Springfield Flyer.

[tauruck]

Glad you liked it.
Nice to hear from you James.

Riaan, my mate keep your head up brother. We're thinking of you here at home.

I know this is a build diary but yesterday my bud Willie calls me and he's rattled.
Can I help him?. He lost a wheel in peak hour traffic. The five nuts sheared off!!!!.
The guy's a vet and amputee. He had to hump the wheel 150 yards in traffic.

I remember he hit a pot hole with his Opel and borrowed 2 matching wheels off
of his VW Camper to get by.

Going back a bit. Mercedes Benz stopped fitting 15" wheels to their cars because
the local population of mini bus taxi drivers would either steal or buy stolen wheels
off MB cars to fit to their Toyotas.

There's 1mm difference in the PCD and guys were killing themselves and passengers
wholesale.

Why would Willie suddenly lose a wheel?. I did an internet check. Opel 112 PCD, VW 113 PCD.

Bingo!!!!!!. By the time he arrived here with the car on a low bed I had his answer.
He tried arguing that he checked and the wheels were both 7J.
I schooled him. That's width not PCD.

I now have to sit in the hot sun with a punch, drill and eezi out to remove sheared bolts.
Don't know why but every time I help the dude it gets easier.
Last job was 9 sheared bolts on engine and gearbox mountings. I got lucky there too.

As I started drilling the stubs turned and fell out behind the hub. I guess 5 minutes was all it took.

Zina drove him back to his place to get the correct Opel wheels and we robbed a bolt off each of the other
wheels to get him home.

I love the guy but man, he needs to steer clear of tools. The list of his adventures is a long one.

[tauruck]

I haven't seen Willie today so I guess his car's OK.

Meeting with Latham Engineering Africa tomorrow so they can start on the
Stainless Steel gas tank.
I've done drawings and made sure the breather is at the front in one corner.

I get disappointed when I get negative replies from prospects but on the whole
the companies that have come on board have been awesome.

Some really great people here in South Africa.

The long hours are all worth it and I love this project even though it's SIX FLAGS.

[tauruck]

 I met with Ryan, Jaco and Quinton at Latham Engineering today.
Well, I have to tell you guys I was in heaven. The company is based
on the industrial estate where SA builds its Rooivalk attack helicopter and other
aircraft.

Security was tight but once I got to Latham it was way better than I expected.
They are going to build the tank to spec and suggested changes to my design
as to how the tank mounts to the chassis. I saw some Stainless Steel welding
that blew me away. "Unobtanium" came to mind.

I'm a happy guy and to top it off I came away with work.
The guys are keen boaters and have 3 ski supremes one with a small
block Ford motor that needs attention. The other job is modifying an instrument
panel from a leather covered fiberglass piece to a show quality Carbon more
modern version. One hangar just for boats??. Great guys and the quality
is impeccable.

The tank will have all corners radiused (25mm), baffles, the filler neck and all male bungs
welded in. It will be constructed from 3mm thick 304 and properly pressure tested.

What more can I ask for?. God is good to me and patience is the key to all of this.


The other funny story is that a while back I produced Carbon huggers for Ducatis.
The client said the quality was good but the pattern never matched the OEM.

I made 3 more over December and last month sent out 5 emails asking for my wrong
products and for them to collect the new.

Never heard a thing. Yesterday the director called and shouted at me. I resent all the emails
and the guy that was supposed to handle the deal was mysteriously absent.

The four original huggers came back but they had tried to spray clear coat in house
and ruined them. Normally I'd go there and.....

I let it go. Today I got an email saying we'd all gotten off on the wrong foot and could we start over.
No mention made of the wrecked huggers.

There is a front bumper off a very expensive sports car that has been "scrapped" and could I
please repair it if at all possible. The imported replacement is $12,000.

One area of damage.

[Riaan Lingenfelder]

And then the fishing got booked.
Get ready dude. 2 days of fun fun fun.
Gona cure that insomnia. Ul sleep for 2 days afterwards.

[Captthundarr]

 

[tauruck]

When I say I'm broke I mean it literally.
Every time it happens I work on parts
of the liner where I have materials hence
the jumping around, well mostly but boredom/funk
also influence decisions.

Yesterday I asked a supplier for credit. Never done it before
and I was embarrassed.
The company doesn't offer credit
but the director himself paid for the material in cash out
of his pocket. I now owe Gebi some money.
Gebi was one of my early mentors when I got into
the Carbon industry. He visits me on weekends so he knows
where I live.

Well the money problem was short lived. The front bumper
arrived this morning for repair. It comes off a McLaren.

None available locally and the client wants it repaired.

The cool thing is that these super car owners are funding a liner!!!.
The irony.

Divine intervention AGAIN.

[fordboy628]

The cool thing is that these super car owners are funding a liner!!!.
The irony.

Divine intervention AGAIN.

Nice work!

Quit yer bitchin' and bill it out!!   

Then, back to work on the liner!!
 
F/B

[Captthundarr]

Yeah Mike, I hate when I booger up me McLaren. Just makes me want to 

[tauruck]

I know the feeling Frank.

IMO guys buy these cars for the status.
Most aren't drivers!!!!.

The shocking thing is that the inside of the bumper looks like
it was built by amateurs and that's not sour grapes or envy.
Not a new phenomenon. The Countach looked like a kit car beneath the skin.
Seen them all and the best finishes composite wise (beneath the skin) were on the
Porsche.

In the 80s I sold cars and I still laugh at the business cards we had. "Sales Executive".
I'd drive them for a week and after that long the novelty had worn off and it left me thinking
that the guys that bought these cars were stuck with those huge monthly payments.
A heavy price to pay for "LOOK at me!!!".

I'm going to get Willie to bring his camera around and shoot some detailed pics of the bumper.
You decide if this is a million buck ride.

The liner is looking good. Parts coming in, sponsors joining (3) and one is a lady that owns a
battery company. Meeting Monday. She's very easy on the eye and I'll keep my head down and concentrate
on amps and voltage. Not subjects I'm good at.

Been adding fairing paste to the nose cone and it looks better with every application.

[Tman]

Pointy

[tauruck]

I basically hand shaped the nose cone over Polystyrene ribs with a skin of the same.
Not perfect but fairly close.

Now that I'm applying the fairing paste, the imperfections are showing but thankfully
they aren't as bad as I thought.

I had two areas in identical spots on both the left and right that are high.
Seeing as the glass fiber skin is so thin, sanding would be like trying to polish a sheep.
I decided to cut the offending areas out and fill so that the repair would be a tad lower
than the surface. This would allow sufficient fairing paste to fill the depression without
waste.

Here are pics of what transpired. More work than anticipated but you have to go
through the motions. 

[tauruck]

Not much meat below the surface. 10mm.

I tore pieces of foam and forced them into the hole.

[tauruck]

The missus has cool gardening tools so I
borrowed a saw and rough cut the protrusions.

[tauruck]

Did some careful sanding and then applied some 3M
Spray 77 to get adhesion for the glass patch.

I used off cuts of 450gr/m2 to give the patch some stiffness.

[tauruck]

After mixing some Epoxy resin I laminated a few layers of glass
doing both sides.