Stuff you have made today

[bricol]

It also meant taking the interior out to instal a new radio and a DAB aerial and a microphone and a steering wheel interface.
While I was in this deep I changed the handbreak cables as you need to strip almost all this out by to install them.

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I reckon the 159 handbrake lever assembly was designed by a contractor who was told that designing it would be his last job with Alfa, and they didn't have another job lined up for a while . . . has to be the most over complicated way to pull a couple of cables forward a bit!

 

[Morris]

Made a cover for my Humber shifter. Not the best photo. The round piece is the adaptor to mount to the floor due to the previous owners adaption of the floor for a floor shift.

 

[JOEPRO]

Today I made a hole in the rear bumper of my 159.

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I used the very nice die grinder I recently acquired from @lotus_esprit_s1

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It was required to install a reversing camera, which meant I needed an adjustable bracket

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And a neoprene seal

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It also meant taking the interior out to instal a new radio and a DAB aerial and a microphone and a steering wheel interface.
While I was in this deep I changed the handbreak cables as you need to strip almost all this out by to install them.

View attachment 410217

The "Blue and Me" system wasn't working well and I thought it easier to upgrade to newer technology.
As the radio was configured for a rear camera, I thought why not.

I now know why not.

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It was great to meet you today and the work on your dash etc is really nice - will be a worthwhile upgrade!

 

[pressbrake1]

Is that sitting on a 44 gallon drum for scale?

Funnily enough…

 

[Munkul]

Another 100 legs completed yesterday. I'm constantly doing small batches of these for a client, but this has been a nice size run.

 

[Bullet2012]

I actually completed this a couple of weeks ago but I’ve just got around to finding some time to post it.

You’ll all be fed up seeing the Landrover but hopefully this will be the last piece (although I did make towable lawnmower for it in between..)! This was initially going to be an winter project but who wants a boat then?

The ‘boat’ is about 5ft long, and has been made out of marine ply clothed in epoxy and mat. I had no plan as such, just working it out as I went along. I’ve attempted to make it functional (obviously very limited/controlled, tethered to a rope and in used in ideal conditions) and it will bear an adults weight, albeit in the garden pond not much bigger than it. There is inbuilt buoyancy fore and aft using closed cell foam, and to satisfy myself I’ve deliberately scuttled the boat in the pond to ensure that it will never sink.

It is powered by the cheapest little electric trolling motor I could find, which should punt it around ok in calm conditions; it does look a bit cumbersome and clunky, in many respects I just wish I had made it an inboard and the boat would look much cleaner. I may yet cut it down the motor shaft to help its proportions.

My nephews have had a very quick (10 mins?) shot on it in a sheltered harbour, tied to a rope, wearing a buoyancy aid, and me in the water with them, and although it did ‘sail’, it’s shallow draft resulted in it skittering around more than I’d have liked; I may make up a detachable keel fin at some point to help it tract better. That said, it’s unlikely to hit the water in earnest again; I just wanted to see if I could do it! It’s more an ornament than anything. There’s an idea rattling around in my head to make up a rocking assembly and mount it like the coin operated rides you find outside shops..

Most importantly, In terms of welding, the bunked trailer was fabricated from mild steel, and coated in cold galv. I’m not too keen on the mudguards, so, I think I’ll remake them. I think I’ve got my sizes amiss somewhere.

The windscreen was cut from a single piece of stainless, folded, shaped, and corners mig welded to form the frame. It was then polished up and mounted.

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That is awesome, looks really cool.
as for the skittering just fit a tracking fin on the centre chine about half way along. It will give the boat a point to pivot around when turning.
like one of these.

PM me if you want one or require some dimensions to fab your own.

 

[magnet]

Made a quick cubby inside the lid of my trailer to keep the jack, ropes and a couple of ratchet straps. Saves them rattling around in the bottom.

 

[Duisky]

That is awesome, looks really cool.
as for the skittering just fit a tracking fin on the centre chine about half way along. It will give the boat a point to pivot around when turning.
like one of these.
View attachment 410303
PM me if you want one or require some dimensions to fab your own.

Thanks for the comments, and for pointing me in the direction of the fin.
Something like that is what I was thinking of. I hadn’t thought to see if I could get one off the shelf, but I think I’ll need to make one to slide into a socket and lock with a pin to make it removable so it will still sit on the trailer.

You’ve answered a question I did have though, I was concerned that any keel might affect manoeuvre ability; I didn’t twig that a central placing would act like a pivot..! I had vaguely hoped by leaving the motor skeg long it would act similarly but to no avail.

 

[Fraserb]

Made a start on this tonight.

 

[JOEPRO]

Made a start on this tonight.

View attachment 410332

Looks nice, large windows too.

Is it a summer house or a shed?

 

[Fraserb]

Looks nice, large windows too.

Is it a summer house or a shed?

Summerhouse, there's a wooden gazebo to go on the end of it then the hottub is going up there.

 

[selectedgrub]

Cows are going love it.

 

[daleyd]

I actually completed this a couple of weeks ago but I’ve just got around to finding some time to post it.

You’ll all be fed up seeing the Landrover but hopefully this will be the last piece (although I did make towable lawnmower for it in between..)! This was initially going to be an winter project but who wants a boat then?

The ‘boat’ is about 5ft long, and has been made out of marine ply clothed in epoxy and mat. I had no plan as such, just working it out as I went along. I’ve attempted to make it functional (obviously very limited/controlled, tethered to a rope and in used in ideal conditions) and it will bear an adults weight, albeit in the garden pond not much bigger than it. There is inbuilt buoyancy fore and aft using closed cell foam, and to satisfy myself I’ve deliberately scuttled the boat in the pond to ensure that it will never sink.

It is powered by the cheapest little electric trolling motor I could find, which should punt it around ok in calm conditions; it does look a bit cumbersome and clunky, in many respects I just wish I had made it an inboard and the boat would look much cleaner. I may yet cut it down the motor shaft to help its proportions.

My nephews have had a very quick (10 mins?) shot on it in a sheltered harbour, tied to a rope, wearing a buoyancy aid, and me in the water with them, and although it did ‘sail’, it’s shallow draft resulted in it skittering around more than I’d have liked; I may make up a detachable keel fin at some point to help it tract better. That said, it’s unlikely to hit the water in earnest again; I just wanted to see if I could do it! It’s more an ornament than anything. There’s an idea rattling around in my head to make up a rocking assembly and mount it like the coin operated rides you find outside shops..

Most importantly, In terms of welding, the bunked trailer was fabricated from mild steel, and coated in cold galv. I’m not too keen on the mudguards, so, I think I’ll remake them. I think I’ve got my sizes amiss somewhere.

The windscreen was cut from a single piece of stainless, folded, shaped, and corners mig welded to form the frame. It was then polished up and mounted.

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That is simply astounding! Bravo

 

[minimutly]

Summerhouse, there's a wooden gazebo to go on the end of it then the hottub is going up there.

Better put a gutter on the shed then, or you’ll have rusty water in the hot tub...

 

[minimutly]

Hope you're not relying on the 159 being 98mm PCD - the 156 was 98 PCD (as their steel wheels fit my integrale evo with 10mm spacers) but my 159 has wheels of rather more PCD if I remember correctly.

100mm? Where did 98mm come from anyway? Caught me out proper the first time I saw it...

 

[Dcal]

It was great to meet you today and the work on your dash etc is really nice - will be a worthwhile upgrade!

Likewise, really nice to meet you and talk to someone with a similar hobby. (or affliction)

I thought I was bad working (or not working) on 3 projects at the same time.
You seem to have got it even worse, but to be fair you do have a far better record on completing them.

I haven't got the dash fully back together yet, but everything is working as it should which is a bit of a surprise.

 

[Dcal]

Hope you're not relying on the 159 being 98mm PCD - the 156 was 98 PCD (as their steel wheels fit my integrale evo with 10mm spacers) but my 159 has wheels of rather more PCD if I remember correctly.

@bricol You are of course correct.
When Fiat joined forces, took over, merged or whatever with Chryisler there was a bit of rationalisation and one of the outcomes was changing the wheel PCD from the Fiat Groups 98mm to the Vauxhall standard 100mm PCD.

The Grand Punto was the first I saw it on butit was probably the same on the 5 stud wheels.

The V6 engines were another casualty and were a mix of Fiat and Chryisler bits.

I noticed other Vauxhall bits on my Alfa 75 (like the sun roof) so the collaboration went back far further.

 

[Dcal]

I reckon the 159 handbrake lever assembly was designed by a contractor who was told that designing it would be his last job with Alfa, and they didn't have another job lined up for a while . . . has to be the most over complicated way to pull a couple of cables forward a bit!

It is a complete joke.

With 5mins thought by the designer, it could have been possible to change them in 5min.
Instead of the 3 brackets bolted under the carpet they could have bolted in guide tubes to route the cables from the underside to the hand brake.

It would have weighed a few grams more, but they didn't put much thought into weight reduction when they built them either.

 

[Blobber]

It is a complete joke.

With 5mins thought by the designer, it could have been possible to change them in 5min.
Instead of the 3 brackets bolted under the carpet they could have bolted in guide tubes to route the cables from the underside to the hand brake.

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View attachment 410370

It would have weighed a few grams more, but they didn't put much thought into weight reduction when they built them either.

At least you havent got to crawl around under the car removing exhausts and heat sheilds etc!

 

[Dcal]

At least you havent got to crawl around under the car removing exhausts and heat sheilds etc!

Underside is very straight forward, however I had to remove the exhaust, heat shields etc. to get the rear subframe off anyway.