Vintage rides

It seems like ehen I have a spare minute I try to weld something to the Elan frame:)


Looked at the frame and tried to weld all the holes along the footrests. Lots of grinding ahead...
Here are the pictures:








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It was busy week for me.
Still working on the Elan's frame. Still need to upload some pictures... Will do!
Wednesday and Thursday I spent at the cottage working on the Yamaha sled and boat trailer. Yamaha is almost done for the winter season. Almost - because I need to pressure test the crankcase. Last season I had problems with lean mixture and I couldn't find any obvious reason for that. I got the low pressure/vacuum gauge, so I am going to test the engine next week.
Another thing I am going to do next week is moving my boat from cottage to city. I got some space on the driveway where I can park it and it's much easier to work near the home - much more productive. I changed the wheel bearings yesterday and installed new trailer lights, so it's safe on the road. The longest trip I made with that trailer was to the nearest marina which is in front of my cottage:) Now I can go as far as I want:) Trailer wheels still need to be cupped, but I am going to do next week. Also, towing vihecle (Toyota Corolla) has to get trailer lights converter because it has separate circut for turn lights. I was thinking about making the convertor myself but ended up buying it for $17 at Princess Auto. Not THAT cheap, but I can live with that:)

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Couple more things done to the frame: I am getting close to the finish here!
So far I finished 1lb spool of 0.25” wire and emptied the bottle of gas:) Working outside requires a bit more gas flow for welding, so I can’t do much about CO2/Argon consumption…
The long edge strips welded in place: footrest getting rigid again!!!



I was thinking about reinforcing the tunnel along the footrests and around axles mounting plates: finally I decided, that two goals could be achieved at once! I just integrated two parts together!
A bit of measuring and playing with templates produced a good result! The angled piece will give an extra support for the tunnel and will spread the load from the mounting plates for axles. Just for an extra strengh I drilled series of holes, so I can weld the reinforsment to the frame not only around the edge but in the middle as well.

Here are the pictures(pictures in daylight would be better, but I just wanted to document the result and didn’t want to wait):









Here is the part welded to the frame:









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I don't have much time during the work week, but I manage to continue work on the frame.
The belly is done.
Some small cracks welded.
Some dents fixed.


Cut yesterday new pieces for the sides of the tunnel. Today I will weld them.



Made a template for wheel axles mounting's reinforsment...



Not sure about this design... I might use the same idea Bombardier used on the later frames - just make mounting plates a bit wider like here:



Before I welded the final piece to the belly I protected the steering subframe with some rust paint... Wouldn't hurt:)


That last piece is tacked in...




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Found this today at Conservation Research Laboratory:
Great info!!!
Iron Conservation: Part II - Experimental Variable and Finals Steps

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It was busy weekend: I managed to make a lot! I didn’t spend too much time, though…
Yesterday I fabricated the small piece for the left stringer and welded it in. It’s amazing: it takes just a few second to write about it:)



Here are some more pictures of the stringer piece:




Today I was looking at the belly pan and certainly didn’t like it. Corroded way too much! So, grinder in hands – cut it out! I decided to try fabricating the new belly using the remaining as a guide.

Professional sheet metal work always hypnotizes me, but I never had much luck with it. Takes a lot of effort to learn…
Anyway, with my rubber mallets and a piece of dense foam I managed to shape the new belly pan kind of close to original…



It’s not perfect by any means, but rest of the frame is pretty beat up, so it doesn’t look odd… It took a few minutes to cut it in size and tack weld it to the frame. After that I checked the fuel tank fitment, it went in easily.



After that I welded new piece around. Looks not too bad.



One more small piece to weld in and the front end is done!!!

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Still I have a lot of work to do on the frame. The front wall of the tunnel got so rusty… It’s much easier to replace then to repair.

So, angle grinder in hands and 30 minutes later there are only memories of the rusty piece left:)






I made a template using cardboard and fabricated new wall and piece of the belly pan.It fits in nicely...








Next, I need to repair stringer and I can weld the new wall in. Too bad, I don’t have skills to duplicate the belly pan (it’s like colander for draining pasta:) out of sheet metal! I wish to learn it some day…

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