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PollyMobiles Rebuild

you must have a metal merchants round your way, do you not have any welding/fabrication places?? I got 2 square meters of 1mm sheet for a tenner. ring around, your gonna save loads.
 

Low Rider

Poindexter
Founding Member
Moderator
Club Member
My short shifter is the same format, same length upper arm with a lengthened lower arm section. The only issue is it required modification to the heat shielding for clearance. Been on the car for something like erm, 5 years and no issues. Wouldn't go back to a stock shifter, reminds me too much of the 300TDi Defender by comparison lol!
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
My short shifter is the same format, same length upper arm with a lengthened lower arm section. The only issue is it required modification to the heat shielding for clearance. Been on the car for something like erm, 5 years and no issues. Wouldn't go back to a stock shifter, reminds me too much of the 300TDi Defender by comparison lol!

bashing the heat shield is childs play:p how much is urs lengthened by? i'll measure the current gearstick -> exhaust clearance soon to see how much space there is.
aye the stock shift is prob like off an old van lol

from the online shop that i've found the 22mm tube they have 50x3mm flat bar for the same cheap price.

so i'll order a 22 x 1.5mm 1.5m m/s tube £2.92
http://www.metalineswroughtiron.co.uk/product/22mm_diameter_x_1.5mm_ERW_Mild_Steel_Tube_1051314-1.5m

50 x 3mm 1m m/s flat bar £2.34
http://www.metalineswroughtiron.co.uk/product/50mm_x_3mm_Mild_Steel_Flat_Bar_HR_1021059-1m

add a 25 x 25 x 2mm square tube £3.05 cos its so cheap n try get as much out of the £10 delivery

delivery £10.20
total £18.51(Y)

check the metal scrappy in future cos too busy at work at the mo
 

Low Rider

Poindexter
Founding Member
Moderator
Club Member
Hmmm, that's a tough one seeing as it's been out of sight for such a long time and I am unable to measure from here. From memory, I'd say +25mm.
 

r-reg-sr

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Site Supporter
that gear link mod works fine, i did one for R-Reg ages ago, and he's not come back to complain :)

feed back feed,aint open'd box of lights yet:grinning:
short throw mod done for me a while back, verdict,extended 50mm? the maker has the details.
did you get a shorter throw? yes much less movement, adjust clutching style+ cable to suit.
my heat sheild needed removing. mod yours if you need/want --plug heat shield bolt holes back up
i tightend the gear linkeages to tight= hard to shift gears
my stock exhaust pipe has to much movement and can hit bottom of gear sick on medium heavy bumps= tighten up exhaust system
r-reg fully fledge:grinning:
first mod to do in the REALITY
 
Hey polly, been rereading some bits and are you currently running on only one cat? theres pics of you bashing out the material from one of them? Obviously running an empty cat is basically decatting (obviously only on one cat not both) but is it worth the effort to remove the material for the gain (if there is any) on an N/A car? Any info would be good as im off to the scrappy today to get bits so might pick up a spare cat to mess with y'know :)
 
Is that total decat or just one of them? All i got at the scrappy was a really bloody cut on my finger when a matiz tried to eat me lol. That and spotted a micra to cannibalise for dent fixing purposes.

EDIT

Just to clarify I did not dent my lovely Micra... the previous owner drove it into a skip on her drive... smart huh?
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
the 19 x 8 flanged ball bearings arrived

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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
what the heck, forums all changed?
damn all my page/post index is all screwed so guess I'll have to rereference the whole blog :/
 
Surely posts are the same? Unless its randomly added or split them up? Just the page no. is different i think...

Confused the hell out of me when i went to the "last" page though and was half way through the blog!
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
Surely posts are the same? Unless its randomly added or split them up? Just the page no. is different i think...

Confused the hell out of me when i went to the "last" page though and was half way through the blog!

yeah looks like theres less content per page, still gonna be a mission to correct the index. messin up my blog zen man :p
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
been busy making the ball bearing assembly

i took the original linkage bushes, trimmed em down to 22mm long till i can fit the (washer/bearing/bush/bearing/washer) assembly snug into the selector arm.

then i trim the 22mm tube to exactly 30.8mm till the bearings just bout move freely without binding yet not too short that it can nudge about (requires very precise gentle filing)

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completely 3 bushes. 1 for gearstick and 2 for the universal joint

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universal joint gonna be welded like this

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and extended gearstick welded like this

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also in process of making a mount for the camera that'll clamp onto a support beam across the roof

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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
got the exhaust cutter and 1st issue is the plastic handle touches against the metal body, need filing

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verdict is what a POS. when starting the cut its just as likely to spiral as any pipe cutter. only 3 of the 4 wheels are touching cos when fully extended theres not as much support and the arms offset.
eventually it digs deep enough to maintain a straight cut but nowhere near where u marked.

cos its extended so far the handle needs to be really tight to get any pressure on the cutter. this is not helped by the thin painful screwdriver handle and not by the plastic bit rubbing against the body.

its taken over 30mins of painful turning exercise to just cut 1/2 way and can't tighten the handle any more, feels like its blunt

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hands are friggin stinging, Oww :mad:

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gonna have to oil the wheels and improve the mechanism abit tonight​
 
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James

Chairman
Sorry mate, yes the forums were upgraded last night! If I change the pagination to how it used to be it should fix your numbers at least :)
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
kept going at the cutter till it eventually started to go through after blistering my hand and the things so hot But it only cuts halfway:rolleyes:

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back home i lubed the rollers, squeezed the rivets tighter, drilled bar through handle, replaced split pin with screw

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wheels rolled abit smoother with oil but made no difference cos the screw had sheered under tension

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cutter broke away

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and just does this:mad: thrown this utter useless waste in bin. guess i'll use the dremel & file instead

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before welding the actual linkages which i only have 1 chance to get right, I'd better practice on test bits.
tried welding 2 crossing pipes like the universal joint and damn its hard to try get the 2 welds to join or i'm blowin holes. sometimes its good sometimes its bad. i tried several times and I'm utterly crap at welding its depressing.

tried welding parallel pipes like the gearstick bush extension and took couple attempts but after I used all my rods, the last rod i just kept it pushed close into the weld joint pool and did this

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order another 50 pack of rods and hundreds of more practice before considering welding the linkages & pipes​
 
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r-reg-sr

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Site Supporter
mad work as usual,them 1mm cutting discs realy do cut very straight lines
hope you wrapped a rag or suin round the handlle?
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
mad work as usual,them 1mm cutting discs realy do cut very straight lines
hope you wrapped a rag or suin round the handlle?

the discs only cut as straight as where they're pointing.
the 4 wheels are floating and make their own groove to follow so they could all be pointing a fraction deg off plus the tool can start to cut even when off-angle so it spirals.

a normal 1 wheel copper pipe cutter has only 1 wheel dedicated for cutting while the 2 rollers are purely for guiding straight n true. lining the wheel exactly straight relative to the rollers is crucial.

just thought of 3 options.
-weld the tool onto a vice with 1 cut wheel & 2 guide rollers.
-hacksaw/dremel & file
-grind the cut pipe face flat with the face of a grinding disc
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
i dunno whats wrong with me tday.

went to b&q to check out some cutting discs then saw a mitre saw for £35 or band saw for £90.
did some research at home and found wood mitre saws are not sealed from metal dust and the plastic shield may melt compared to a metal chop saw.

some metal chop saws under £100 only cut down to 50mm but saw a Titan sliding mitre saw that can do 63mm and maybe cut Alu/metal?

so went to screwfix and got the titan mitre saw for £99

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it says it has a tct blade labelled MW for woodworking so tried it out on the mild steel bar and simply cut 5mm and was quickly blunt. wrong blade i guess

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ffs went out to b&q to see how i could get a metal cutting disc in there.

the proper circular black cutting discs for angle grinding stainless are very cheap at £3 but only came as 230 dia (mitre saws 210mm max) or 180mm (so will only cut upto 60mm tube) and 22mm bore (mitre saws 30mm).

the evolution mitre saw has this 210mm tct blade that says for Steel but has a 25mm bore (need to grind down the saws axle to fit) and is friggin £35 but I'm not sure if it'll cut SS.

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in buying this titan saw with the wrong blade then buying this £35 disc, I could've just got the evolution mitre saw with that disc for £140 DOH

now that i've used the titan saw and wrecked the included disc, I guess there's no way i could return it.

wonder if i should just sell the machine bladeless and buy a proper expensive cut-off saw or shave the axle to fit either this unknown new evolution disc or the 180mm SS cutting disc?

DSC05892.JPG


think i just wasted a ton of money :mad:
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
ffs the evolutions website FAQ says it can't guarantee it'll cut SS cos its so hard. i'm thinking i should return this blade and try to fit the 180mm angle cutting disc instead?
 

Guy

Has gone over to the oily side...
Club Member
To be honest Paul, you'd be better off with an abrasive type blade. They'll cut through anything like a knife through butter.
 

Seb_

Give me some frogs.
Site Supporter
Or lie to them getting back to the shop and telling "I tried to cut some steel and blade broke!" /scam mode
 

frank

Club Member
To be honest Paul, you'd be better off with an abrasive type blade. They'll cut through anything like a knife through butter.
+1 :) a 1mm slitting disc in an angle grinder is a precision tool :cool: and if you knock up a jig that will roll the tube eh paul (4 rollers)
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
advice noted.
so went back to b&q and refunded the £35, popped to another local diy store that had a 180mm metal cut off disc for £2.30

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the bore is 22mm and i recall the steel tube i ordered was the same O/D plus measuring the spare gear selector rod its 19mm o/d 16mm i/d which will fit inside the 22mm tube and onto the saws motor axle:)

so 3mm of both tubes cut n slotted together

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this is my lathe :p

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so this saves me from irreversably lathing the original axle which could've prevented the use of 210/30mm wood cutting blades if i wanted to use it for wood in future

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fits like a glove

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tested it on the 50mm SS tube and works its way through most of it, turned 90deg and finished the cut

DSC05899.JPG


i figured rather than cut 3/4 through, stop, turn 90deg, realign with disc and finish cut, i could instead cut down 3/4 then simply turn the pipe to finish the cut which will keep the cut much straighter.
first cut on the 63mm reducer

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perfect

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finished cutting n shortening the reducer section & the 63mm bend too. lovely:cool:

DSC05902.JPG


the 50pc mild steel and 10pc SS rods arrived

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things are looking up again​
 
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Guy

Has gone over to the oily side...
Club Member
Just for future reference, Screwfix and Toolstation both do 5 kg packs of 6013 rods for buttons :). Save you mail ordering like.
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
was wondering why the saws laser guide was always blurry and found out the plastic lens was melted lol, guess it won't be re-sellable in the future

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tacked some spare SS tubes

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then began testing some 1sec pulsed welding, seems fine

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minimal penetration on other side

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the top line was welding at 3cm stints, looks smoother than pulsed.
the bottom line was a continuous run, thankfully didn't burn through but required a steady hand
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line in the middle was a quicker 1/2s pulses
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so lets begin welding the tubes.
tacked the reducer pipe in place

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proceeded to weld round 3cm at a time and the result is nice
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tacked the 63mm bend in place but the 2nd tack blew a small hole, doh. but afew short zap of the arc sealed the hole

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finished welds:) tried blowing into the pipe and i hear no air leaks

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the 1.6mm mild steel rods r trickier to work than the SS ones.​
it took this many tubes to practice before i found i just let the pool build abit longer to melt & blend both tubes

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now welded the real thing, not pretty but'll do
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the welding had warped the tube badly n had to dremel it round again. fitted the bearing but feels very stiff. maybe the centre tube had crushed n shortened abit. whatever the cause it feels very gritty and stuck when turning by finger. once installed n moving it by hand it may be a small resistance but i was hoping for it to be smoother than this.

maybe i shoulda welded it before fine tuning the bearing fitting?

DSC05926.JPG
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
the stock gearstick had a throw of 135mm longitudal and 80mm lateral
took the gearstick out

DSC05927.JPG


normally the stick goes through the hole at an angle but with the elongated stacked bush it can't

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abit of filing should do

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bolted up. inserting the little washer spacers with the cat in was very cramped
with the bush extended by 22mm the new throw is 100mm longitudinal and 8.5mm lateral, a 26% shorter throw

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originally the heatshield was 30mm from the cat and the stick was 50mm from the cat.
now that the stick extends 22mm lower there not much gap for the shield. i tried bashing the middle down abit

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but it's such a faff to get it right so i just take the heatshields off, doubt its gonna cause too much issue unless the exhausts were on fire

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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
tday with the freezing snowy cold i tried to start her up.
with no throttle I crank, she fires briefly and struggles to get going before stopping. crank again and she just turns, even with WOT.

could it be dirty dizzy or just flooded. took plugs out and its flooded. whirred the crank away with no fuel pump to purge out the excess fuel.
to dry out the wet plugs i grabbed me blowtorch to burn it dry. it didn't explode in me fingers as i thought, just burns with a normal lighter flame meh

all dry, reinstalled and she fires up a treat.

drove her in the snow with the short shifter for the first time. jeez its a short throw that requires abit more effort, have to get used to it.

selecting 1st gear on the move was originally tricky cos i had to keep gently pushing it and eventually in its own time as the mechanism lines up & synchro allows the arm to engage 1sec later it slots in.

now the short shifter exaggerates the difficulty as i'm coming to a stop so i'm having to push abit harder and wait. the stiff ball bearing joint has slightly loosened up but unfortunately i think i'll have to replace em n remachine the middle spacer in the future.

i guess the LSD is gone cos when one wheels over snow and the other on dry tarmac i blip the throttle and it spins easily

anyway now to make my camera rig beam. i plan on mounting the support plate near where the rear hand grips are. next to the hand grip screw holes are unthreaded holes that petrude out the furthest, rather convenient. the sunroof bracket edge was slightly in the way so trimmed em off

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bolted the plate up

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measured the distance between the lowest part of the plate, 95mm and cut that length of tube.
holding the tube level in position i measure the angle of the plate relative to the tube using a protractor which is 35deg

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i cut the 35deg angle with the mitre saw

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perfecto. will need to tack it in place while in the car so its definately in the right position. gonna have to cover my seats beforehand

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thinking of making a rear strut brace between the damper top nuts. would ya think it'll offer any advantage? do the rear damper columns move much in/out during hard cornering?

or is it more beneficial to try n cross brace the rear end chassis from twisting?​
 
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pollyp

pollyp

Club Member
tyres running 2mm now so ordered new T1R's yesterday n picked up from depot tday:)

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now to tack the camera support bar in place. trying to weld inside a micra with a full kit is so cramped. was afraid of setting seats on fire so covered with somesheet rubber n metal laying bout.

mounts tacked

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taken out to garage to weld up.
first corner was abit meh

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the other end i held the pool longer towards the thicker 3mm plate and the weld just smoothes out alot better. gravity has alot of effect on where to the hot pool flows too
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fits like a glove

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welding this thicker walled cam mount was alot easier too, maybe getting better with more welding​

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cut half of the tube off then its clamped onto the bar like this

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drilled hole for screw

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to fit the camera
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thats ace. cos the cams so light its solid as a rock. testing it tomorrow

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