There was no escaping the rubbish weather at the weekend, this was Monday morning...
Welding Book:
Whilst the weather has prevented me practising my welding, I've have been reading my "Farm Welding" book.
I can highly recommend it for beginners as it uses lots of pictures to explain the techniques it is describing.
Especially when it comes to what "good penetration" is supposed to look like on the other side of the weld.
I'm now looking forward to putting some of the book's tips into practise and seeing what difference it makes.
Brake Master Cylinder - A Final Decision:
Much as though it pains me to abandon my Spitfire 1500 tandem master cylinder, it has to go.
The reality is there is just too much fabrication required to keep it & the work needed would look pig ugly too!
So I am just waiting for the supplier of an upgraded "single line" master cylinder to get a delivery of push rods.
This will allow me to sell my old master cylinder "whole" on Ebay, without providing him with an exchange part.
This is the same part and supplier that
Mister Towed used on his build:
My donor came with a spare length of brake pipe which I will now use to join the new M/C with existing pipes.
It just needs to reach a new three way joint where the existing tandem M/C pipes will be re-routed.
( Note: I posted some pictures of this joint the last time I was discussing my options a while back. )
If possible, I'll just bend the tandem pipes into their new position without removing their existing fittings.
Which leads me nicely into another brake related mod I am planning to make…
Brake & Clutch Pedal Mounting:
Previously,
DonnySoutherner removed the front sections of his Spitfire clutch & brake pedal mounts.
This was due to the fact there wasn't a big enough gap between the pedal mounting plate & the bulk head.
I've now decided to keep my pedal mounts "whole" & remodel my bulk head to accommodate them instead.
Hopefully you can see the section from the original bulk head that all three pedals were mounted to here.
( Excuse the poor quality, I was taking a photo of a printed photo. )
I intend to cut out a strip from my fibreglass bulkhead equivalent to the red section highlighted above.
Although I need to double check the pedal movement first, just in case this section needs to be deeper.
Once the pedals are mounted to the Cordite framework, this will show how far this section will stick out.
Then I will be able to build 4 "sides" from fibre glass to join the section I've cut out back to the bulk head.
I will also cut out a section of the sheet metal my mate gave me to attach to the front face of fibre glass.
This will provide additional support for the accelerator pedal without the need to modify the Cordite frame.
Time for another Power Point sketch which I hope makes this easier to visualise (as always, not to scale)…
The sheet metal might end up inside this fibre glass bulk head "extension", but I'll worry about that later.
Mounting the pedals will also help me understand the frame mods required to provide pedal clearance.
I might have a go at that over the weekend if the weather holds.
Cheers, Paul.
Replies:
DaveCymru - Cheers.