Australian Belly Tank

[SPARKY]

Guys keep up the great work-----I am thinking of re dooing my canopy---gives me soon good ideas

[Dr Goggles]

Hey Sparky
It was the Rev who spotted the Machi canopies ( which are about 5/8 thick)we used and realised we could cut the shape we were after out of them .....the Al strips are where we turned the sides down ever so slightly. Sumner has some great info on slumping and vac forming .  I'm sure you could find somewhere that sells plane parts or scraps them and has canopies that are scratched beyond usable condition....Then there is the option of contacting somebody who makes glider canopies....I'm sure the Rev will get on with more ideas......

Why don't you post a few shots of what you've already got because I'm not sure I've seen your canopy.

.....

[SPARKY]

will do---its just flat bent around the curve on the sides---profile on Sums pages

[Sumner]

...................Why don't you post a few shots of what you've already got because I'm not sure I've seen your canopy..

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bville-cars-5/2211-2006.html

Sum

[Dr Goggles]

will do---its just flat bent around the curve on the sides---profile on Sums pages

Could you aim for a segment of a cone shape so it's narrower at the top ? That could still be formed from flat sheet.........

[Dr Goggles]

been a little slack here at Ranchero tanko.....but there has been a little progress......I built the vacu-pan arrangement , and got it fitted up  , and today I got started on the  moon caps..........at least Ive started on the inner caps, the static ones.....First I made a compass arrangement out of a piece of 1" strap with holes drilled so I could mark out the necessary concentric circles with a scriber....in hindsight the photo would have looked better if the measurements corresponded with the part if the tire they were sitting on....


 and blazed away with the ol' jig-saw.......When I grow up I'll have a real nice band saw with a rotating table but since the discs are fixed and don't need to be balanced they'll be fine as they are , I gave them decent clearance so we could use stick on weights on the inside  of the rim and not be grazing them , a bit of a clean up , and these should look alright.......

[Dr Goggles]

On the subject of Moon discs what are the suggestions for mounting?..........We're thinking of welding M6X1 nuts around the very perimeter of the rim so that the disc is flush with the very edge of the wheel , any thoughts  on this would be much appreciated.......

[1212FBGS]

hey sparky
here is a link to a canopy maker we are using on peg leg craigs sidecar liner http://www.toddscanopies.com/  he was very responsive, quick to deliver, reasonably priced, and pretty nice stuff.... ya gonna do anything with that ugly ass nose..?.. i mean on your lakester....
love ya
kent

[SPARKY]

Canopy--looks like this guy knows what he is doing---

Now if I cleaned up the Ratical's looks---why in the world would he want to be just another pretty face-- the way he looks now its hard to decide ---is his face or his RatzAzz UGLy'R---lol

[Sumner]

hey sparky
here is a link to a canopy maker we are using on peg leg craigs sidecar liner http://www.toddscanopies.com/  he was very responsive, quick to deliver, reasonably priced, and pretty nice stuff.... ya gonna do anything with that ugly ass nose..?.. i mean on your lakester....
love ya
kent

Those are really nice canopies.  I can't see how he can make them for what he is charging.

c ya,

Sum

[Dr Goggles]

Looking at those prices and the costs I'd be surprised if they wouldn't have turned out as a viable option for us even with the freight down here...A huge amount of time went into the polishing let alone the building of our canopy and the irony was that we used the more scratched of the two candidates we had figuring we'd have a better one to use later...........I can't imagine this one breaking even if the cart went A.O.T.

[Dr Goggles]

well , we've had a few days in a row on the 'tank and made a little progress , the moon discs and the inner discs took a bit of time...the rears had to be made in two pieces . This is them.....



we bought two types of outers , one set of the usual type Moon discs and then the Rev' saw some with a dimple in the middle of them which were exactly what he'd modeled when he did the original renders for the tank . The only problem was when we first tried the discs with the dimple they didn't fit because they were slightly concave and they hit the inner ring of the centers that we have in our wheels.....while pondering the problem it occurred to me that I could just "pop" them inside out...so I stuck them on the top of a garbage bin , gave them a bit of a shove and , hey presto they fitted just right .not only that but the part of the center that was in the way turned out to be the best way of mounting them......so instead of using Dzus , or welding nuts to the very outer rim of the wheels we drilled straight through the inner ring and welded stainless nuts on the inside of the center , put a countersink on them and it was done.They look like this..sweet and sour pork anyone??



we also did some tidying up on cooling hoses but we'll save you the tedium of photo's there........................

We made air extractors for the side windows of the cab by cutting the perspex and heating it with a heat gun then using a beating dolly as a former to push the p'pex in to make a sort of "auto-bailer" shape.........thems lookem like dis...........




and finally we used the very tip of the bottom of the little bellytank that we halved to make our cowl and we made a scoop to go over the throttle bodies....it's not a tight fit before you all jump in and predict imminent doom.....and yes it will change but it will do for now .......



here it is again



 we also used the original filler for the bellytank as the body access for the fuel tank , more show than go but at least it's not one of those stickers you see on tuner cars.....



it's been hotter than blazes here...about 105 in your money.....not good for power tools , or even humans for that matter

[SPARKY]

You guys have been busy----wish I were going to be there to watch you run!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Reverend Hedgash]

Thanks Sparky.

It is getting exciting now, only eight weeks to go...

Even if we break something on the first run, as long as the event is on and we are there and can relax in the beautiful outbackness of it all I'll be happy.

Hope to see you run one day too!

rH+

[Dr Goggles]

we built this....



so we could do this...



it needs a catch and a release system , the piece of insulated wire and vise grips used in the video probably won't suffice.....