Suzuki Club UK

Finished the major gusseting on the front mounts now. Just need to plate in the top of the second side and then the body can go back down and be bolted in place.

Look - I even found the stub end of some Hammerite and a scraggy brush to gob it on with:



Here's the remaining top piece that needs to be plated in:



This is the finished side:



Also got a fuel tank from a friend who had it left over from a project - for free!

It's a bit rusty, but has never been used and has nicely tapped outlets, filler and breather, so it's all good. This will be mounted in the rear, along with the battery, which will be relocated from under the bonnet, to help balance the weight out a touch.

Also got the second harness bar cut tonight, ready to weld in next session. Figured out the rear tow point, as well.

Sound progress.

Finally getting somewhere:



Bolted up the bar that reinforces the tin shed on top of the chassis, under the dashboard. Both the seat mounts are finished, but the passenger seat isn't bolted down right now - makes it easier to do the work:



The front outriggers are now totally finished and painted, with the body mounts in place now:



Both harness bars are now welded in:



The battery mount is also sorted, in the back to try and balance things up a touch:



And the fuel tank will be sorted with mounts during the next session and maybe a fuel pick up and a cap on the tank, too.

I might even put the dash back in it on Thursday night. Looks promising for the Easter event.

Anyone want a roll bar? Anyone got a windscreen?

For some reason I can't see your latest pics, i can see the last ones you put up.

Strange, Might just be my crap laptop

Sounding good tho.

Ian

Can't see them either.

coolbeans

Doh - I fixed it just now.

Looking nice there matey, really like what you have done with the body mounts! should be nice and strong!

It's just just been built to MSA minimum spec on the outriggers, then gusseted to the chassis, with 3mm plate.

No point doing these things if you're not planning to use them to their fullest extent.

Tonight was mostly about tow points and the fuel tank.

Front tow point welded on, so the rope goes through the original hoop, then the hoop goes over the new point to secure it. The big win here is that it no longer needs a shackle to secure the rope:



Now we could have just re-attached the rear towbar on the back, but that's not really good enough, as it was too low and in the middle, which is away from the chassis rails - not as strong as being close or on the chassis rails. So the front of the original towbar now bolts to one of the original fuel tank mounts and the main mounting bolts go through the rear crossmember, alongside the chassis rail. The bolts will go all the way through the crossmember and be nutted on the top side.

Obviously it's not good enough to just drill through the tube, so we've hole-sawed and the crossmember will have sleeves welded into it to ensure maximum strength:



Here's the fuel tank. You'll notice it's not attractive, but it was free.



The filler was cut out of the side of the body, then it was cut down to the cap and the neck. This will be flattened down and then drilled out to suit as the filler

The difficult bit is the pick up from the tank. Thankfully the sh*tara that's still hanging around on it had some nice metal hose that was no longer in use, so that got butchered off it. After that I cut out some sheet steel, templated the five holes needed (already got threaded inserts in the tank) with some transparent plastic and centre-popped those, and drilled them out.

Obviously welding cruddy old fuel pipe ends to a nice, big thick bit of steel is quite a challenge, so I turned the welder right down and gobbed some more material around the pipes. Once that was built up I turned the welder up another couple of settings and then burned more material into the stuff I'd built up. This avoided blowing holes in the nasty old pipe and got a fuel-tight weld above and below the plate:



There was also some plotting around the main electrical feed. We have a nice big feed out of an Audi 100, which also has a couple of auxiliary feeds, too. This is going to go to a cut out in front of the screen, from the battery in the back and then to the starter and loom feed. Removing the insulting tape from the current main starter and loom feed discovered a particularly nasty repair, but then finding these things means they're sorted out.

Rear tow point sorted:



Fuel tank nearly there, ready to be mounted:



Cut-off in front of windscreen:



Ready to be wired in, using an Audi 100 power feed I've had lying about for years.



Now into the jobs that seem to take FOREVER!