I got wheels for the table and moved it away from the wall so I don't burn down the shop when welding. Cut and fitted the last three pieces of the basic frame, checked alignments and tacked everything together. Next is to weld everything together and then make mounting brackets for the seat and footrests.
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Thanks chipper.
I bent the pieces for the floorboards and cut and drilled pieces for the seat mounts welded those to the frame as well as the DZUS tabs and finished up welding spots that I couldn't reach when the frame was sitting upright. Some of my welds looked nice and some of them looked like they were done by a 70 year old man whose eyesight and steadiness of hand aren't what they used to be:laugh::laugh: I keep trying to talk my son into taking the TIG welding class at the Lincoln Welding Center in Cleveland but he won't do it. I guess he figures I'd be after him to do all my welding if he did that. Also cleaned and primed it.
Very nice and well thought out design. :thumbsup: I know what you mean concerning the tech classes. I noticed our community tech center no longer offers classes like that or even manual lathe/mill operations and have changed the curriculum to support CNC operations. I guess it only matters locally that you can program and push buttons or perform setups.
Here's a photo with the front end and wheels installed.
Thanks firemarshall. One of the welding shops here have classes but they are not nearly as intensive as the Motorsports Welding class at Lincoln. One of our friends took both beginner and advanced motorsports classes and has worked for Indy car teams as well as top fuel dragster teams. His TIG work is impeccable.
I remain interested and fascinated by this build. Especially the use of DZUS fasteners to hold the power pod in place. Or do I have that wrong? Making a plug and play power system is a huge advantage in bikes like this.
I guess you know that in order to change a belt on my Gote, I pretty much have to dismantle the entire bike. Not something you could do on the trail. Ease of maintenance is everything, and it looks like you're working towards that. Outstanding engineering.
I guess you know that in order to change a belt on my Gote, I pretty much have to dismantle the entire bike. Not something you could do on the trail. Ease of maintenance is everything, and it looks like you're working towards that. Outstanding engineering.
Yes, it is a beast. It is a foot shorter and 5 inches lower than last years bike though.
I set the pod in the frame and found an instant problem. The gas tank hits the frame in front. Fortunately I have room to just relocate the engine and jackshaft 1 1/2 inches to the rear and the problem will be solved. We still have the drilling program in the mill so it is just a matter of relocating the starting point.
Thanks Dave. The DZUS fasteners only hold the side screens in place. The pod itself is bolted in with 1/4 inch thick strips of elastomeric material between the pod and the frame to absorb some of the vibration. I haven't got the mold made for the fiberglass torque converter cover yet but it will be DZUS fastened on as well.
Yes, I do like to make maintenance easy. I really hate the way most cars are put together.
Yes, I do like to make maintenance easy. I really hate the way most cars are put together.
Friday I made the wheel spacers and 4 collars for the jackshafts, cut the axles to length and threaded the rear one on the lathe. Today we set the pod plate up in the mill and let it re drill the holes so the engine would clear the frame. This frame design eliminated the need to offset the gas tank as I had to do on Mr Goat 001
Well, this is as far as I'm going to get. Real close to being able to run but a lot of time consuming details to work out to have it the way I want it. I think it will meet all of my design criteria that I laid out in the first post. I think it is less beastly than Mr Goat 001 (but still a beast; wouldn't have it any other way:smile
, it will be 4 to 5 inches lower at the seat and a foot shorter, I explored new construction techniques with our CNC mill and some of my friends equipment as well as buying some new tools myself, documented parts so the things I want to keep for the next one can be easily duplicated. And most important I had fun doing it and look forward to working out the rest of the details such as making a mold for torque converter cover and laying it up in fiberglass. I'm going to set this aside for a while. I have 4 car projects that need to be done while the weather is decent. One is the real bitchy job of putting a new fuel pump in my Blazer. Damned "engineers" put the thing in the fuel tank.
Congratulations to everyone that actually finished their project. There is some really beautiful work here and always nice to see the young kids (most of you are young kids compared to me:laugh::laugh
building and adding to their skills. And a big thanks to YOOP.