New Olds (boat tail speedster)

[lunatic]

Adapting some bike calipers to fit a car disc might be your best bet in terms of clearance.

[morrag]

BMW K100 discs and Brembo callipers don't take up much room, Dave

[Olds]

Very nice. Don't think I can afford the mortgage.
The K100 Brembo, rear two piston caliper looks especially usefull. Shame they need such thin discs (5mm).
I suppose that I could machine car discs to become carriers for bike discs but that would mean a lot of flaffing around and potential for error.
I know I can make Kawasaki Z750 calipers from the 80s fit. It's a single 43mm piston design that should be able to take a disc of 8mm so will fit a lot of solid car discs.

[morrag]

The Kawasaki would seem a good choice then Dave, as would perhaps early Honda 4's I would guess, but disc thickness is a problem, I agree, Morrag

[Bus Boy]

Early Honda 4's had 3 piece callipers on the fronts ,so you could make the central carrier thick enough to match the discs. Just a thought

[Olds]

Cheers guys. Been rather busy with other stuff and the trike recently so no progress, except a possible rethink on this whole braking problem.
Started to figure while fitting discs mey be fairly easy hiding the calipers wont be. So I'm now looking into fitting self adjusting drum brakes. Either using a self adjusting system on modified Morris brake shoes or use the complete rear brakes from a vehicle with self adjusters.

[spanners]

Cheers guys. Been rather busy with other stuff and the trike recently so no progress, except a possible rethink on this whole braking problem.
Started to figure while fitting discs mey be fairly easy hiding the calipers wont be. So I'm now looking into fitting self adjusting drum brakes. Either using a self adjusting system on modified Morris brake shoes or use the complete rear brakes from a vehicle with self adjusters.

fiesta,, focus,, KA,, or micra,,

[Olds]

Measured up some Ford brakes (thanks Marcus) and found that MK2 Escort /Capri etc will fit perfectly once the back plates and brake drums are redrilled to suit. So that is the way I plan to go. If anyone has a pair of 8 or 9 inch Ford rear brakes they dont want....
Today I figured I ought to make up a drip tray to fit the fuel filler. Bit of old aluminium sheet, that used to be the old gearbox cover, (so it needed flattening first) and a modified Schraeder valve from an old inner tube to fit the drain tube onto.
Cost nothing but time and a little bit more junk out of the way.

[Manky Monkey]

How do you form a circular lip without it creasing around the curve, Metal Guru?

[Olds]

Secret.
Actually you start by deliberately creasing so it looks like a flan case, then shrink the metal to remove the creases. Easy but takes time. Should have taken pics as I went along but I can do an example if anyone is interested.

[Manky Monkey]

I yam. I'd love to have a go at metal sculpture once my vehicles are done & I think skinning a piece in ali would be really interesting to do.

[Olds]

Okey doke.
This bit of scrap is a bit small and it would have been easier to spin it in the lathe but it shows what I do.
Using blunt end needle nose pliers I work around the edge twisting and pulling up uniform creases. Do it in several passes, annealing if required.

[Olds]

Once the sides are more or less at the angle you want them, thoroughly anneal then start to slowly hammer down the raised creases. The idea is to thicken the metal not stretch it so don't hit too hard and slowly work it.

[Olds]

Because the sides are so high relative to the diameter, it took five reheats to work the sides down. When happy file the top edge smooth and to height.
It's not great (really needs more time)but it shows the process

[spanners]

old,,school ,,dave,, it takes me back to being a teenager when i served my time ,,