[legendlives]

A bit on the side

As if I needed another project, but here goes:
Although I don't want the car to be a trailer-queen, when it's racing I'd rather trailer it to and from the track just in case anything goes horribly wrong and leaves me stranded.
Picked up this yesterday:

It was a boat trailer, designed to take a 5m / 1500kg boat, but unlike most boat trailers has an essentially flat base to build on.
It's also a tipping trailer......with al.oy wheels......and good tyres....
Couldn't believe my luck as I got it for $100NZ, which even here is sooooo cheap!

I instantly removed all of the boat stuff - rollers, guides and clamp-on winch (there's a permanent winch pedestal welded to it anyway!) and got them on 'a local auction site'. One set of rollers already has a $20 bid!

I've been collecting trailer items for a while (just on the off-chance) and already had this man-size winch 'in stock'

which I paid a massive $5NZ for. I also have side-marker lights and stop/tail lights in stock, and primer & paint (silver is nice!).

The front of the car fits between the guards with 100mm to spare, more if I move the guards outward a bit. To make it absolutely perfect it will need to be (obviously) squared off at the front, and extended by about 300mm atthe back. The extra 300mm will allow me to fit fold-up ramps and still miss the bodywork by a margin.
There'll also be a bit of strengthening here-and-there, and some proper tie-down points.

:smoke:

 

[69 ford]

After having a few "custom" car trailers over the years I eventually bought a Brian James 4 wheel car trailer, best thing I ever did, tows great no worries. It's up to you but you don't want to waste all that time and energy on a trailer that may not be ideal for what you want in the end. The last thing you want is an avoidable disaster.

 

[legendlives]

After having a few "custom" car trailers over the years I eventually bought a Brian James 4 wheel car trailer, best thing I ever did, tows great no worries. It's up to you but you don't want to waste all that time and energy on a trailer that may not be ideal for what you want in the end. The last thing you want is an avoidable disaster.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to buy a nice, shiny new trailer, but I just don't have the budget.
What I do have is a lot of experience, fabrication skills and a bit of time. The trailer will be purpose built to suit my car. It will be safe and legal and it won't have cost me $1,000's that I don't have.

 

[ivanhoew]

well done LL !!!!

what an incredible bargain , that will turn out perfect fro the job ...and alloy wheels !! sheesh

 

[mygasser]

What you tow it with will have an affect on how safe it feels on the road. I like twin axle car trailers myself as they're less prone to wag, but as I say what you tow with can help/hinder that tendency.
Neil.

 

[legendlives]

Thanks for the advice guys.
Just to reassure you all, I've towed everything from 2 wheel garden trailers to 5th wheel swan-necks all over Europe and the Antipodes.
I've used small cars, small vans, small lorries, big lorries and pick-ups to tow with.
I've built two and four wheel open and covered trailers.
So far I haven't been killed.

 

[legendlives]

well done LL !!!!

what an incredible bargain , that will turn out perfect fro the job ...and alloy wheels !! sheesh

Someone with vision!
Thanks Ivanhoew!
Either way I'm never going to lose money on it :happy:

 

[blackpopracing]

Just HOW do you get stuff so cheap??
With your luck I'd be buying a lottery ticket

 

[legendlives]

Just HOW do you get stuff so cheap??
With your luck I'd be buying a lottery ticket

I'd only buy one if I got it cheap!

 

[legendlives]

Bits and pieces

Now we're getting to the end of the fab, it's time to get some small stuff done.
First up, hinge supports. These bolt to the lower hinge bolts and attach to the frame via bolt/spacer and the tab welded to the frame tube.

Next, a couple of plugs to seal off where the cam and crank sensors used to fit:

A special 'T' piece for the fuel system. Central boss allows it to be bolted to the chassis rail:

Important part that holds the engine wiring loom:

Fuel regulator and distribution blocks:

Bracket and spacers for the above:

Reg will be secured through the bulkhead with extended bolts

 

[legendlives]

Door braces.
Flat aluminium door panels don't make for an exciting post, so here's the start of the door braces that will fit over the door panels and be fully exposed. Just like the roof support.
First off I started with a few offcuts of 2mm aluminium, fortunately I found just enough to do what I wanted. Then I punched some holes in them:

Undid the top of another tube of electric glue:

And then got out the dimple-die er... die:

Stay tuned as I plan to have these finished by the week-end!

 

[legendlives]

A quick raid on Little Bo Peep's place netted me this

More sheep-hook related plundering and a bit more electric glue and the assembly is coming together well:

Hung on the door, you see what I'm trying to achieve:

Just the other side and the fixings to sort :happy:

 

[mygasser]

Totally unnecessary but very cool looking (standard hot rod stuff then :lol, top work as usual mate :tup:
Neil.
Ps above meant in a good way

 

[budetta]

Very nice , coming along well (just catching up) wish my electric glue gun did ali----------

 

[mygasser]

Very nice , coming along well (just catching up) wish my electric glue gun did ali----------

most mig's will, you need a roll of ally wire, a teflon liner for the torch, silver plated tips 1 size up from normal and pure argon for gas. keep the torch as straight as possible (ally mig wire is soft so jams/kinks easily) and constantly wire brush the work clean.
neil.

 

[legendlives]

most mig's will, you need a roll of ally wire, a teflon liner for the torch, silver plated tips 1 size up from normal and pure argon for gas. keep the torch as straight as possible (ally mig wire is soft so jams/kinks easily) and constantly wire brush the work clean.
neil.

Or buy a TIG :tup:

 

[mygasser]

Or buy a TIG :tup:

there's always that........

 

[budetta]

I do have a TIG but its DC and as for the MIG it wont run .6 wire without kinking . Have tried loads of times. Looks like panel glue for the ali body work on the countryman------

 

[mylesdw]

How about a spool gun for your MIG?

 

[legendlives]

A bit on the side part 2

Having stripped the trailer and measured how long/wide it would need to be I set about the modifications.
First off: frame extension. This overlaps the main frame rail and extends it by only 300mm:

Then, as it's going to have some kind of board bed I made an external frame from angle steel. This is stitch-welded to the main frame (where it touches).

Behind the wheel arches it was necessary to widen the bed a bit, thanks to the ridiculous tyres I've got on the back of the car:

The trailer came without a jockey wheel, so I scored this for $12NZ. It had a bent mount bracket which was why it was so cheap. OK now tho'

For those of you interested in what a tight-arse I am, the budget so far is as follows:

Trailer $100
Angle Steel $20
Jockey Wheel $12

But against that I sold the old boat rollers for $40, and still have the winch for sale