RS2J

On the home straight of sanding now. One side done up to 600 grit, the other up to 120. Next up will be heat treatment. Still yet to build the legs for the mini forge, but the burner is now complete - also visible in the above pic. The non burny end of the burner has the following assembly - pretty much just a valve and a couple of brass bits fitted/brazed together to attach a standard BBQ hose and fit it to the 15mm steel pipe. Have a couple of oriface options with a 0.8mm and 1.0mm option. Can just buy more caps and have different sized holes drilled if necessary At the end of the day its just an oversized Bunsen Burner - hopefully enough to heat the forge up to the 800 degrees I need toe knife to reach before dunking it in oil

Yeah, I should have followed up the bastard cut and second cut filing with a smooth cut file. Some of these file marks are a bit of a pain to remove even with 120 grit. once I've finished it to a reasonable standard, i'll heat treat after I've built the burner for my mini forge. Plan is either Canola or Peanut oil - whichever is cheapest that I can buya couple of litres in bulk. Then back to sanding up to 800 grit for a nice satin finish. Then its handle time, followed by sharpening and murders - I mean slicing onions. I may acid etch the blade with ferric chloride or hot vinegar before I put the handle on though. At least help a bit with corrosion resistance being carbon steel.

Cheers! Started working on the other side but ran out of 120 grit tonight. 10 sheets burned through pretty quick! Thankfully the hard work is done by then and the 240 then 400 don't take nearly as much

Starting to look knifeish

And while we're at it. Here is the Mini "Trash Can" forge being cast. The lining is just Sand and Plaster of Paris with an 80mm PVC pipe in the centre to create the chamber. The old copper pipe to provide an entry for the blowtorch is placed on a slight angle to have the flame pointing slightly towards the rear to reduce the amount of flame coming out the front.

Nice. O1 is easy to treat. Heat up til its non magnetic, dunk it in warm oil

Stainless can be a bit of a bitch to have heat treated. If you can find someone who can heat treat 440C thats what they recommend to start with. Remember that the steel you use must be able to hardened in order for it to take a decent edge. O1 tool steel, 1070 or 1084 are usually the ones they recommend for beginners - simple carbon steels. The 1095 i'm using is a bit less forgiving they reckon. Highly recommend looking up Walter Sorrells and Gough Customs on youtube and watching some vids.

Yeah bought a couple of 2" x 18" x 1/8" (about 3mm thick) flats of 1095 steel from the US (Damned if I could find it here!). Carved out the knife with a hacksaw and a file Made a beveling jig similar to the ones you can find on YouTube Current situation:

Having a go at making my own kitchen knife. 1095 Carbon Steel. Also building a mini forge for the heat treat out of a rubbish bin. Should be interesting!

Considering selling. Feel free to register interest via PM

Holy crap thats awesome.

Jealous!

Holy crap that looks awesome

Grabbed some of the headlight buckets from Palmside after getting fluffed around on trademe by a couple of guys. Trial fit of the round headlights followed:

Been meaning to do this for a while. Thought i'd get onto it while the Mrs is crook and I have some nag free time. Good old Mighty Car mods vids for the win.

YES

Rare opportunity to drive this thing today. Made sure to get video for proof heh

Not really looking at the NA/NB stuff. Purely looking at the NC 5 speed 'box for feasibility to match the Duratec. Failing this I'll just wait it out for a Sierra box to match with the Zetec I have in the garage.

Interweb says yes it does. Hrmm might be trickier than I can manage with. S5 RX7 boxes surely command a premium though. I imagine the rotary tax on those is fairly immense, plus i'm not building a 300+ HP race Duratec here, just looking at more modern engines from the Ford family to use that makes my job of fitting it all easy. but, as i'm trying to avoid as much custom fabrication as I can to keep costs down, if I can get bits off the shelf and a S5 RX7 'box cheap enough it could be a goer.

Thats an NA/NB BP 1.8L Engine + Gearbox combo. The NC + Mazda version of the Duratec is quite different. He also states: "I also thought I'd slot the engine and gearbox in (Ford/Mazda BP and MX5 5 speed). They're sitting high as I just wanted to get an idea as to where everything will sit, the shifter in particular."

Hah, half the reason I sold off my Mitsi shit was because it ruined friendships. I swore I'd never modify a Mitsi again From what I've been reading the NC Gearbox is vastly different to the older ones that sat behind the B6/BP engines. Apparently quite a nice 'box to use and bolts up to the Duratecs from Ford as they're essentially the Mazda engine with Ford heads. If I don't stick with the crossflow and 4 speeder this is looking like the nicest option I reckon. Especially with the amount of kit available off the shelf to bolt a Duratec into an Eskie. Yeah thats why i'm thinking of the 5 speed. Probably be a bit smaller, although tunnel mods are likely even with a dirty old Type 9. Yeah I saw a RWD Sapphire Cossie T5 on the 'tard last year, was tempted but didn't have the cash. BDAs for everyone! Sell the house and the Mrs!

Looking at Engine/Gearbox options for the long term Eskie plan. Came across this mentioned a few times on the interweb, just wondering if anyone has any ideas on the validity of it all? As I understand it the 6 speed is a no-go. Mainly looking at this because Sierra T9s are getting long in the tooth and harder to find as time goes on. Could just stick the 4 speeder on the back of a Zetec of course. Info/ideas/jarredyou'reafuckingidiot welcome

PIcked up one of these for mine: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/K-N-Custom-Air-Filter-Oval-Red-Cotton-Gauze-Element-56-9070-/391069679402?hash=item5b0d91bf2a

That White Mk1 2 door in your latest pics is my Cousins old car

Mines just has the mount points for the hinges a few mm too far back. Means the rear of the bonnet catches/rubs on the heater vent cover as you open it. Nothing a bit of work with a file hasn't sorted though. Shut lines are far from perfect and it could come another 5mm forward to line up at the front, but its good enough for me. Once I eventually get the brakes sorted I'll get the Aerocatches fitted and have it painted.