My Type 54 to sort of 47 Conversion

[BDA]

It just keeps getting better... You certainly do really good work, Roddy! 

[jbcollier]

If I was doing it again, I would dump the Dells and fit modern bike carbs.  They flow so much better than the old Weber/Dellortos.

[RoddyMac]

Even though most of my time these days has been doing this:









I have managed to get a wee bit of time to work on my own car.  I picked up a Honda Civic alloy rad years ago for something like $45 and had earmarked it for another project, but as my Europa came without a rad and I'm a bit of a cheap bas#$@%, I decided to modify it to somewhat fit the Europa.  I moved one of the hose connections to the other side (so both are on one tank), removed the rad cap, and fitted a baffle between the pipe connections.  Unfortunately, I haven't taken any pics of the radiator modifications, but the next time I'm in the shop I take a few and post them. But, I do have pics of the re-purposed rad cap:



I managed to clean it up in the lathe then weld it to a chunk of tube with end plates along with some fittings I turned on the lathe.  Going by the various write ups on  Zetec cooling systems, the tank should work just fine ( fingers crossed). 

Hopefully the next time I'm able to work on my own car, I'll be fabricating a pair of fuel tanks.

Rod

[BDA]

Apparently, painting is another of your skills! I'm anxious to see your radiator! Keep up the good work! 

[Chuck Nukem]

For a second I thought that was Santa's sleigh in for repairs.

[RoddyMac]

Time for the first update of the year, I picked up some aluminium sheet yesterday and started on fabricating the fuel tanks.  I was hoping to get 3003 but my supplier could only provide 5052 in the thickness I was after.  Not a big deal, other than the 5052 aluminium is a pig to form.  I had my supplier shear the sheet in to the basic sizes required which cut down on a lot of cutting.  The tanks are slightly smaller in size that the stock S2 twin tanks, but should hold roughly 40 litres.  Unfortunately I ran out of Argon this afternoon, so neither tank is finished, but they're tacked together which should allow me to trial fit them into the car.



 







I'm hoping to test fit the tanks and the rad to the car on Tuesday, then finish the tanks off after grabbing another tank of Argon.  Though I'm still missing the tank sender (I think I have one somewhere in my boxes of bits) and I need to pick up some aluminium tube for the filler necks.  Once the tanks are fitted to the car I can determine where the filler necks will go as I'm going with gas caps on the sides of the car.

Rod

[Rosco5000]

Those tanks look great Rod. What are you using for pick UPS inside the tanks? 

[buzzer]

Rod,
That is some lovely work. I have enough problem welding steel! They will certainly look great when you finish them.

Dave

[RoddyMac]

Ross,
I'm planning on welding a plate to the top of the LH tank with threaded holes so that I can make up a simple bolt on pick up.  I did something similar on my Eleven, and used a piece of copper pipe that nearly hit the bottom of the tank.  I might make up a tab or bracket in the tank to hold the bottom of the pick-up so the pipe can't bang around. Once I cut the hole for the sender I can see exactly where I'll be putting it.

Dave,
Thanks for the compliment, my aluminium welding skills are slowly improving.  It's only taken a year to figure out how to stop the aluminium from disappearing when I start an arc.  Steel, on the other hand, is a bit easier to work with.

Rod

[RoddyMac]

As it's the first of the month, time for a small update...  now that the fuel tanks are mostly done, I've put them on the shelf for the time being as I want to figure out a better mounting system.  I wasn't pleased with the original mounting set-up, though it does work just fine, I'd prefer something a little bit different, but more on that when I get around to it.

I have done a bit more work on the pedal box, I've now built up a balance bar, though I'm still short one COM8 spherical bearing.  The local QA1 supplier shows it on back order but lists it at $6, for that price I'm willing to wait.





I've also picked up a starter motor from a Ford Focus, and after doing some research and some fiddling, I've made it work.  I had to weld in two threaded bungs to pick up two of the three mounting ears.  The top bolt goes into the original bolt hole,  the other two have new bungs.  The lower hole for the stock starter is still in place, but to re-fit the Lucas starter you would have to carve away the new bungs.  And, please excuse the gaping hole on the bellhousing, when I was first fitting the engine to the chassis it looked like the bulge would hit the frame, it doesn't and will soon be welded back up.





And, I've started on re-wrapping the wiring harness.  The car came with the old harness still in it, and luckily very little was cut or repaired.  I have removed or rather, re-wired the charging system and I've made up a separate circuit for the ignition I'm going to be running (Megajolt).  The new circuit runs off its own fuse, as I've installed a 4 fuse box instead of the original 2 fuse set up.  I've also changed the wiring for the horns, I've made provisions for a relay as I'm wanting to fit air horns (like what I had in my old +2, and what dad's old Caterham had).



Other than that, more time has been spent on dad's MG, the dash roll was originally covered in vinyl, but dad wanted leather to match the seats and the panels (panels originally were vinyl too (rexine i think) but he opted for leather).   Wrapping it in vinyl would have been easier, but it turned out ok in cow skin.







Rod

[Chuck Nukem]

Gorgeous work Rod!

[BDA]

It looks like both of your projects are coming along well! The leather wrap came out great! You should end up with two very cool cars!

[Rosco5000]

Looks good as always Rod.  How do you find welding the aluminum?  I think you bought your TIG welder part way through this project if I remember correctly.  Did you take any classes or are you self taught?
Ross

[RoddyMac]

Ross,
You are correct, I picked up the TIG part way through the project, and yes self taught.  Though I regularly watch Welding Tips and Tricks on Youtube and Weld.com, also on Youtube.  Welding steel was very easy to pick up, but welding aluminium was a lot harder to learn.  I'm still not great at welding thin aluminium (.040" and under), but anything over .065" is easy.  Luckily I have a lot of scrap aluminium in the shop, so I have made lots of practice pieces.

Rod

[Rosco5000]

Awesome!  I picked up a tig a couple of years ago and I am in the spot. I can stick some aluminum together but it gets difficult on the thin stuff.  Stacey on welding tips and tricks is a fantastic resource. 
Keep up the fabrication 
Ross