Been really busy with my day job recently and haven’t had much spare time, (and i’m starting to worry about being finished in time...)
But here's a couple little things to share from last week-
Another thick gusset, this will finally reenforce all the tube clusters now and it may even be used to attach the gas tank later(?)
And an additional engine mount using the engine's original gas tank tabs in front.
But i was advised by some fellows with experience racing these engines that using those tabs for a mount will lead to cracking the case so i revised my plan and came up with this little mount made from angle iron- I think the engine looks better with the tabs removed anyway!
And finally yesterday afternoon i was able to get back to it in ernest and worked on the seat.
I decided to use the seat i believe may be original to this frame, regardless i think the colors suit it. Also decided to use one of those rear trim rods from another seat, that stuff bends easy and a few extra cracks in the chrome is a good thing.
Welded a big thick tab to the seat post to use as a pivot.
Replaced the original seat springs with a bracket made from a chunk of 3/16” bar stock and filed square holes to loosely trap a couple of long cartridge bolts.
Added some sleeves (cut from some original 1850’s gas light pipe salvaged from a ceiling restoration project in my old house).
The bottom springs are cut from another old seat under cartridge and bolted to the frame (although i think i’ll go back a weld them). And i added one helper (lifer) spring trapped between the original seat post and a 1/2” nut/bolt on the seat stay gusset. My buddy is part of a funny car crew and they replace the lifter springs after every race, and he has given a few sets of these. They fit 3 inside each other so i can stiffen this up later by adding more of the stack if needed...
Really looking forward to working on it again this weekend!
But here's a couple little things to share from last week-
Another thick gusset, this will finally reenforce all the tube clusters now and it may even be used to attach the gas tank later(?)
And an additional engine mount using the engine's original gas tank tabs in front.
But i was advised by some fellows with experience racing these engines that using those tabs for a mount will lead to cracking the case so i revised my plan and came up with this little mount made from angle iron- I think the engine looks better with the tabs removed anyway!
And finally yesterday afternoon i was able to get back to it in ernest and worked on the seat.
I decided to use the seat i believe may be original to this frame, regardless i think the colors suit it. Also decided to use one of those rear trim rods from another seat, that stuff bends easy and a few extra cracks in the chrome is a good thing.
Welded a big thick tab to the seat post to use as a pivot.
Replaced the original seat springs with a bracket made from a chunk of 3/16” bar stock and filed square holes to loosely trap a couple of long cartridge bolts.
Added some sleeves (cut from some original 1850’s gas light pipe salvaged from a ceiling restoration project in my old house).
The bottom springs are cut from another old seat under cartridge and bolted to the frame (although i think i’ll go back a weld them). And i added one helper (lifer) spring trapped between the original seat post and a 1/2” nut/bolt on the seat stay gusset. My buddy is part of a funny car crew and they replace the lifter springs after every race, and he has given a few sets of these. They fit 3 inside each other so i can stiffen this up later by adding more of the stack if needed...
Really looking forward to working on it again this weekend!