Springfield Flyer.

[wobblywalrus]

Weed is almost legal here in Oregon.  Not nearly as much of it is used as a person would think.  The younger bunch is pretty serious about life and they do not have much time for it.  Older folks seem to be the most conspicuous users.  Guys and gals that would have smoked it in the 60's and 70's.  We thought it would be a disaster to relax the penalties on the stuff but that never happened.

[tauruck]

Two smells I hate. Dead people and weed.
In 05 I was welding wrought iron gates on a building site on the South Coast.
Some idiot was smoking weed up on the first floor and the breeze blew the smell down into where I was.

I ran up there and threw him off the building...........

[Captthundarr]

  yikes, I gave it up a long time ago, now can't stand the smell or the morons burn'in a blunt. soory for your liner hold ups. I know the feeling working on my pops MG Midget to sell for race car parts.

[tauruck]

There was a big pile of river sand that the guy face planted in so he never fell too hard.
These are the same guys that actually used a toilet bowl that wasn't even plumbed in.

Nothing going on here really so I did a little work on my steering wheel.
I made it a while back and part of the project was to make it fit my hands.
It does now. It still needs a little work on the face plate but all in all its OK.

I got a bunch of momentary and on off switches from Mike c/o Krause & Naimer so I fitted them to see how they operate.

[tauruck]

The switches aren't the small F1 type but with gloves on the feel is positive.
One for the drinks bottle and one for the radio so far.
Button heads need to be cut and washers bonded.

A butterfly wheel would definitely not work in the cramped confines and this wheel needs to be removed to get in or out.

Some suede on the grips will finish it off once I've painted and polished.

[tauruck]

My wheel manufacturer says the first front wheel is ready for collection.
In light of previous nasty experiences with having to pay up front and being ripped off I'm not taking delivery
of anything until the product is perfect.

The photos are too small for my liking for starters so I've asked for real ones before driving 50 miles only to be disappointed.
Here are the pics. I know it is difficult to judge but your opinions on the wheel would be appreciated.

[tauruck]

Two more.

I'm not sure about the placement of the valve fitment?.

[kiwi belly tank]

It looks like good workmanship, whats your consern with the valve location?
Thats a huge positive off set, I assume to correct front end geometry, that might turn into an out of round issue down the road. How thick is the center & how true is the rim?
  Sid.

[tauruck]

Sid, I haven't even seen the wheels yet. The offset is to get the tandem setup dead center.
The guy that built them is a German dude and he has high standards. We're going to collect the first one Monday
and check it for "true".
I'm so broke I never even had the $100 to pay for the first one so Ashley deposited the bucks for me. Without him and Guido I'd be nowhere.
The wheel sponsor I have is overseas right now and I'm hoping he'll pay for the others when he comes back.
Work is hard to find right now.
I'm not working on the long car because I don't want to start taking shortcuts to make up for lack of funding.
It will all work out so I'm not too stressed.

[kiwi belly tank]

With that much off set you'll want to keep tabs on runout. I used to keep a log book on Betsy's (Teague) steel wheels back in the day to keep tabs on where they were going.
Bearing & spindle side loads will be another area to watch.
Where does the scrub come up?
 Betsy's tandem front end, the wheels were not actually on the chassis centerline, they were offset 4" either side giving an 8" C-C tire spread & that created a greater weight transfer to the inside with good steering responce even in the wet. All the centerline tandem drivers I've spoken to say they are kinda washy.
I know you're not looking for gobbs of speed at this time but down the road I bet you will.
  Sid. 

[Glen]

On the Vesco streamliners we keep records on all of the wheels. They are checked everytime we change tires for balance, runout where the wheel/tire is/was on the vehicle, tires and wheels are pre balanced separately before assembly and re balanced after. First static then spin balanced to assure the balance is ready for racing. The wheel centers on two of wheels are shimmed due to the diameter of the index being a little move over size. Cleaning of the studs and using antisieze on the threads as well is important. Storing the tires is also important during the off season.

[wobblywalrus]

These low money times are perfect for the labor intensive tasks that do not cost a lot and have no glory.  Wiring, painting, etc.

[tauruck]

Bo, I wish I was at either of those stages.
Busy on a job that will buy some badly needed materials so things should pick up by mid week.

[tauruck]

We went to collect the first of the four front wheels yesterday.
The 50 miles went quickly and the traffic wasn't bad for a change.

I could get into a long drawn out thing about this wheel story going from January up to the present.
Short explanation is that I'm now cutting out the middle man Markus and dealing with the source.

The first wheel is beautifully made and they used the fancy system where the wheel is immersed in a tub of flux and welded.
I haven't seen anything this good before.

[tauruck]

Theo de Groot is probably the third biggest wheel manufacturer in the country and is
going to check the wheel for run out and other parameters based on what Tom Burkland suggested.

The process will take place either today or tomorrow.
The flange is heavy duty and looks level but I think a light pass on the lathe would be perfect insurance.

I'm confident this wheel will turn out great.