GWS SPECIAL RT Build

Take one fuel tank, a hole saw, some scrap from an ambulance conversion, a bit of card and some power tools. Hey presto, more fuel capacity. I drilled the extra holes in the tank while Al spent a fair bit of time with a four inch grinder cutting and shaping the new tank bottom. We are going to tig a stiffener into it and then tig weld it in all the way around. It's now a 31 litre tank instead of a 21 litre tank. We were able to use the space where the airbox would have lived on the bike but we are mounting this lower down and further back than on the bike and maybe even the wrong way round depending on what it all looks like one we get that far along. This is one of those little jobs that need doing and because we have no steel to continue the chassis with it's time to do some bits and bobs while I save up. BEFORE AFTER I'm off to see if minilites will fit my hub and caliper combination tomorrow and to avail myself of a mates shot blast cabinet to tidy the

Things have ground to a halt in the chassis department while I get hold of some more steel. I've stripped the fuel tank of all of its fittings and am taking it to a mates house to see if it fits in his shot blast  cabinet. if not it's wire brush time. We are going to use some reclaimed side panels from vans ( Ambulance conversions ) to almost double the capacity. I'm not too great at hopping in and out of low things so don't want to have to fill up too often. As you can see from the picture there's every chance my head will explode before I finish this build. I could be a modern day headless horseman, but in a trike built the wrong way round in some folks opinion.

Alan and I have mocked one seat up and completed the bottom of the drivers side of the chassis, We'll do the other side as soon as I can afford some more steel. I need to get some half inch tube so I can make the mounts up for the seats, the grey stuff in the mock up is paper thin and disappears as you try and weld it! Happily enough I have a bit of scrap lying about that can be turned into brackets and mounting lugs so as soon as the switch arrives for the drill press I'll be back at it. Listing some more stuff to sell and posting a wheel later today, if I don't need it it's getting sold on to keep the parts coming for the project.

The seat has arrived. Now I need to decide if it's easier to use this as a pattern to make another once I've made a few minor modifications to it to suit my shape and size. I fit in it ok and it's comfy but the bulge under the knackers needs sorting and I'm going to make mine a bit longer in the seat area. I may also use a bit of marine ply to extend the back rest and then cover it all in foam and waterproof vinyl. I'm fitting the seat much like they would in a F1 kart, four struts bolted into the seat and then bolted to the chassis. Once the seat is in and adjusted properly I'll be able to work out where the dash bulkhead needs to go. I've got to get two roll over hoops that will mount on the rear bulkhead and fabricate two head rests to be bolted to the front of each hoop. The seatbelt mounts will be welded to the chassis once we have the seats bolted in. I'm using four point kit and I'm sure that they will be more than up to the job. I&#

Kart seat ordered to start sorting out seat mounts and working out where the dash, steering wheel and pedals will go. I'm probably going to cast a mould off this and make the other seat myself. Tailoring the seats to do the job instead of having to build the chassis to suit large kit car seats is going to save not just time and money but it'll save about 20 KG overall, not that weight is my primary consideration. Safety first, then road holding and speed as a final consideration. Building it with the possibility of fitting a much more powerful engine later on means I can update things year on year.

Ok I confess, It's not the first time I've had summat out of a skip but this has saved me a bundle of cash. I found a filing cabinet in a skip and the steel I've reclaimed from it will cover all of the bottom of the chassis, it bears no weight, its just to keep crud off the frame members and make it easier to clean after being on a muddy rally site. Another four drawer filing cabinet will see all of the firewalls and both sides covered in  0.8 mm recovered sheets and it's already powdercoated. In the grand scheme of things that a result as far as I'm concerned. Still a long way to go but if I can keep the costs down by reclaiming steel from stuff folk are throwing away the chassis will cost a lot less to build than I first thought.

For those of you that are following my build blog who like a bit of music please feel free to tune in on Friday nights from 10 pm UK time for two hours of mayhem and music on www.bikerfm.co.uk for two of the oddest hours you will ever experience on radio. As you can see, I have found Mr Champions fine tome and will be using it for the wishbone dimensions for my trike build. I doubt somehow that Mr champions wild claim of £250-00 will be realised but to be fair to him it's a very old book. Having said that, I'm getting on a bit myself!

One more serious session should see the bottom chassis rail  finished off. I need to get another 5 meters of  2x2 " box section to finish the bulkheads and braces before we can swap to 1x1" box to finish the chassis off. The next two items required are a go kart seat from a F1 Kart so I can  mock up the mounts for the seats and build a fuel tank that will fit under and behind the seats. The bulkhead between the cockpit and engine space will be a firewall and filled with fire retardant materiel and a heat shield. The fuel tank will be made from aluminum or steel sheet depending on cost and the weight difference. I think a tank that holds about 30 liters should be good for about 150 miles between fill ups. The trike is being built to go around corners and comfort is probably going to be a passing consideration so 150 miles between breaks is about right. If anyone has a line on cheap steel/ally sheet please give us a shout on grumpygaz@gmail.com The budget c

The main centre section of the chassis is now done. We still have to fit the outer rails and then we can start doing the front bulkheads. The rear bulkhead is partly built and should be done the next time we get to work on it. Small matter of the weldist being away on a rally for a few days. The exhausts wouldn't run as Yamaha intended but a bit of judicious use of a grinder, a bit of twiddling about and visions of Mosquito's and Spitfires popped into our heads and hey presto, not complete but an idea of how they'll be when we are done. Shed's got a name now! Exhausts should be loud when we are done. More next week folks, steel to acquire and I need to find my Ron Champion book for the plans for wishbones.