's insides sealed..

 

Here's Pete taking a turn at turning the tank around making sure all the sealer got into all the corners.. After 40 mins of tank turning both our arms were really aching. Only a few minor pin holes were found which were quickly plugged by the sealant.

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the above pic the welding around the filler cap is not the neatest ever...So a way had to be found to hide it a bit.. I could of tried to blend it in with a lot of filler, but thought I'd try something different..

 

The outer lip from a tin lid was trimmed down leaving just the outer lip. This was taped to the tank to act as a mold.

 

 

 

 

Filled..

 

 

 

 

Quite a while later when the filler had set the mold was removed leaving this..  It is starting to look quite good with some careful sanding.

 

 

 

 

After what feels like months of fillering the fender went from looking something like this..

 

 

 

 

To this.. The right side fender.. It just needs a very little extra filler to fill a small hole that I missed..

 

 

 

 

I hope to have all the fender filler work finished today... We shall see

[wheeledhorseman 573]

Nice job there Ian, its well worth taking the time and trouble to get it as good as possible before painting.

Hope there's still enough clearance to fit the under fender neons for cruising!

 

Andy

[meadowfield 2,545]

Looking good, really need to get those final decals finished! :D

[Don1977 604]

I found out that while working with plastic auto body filler on small parts. That while still in rubber stage before completely getting hard that I could shape it with a sharp knife. It sure saved on the sanding. Be hard to have enough control of the knife on larger areas.

[Stigian 1,234]

Nice job there Ian, its well worth taking the time and trouble to get it as good as possible before painting.

Hope there's still enough clearance to fit the under fender neons for cruising!

 

Andy

 

Thanks Andy.  I'm not aiming for a show quality paint job on the beast, presentable is more my style. If I'm honest my panel beating and filler skills are not that great so the fenders will never be arrow straight. I've even left the odd dent here and there in the fenders... Gives it character

Neon's under the fenders...... Now there's a thought

 

 

 

Looking good, really need to get those final decals finished!

 

Ta muchly Mark.. I can't remember if we chatted about decals for the shifter panel?  Do you need me to give you some dimensions of the panel?

 

 

 

 

I found out that while working with plastic auto body filler on small parts. That while still in rubber stage before completely getting hard that I could shape it with a sharp knife. It sure saved on the sanding. Be hard to have enough control of the knife on larger areas.

 

Thanks Don, I will have to remember that filler shaping tip     I have used nice sharp wood chisels in the past for carving out swage lines in filler on cars... These day's I don't own a wood chisel that's not been used for something it shouldn't of been..

 

 

 

Only another short update again..

 

The filler on the gas tank now looks like this.. A little way to go but it's getting there.

 

 

 

 

Like wise for the underside of the hood... A little way to go but it's getting there..

 

 

 

 

And the left side fender which was covered in filler in this mornings update is now a whole lot smoother.  It's a bit hard to see if I have the lines correct, but a squirt of grey primer tomorrow will show how good or bad it is.

 

[meadowfield 2,545]

If you can send me a clean pic of the shifter plate and dimensions I'll see what I can do !

[dsholler 54]

Here ya' go Ian...
http://www.ledunderbody.com/Golf-Cart-LED-Lights.aspx

[wheeledhorseman 573]

Agree 100% about leaving some of the battle scars - it adds authenticity to my mind.

Oh, and it looks as though I've started something - love the 'LEDGLO' look in the link above - hmmmm.

 

Andy

[Terry M-(Moderator) 2,125]

As usual things are looking good Ian!!  Always look forward to seeing this "one of a kind" amazing tractor build.    

[bowtiebutler956 649]

 Looking good Ian!  I agree that some battle scars can add character to a machine, but I'm not sure that applies to your 6x6, as it already has all the character it can handle!   Fantastic Work!!

 

Matt

[Charlie Smith 142]

I just can't wait untill you get to weigh this...

[Stigian 1,234]

If you can send me a clean pic of the shifter plate and dimensions I'll see what I can do !

 

Thanks Mark, I will get that sorted as soon as I can.

 

 

 

Here ya' go Ian...

http://www.ledunderbody.com/Golf-Cart-LED-Lights.aspx

 

Very good

 

 

 

 

Agree 100% about leaving some of the battle scars - it adds authenticity to my mind.

Oh, and it looks as though I've started something - love the 'LEDGLO' look in the link above - hmmmm.

 

Andy

 

I'd love it to look like it had just been found after 30 years.. A few dent's, faded paint, peeling decals and a bit of surface rust... Sounds strange I know!

 

The trouble with fitting neon's is I'd have to make some kind of smoke machine to get the full effect.... Maybe under fender exit exhausts with Redex injection to get the smoke 

 

 

 

 

As usual things are looking good Ian!!  Always look forward to seeing this "one of a kind" amazing tractor build.    

 

Thanks Terry, it's certainly a "one of a kind" build.. as there's no way I'd want to build another one..... Not enough space in my shack for a start 

 

 

 

 

 Looking good Ian!  I agree that some battle scars can add character to a machine, but I'm not sure that applies to your 6x6, as it already has all the character it can handle!   Fantastic Work!!

 

Matt

 

Ta muchly Matt....Yep, she sure has lot's of character..

 

 

 

 

I just can't wait untill you get to weigh this...

 

Something tells me it's not going to be light

[Charlie Smith 142]

Well my little raider sits in at just under 600lbs so.... God knows with this mighty thing....

[Anglo Traction 759]

Ian, I reckon you should let us know when you stop adding chunks of Steel and start painting, ....................so we can all have guess at what it would weigh in at (if it can be).

 

My guess would be around 1001lbs(454kgs).  Also I think I would always want to be behind you on that in a Parade,.................... rather than in front