It's been a while since I built anything off the wall. It's time to get back to that.
There has been an idea kicking around in my head for a while now. I have several antique engines that I have wanted to do something with. The Lemons car build left me with a spare Datsun rear axle out of a B210 that is too small for anything with hp. Sounds like I need to build a pit car. I have engines ranging from 1 1/2 to 12 hp and dating from the 1920s to the 1940s. The one in question for this project is a 1920s era Nelson Brothers Jumbo hit and miss. It's rated at 3 hp at 485 rpm. It used to run a water pump to fill the water tower for the town of Summerville, SC. This guy.
Next up, I needed reverse. That meant a transmission of some sort. I did some online looking and found a reverse gear box for a gocart. I wasn't sure the gears would take the pounding the engine put out when it fired though, it hits HARD. I also wasn't sure how much reduction I would need to get 3 hp to power something like this. Then I remembered, hiding way back in the corner of the shop, buried under the bench, and covered in junk was a transmission Curmudgeon had left when he moved. It's pretty heavy, should take the pounding, give me reverse and 4 forward gears. With some help from you guys it's been identified as a Triumph Spitfire 4 speed. Probably out of the Abomination. It's a little crusty, but it will be perfect. I'll rig up some sort of belt drive to the input shaft with a tensioner to work as a clutch.
The rear axle is out of a 1978 Datsun B210. Still in perfect working order, just too small for the Lemons car now. It's a little too narrow for this project, but nothing a couple of wheel spacers won't fix.
Now the problem of connecting the two. I didn't want to have to buy a driveshaft, but marrying a British transmission to a Japanese axle could be a issue. Turns out a Samurai driveshaft will work almost perfectly. At least close enough for this slow speed machine. And I happened to have a couple of spares on the shelf.
Now I just needed a frame. I had recently scrapped a old popup camper a couple of months ago and had kept the frame. So I dug it out from behind the shop.
Still to figure out is going to be the front axle. I'm thinking about building a simple beam axle unless I come across something ready made.
This is still in the planning phase so no metal to cut and weld at them moment, but it's going to be happening.
More to come.
