Re: Snapey's 1935 Racing Biposto

Posted by Matt snape On 2011/10/16 19:45:07

Spent the weekend on other projects, including a very nice brunch at Hyde Park Barracks Resturant on Sunday morning with the BW and family and replacing what was left of the harmonic balancer on my Jeep Cherokee after it spat off the outer ring a week or so back.

Friday, however, was potentially very contructive as I gathered all the various spring pack componants that I have managed to collect and dropped them off at at Carrolls Springs at Smithfield. I have not had work done by these guys before, but they were recommended by the people that used to do this sort of thing for me, so we will have to see how we go.

Their instructions are to reset and reassemble to packs that Wade had from Mats 34 with 6 leaves instead of the standard 9 and to use the remaining leaves and the old rear leaves from the car to build a new set of front packs with 7 leaves each.

Now before anyone starts to panic here, please remember that this car will be significantly lighter than the original (I'm aiming for around the 1100kg mark, instead of nearly 3000kg). Also I am aiming for a relativly soft rear suspension but stiffer front springs which will help handling - especially under hard braking into corners as this formula should produce a 'usable' oversteer.

Also I dropped in to see my new mate Tom at Top Tyres in Blacktown. He stripped the old tyres from three Packard wheels from the 34 chassis. I had already removed one myself, using an angle grinder and a lot of effort, so was happy to give Tom $50 to do the swearing for me.

While he was doing that I walked to the motorbike shop next door and scrounged through their bin looking for discarded tyres that might fit the rims. I found one and will have to return on a regular basis over the coming weeks in the hope of finding 3 more, but the idea is to end up with a set of easy the handle tyres that I can use to roll the project around on until it is ready for the road. I don't see the point of buying new rubber that will sit around for a couple of years getting covered in muck, grinding sparks and welding slag and going hard when I can pick up something that will do the job for nothing.

Meanwhile I need to talk to the sandblasting/treatment guys to work out what the best option will be for surface prep and painting. Powder coating would be the best option, but it may come down to colour choice and I might have to get them sprayed instead.

Also I ordered the new bearings and carriers to allow for the relocation of the brake cross shaft. After advice from Wade I won't be attempting to reuse the original units as he has tried this in the past with poor results.

So, even if I haven't been in the shed making any noise or mess, things are still slowly progressing.