Introducing the Stig Special

[Stigian 1,234]

You need to get yourself a plasma cutter. Or better yet, make one

I do have a plasma cutter, it's just been out on loan for the past 18+ months... I should get it back at some point I guess.

I just did a quick Google on making plasma cutters.. Wow.. so much info and even some vid's on Mootube about how to build them

Finally good progress on the brake/steering has been made, which I'm quite happy about

A couple of photo's I missed off the last update..

The calipers and mounting plate clamped on to the bracket thingy to check they fitted right.

And to show that by sliding the calipers around on the disc they can be taken off quite easy for a change of brake pads when it needs it.

While cutting out the mounting bracket thingy for the other side, the steel sprung apart with a big bang..!!

As is the way with cutting flat bits of steel out of bits of box, the flat bit always springs out of shape..

But that's what a hammer is for

Back to the first side to find me tack welding the Qwackasaki caliper mounts onto my new and slightly bigger mounts.

I guess I should of not tried to do something accurate while being tired, as the calipers would not fit back on the disc

There's nothing like a good nights sleep and a fresh start to help solve problems..

Hhmm... Something looks a bit wrong here!!

One of the caliper sliders has a bit of a lean going on

So out with the angle grinder for some careful dismembering, which showed up one of the original Qwackasaki mounts was twisted!!

My flat mounting plate thingy needed a bit of a talking to with the big hammer on my home made anvil.

A bit of very careful clamping and tack welding later and the calipers fitted back on again

There's nothing quite as painful on the legs than sitting in an uncomfortable position on cold steel drilling holes!!

But the mounting holes for the calipers/hydraulic rams had to be drilled.

And to finish off this update a couple of photos of the finished calipers mount..

One side down, one to go.. At least the other side will happen faster

[jay in nc 209]

tractor tic tac toe,whats next tractor square dancing? wait thats been done too! great vids. on your u tube channel realy enjoyed them :dunno:

[Stigian 1,234]

tractor tic tac toe,whats next tractor square dancing? wait thats been done too! great vids. on your u tube channel realy enjoyed them

Tractor square dancing!!! lol, nah you won't catch me dancing on a video Happy you like the vid's by the way

After quite a productive week last week, this week has turned out to be er..... not quite so good..

Monday was a rough day so I didn't make it out to the Shack.

Tuesday was better, getting on with modifying the Qwakasaki caliper mounts..

One side..

And the other. That little bracket thingy holds the mounts together at just the right angle.

The only problem was the mounts extension plate was not flat, so.....

Pete put it in the wood burner to make it easier to to flatten out..

Slowly turning red...

And clamped down in the hope it would stay flat once cooled...

It didn't

Oh well, there's always tomorrow..

Tomorrow turned out to be Wednesday, which was also log delivery day..

Before the logs arrived I decided it was about time to fix my MIG welder...

Over the years the plastic spindle that holds the tension-er roller looses it's strength and starts to bend when you try and tighten the tension up..

This little ally bracket thingy stops that happening..

Unloading the logs from the back of Steve's truck into the trailer was easy...

Stacking the logs away in the log store (where else ) was more of a er... pain.. The pain being me twisting at the wrong angle and crack went my back!!!

So at the moment I'm reduced down to taking it very easy and not really.. well... doing anything...

By the way, part 2 of this projects build has been posted on my new Youtube channel (see below for the link) and part 3 which isn't a slide show and has me talking on it should be ready for Youtube in a few days..

[massey 111]

Well Stig glad to see you were at it again, also sorry to hear about your back. Not too much you can do when that goes out. I liked the music in the skiing video, it fit well.

Hang in there.

Ed

[tmix 34]

Fond this posting this morning started reading 4am did not stop till the door bell rang 9:15am.Page 14 All day long I though about your post. About 10:15 pm told the old lady I'm going up stairs on the pc finely done reading 1:20 am ALL the post to date. I was somewhat sad not to see it running.Yet Mount that dam motor allready. But I'm glad you have more good days than bad now I'm hooked I want to see that baby f l y nobody else is going to say it so i'll be the bad guy I know you keep adding parts and I will be looking on with the rest of the guys. P.S Did I say your having to much fun this will never end will It? Keep up the GREAT work. Off to bed going to deer camp opening day Nov 15 Going to have a great time watching Green Bay kick the vicking a-- on the new tv at camp. t mix

[COMMANDO6 20]

It's good to be back.

And I'm glad to see that you're making progress. I'd really like to see this thing done.

With any luck, this will become a regular production model for Toro!

[Stigian 1,234]

Well Stig glad to see you were at it again, also sorry to hear about your back. Not too much you can do when that goes out. I liked the music in the skiing video, it fit well.

Hang in there.

Ed

Hiya Ed, yeah the back was/is a bit of a pain. I have always had a bit of an iffy back, though strangely my back was at it's best when I was a Dreyman and had no troubles shifting very heavy casks of beer about!!

The music on the skiing vid did fit well, in fact I didn't have a clue as to which direction to edit it until I stumbled across that bit of music and the whole vid just kinda fell in place..

Fond this posting this morning started reading 4am did not stop till the door bell rang 9:15am.Page 14 All day long I though about your post. About 10:15 pm told the old lady I'm going up stairs on the pc finely done reading 1:20 am ALL the post to date. I was somewhat sad not to see it running.Yet Mount that dam motor allready. But I'm glad you have more good days than bad now I'm hooked I want to see that baby f l y nobody else is going to say it so i'll be the bad guy I know you keep adding parts and I will be looking on with the rest of the guys. P.S Did I say your having to much fun this will never end will It? Keep up the GREAT work. Off to bed going to deer camp opening day Nov 15 Going to have a great time watching Green Bay kick the vicking a-- on the new tv at camp. t mix

Wow dude that's a lot of reading you have done, if my maths is right you spent 8 hrs 20 min's reading this thread

Thank you very much for taking the time to read it all

The engine is not mounted yet, more like thrown in roughly the right place to work out how things are going to fit together..

And of course to mock thingys up so I can stand back, do a lot of looking, and grin like a manic at what has been created

It's good to be back.

And I'm glad to see that you're making progress. I'd really like to see this thing done.

With any luck, this will become a regular production model for Toro!

I'd really like this project to be finished as well (not that this sort of project will ever be finished, lol) so I can drive it instead of working on it.. It would so nice to know that everythingy went to plan and it all works..

Toro are welcome to make this a production model (as long as I get the right amount of royalties of course) but they might want to look into speeding up my production techniques

Well what a week that turned out to be, I've had better!!

After my Wife made sure I rested my back for a few day, I was gagging to get back out in the Workshack.. So when she went to work on Monday...

First thing of the day to do after lighting the wood burner was to put that dam bent caliper mount thingy back in the fire to really heat it up this time..

In it goes..

While that was heating up I thought I'd get one of those little jobs done and weld a new locating tab thingy to the base of the much modified hood stand..

It's the part closest to the camera that looks a little less brown than the rest

By that time Pete had turned up and between us we managed to get a few panels and the engine placed on the chassis..

The reason for the mock-up was to work out how much space is left to mount the brake steering master cylinders..

maybe here..

And maybe the steering levers somewhere through the flat panel just under the dash..

Back to the wood burner and out came the not so flat steel plate, it was glowing quite well but the camera flash has taken the edge off it..

This time the plate got clamped to the slab of steel using some other big-ish lumps of metal to try and get it flat..

While the plate was cooling we had lunch and I had a quick look to see how the drive belt will run..

It looks like the rear cross member might need a little trim..

But then again the belt was only held tight-ish by my fingers, I will get a much better idea once the pulley is made..

Pete did the honors for the unclamping ceremony, and guess what... Yep the plate was still warped!!

While packing up for the day a thought suddenly struck me...

So with a fresh coffee and a smoke I continued with the sudden outbreak of thinking

My thoughts were about where to fit a gas tank... Somewhere in the middle seemed like a good idea, a bit like this..

With the engine moved to the "it looks right" spot which happened to be forwards, a bit more gas tank space was created..

The bit of box and steel ruler will give you an idea of how big the tank will, if it fits inside the hood stand then maybe I could fit a "one off" 2 gallon tank in there

Hhhmm.. I'd better find a new place for the steering master cylinders now the gas tank will be taking up that space..

Up here where the old Raider gas tank sat looks about the right spot..

With the steering levers coming up through the top of the ally dash housing.

[Stigian 1,234]

Tuesday turned into a "not got a lot done but what was done was something I had been struggling to do" kinda day..

With the second caliper mount thingy resiting all attempts to straighten it using heat, the only thing left was brute force.

Lot's of hammering and bending later..

And the caliper mounts were finally tack welded together nice and straight

By that point all the heavy hammering had taken it's toll and I was knackered..

Wednesday I was not feeling well enough to get on with any cutting or welding, so I wobbled out to the Workshack for a "head scratching/hold bits in place/work things out" session

This time the head scratching (Think I've just worked out why my hair is vanishing ) was about the hydraulic rams, or to be a tad more accurate, where to mount the rams..

My original idea was to mount them just above the brake calipers.. like so..

But the more I thought about it, the more I didn't like it.. Some of the engineering to get the rams to lift the 3 point linkage arms would of been a right pain to make, and the only way to make would not really be strong enough..

So a re-think was needed.

The plan now is to mount the rams higher up, with the fender pan thingy spaced up by an inch there's plenty of room..

And pivot just under the metal bit that the seat bolts to through the fender pan.

Loads more strengthening will be needed, but these off cut's prove that things will fit into place rather well.

Some of this 1X2" box welded to the top will add more strength, but maybe not enough for the forces given out by the hydraulic ram..

But if a diagonal bit of box came down to the chassis then it should be strong enough..

But all this will have to wait until I get some more lengths of box.

Thursday was.... One of "those" days..

Now, I've not spoken much about my Dystonia as I've always tried to ignore it and get on with life, but should you feel the urge to know, have a look at my latest vid on my new YouTube channel..

I'm not looking for any of this , I just though you guy's might want to see the side of me you have never seen..

Friday.... A little bit on the shaky side but miles better than the day before.. So out to the Workshack I head

Set myself a challenge to get the second brake calipers thingy sorted, it feels like I have been fiddleing with it for weeks but not really getting anywhere...... Until now

All clamped in place, it just needs loads of bolt holes drilling..

Lot's of hole drilling and a splash of red oxide later, a view from the inside.

And a view of both side from the back..

Moving back to the other side we find a master cylinder clamped on to the chassis.

And a jumble of brake pipes and a pipe off a bleed nipple at the back, could only mean..

It's time to see if this mish mash of bike brake parts would work or not..

Ready for testing with a "finger" brake lever..

This was all the leverage needed to stop the hub that side spinning it works

Well, it's been a "up and down" kinda week, but it ended on a "yippie the brakes work", and thus a happy ending..

Forgot to mention, you can now see Parts 3 - 5 of this projects build video by clicking on my new YouTube channel link below.

[meadowfield 2,545]

great update, glad to see the brakes working!

mark

[Stigian 1,234]

great update, glad to see the brakes working!

mark

Thanks Mark, I'm just glad the theory worked in practice.

Speaking of thanking... The has found it's way over here, cheers Karl

Well the first part of this update is a video update... Mostly because I didn't take any photo's that day

Right, let's see if I can get this Youtube working...

d_j1ZCclT4g

it works..

The second part of this update is much like the first bit really, just me trying to work out how to fit the brake steering master cylinders and steering levers...

Not the most exciting of updates but am update nether the less..

I even managed to cut some steel today!!

Speaking of steel, this used to be part of my old Webb cricket pitch mower, which the got turned into the bike engined beast, and then eventually turned into a trike, so me and this bar of rather er.. nasty green coloured steel go back along way..

Not quite part of the family, but close

That didn't stop me cutting it up into a couple of 10" long bits though

Here you can see my high tech method of finding the right pivot point..

Balance it in roughly the right place and measure the movements where the movements need to be.

In this case I needed 1 inch at the base and 1 1/2 inches where the top ruler is..

And now the hard bit to work out.. How to fit two master cylinders/linkages/brake levers/a frame to hold it all together in the hood stand.

To find out how little space there was the dash got fitted out with all the controls and switches..

I bought a matching pair of Raider sliding throttle and choke levers when I first started this project.. That being over two years ago of course I could only find one of them, the choke lever..

If I can't find it this C-125 lever only needs a little cut and bend to make it fit the back of the dash panel.

The plan was to have the levers coming out through the top of the ally hood stand/dash holder thingy, with a frame underneath to mount the lever pivot points and the cylinders..

From the side it looked a bit tight for space but doable..

But when you look from the front the right hand brake lever would have to fit between throttle and the ignition switch..

Which it would.. Just

But not with any space for a frame to hold it in there!!!

Then I had a thought.. It wasn't much but it was a glimmer of hope..

If I was to run the levers out through the top of the hood instead of the top of the dash then there would be plenty of space to get a frame in..

A quick delve under the bench for the remains of a hood and a bit of black marker pen action and it looked like my idea might work...

And then I had another thought!!!

The hood latch would get right in the way of any levers coming up through the hood

Having spent all day playing around trying to work out a workable design, I had had enough ing for the day..

So I sat down to finish my coffee before locking the shack up for the day, glanced at the back of the hood stand from sitting height I had a sudden flash of inspiration in a "slap head, Doh, why didn't I think of that earlier it's so simple" kinda way

But your have to wait until the next update to find out what it is :o

[71_Bronco 1,072]

Glad to see you're up and about. Love the progress thus far and I cannot wait to see this thing going.

One idea, not sure if you thought about it, is to close the hoot using rubber "T" latches, similar to those seen on the older Jeep Wrangler hoods. This way it's still easy to get under the hood, but holds it closed tightly. This would allow you to remove that hood-latch-cross-piece and thus run your levers out the top. Just an idea.

Either way, keep it up, and glad to see some progress going :dunno:

[Stigian 1,234]

Howdo Mr Bronco, I did think about using those little rubber latch 's after looking at my 312-8. But I kinda like the idea of keeping as many period correct (71 Raider is the look I'm going for) Wheel Horse parts as possible.

But fear not... A solution has been found to this problem

It was whilst I was sitting sipping coffee I had this sort of view into the back of the hood stand.. Looking at the switches... HHmm..

After lots of digging through my many boxes and buckets of "might come in handy one day" metal I had found a couple of Peerless axles (maybe from a Westwood) and a couple of wheel centers..

This is the point you might guess what the new idea is

Slice one of the wheel centers in 2 and feed the axle through them.

Then once a handle (or pen) is added you have a sliding brake lever

That's the idea bit sorted out, best start putting into action now and make a couple of big holes in the dash..

Once the positions for the holes had been carefully measured and marked out, the dash panel was stripped down to it's bare metal backing.

And screwed down to a block of wood for chain drilling.. It was nice change to be chain drilling thin metal for once..

Skipping all the drilling and file action we now find the dash looking like this..

The levers will have a couple of bends put in the just to space them apart a bit and give enough room to get both hands on both levers at the same time. The levers won't be made too big though, the bigger they are the more strain will be put on the sliders and hood stand.

A view from the inside.. Plenty of room for the sliding rods and plenty of room for the hood latch to do it's thing.

Connecting the end of the sliding brake rod lever to the master cylinder is easy, a straight bit of rod would do the trick, however.. This would only give the steering levers (I need to stop calling them brake levers ) only 3/4 of an inch travel!

So I might need to think up a way of increasing the steering lever travel.. Shouldn't be too hard

And one last photo for this update, a couple of "stops" are needed to stop the steering levers sliding too far back into the dash, these small steel rings should do the job once welded to the rods..

[MaineDad 85]

If I ever get asked to be on "Junk Yard Wars" I will ask you to be the team captain!!!!!!

Nice job - post a new video please :dunno:

[Stigian 1,234]

I'm not sure I could work fast enough for Junk Yard Wars, you know how I like my coffee breaks

As for another video.. It's just been posted on my MooTube channel

While on the subject of my vid's... Can you Guy's understand what I'm saying? I have trouble at times :thanks:

[AMC RULES 36,945]

I'm not sure I could work fast enough for Junk Yard Wars, you know how I like my coffee breaks

Sounds like you have all the necessary qualifications for the leader position Ian. :help:

[Ole MN 11]

once again thanks for the updates, it's great to see you moving along. Like your logic, think through the all the options. Than think of a better plan.

Keep up the work you are giving a lot of us ideas we would never have thought of.

[Stigian 1,234]

I'm not sure I could work fast enough for Junk Yard Wars, you know how I like my coffee breaks

Sounds like you have all the necessary qualifications for the leader position Ian.

Looks like I need to take more notice of which smilie thingys I am clicking on!! That frowning face should be smiling

As for Junk Yard Wars... I could be persuaded if the coffine is kept flowing...

once again thanks for the updates, it's great to see you moving along. Like your logic, think through the all the options. Than think of a better plan.

Keep up the work you are giving a lot of us ideas we would never have thought of.

Your welcome for the updates, it's good to know you Guy's enjoy reading my posts so much.

I think my logic is just to keep working at something until I get it working as I want.. I like the challenge, if something won't work, find a way around it, or redesign it totally.

It's all part of the fun

When we left at the end of my last update I had cut a couple of hole in the dash plate and stuck a couple of bit's of axle through the holes, best find a way of mounting it all in the right places now..

I knew the wheel center bit of this lash-up almost fitted inside some box section, and then I remembered I had seen a bit of "three sided" in my "bits of metal" box..

With a little squeeze from some clamps the wheel centers were held tight but the rod still slid

Meanwhile my laptop got a bit upset at being left overnight in the shack at -3'c and went into "apology mode" as it got stuck in a "almost booting up and then starting the boot process again" routine!!

I thought I had really killed it this time, but after lots of work and even more Windows updates it has come back to life.

Anyway back to the vague plot ...

After a bit of length trimming and cutting them to fit the back of the dash things were looking promising, until....

I saw how little space was left to get the mater cylinders + linkages in!!

But then......

If I put the cylinders underneath I'd have loads of space, it would make the brake pipe routing easier and it would give me plenty of space to mount the reservoirs above.

Pete then arrived, so after a couple of coffee's I picked up the welded and Pete went on a mad photographic spree

Welding the wheel centers into the 3 sided box.

A little bit of trimming to make a perfect fit..

Bolting the hood stand back together to see how it looked.

One steering handle, will it stay balanced???

It did, but what about the other handle??

Somehow they both stayed balanced!!!

Here's something you don't see every day..... a clean bench under the project

The reason for the bench cleaning was I wanted to get the project off the axle stands and a bit lower to the bench to make it less of a stretch when working on it..

Now with added seat!!!

Well, I did mention that Pete had gone mad with the camera

[Stigian 1,234]

With Project 6X6 now more of a low rider it was easier to work out where the frame to hold the steering brake slider thingys should go.. Lining up with the chassis is about right.

Cut, clamped up and ready to be welded..

Now to get the uprights sorted..

Starting with an old (no idea what it was from) mower dash panel..

Cut out a couple of bits like this one..

Trim into a strange shape, drill a hole and weld a bit of threaded rod through the hole.

It fits though one of the many holes in the chassis and just needs welding to the upright..

At the top a couple of brackets are clamped in place awaiting welding.. This will make the uprights removable.

One side bolted and tack welded together.

And that Chaps, is as far as I have got..

More to come as it happens..

[ben06351 19]

Excellent Keep em comming.

[tmix 34]

Keep up the work one piece at a time!

[Sparky-(Admin) 19,580]

Amazing stuff Ian! Thanks again for the great commentary and pics!

Mike.........

[Don1977 604]

Stigian how about giving us a Christmas present of an up date on your progress. I'll be looking forward to seeing one on Christmas morning. Do this before you get too far into you Christmas Celebration. :ychain:

[Stigian 1,234]

Hi Guy's sorry about the lack of updates for a few weeks, we have been suffering from a lack of usable internet!! 130kbps at the most when it would stay connected!!

130kbps is ok (just) for checking esnails but any website with pictures... Forget it

Anyway the net has been stable and back to normal for 24-ish hours now, so hopefully what ever the problem was (phone exchange I think) will stay gone now..

Excellent Keep em comming.

Cheers Ben, better late than never but here they come

Keep up the work one piece at a time!

Hi dude, yeah one piece at a time is how it's been for a while now.. But every piece done is a step in the right direction

Amazing stuff Ian! Thanks again for the great commentary and pics!

Mike.........

Ta-muchly Mike, your welcome

Stigian how about giving us a Christmas present of an up date on your progress. I'll be looking forward to seeing one on Christmas morning. Do this before you get too far into you Christmas Celebration.

Hi Don, it's present opening time

Well, things have moved on a bit from my last update all those weeks ago..

I left you with one upright tacked together... Ta-daa it now has two and a couple of bits of box joining them together.

Then it was pulled apart for seam welding.

The gas tank holder bit needs this flange thingy welded up..

And this hole made a lot smaller..

I thought I would dig my MIG welder out and do the seam welding on this quite thin box.

Hhhmm.. Maybe not the cleanest form of welding, with lots of splatter about the place..

I was also having trouble adjusting my eyes to how bright MIG welding is compared to my normal ARC welding.. It's been a while since I've done any serious MIG work.

So... The MIG got put away and the power turned right down on the ARC. That looks better Where as the bit of MIG in the photo looks terrible!!

While waiting for welding on the uprights to cool down I cut a couple of strips of steel to add a bit of strength to the slider holders.

Part welded from the top with an extra strip of steel across the top.

The same underneath.

The last bit of welding on the uprights.

The next day was cold and wet, so while my welding gloves warmed up a little on the burner..

I cut a circular patch to fill a hole..

And then a distraction was delivered

[varosd 1,185]

Ian,

Great looking tranny, cant wait for the posting! Cheers and Happy Christmas and Boxing Day!

Don V

[Stigian 1,234]

Distraction over and a fresh day, after all the seam welding I thought it would be a good idea to check everything bolted back together and nowt had moved.

It hadn't

It was at this point I decided to weld the frame thingy and the (original) gas tank holder together as it would make life easier for fitting the master cylinders.

Ready for welding..

Is the any way of off setting things so it remember which font I want to use?

It keeps changing!!

Welded up and given a quick blast of rust oxide primer.

With the "structural" bit done I could think about linking the slides to the cylinders..

Having been in a bit of a rush at the time I welded the stoppers to the sliders before I drilled and taped the other end of the sliders..

So in the lathe the sliders went and off came the stoppers.

There they are..

With the stoppers out the way the slider could fit in the lathe the right way round for hole drilling.

A bit of thread cutting later..

So I need a pivoting lever about here, but how to attach it to the sliders

Start with some flat plate..

Mark it out and start cutting it it out.. Then stop, remark and cut correctly this time!!

A bit of bending and welding..

Drill a hole and try to cut a thread in it.. Snap!!!

Got there in the end though.. Cut the thread, wound the bit of stud in and welded it in place from the inside.

It fits here. You can see the second er.. thingy on the other slider waiting to be finished.

Remember those er... rather rough looking stoppers? Yep these ones..

They looked so rough I just had to make some better ones..

One done.

They look much better now