Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Tailshaft done


Measuring where the tailshaft needs to be cut, marking on the underside of the floor


Pipe cut and cleaned up with scotchbrite grinding disc


Penetration tests on the scrap tailshaft section revealed the welder needed to be on MAX (voltage AND current)


Welded, minor cleaning up of excess weld at overlaps

Monday, February 6, 2012

More Tailshaft

So,

Today was the first day of my 2 weeks leave from work.

I took advantage of the time off by using my grandfather's lathe:



I machined the offcut from the tailshaft, to get a nice flat side to measure against:


Mounted the yoke in the chuck, and spun it up with the live center:


Started cutting:


More cutting (this took over an hour!):




So close:


Better:


Machined a lip to 46mm (ID of tailshaft pipe - offcut has been slipped over and put on the live center to test fit in this shot:



Cleaned up with file and sandpaper:


Sat in the tailshaft (with electrical tape for mockup, still need to measure and cut tailshaft to correct length)




Getting there :)

Tailshaft

Just a quick update. Haven't done much at all on this in the last few weeks.

I've had one of the potential engines for this project sitting on a borrowed engine stand. Have to give it back in the next day or so, so I welded up a little skid to put the engine on to allow it to be moved around the shed.

I sold another ECU (an auto one) and used the money from that for the wheels and steel, plus some scrap bits from another project.



Also, I've decided how I'm going to attack the tailshaft:

I am going to machine down the big end of the splined shaft at the gearbox end of the tailshaft, to allow it to slip neatly inside the BMW tailshaft, then it will be welded all the way around. I've already cut the BMW tailshaft (much longer than it needs to be still, this is really only for sizing and so I can test fit, once I've machined the yoke I'll be able to fit it all up in the car and get it spot on before I cut.



Here's the yoke with the uni-joints cut off to make machining (in a lathe) a bit quicker [note the aluminium angle in the vice jaws to stop the vice from marking the yoke]: