Lakester

[Kelly Wood]

Nah, you're copying nobody... unless you mean the brave ones that came before us... you'd be honoring them.

Plus, You have way good ideas that would pull off one of these far better than me. I just make it up as I go along.

Anyway,

Update: Goof off day, had tons of family stuff to take care of but managed to shoot it with a smidge of temporary paint here & there. Might as well make a bomb out of it... or something.

 

[Kelly Wood]

Alright! Most of the day off!

Boss didn't make it clear that the "rearranging" of the company holiday's, etc... meant it was a day off. After working a few hours, we all took off.

So...

Update:

What to do with a 45 degree sunny day? Bust a bunch of rusty stuff lose... and assemble it.

I swear, the grease in these hubs had turned back into dinosaurs...

Anyway, all amazingly usable and... well, you know.

Just visualize the front end UP inside of it a bit now.

Pics below. Thanks for watching.

 

[OzFab]

No, the housing (front part... if that's what you mean) comes off. They make a kit for it.

I think we'll be ok.

I was hoping that was the case

I am really thinking about it but I do not like to copy people.

Think of it this way: Is Kelly the first person to ever build one of these?

I'm wondering if

the front end UP inside of it a bit now.

translates to 2' farther back... is it just me or should tha be where the frong axle should sit?

 

[itsid]

I'm wondering if...
translates to 2' farther back... is it just me or should tha be where the frong axle should sit?

Short overhangs are great..
IMHO that looks much more "racecar" and less "schoolbus"
if you know what I mean

although a white/black theme is nothing I could argue about..
I liked the ambulance theme;
the idea of a break-neck race car paired with the promise of salvation... loved that..

Aanywhooo...

Bret, you totally should build one..
think of it as a hommage, not a copy.

I'm curious about a few parts (and a few proportional issues I see)
but history taught me to just wait for it
And that I'll do ...

'sid

 

[Desertduler]

That's it! I have to find me one of these drop tanks or belly tanks! My mind is racing with thoughts!

 

[Kelly Wood]

Bret! As I've heard many times in my quest thus far... finding an actual belly tank suitable for this is.. well, 50 years too late... unless you got the money to find one, ship one here, then build basically a chassis... then slap the top & bottom of the tank on top of it all.

I went a different route. Steel tube, it's a unibody. Very little inner framework and it comes together pretty quick.

There's 8 more of these things I used at Smith & Edwards. Remember to bring a trailer. They're pretty heavy until you cut off the extras.

A little sketching... photoshop, bring up the axle... yea.

 

[landuse]

I can see the video of this thing racing on the salt flats now....

 

[Desertduler]

Bret! As I've heard many times in my quest thus far... finding an actual belly tank suitable for this is.. well, 50 years too late... unless you got the money to find one, ship one here, then build basically a chassis... then slap the top & bottom of the tank on top of it all.

I went a different route. Steel tube, it's a unibody. Very little inner framework and it comes together pretty quick.

There's 8 more of these things I used at Smith & Edwards. Remember to bring a trailer. They're pretty heavy until you cut off the extras.

A little sketching... photoshop, bring up the axle... yea.

I figured that you were using the steel tank as a sort of uni body frame which would be way easier for sure, I would like to take some measurements off of yours if you don't mind so I can get an idea to what engine and transmission selection I would choose to use.
My daughter has to have surgery next week and I am going to take off work to nurse her to recovery and then after that I will get rolling on this thing. I have a 8 x 16ft double axle trailer that I will use to pick one up from Smiths and Edwards with. How much do you think the tank weighs?
I am not worried about my trailer handling the weight, just curious to what the thing weighs or about.

 

[Kelly Wood]

Hope your daughter is ok.

The inner diameter is 28 IN and the overall length is 14 feet. Smith & edwards gave me 2 separate measurements and were wrong each time. I don't know how much it weighs honestly, but in their raw form, I could not pick up the front by myself. The rear fin is probably 2-300LBS by itself. When I cut it off, it took 3 guys (metal scavenger types) to pick it up and put it on their truck.

Cut off the handle, the fin and the rest, then it gets movable by one person. With it as you see it, I can pick up the front end if I have to.

If you want, contact help@smithandedwards.com (a woman by the name of Amy would probably reply) and tell them you want one of the Paravanes set aside. They'll do it and wait for you to get it. It'll be ready for pickup and they'll load it for ya.

Just bring A LOT of tie downs. They like to roll around a bit.

 

[Kelly Wood]

Correction: The TUBE is 14 feet long. Add that massive fin and it's a tad longer.

 

[Kelly Wood]

Lunchtime photoshoping update:

Here's a junk photoshoppin job.

Here, we've brought the rear end back 1 foot roughly, slapped in the actual stickers i ordered today for it. Like 50 bucks in stickers!!! ROFL!

Then I've copied the rear wheel and slapped it up front for a visual...

Then we drew in the side mounts used to hook the radius rods on. I'm gonna use the original handle mounts from the tube for this as they're already there.

I left in some of the original picture for reference.

Use what ya got suckahs!

This thing is gonna rule.

 

[Kelly Wood]

Update: Long customer call... and I'm just sitting here waiting... so...

Let's sketch some rear end ideas shall we?

The rear axle has the spring on the rear portion of it... yep

 

[itsid]

okay, that's just a very rough guess.. since it's not a tube..

but assuming a 1/4" wall thickness (5mm)
I get a weight of roughly 346 kg (760 lbs)

because of the tapering tail and front cone I'd say it's less than that ~280kg maybe (~620 lbs)

[EDIT]
Oh wait.. it's 1/8" steel you said, right?

soo (3mm wall)
208 kg tube
adjusting for cone and taper.... ~166 kg (365 lbs)

(http://www.ws-stahl.de/stahlrechner/sample.php was used)


'sid

 

[Kelly Wood]

COOL! Thus, it's light. We'll be just fine.

Thank you.

 

[Orange Krate]

Man, I gotta get to work. Punching louvers doesn't take as long as bench racing with the guy that does them. Cool stuff and stories there though. Two salt flat cars and this what I snapped pics of.
View attachment 43678
View attachment 43679
View attachment 43680

Let me hijack this thread while staying a little on topic. The dude who punched the louvers for Go-Kart Alley's Bullitt, the General, Bandit and Bullitt Bad Guy set a Bonneville record in a modified belly tank. That "mouth" snorkel pic(above in quote), I took specifically for Kelly last year, not knowing what it was or what he would end up doing this year...I think that's cool!

 

[Kelly Wood]

Think you can get your hands on that?

 

[Orange Krate]

I'm sure I can. It's leaving with my hands I don't know about

 

[Orange Krate]

Maybe you can though.....

 

[Kelly Wood]

so... I gotta come steal it, right?

 

[Young One With A Manco]

I heard night time is best for that...