petegossett wrote: I could never build that battery mount like you did - my OCD would make me cut & bend all-4 corners, then weld it together in the middle of a side.
After I bent it all the same thought crossed my mind....but I lack the drive to remake it.
In reply to JThw8:
Personally, I'm jealous/impressed you were able to measure out and bend the battery bracket and have it come out looking like a rectangle. I'm pretty damn sure I'd end up with a trapezoid... 
Ian F wrote: In reply to JThw8: Personally, I'm jealous/impressed you were able to measure out and bend the battery bracket and have it come out looking like a rectangle. I'm pretty damn sure I'd end up with a trapezoid...
I've made many trapezoids in my life. This one came out better than most. Others I've made have required a bit of extra welding in the corners to make up the gaps :)
Bent up the smart car already? Have any paint left? 
java230 wrote: Bent up the smart car already? Have any paint left?
No, after 130k it decided it might need a serpentine belt and tensioner...and it sounds like the AC compressor might have packed up too but its on it's own belt and she knows how to roll down her windows so that might just be disabled for now.
Oh that's good to hear! Easy stuff
java230 wrote: Oh that's good to hear! Easy stuff
Yeah, tell that to the 5 local mechanics she went to first who said "oh no, we can't work on a Smart car" It's a serpentine belt FFS....sigh. She'd do it herself if she had tools and a jack.
In reply to JThw8:
Just in case it's something more major, you can always replace the engine
no project fun this weekend :( Daughter started to come up friday so I could fix car. Belt snapped 3 blocks from home. Drove 2 hours today for what ended up being a 15 minute job to install new belt and tensioner, then 2 hours back home to find the wifes work computer took a dump so priorities and all that....sigh. So close to being on the road so many other things coming up. Might steal an hour or 2 tomorrow for some small progress.
Felt the need to accomplish at least one thing on the trike this weekend so I finally got up the nerve to mark out and drill the "dashboard" I wanted to keep things very simple. Fuel gauge. Yellow light up top for turn signal, red light bottom left for alternator warning, green light bottom right for oil pressure warning. Yes I kept the colors and layout the same as a classic VW, just felt right.
Some more trike work tonite. I think I mentioned before that my new rear mount was rubbing the clutch cable
So I got a nice little marine pulley and mounted it on the bottom of the mount so the cable had something to ride on.
Never posted a picture of the completed speedometer mount but there it is.
Also installed the fuel tank and mount for hopefully the last time and plumbed in the lines and filter and I installed the exhaust for, again hopefully, the last time.
I like the pulley! Sometimes it's the simple solutions that are great.
Trying to finalize things system by system now so tonite I wanted to bleed the brakes to get that done. Started by bleeding the master cylinder, or trying to. The line wouldnt tighten down enough to make a seal in the fitting so I couldn't get it to bleed. Perplexing...sadly I've been down this road before so it suddenly hit me. CNC makes their cylinders with 1/8npt thread to accept the adapter for the brake line of your choice. The stock 10mm x 1.0 pitch is almost identical to 1/8 npt so the fitting screws in and you forget that's not right. So I had to put that on hold while I wait for the 1/8 to 10mm bubble flare adapter.
So I turned to working on the rear lighting. the brake/tail lights were installed when I got it but no signals and I wanted more lighting. I got a 8in led strip that does brake and turn and then 2 more small bullet turn signals. I didnt want to mount these directly to the body so I made some aluminum mounts for them all and expoxy bonded them to the body.
I also bonded a terminal strip under the body to make a ground point for all the items attached to the body.
made some quick seat bases for the rear seat, going to run them up to the local upholstry shop tomorrow and see what it will cost to have them matched to the front seat. If it's cost prohibitive I know enough to cover them with some foam and straight black vinyl, it will have to do.
Took the seat bases up to the upholstery place on lunch. Guy can match the rears to the existing front for a very reasonable price. I asked about redoing all of them as I was thinking of doing something different. He took one look at the fiberglass seat pan for the front and said "Please dont make me do that" Said it would be at least $650 just to touch that. They dont like working with fiberglass pans it seems, good thing I made the rears out of plywood.
Another day that's not quite gone as expected. Went to bleed the brakes (again) found out that the fitting with my brake light switch was ALSO 1/8 NPT...sigh. Wasn't going to wait another week for a 1/8npt to 10mm bubble flare adapter so I went to the flaps and got a 1/8npt to 3/8 inverted flare and a new tube nut and just reflared that end of the line. The bleeding was annoying me for some reason and I had agitated things pretty well with all the pumping of the pedal so I took a break and decided to hook up the battery and test the lights that were wired up. Headlights good, turnsignals good, horn good. Well, lets toss some fuel in it and turn the key....
yeah...never that easy. Fired on starting fluid but no run. Bad fuel pump...of course I had another. Then it was running but poorly. Of course I had a carb rebuild kit on my shelves (I really do have a VW problem it would seem) Cleaned out all the garbage and put some new seals in. Running now but stumbles on throttle and wont start without starting fluid. Hmm, no spray from the accelerator pump. I put a new diaphragm in with the rebuild kit so I knew that wasn't it. Carb back off and back apart. Long story short the tiny ball for the check valve internal to the carb was stuck. Some soaking and fiddling and all is well now. Lost most of the day messing with it though so not quite as much done as I'd hoped.
Long overdue update, things have been happening but nothing really visual. The visuals I do have are video just lighting tests and stuff, they're over on FB if anyone really wants to see that kind of stuff.
But I had to stop in and say, phase 1 is complete. I drove the trike today. Just around the block (its raining and I dont have it registered yet) Runs and drives good, kinda scares me a bit but mostly because everything just feels wrong. Im sitting down like a car yet Im not strapped in and there's nothing protecting me. I keep reaching for a hand operated brake or clutch where there is none, stuff like that.
Some small fiddling left to do with the shifter as I currently dont seem to have a functional reverse lockout and I'd kind of like that but it does get all the gears and moves along nicely.
Now it's time to get back to that Jeep....
Guess I'm not quite done yet, couldn't quite get over how uncomfortable I felt not having a brake to grab for for the front brakes. I also really kinda like the redundancy of 2 brake systems like most bikes have. A quick bit of research shows my front wheel was used on older Kawi KZ1100's $40 later on ebay and I have a full dual disk front setup from a KZ1100. I'll have to extend the main brake line and fab up some caliper brackets but overall it should be a simple upgrade for some added peace of mind.
In reply to JThw8:
Good call on the front brake.
Pete Gossett wrote: In reply to JThw8: Good call on the front brake.
yeah, honestly, I know in an emergency situation muscle memory is going to kick in and Im going to grab for the hand operated brake. Trying to noodle on the best way to build caliper brackets that won't eff up the chrome forks too much, I think I have a good idea for some bolt on brackets. There are some provisions for bolting things to the forks as is and I have ideas to make others.
Most of y'all have been following along on facebook these days but I figured I'd do some catch up on this rainy day for those who don't.
Trike...well...
Been working out some growing pains. Finally gave in an got a new carb for it as the old one was just never right. Running great now, put a few miles on it locally still not quite ready to go distances with it but getting close. Still planning on the front brake, have the parts now and working on a design for the caliper mount but that's been on hold while I get the Jeep caught up. Also got the rear seats back today.
They dont match the front, they are lizard instead of gator but the upholstery guy couldnt get gator in black and had the lizard left over from another job so he offered me a really good price because he knew I wasnt too picky about this part.
And I ended up finding a better solution for the GPS sensor but I still need to work out a mount solution which isnt zip ties.
Aside from some sorting of little issues as they shake out this one is done for now. It will get painted but I think that's going to wait for fall, I want to ride it awhile and sort everything out before I paint it. I don't want to be pulling the body on and off to sort issues once its painted.
Speaking of paint...let's talk Jeep next :)
When last we left the jeep I had a few more pieces to form for the floor, those are done and seam sealed now ready for etch primer then sealer primer before getting coated in Raptor liner. I'll be using black raptor on the inside of the tub and color matched raptor on the roll bar and door jambs.
With some nice weather I was able to roll it outside to do some prep sanding. Started at 100 grit and worked my way through 320...tedious stuff.
I had a half week off this week so the plan was to prep and get to painting this weekend. Then they started calling for lots of rain over the weekend....sigh.
So I set up the harbor freight paint booth
And rolled the jeep in thursday night
Cut and weeded a whole lot of paint mask thursday night in preparation for a marathon paint day on Friday..
Up early Friday, lets spray some primer sealer.
Next up, basecoat, looks a lot like primer, but really its a great color. Orange with a gold pearl in it, really shines. Went with the tinted primer so if there's ever a scratch it wont be as obvious but it is a bit challenging spraying orange base over orange primer, can't tell where you are. I did 4 good coats to make sure I had coverage.
Then I applied the graphics and mixed a little white pearl into the base to get a ghosted effect after clearing. The same design is on the rocker panels as well and a few flowers on the glovebox door to carry it to the interior.
I started clearing about 6:00 last night, rushing against the loss of daylight. I finished 2 coats and was inspecting it to see if it should get a 3rd when rain started. I quickly moved the hood and windshield frame inside and decided 2 coats of clear looked just about right. Just a couple quick shots of the hood to show the final look. It's not perfect paint, it could be buffed out better later, but its a jeep perfect paint would be a waste.
Next up, reassembly....but today we rest.
I LIKE that.
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