Daddy, Daddy, What did YOU do in The Covid War ?

[rfs1957]

You've stolen Pete Crespins' cue, Barrie. This won't go down well.

[tinworm]

Oh dear , I'm in for it then...

Barrie

[PeterCrespin]

Well Rory its a Norton Featherbed frame - sorry

Barrie

Maybe but when did you last see a water cooled, 2 stroke twin mounted in one??

Around 1978 at Freddy Marriott ‘s shop in Birkenhead. The McCandless featherbed begat the Seeley, which begat the Spondon which begat the Silk Scott two stroke twin. Pretty bikes and an especially neat enclosed rear chain setup similar to the MZ 250 but neater.

I’m more interested in the Duke. 250 or 450? Rickman fairing? I presume that being built from BNFL off-cuts the trailer glowed in the dark?

[rfs1957]

350 MkIII 1976, built from new by Mick Waker to look like a Desmo ............ betrayed by its decompressor.

Stainless bits made pre-BNFL on the lathe at CERN in Geneva - student placement.

Rickman, well spotted Pete.

More teasers from The Pointless Covid Spit - who knows, someone else may be bored enough one day and find inspiration here.



In view of the fierce competition for bodywork specialists, it was important to give Marc optimum working conditions. I'm hoping I'll now move up his waiting list ..........



We don't need anything structural so there was no need to invert completely.



The balance / C of G was suck-it-and-see, with the pipe as high as it would go in the transmission tunnel, and the result is perfect, not quite neutral but safe and predictable.



The telescopic spine has 3 positions, short for work-in-progress like here, medium for towing the tub only, and long for tub/frames/bonnet ; the re-bar keys are welded onto Allen-headed M12's for easy/lazy holding.



For when the locking-pin in the main wrist pivot isn't enough, these side-bars freeze the tub horizontal for towing - only short distances, including the final visit to the paint booth.



Go on, I'm braced for the derision.

[Gfhug]

Derision? No! How do I order one?

Edited to add: I’ve admired your other frames/stands for bonnets and engines and wish I had the welding skills to make them myself

[PeterCrespin]

Touch of negative camber on the right side there, or are you contemplating ('plating' geddit?) high-speed towing? Somehow, I experience cognitive dissonance associating you with anything slow or average... No wonder France suits you.

As for tilting, the Italians beat you to it with the Pendolino

[Durango2k]

What did I do ?

I worked as a rear gunner on a toilet paper transport lorry....ratttaaatatatatttaaatatat....

Carsten

[PeterCrespin]

What did I do ?

I worked as a rear gunner on a toilet paper transport lorry....ratttaaatatatatttaaatatat....

Carsten

[grb90]

So just prior to lockdown the Home Office told me to get whatever I needed to keep going for a while, in the way of building materials for the house (my day job!) but also if I needed anything to make progress with the E. Never one to disobey an order I was straight round to R Tech welding to purchase this...

and then via Precision Profiles for some 4x2 box section which, thankfully, arrived the day after lockdown started!
So after spending some time researching rotisseries the time is now to crack on. So I wanted to build something that was strong enough, supporting in the key points, leaving as much access as possible. So came up with this...



So very occasionally in life, (for me anyway!!) things turn out better than I had anticipated... My original plan was to use weld on pipe flanges for rotation and locking, however lockdown scuppered that. So turning to my old friend Mr H Robinson, I raided my little scaffold pile and used pipe and joining clamps..



The net result is very satisfying. I have infinite adjustment and also control the friction on rotation.
Once the body was on I was gobsmacked to discover I had somehow managed to get the centre of rotatioin spot on. I can release the clamps, rotate to any angle and lock it off... Lady luck definitely smiled at me on this occasion.











I have 3 fixed points: rear mounts where IRS bolts in and upper engine mount. I can insert the reaction plate, albeit upside down, and also mount the engine frames later on.
So after a very successful few days, all I need to do is brace the uprights for a bit of rigidity and also weld a strip along the length of the spine as there is a little deflection when on its side. Other than that I'm quite chuffed with the result...
Now the fun can really begin.. after a little internal bracing.
Thoughts and opinions welacome. Happy to hear if I've made a cockup that is obvious to others but I haven't thought of...
Stick with what we've been told to do and stay safe.
ATB Guy

[rfs1957]

That's a nice braked throat you've got on the pipe Guy, and congratulations on finding a happy C of G.

I would be wary of expecting too much of the top bellhousing hanger support, as it was added as a tweak by the factory (I read this in the fat Porter history tome, I think ?) as an afterthought to stifle transmission judder and is therefore maybe not really a structural contributor ?

Indeed, I believe that when fitted it is meant to be adjusted to be under neutral load which suggests it's not able to do much more than that.

You might therefore have a lot to gain by going for the rear gearbox hanger traverse, the box-section that is under the nose of the seats, where there are five good 5/16 UNF anchorages with a good wide footprint, as this would both carry some shell-weight and stiffen up your spine.

I found that the C of G of my OTS shell was almost exactly on the radius-arm mounting cones, i.e. quite a long way back, so with the short shell my load on the aforementioned gearbox support anchorage is very low - but when I fit the engines frames and the bonnet, I will, like you, be linking my spine tube to the fixings around the reaction plate mountings.

I hope your nostrils are suitably black

[grb90]

Thank you Rory. Appreciate the feedback. Yep nothing like a bit of supplementary iron for one's diet! Resisted going outside for a good cough tho! Good point about the gearbox mounting. Didn't think of that and yes will help keep things more rigid. First modification! Thank you!! I shall make sure the engine mount doesn't get loaded. I made the lower mounts adjustable as I have to use a bit of leveridge to get the reaction plate in so have slotted the bolted angles to give some adjustment when putting new floors in.
I like your idea. At one point I had a sketch for something similar. My welding has some improving to do to get halfway as good as yours. You look like a man who likes a gussett! And I won't ask about penetration...!!
In due course a wheel arrangement like yours is needed to be able to get it on a trailer for blasting etc... All in good time!
Hope your coping with French lockdown. A few more weeks yet!
ATB Guy

[rfs1957]

France ? Boulangerie is still open 200m away, perfection available every day, contactless payment only.

Garden, Workshop, Workshop, Garden, chicken-shed to spray-treat, includes home-schooling HVLP spraying education for sons, (Ed - blind leading the blind) then fencing to build, not much has changed really ?!



Here are some shots of the pick-up points I used, by using two angles back to back on the two separate bolt rows, you can tack-weld them together with all 5 bolts tight, on the car, and then finish off on the bench.





This way you get a more adaptive esposal of the true shape of the car, rather than using a single flat plate, and you get good moment of inertia in the vertical webs, to take onto your spine through a suitable set of plates/flats/angles.



Hope your nose is still convincingly black ?

[grb90]

Sire...thank you for the photos. Very much appreciated. May have to wait till I can restock on material, unless I sacrifice the gate material, which won't impress the Home Office.
Now I maybe wildly wrong here ...but do I detect a smidgen of envy from the touchline???
"Blind leading the blind" .... Harsh....

[malcolm]

I didn't do much in the war. Cleaned the car, did some tinkering, did some gardening.

My Niece, however, did this:




She is Senior Sister in a critical care unit at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London. Doesn't get more "Front Line" than that.

Anyway, a travel company is offering a free holiday to 10 NHS/Care staff nominated by people, to be chosen by draw. So if you want to help, you could nominate my niece.

All you have to do is email thankyou@simpsontravel.com and give name, title and place of work of your nomination.
So that would be _ Deborah Walker, Senior Sister, Chelsea and Westminster hospital, London

Thanks if you feel like helping!

[chrisfell]

Lockdown means we have to take opportunities wherever they are. This morning, before breakfast, and certainly before most in the village consider a reasonable waking hour, we went to purchase essential provisions for ourselves and two of our more vulnerable neighbours.

I just had to take the E. I couldn’t let it sit all alone in the garage while other, lesser marques, were allowed out to play.

After one trolley load I wondered, would it all fit in.


Of course it would!


There is a surprising amount of room in a 2+2, even with my little cubby taking up some of the space.

[mystery type]

love it !

[steve3.8]

Jeez Mr Fell , that must be the steepest E type driveway in the world !, reminds me of the start gate of the Hahnenkamm !

[chrisfell]

“ that must be the steepest E type driveway in the world”

That was the claim of our postie. If I was outside he’d wait at the bottom for me to collect the post from him!