Scaffolding poles + old VW bits + Rotary engine....
Discussion
I've seen this sort of thing before. It's an infestation of mechanics or it could be worse...an engineer. Things that were once working are suddenly found to be broken down to their component parts.
You can slow them down with beer and shiny spanner sets, but they are the devil to get rid of.
You can slow them down with beer and shiny spanner sets, but they are the devil to get rid of.
PhillipM said:
Old 5-piece rivetted and glued roofskin is now a lighter welded single piece effort. Much cursing and hammering was heard in the process. Sounded easier than it was, ripples all over the place to start with.
Now you can take a mould and make it out of carbon fibre. 
Any plans on upgrading the engine? 2.4 bottom end by any chance?
Completely forgot I'd made a second video with the replacement throttle pot. Doh. Sound quality was still s
te mind.
https://youtu.be/ku7sU_e-8mA
te mind.https://youtu.be/ku7sU_e-8mA
Engine going back together today - didn't take any pictures at the end as was hurrying up to get back home since there was about 3 inches of snow on top of the sheet ice outside the workshop when I stuck my head out of the door!
Anyway, shiny new bits and all the uppy-downy bits are back in:
Took twice as long to clean everything up as it did to actually check all the clearances and reassemble it!
Anyway, shiny new bits and all the uppy-downy bits are back in:
Took twice as long to clean everything up as it did to actually check all the clearances and reassemble it!
Has the Dakar been providing some inspiration to get this thing finished Phillip? 
I have to admit, I've always thought of RWD as being inferior off road to 4WD, but seeing those (admittedly highly developed, very expensive) Peugeot trucks monster through things I'm seeing it in a new light.
I have to admit, I've always thought of RWD as being inferior off road to 4WD, but seeing those (admittedly highly developed, very expensive) Peugeot trucks monster through things I'm seeing it in a new light.
Oh it is inferior for our stuff half the time - but it's cheaper, lighter, has lower running costs and is far more fun driving everywhere sideways 
I think most of the inspiration has been finally getting the thing running at last, so now I'm eager to get the engine back together, get it running again, sort out any leaks/issues and head for the next bit of enthusiasm - bolting the driveshafts in and tickling her back and forth under her own steam.
And it's not far from there to getting her outside to stretch her legs for the first time, and onwards....
I think most of the inspiration has been finally getting the thing running at last, so now I'm eager to get the engine back together, get it running again, sort out any leaks/issues and head for the next bit of enthusiasm - bolting the driveshafts in and tickling her back and forth under her own steam.
And it's not far from there to getting her outside to stretch her legs for the first time, and onwards....
Edited by PhillipM on Sunday 17th January 00:03
Would there me much involved in that? I was under the impression it had all been test fitted, so isn't it just* a matter of bolting it all back up with delicacy and a bit of threadlock?
- I realised as I was typing it's probably foolish to think of anything in this build being as simple as "oh yeah, just torque it up and it's good to go"
We had them fitted on old CV's just for testing, we need to get the new CV's built up and - as you might have guessed - even our CV's aren't exactly off the shelf items - the casing is as it's just a GKN Porsche casing, but the centre/splined section gets replaced with a tougher hardened chromoly version, which has one side of the 'window' for the shaft machined out to allow more angle without it hitting the shaft, and then the balls are replaced with 0.001" undersized versions to reduce heat buildup and allow things to move a little easier under high misalignement - although we might not bother with this as we're not running as much angle now.
The whole lot is hand polished inside for crack/wear resistance, especially the splines on the driveshafts as they slide on the CV centres to allow enough plunge, then filled with a specialist grease - an aluminium complex with about 10x the molybdenum content of your normal motorfactor CV grease - and the boots are bonded on with polyurethane as otherwise they weep even with clamps on, and the driveshafts need covering with a bonded rubber/polyurethane sheath that stops them getting chips from rocks that can initiate a crack and failure down the line.
We like to make sure everything we can do ourselves is done to make 'em survive! To be fair it's not really a long job, just not a 'take off shelf, bolt on' one.
And obviously there's still the torque it up/loctite* bit to go.
The whole lot is hand polished inside for crack/wear resistance, especially the splines on the driveshafts as they slide on the CV centres to allow enough plunge, then filled with a specialist grease - an aluminium complex with about 10x the molybdenum content of your normal motorfactor CV grease - and the boots are bonded on with polyurethane as otherwise they weep even with clamps on, and the driveshafts need covering with a bonded rubber/polyurethane sheath that stops them getting chips from rocks that can initiate a crack and failure down the line.
We like to make sure everything we can do ourselves is done to make 'em survive! To be fair it's not really a long job, just not a 'take off shelf, bolt on' one.
And obviously there's still the torque it up/loctite* bit to go.
- Well, not loctite, as it doesn't work on the driveshaft bolts, but rather Nordlocks, which are awesome.
Edited by PhillipM on Sunday 17th January 00:21
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