So, given the old thread is getting a bit cumbersome I thought I'd start a new one after the long silence....
I've been planning this now for about 6 months or more ever since I 'completed' the first chassis.
Even as I was completing the last chassis and starting to fit the bodywork I realised that although a lot of things had worked there were SO many things that needed to be totally rethought that it was best to start a new chassis, which I am calling VW2 after the original specification. I'm not sure yet if that'll be a 1958 or 1957 car but I'm erring on the side of 1957 due to the availability of (and purchase of) wire wheels.
Anyway as is my want I drew everything out in accurate detail in Autocad. I continued to tweak this for many months and in May started to get information as to where I could get the main components, as I thought, laser cut and then after some advice acid etched.
So here's a drawing of the front end assembly....
And one showing how the suspension travel will work....
And then one showing the various bits I needed to cut out.....
Well that didn't work out to due prohibative cost for having single items acid etched so in the end I printed the bits out, taped them to some brass sheet, chain drilled on Graham's pillar drill one night last week and after a total of about 4 hours had exactly what I'd been trying to achieve by acid etching for 4months! Well, not EXACTLY the same but as near as damn it. So I saved myself £120....... and got the satisfaction that this is truly hand made.....
Then I cleaned them up, bent them, filed and sanded them, and these photos show the various stages of assembly.....
The final product currently looks like this....
And for comparison purposes....
As you can see I have decided not to follow the good advice offered me in the previous thread as I want the wheels to turn always and only int he direction of the guide, so they will be linked directly rather than opting for the 'trailing link' system suggested before. This should eliminate problems of countersteer and / or wheels lifting off the track and therefore pointing in the wrong direction.
Now, I've been assembling parts too and have decided to go for Pendle's wire wheels as they seem to be about right, well for the rear's anyway. The fronts needed serious modification to get them narrow enough. Lacking a lathe I hand filed the outer rim width and the tyre rebate, as well as the inner rim width both externally and internally in order to get the right proportion....
So now the wheels are ready too and for comparison look like this....
That's all for this weekend I'm afraid - now I'm going to embark on the chassis in order to get these bits mounted up so I can begin some preliminary testing, before moving onto the internal and external body detailing!
Andi
I've been planning this now for about 6 months or more ever since I 'completed' the first chassis.
Even as I was completing the last chassis and starting to fit the bodywork I realised that although a lot of things had worked there were SO many things that needed to be totally rethought that it was best to start a new chassis, which I am calling VW2 after the original specification. I'm not sure yet if that'll be a 1958 or 1957 car but I'm erring on the side of 1957 due to the availability of (and purchase of) wire wheels.
Anyway as is my want I drew everything out in accurate detail in Autocad. I continued to tweak this for many months and in May started to get information as to where I could get the main components, as I thought, laser cut and then after some advice acid etched.
So here's a drawing of the front end assembly....
And one showing how the suspension travel will work....
And then one showing the various bits I needed to cut out.....
Well that didn't work out to due prohibative cost for having single items acid etched so in the end I printed the bits out, taped them to some brass sheet, chain drilled on Graham's pillar drill one night last week and after a total of about 4 hours had exactly what I'd been trying to achieve by acid etching for 4months! Well, not EXACTLY the same but as near as damn it. So I saved myself £120....... and got the satisfaction that this is truly hand made.....
Then I cleaned them up, bent them, filed and sanded them, and these photos show the various stages of assembly.....
The final product currently looks like this....
And for comparison purposes....
As you can see I have decided not to follow the good advice offered me in the previous thread as I want the wheels to turn always and only int he direction of the guide, so they will be linked directly rather than opting for the 'trailing link' system suggested before. This should eliminate problems of countersteer and / or wheels lifting off the track and therefore pointing in the wrong direction.
Now, I've been assembling parts too and have decided to go for Pendle's wire wheels as they seem to be about right, well for the rear's anyway. The fronts needed serious modification to get them narrow enough. Lacking a lathe I hand filed the outer rim width and the tyre rebate, as well as the inner rim width both externally and internally in order to get the right proportion....
So now the wheels are ready too and for comparison look like this....
That's all for this weekend I'm afraid - now I'm going to embark on the chassis in order to get these bits mounted up so I can begin some preliminary testing, before moving onto the internal and external body detailing!
Andi