Ford "Tauruck".

[tauruck]

It's no good trying to work over here right now. We humans are never satisfied, it's either too hot or too cold. I've got 33*C (91*F) in the workshop. Taken a few days off. I'm watching the NASCAR races at Daytona. Pity about the fans that got hurt yesterday and if any of you know someone that did we hope for a full recovery.

[wobblywalrus]

That 91 degrees reminds me of Bakersfield.  My best friend down there had a garage and we put a lawn sprinkler on the roof and turned it on just enough to keep it wet.  The evaporation kept the garage cool enough so we could work, sort of.  A lot of our friends came over to enjoy it and nothing got done. 

[tauruck]

The weather report says 34*C for today but I checked and it's 4 more but I can't sit around so I got into making the head restrain't that's part of the seat setup. I used some Aluminum sheet I had here to make a plug. Marked it and used the plasma cutter. It goes through 2mm like nothing. I cleaned the edge and hand formed it over a big tube "Argon" bottle. On to some release agent and then used 3M spray 77 adhesive to tack on a piece of peel ply. Peel Ply leaves a surface on composites already prepped so there's no sanding involved. I had a nice piece of heavy duty Carbon leftover so I got two layers out of that. After the two layers had been laid up I followed that with one more peel ply. After cure I pulled the Ally and the peel out. I found some 20mm Balsa that has a glass fabric backing much like mosaic tiles. It was cut to shape and bonded into the Carbon shell with Epoxy treated to some thixotropic agent. The result is what we call Gorilla Snot. It set up nicely and tomorrow I'll shape and radius for the final layers.

[tauruck]

A few more of the part.

[tauruck]

I've never seen Epoxy go off this quick even though it's my "summer" blend with a 60 minute hardener. Any thickened resin will cure faster no matter what but this was insane.

[tauruck]

My exhaust flanges. These were waterjet cut for my Sportster projects from a steel called Roc? maybe Rock. It's harder than mild steel. I checked and the bolt pattern suits my exhaust ports on the Ford head. There is a step in the flange that accepts the 2" Stainless pipe. Bonus of note. I have 8 flanges just waiting. My welding supplier says I can use the Stainless 304 rod I have to weld the flange to the pipe. I'm a fair weldor but I just need some input on the subject. Is his assesment correct?. Thanks.

[tauruck]

No turning back now. The final bridge has been burned. Two of these puppies arrived.  Holset HX55s. They came at a cost of my design skills and labour. Sometimes this barter system works great especially here in Africa.

[wobblywalrus]

Are they for the bike or the truck?

[tauruck]

Bo, for the truck That bike is on hold. I've been blessed with more work than I can handle so both projects are idling.

[SteveM]

Fantastic work as always.  It's great to see the various skill sets and backgrounds that individuals bring to the table. 

For years, I was "into" hot rod jet boats.  That balsa core material was very popular in the custom boat world, particularly for flooring over a bare hull, and to reinforce some thin sections of lightweight drag boats.  Once that balsa has been flow-coated with clear or tinted resin, the results just screamed of craftsmanship and high-end custom work.

I have seen more than one guy who did that balsa core work in his boat, then laid a $100 bill on top of the balsa before flow-coating.  The $100 bill is then permanently set in the resin, for all to see.  It's a testament to the amount of time, money and dedication needed to build anything at that level. 

The level of work you are doing is very high-end, and it's great to see the type of skills you bring to the game.  It helps open everyone's eyes to what is possible.

Steve.

[tauruck]

Thanks Steve. The cool thing about the work I do is that there are always leftover materials. The 1" Balsa is one of those. I could have used it to produce a plug but I figured why waste time. I did a repair on a Porsche GT3 floor tray a while back and it was made from the same Balsa core between layers of Carbon. My pedal box is about done. It too is a Carbon/Ally honeycomb construction. Inspection lid needs to be matched to the opening and fixing hardware installed. The steering shaft goes through the the angled opening at front. It's a tight fit inside and after much debate I cut the Tilton floor mount assembly and removed around an inch of material between the clutch and brake pedals.

The Carbon gas pedal needs to bonded to the base it works off and was made off a template of my race boot. Height to steering shaft is also limited and anyone with feet bigger than a size 7 shoe won't be driving. You'd think a truck this size would accomodate a much taller driver but his feet would be in amongst the wishbones. The box has tophat bushings that need to be bonded in. The box will be bolted and bonded to the chassis once it's been painted. I won't be clear coating the box because it will get some heat shield material to protect it from the header. One good thing is that there is very little heat transfer between the outer and inner skins.

[tauruck]

The box will be tidied up next week in between the other work going on and the mounting plate for the pedals will go to powder coat with some other trick pieces I made. I just carried the two turbos back to the house. Damn, I want to get the mountings right first time. They should come with a Gold's Gym vest and some roids.

[maguromic]

That pedal box looks good.  Tony

[Jon]

Beautiful work as always, want a working holiday in Aus?

jon

[tauruck]

Thanks guys. Jon, how would I get past border security?. Those guys are tough I'd love a working holiday there. Have tools, will travel.