There has been a long stretch with no work been done on the Ratty, this has been due to weather, work, and of course the dreaded Christmas season. But I earnt some brownie points on Saturday so was allowed time to work on the Ratty Sunday. Once again I was foiled by the weather later in the day, but did make some more progress. I am getting very close to having all the chassis fab work done. Well closer :)
I needed to install a drive shaft loop, so I purchased a ready made one off TradeMe. It saved me the hassle of trying to make one. So after a trial fit, i trimmed the mounts as I decide to weld the mounting brackets instead of bolting.
The brackets all welded in place.
How it will look once I bolt it all together.
The next job was to add another cross member at the rear on the top of the Z. I wanted to give more strength to where the shock mounts were. I measured and grinded the end to get a nice tight fit. Once it was in the right position, I arc welded it in place.
Not a bad arc weld for this novice
Fully welded in place, I am still in two minds if I should add some cross bracing. Just to give it even more strength. That will be an "easy" job and I want ot start of the steering stops.
The steering stop having been in the think tank for a while now. After considering my options I decided to make up some little stops that bolt to the end of the perch arm bolts. I chose this as this would cause them to stop against the caliper housing. On the front brakes this is a heavy cast iron item and had the required strength.
First was to get make up the bracket from some 3 mm angle. I trim the back and drilled the required hole for the perch arm bolt.
Location for the stop. You can just see the big round part of the brake that it will stop against. From here I had to try and work out the angel I need to cut to get a large contact area for the stop.
Both left and right made up with the angles worked out and an an extra lip added to give more contact area. I plan to glue a small strip of rubber to the stops.
The right hand side bolted on.
Right hand side full lock, This one still needs a little work.
But over all very happy with the solution to the steering stops I came up with. Once they are painted up you wont even see them.