The Jatalian

[cheesy]

Don't you love that legitimate excuse to buy more (and better) tools!!!!

Sometimes it's the only reason I'll tackle a remodeling project for SWMBO.

[cheesy]

Bored today so I started working out the electrical system. Going to be fun combining two separate systems into one.

[cheesy]

Some of what I got done last weekend.

Fuse box mounted. Not impressed with the weld appearance but it ain't falling off.


Tail light mount. This was the first time I had used a TIG welder since 1997. The heat was a tad high but I think it came out okay.
[/url]

Tail light on the Jatalian. Still needs paint.



I'm off work starting the 21st until 5 January, so hoping to get more done in that time.

[cheesy]

All the lighting wiring is done. Just need to tie it up but I'm done. Sorry for the shaky video.

Front Works by Mike Bullis, on Flickr

All Working by Mike Bullis, on Flickr

[cheesy]

Well, things have ground to a halt for the forseeable future. My employer is trying to get as much out of me as they can before I retire in October, yet trying to entice me to stay. Already turned down their first offer and they aren't interested in my two counter offers. So, screw 'em. It's only February and I already have flown half of what I did all last year.

Also, my loving wife, always the enabler, steered me to another project. A 70s Fiat 124 Spider. All I know about the car is that it's red, has a 5 speed, has sat in a garage for at least 15 years, is covered in dust, and has four flat tires. Purchase price is to haul it out of the garage. I think it's really supposed to be for her.

[pietenpol2002]

Yup! You're going to be a busy man with that Fiat. So, does that get pushed (maybe literally) ahead of the Jatalian? And does you wife know you're publicly blaming her for the Fiat? Or is she really the one promoting that project?

[the grinch]

Its a good job you are over there with it as if you left a old fiat in a garage over here for 15 years most of it would still be on the floor when you pushed it out. i take it you have had a look under it.

[cheesy]

As luck would have it, or a lack of integrity on the part of the current owners of the Fiat, it was given to someone else. This was after begging me to take the car for nada, me finally breaking down and saying okay, along with agreeing on a schedule to pick it up next weekend. I also forked out cash for a winch on my trailer and a couple of manuals.

So, not too upset about not getting the car but majorly PO'd at the soon to be former owners of it. Kind of hoping the new mark backs out of it and they come back to me so I can tell them to get bent. My wife is also pissed because these are former coworkers of hers. After she calmed down a bit this morning, she said she'd rather have another MG Midget anyway. We had one when we were first married, so who knows.

I returned the winch in its' unopened box and canceled delivery of the manuals. Took those funds and bought myself a bench mounted tube bender and a few 3' pieces 1" tube to finish the Jatalians frame.* Bender B. Rodriguez is supposed to be here next Friday, so back at the Jatalian next weekend.


*Another promise made, another promise broken.

[cheesy]

Tubing bender did it's job.


Was able to do in about an hour what I have been waiting six months for. However, 1' tube is a bugger to bend. I haven't been this wiped out since doing 100 miles on a fixed wheel bicycle and doing it in five hours.

[cheesy]

Okay, time for Plan B. No way on Gods' Green Earth is the lump and the zuki trans going to occupy the same space without some more serious frame stretching. I have been kicking around going with a CVT or an HD box but have decided on going hydrostatic. Why? 1. I am a hydraulic mechanic. 2. I have access to just about everything I need to do it. 3. Save for the drive motor, components can be mounted anywhere. And 4. I gotta be different.

Stay tuned.

[mark_in_manchester]

That sounds interesting.

I don't have anything real to add, but this is just by way of encouragement as the forum is so quiet at the moment!

[cheesy]

Well that idea died quickly. Not enough ponies in the stable to run a hydrostatic system that could even go as quickly as my lawnmower. The real killer was that the type of valve I wanted to use was going to be a custom job and was mucho mucho bucks. HD transmission type bucks. CVT looking better all the time.

[cheesy]

Bit the bullet and sprung for a 40 series CVT. A geared transmission is still in the plans for the future but I'll go CVT for now.

[cheesy]

CVT arrived today. Too beat to even unpack it. Four day work week next week and then off the week after Easter. Maybe something will get done.

[cheesy]

[Diesel Dave]

Have you worked out the size of rear sprocket your going to need?

[cheesy]

I haven't gotten that far yet. It has been one step forward and two steps back for awhile. Latest backward step has turned out to be the mounting plate for CVT. There are three bolt patterns on the engine and the bolt pattern on the plate matches none of them. Not a deal breaker. Just sigh, and go play with something else for a little bit.

That something else this time was my 77 Velosolex 4600. I had to replace the fuel tank and I had a problem where I couldn't lift the engine completely off the tire. Fuel tank was no real trouble 'cept for places my sausage fingers didn't fit. The problem with lifting the engine turned out to be a worn out lifting hook. Fifteen seconds with the wire welder and a few minutes with a rat tail file to reshape the hook and it's good for 44 years. Put about 5 miles on it just because.

[Diesel Dave]

My Velosolex 3800 was going through fuel like a Harley on speed.

Finally worked out the fuel tank had split at the joint - didn’t leak when stationary though.

I JB welded the seam and it’s been fine ever since.

[cheesy]

My tank was JB weld, RTV sealer and, Gorilla tape. It was time.

[cheesy]

It's a start.


There were three sets of mounting holes on the engine and none fit, so I ended up drilling four new holes in the plate. I'll need to come up with a spacer for the driver to get the pulleys lined up. That's what Mcmaster-Carr is for.

[cheesy]

So I am this far.


This is the only way things line up because of the jackshaft bearing support on the plate. I have a reverse wound spring for the driven pulley coming, probably next week.
Worse comes to worse, I'll ditch the plate and go with a couple of pillow blocks and a different belt for the jackshaft.

As far as gear ratios go, stock Suzuki is 3.36:1 (47/14). If I use the 10T that came with the kit, I get a 4.70:1 (47/10), though I would need to change out the rear sprocket as I think the 10T is for a 41 chain and the rear sprocket is for a 50. What should I be shooting for as a final drive ratio?

[cheesy]

We have a working front brake.

[cheesy]

I think I finally got this thing figured out.


Anybody need some Suzuki transmission parts?

[cheesy]

My employer is running me ragged again, so not much getting done. I did get the frame tubes tacked in place so now I just need to be home for more than a weekend to find the best place to fit the engine and CVT.

[pietenpol2002]

Good to see the presence of that loctite in your pic. That little thumper will quickly proves its value.

[cheesy]

Good to see the presence of that loctite in your pic. That little thumper will quickly proves its value.

I still have one or two bottles left since the employer moved south. The expiration dates on the bottles required for government or military jobs was a boon to us at home fabricators. We couldn't have any expired bottles on premises during an audit so my guys and I always got a few new bottles every year for home use.

[Diesel Dave]

Cheesy - are you coming down to the rally next month?

[cheesy]

What rally would that be?

[Diesel Dave]

Sorry Cheesy, I had a brain fart and thought you were in the UK

[cheesy]

No worries.

It would have been a long wet slog.