Builds 93 80 Beater.

[darwink1]

PK, Believe it or not that little heater keeps the temperature half decent by itself. I had an oil furnace in there but ripped it out because the tank was leaking. The garage is really well insulated but that doesnt help since the door is usually open when Im welding.


One day Ill have a natural gas hard line run out there.. until then I just want spring to come.




Thanks for the suggestion 80 and nice sliders.

I do have that 1/4" gusset on the ds slider and was planning to do something similar on the ps. Also, the outriggers themselves are 3" wide, some are laminated 2x w 1/4" and are 3.5" wide so that should help.

Overall I think I should be good.



Replaced the grade 5 bolts I used for mock up with grade 8 bolts today, stared at the shiny paint job for a bit and.... thats about it.

D

 

[darwink1]

Well I finally tackled that pain in the ass cat outrigger/skid. Pete came over to lend a hand and all in all things went smooth.

We used a combination of magnets, jack stands, and jack to position everything then tacked the 2 tubes onto the brackets. Next we used a level as a straight edge and marked the cuts for the skid. The skid was cut out of 1/4" and trimmed as needed. Ended up with a cool coffin shape, not that anyone will see it. Its held on by 6 grade 8 bolts/nylock nuts.

Its a heavy MOFO and some speed/drainage holes are in order.


Still have to clean it up and do some creative gusseting..... Heres what it looks like so far.

Gettin there.

D

 

[PKP80]

I would gusset/triangulate every single mount point you have on there. I have bent 1/2" plant w/out gussets, but 1/4" plate has help up on the same impacts w/ gussets. Just triangulate those mounts. it's a small effort you WILL NOT regret.

 

[darwink1]

PK

If youre referring to the skid portion of the slider, damn straight Im gusseting. I learned my lesson w my budbuilt belly skid on the Tacoma.

I was torn between stickin a tube under there or the flat plate. When we had the "down" tubes positioned and tacked it became obvious how much more ground clearance the plate would offer. Theres a little more than an inch between the exhaust and the skid and 13" from the bottom of the skid to the ground.

The plan is to gusset the perimeter of the skid, from the outrigger to the "down" tubes. I also plan to laminate a fancy piece of 1/4 on top of the skid... Does that make sense?



Takin a break today unless by some miracle I get motivated. Fixed up a buddys trailer on friday, worked on the sliders saturday, and now I need to chill. Actually the next part should be fun. Gusset, clean up, then paint (if only it really worked like that).

D

 

[darwink1]

Got a bit done this afternoon. Cut out some gussets and welded them on then did some grinding. Its starting to take shape but its also gettin heavy. Some strategic speed holes may be in order.


Oh and dont make fun of my stupid lookin gusset thing. Tried to get fancy then said screw it.

D

 

[darwink1]

Finished up then painted everything. My head hurts.

D

 

[darwink1]

Took a break from the garage and went out on the lake to do a little fishing. We were out on Ramsey lake which is right in the middle of town. The ice was roughly 18" thick but it was still pinging under the vans.

Got a couple decent shots and a stupid little video.

D

 

[darwink1]

Rust free rear hatch on its way from BC! Woo Hoo!

D

 

[johnsonf18]

Nice work!

 

[CRUISERFLA]

Looks good. Driving on a frozen lake is not my idea of fun though, of course it has been several million years since this part of Florida has seen a frozen lake, Haaa

 

[greentruck]

Whoa, looks a lot colder than end of December was. Still, the right job offer...

But I don't icefish, b/c I just don't fish even when it's warm.;p
I could help with the cold ones, though.

 

[darwink1]

Lol

I dont really fish either, just went for a ride and ended up taking the dog for a hike. I dont even want to touch a rod out there since I havent updated my fishing license. I just bust out the lawn chair and chill.

My idea of fishing is a nice warm day on a pontoon boat..

The ice was at least 18" thick and has been supporting vehicles for a while now. You should see some of these douchebags. That day there were people doin at least 100km/h just ripping across the lake like they were running baja.

D

 

[darwink1]

Yep, its a little nicer than mine. Couple little rust spots around the window lip but they are tiny and easily fixable. You can see how/where the rust starts on our hatches.

The bastards managed to bend the bottom ps corner a little during shipping even though the mudder I got it from packaged the crap out of it. Again easy to fix before paint.

The seam that starts to rust if your window leaks.

Have to go get some more paint mixed I guess.

D

 

[darwink1]

Seems Ive been putting off messing around w the cruiser lately. Ive hit the trails every day for the past 2 weeks on the xc skis with my dog and thats been cool.

I did spend a little time on the new to me hatch today.

I removed the rear wiper motor/linkage, the key fob, the lower seal, the toy emblem, basically stripped it down for paint. Also managed to bend back the corner that got bent during shipping. I got frustrated trying to remove the rear squirter deal and after taking a close look at the outside handle, quit before I started breaking things. Mud told me how to remove the squirter and its pretty well the last thing Im taking off before paint. I also found out the handle isnt removable/reusable so Im just going to mask it off instead of messing with it.


One thing I have to figure out is how Im going to hang this thing when I do paint it. I have some bolts laying around that are the same size as the hinge bolts so Im thinking of using those as anchor points for some bailing wire. Ill figure something out.


Next step is to remove all of the emblem tape, clean up the little rust spots, then sand and sand some more.

D

 

[darwink1]

Fast forward a couple days and I have a painted hatch.

I got rid of what rust there was, primed a little and hit it with some blue slate metallic followed by cc with hardener. Turned out half assed.

I reassembled everything today and took the time to anti-seize all the bolts. I put a coating of grease around the openings for the squirter/lock/wiper ect. to hopefully ward off future rust issues.

Still have to clip on the seal and eventually swap hatches/windows/trim but Im one step closer now.


On another note, the sliders might actually be going on tomorrow. Might.. lol

D

 

[darwink1]

We welded on the sliders today and surprisingly it was uneventful. I guess thats a good thing.

Couple pics of what my buddy Sam has been workin on at his shop. The raider is sweet but the ram is freaking wild.

Thats the story.

D

 

[darwink1]

Manned up and put the new hatch on today. Had to paint the 3rd brk light bracket, did the wiper arm while I had the paint out. Window swap was pretty simple. Turned out mint.

Some pics of the old cancer riddled piece of poo. Wow.

Anyone want a hatch?

D

 

[YardPig]

Looks great, looks like a BC West Coast replacement hatch to me...

Shawn

 

[darwink1]

Yup, thanks man.

D

 

[darwink1]

So, since the weather has been nice Ive been fixing bikes for a couple of my buddies kids and helping other friends with their projects. The 80 has been neglected for a while now especially since the tacoma is back on the road.

I do have plans running through my head though.

I plan to cut/bend the front apron corners so they dont hang down lower than my bumper anymore. This is purely cosmetic but I guess I could argue it would result in a better approach angle.

I would like to copy another mudders xfer x member/skid eventually.

It is also time for the exterior to get a little refresh. My s***ty body work lasted the winter as planned but now its time to do something more permanent/better looking.

Hopefully I get off my ass soon.

D

PS I never want to touch another s***ty kids bike again. What a pain in the ass.