Unclejake

One small thing we used to do when I was racing was to move the car (hand push a few hundrend mm) in the pits a few times after each race. Our thinking was the hot calliper reduced heat dissipation from the hoy rotor so if we pushed the car further back into the tent every few minutes after the race the rotor would cool more evenly. I have no idea if that really helped or not though. Ha.

With respect: I think you're on the wrong track as a rigid assembly connected to the sprung chassis (even with flexible air conditioning duct) but then attached to an un-sprung rotating strut will fail in alloy. There doesn't look like much strength around the aperture of the orange template and if I'm looking at it correctly it isn't designed to force air onto the rotor??? Perhaps I'm interpreting it incorrectly and you're trying to suck air out? Is this a street legal car? If so I have no idea of the legalities.. but if it's a track only car air conditioning flexi-pipe and cable ties works pretty well for blowing air onto the rotors.

Sure is. They taste like a cross between turkey and duck

I spent most of the weekend carting schist and extending the driveway. The JCB is finally operational but oh lord it's slow and noisy. Still much better than a spade and a wheelbarrow

Hot-mix would cost all of the millions Corbie. I could probably do it cheaper in concrete TBH... but I'm happy enough with the crushed schist we've been laying over the last couple of weeks We were very fortunate to buy the property as land here is very, very hard to get. It's a little over 24ha with half a kilometre of sandy beach to the north and another half kilometre of semi-tidal lagoon edge to the south. It's an 'oldschool' title from the late 1800s so I own down to the high tide mark on both bodies of water. TBH I've never walked to the lagoon side of the property. It's a low lying wetland which will just need to stay like that for now. Today we collected timber, rebar and underfloor insulation from the port. Tomorrow I need to go to work to pay for some of it. Ha

In January 2024 I suddenly needed somewhere to live in a hurry ... so I figured on building something small out of scraps of building materials I already had.. There's no power, water, sewer on the property, but 10 days ago we got most of the driveway in. I'm the kind of guy who thinks a fair bit before I act, so after some further thought most of the scrap timber/plumbing/etc. I had available got pushed to one side as they just weren't going to work. Queue more invoices for better timber (plus freight) I think this project will take until spring 2024 to be weathertight. Shipping delays and huge freight expenses will add to the timeframe and budget. For example I have $500 of under concrete insulation here at the port. The freight bill for that insulation alone was $1,200. The proposed dwelling will be single bedroom and about 60m2 I always start very well but never finish anything. Let's see what happens this time.

Well, if I lived somewhere with paved streets would buy something like this. I just have little idea if it's $15k or $25k. Moot point anyway I guess. Chur

Out of curiosity; what's the likely resale value of a machine like this? I am very out of touch with motorcycle values these days but I imagine there's a good market for a sorted HD cafe racer

I had not seen this project prior to today. It is sensationally cool and exactly what I would have built. So awesome. Congratulations on an amazing thing mate.

Thank you, but evidently there's no used 4x4 front hubs available in NZ. I did get offered one from the UK for NZ$3K plus freight and GST though.

Thanks chaps. I have found someone in Auckland who appears to have 100% of the right gear (including metal spray) so I'll send the parts to them instead of CHCH (unless @sentra tells me they're dicks) https://www.mpw.co.nz/about-us

Folks, I've had a pretty major setback this week and need to get a tractor stub axle tube, a cast hub and an annulus repaired and reassembled with new bearings and seals. Christchurch is a reasonable option as the parts agent is in CHCH for the bearings and seals (and may be able to do the job too, but I haven't heard back from them yet). I don't need any teeth or splines cut, but I figure I'll need at least three components built up with weld and then lathed. The cast hub repair might be tricky. I'd need the machinist to collect the broken bits from a freight depot near CHCH airport. Total package weight around 30kgs I guess Any recommendations? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mvw7SXXi7WY

Impressive. The wharf piles will almost certainly be H6 treated. A couple of gargoyles would look pretty mean on top of them.

Howdy brains trust: Is it legit to get steel automotive wheels galvanised?

Did you try the $2 diode as suggested early August? From your description it will solve your issues. The charge light on the dash is usually an essential part of the circuit to excite the alternator. Fiats are odd, but not that odd.... and also be certain you're understanding your charge light (and if it's switched from earth or positive) correctly

Thanks for the update. He had such terrible arthritis it was a wonder he could even think through the pain. His cars were always immaculate and he was a gentleman to race beside. There's not many blokes I'd touch wing mirrors with entering the Pukehoke hairpin at 160kmph on drum bakes, but Bill (and a drain layer from Te Awamutu) were amongst them. Edit: IMHO business should be like racing with those chaps. Go hard, go into it to win... but give your opponent racing room on the track and help him out off the track. Shake hands, share a beer in the evening, bit in the morning go out to try to beat him again without ever trying to make him lose

Coby is a brand and was owned by a guy I raced cars with. He may still own the business but I have lost touch with him. The Coby brand includes products such as reducers, doughnuts, mufflers and resonators. A resonator is a free flow style design slightly similar to a motorcyle baffle system. A resonator will reduce nasty exhaust noise but leave a fair bit of burble in your exhaust tone. They can sound great, but can also sound shit if the exhaust diameter is too large for engine displacement

You probably need to add a diode into that circuit. Diodes are available from the likes of Jaycar and will cost less than $2, but you'll need to solder it in. Think of a diode as a one way valve for electricity. Solder in a diode into the wiring you've described above. You should be able to work out where, and in what direction you want the diode to operate - but from your description it probably needs to go into that yellow wire.

A hydraulic release bearing over the output shaft nose (such as a Quartermaster?). If so I ran one on my Mk1 Cortina racecar and IIRC the shimming was critical to keep the correct distance from the pressure plate. You're looking at it in real life and I'm not.... so treat my advice with a sack of salt. Nice project. Well done sir.

Agreed you should change clutch to a higher HP rated unit, but I'd also be checking both the clutch master-cylinder rod and slave cylinder rod to ensure they both had a little clearance as it's possible your clutch fluid is heating up, expanding slightly, and putting a little pressure onto the release bearing

I believe that's the same effective amps sir.

I did the same a few weeks ago. My three or five year old Ryobi tools were OK but wore out. The brand new Ryobi tools I replaced the worn out ones with are are utter rubbish and my 5ah batteries are all failing too. So disappointing. Ryobi has gone bad. So.... I went for the $3.7k 40v Makita set and the circular saw is powerful but 100% hideous to use. I hate it and can't cut anything accurate with it due to the stupid safety button and the impossibly stiff blade guard. It's also hard to see the blade through the foot. It's a dumb design thought out by lawyers and not builders. And then after ~ four hours use one of the two impact drivers stopped working. It just beeps and won't turn. The rest of the Makita 40v tools in my set also have way too many 'software' adjustable settings for my tastes. I suspect they'll be unreliable too. Pretty gutted with Makita TBH. Would not trade again.... and returning the faulty impact driver is hard from Chatham Island

The best example of incorrect Caster is the front wheel of a shopping trolley. At speed with too much negative caster the wheel becomes way less 'stable' and you will have trouble keeping the vehicle in a straight line..... but turn in is easy and turn grip can be improved. However - I suspect you've introduced too much positive caster (and I jumped the gun with my tracking comment) which will probably just give you heavy steering and a bit less corner grip.... but straight line tracking will be OK. My experiences are with a race Mk1 Cortina - so basically identical suspension and weights as your Escort

It'll track like a drunken naked meth head on a hot unicycle with the caster that far out. Last time I messed around with similar suspension I bought some big flat washers and cut them into 'horse shoe' shapes. I used those washers to tune the strut position in relation to the anti-sway bar.... which of course adjusted caster. IIRC the adjustment was limited by the available thread.

I loved the BA wagon. K-trips possibly still has it? Dunno. Rumrum - talk to Vivaspeed. He knows import GS stuff