C Cab Hot Rod Power Advice

Tried again this morning and ..NO GO ! 😠

Kept messing around and found there is an intermittent short in the key switch. I bypassed the switch with a shunt and everything works as it's supposed to.

The not-so-good noise is coming from the chain meshing with one of the gears. The teeth on the special order gear apparently aren't thick/wide enough. The chain wants to wander from side to side. So (not sure yet), but it looks like there may be a change out of that gear.

I had a hard time getting that gear in the first place. Hope I have better luck this time.
 
First power up test of drive mechanism.

https://youtu.be/U4YIUuK20t0
 
Great result getting it running again. :thumb:
If you would be able to center the first sprocket after the motor and straighten the brake disk you could gain some efficiency I think.
 
SlowCo said:
Great result getting it running again. :thumb:
If you would be able to center the first sprocket after the motor and straighten the brake disk you could gain some efficiency I think.
Click to expand...

I do have more work to do to get things better aligned. Now that I've been able to get it to move, I am able to see what needs to be done to try and improve on alignment issues.

Just came in from looking into how I will connect the wiring. Ran another slow-mo and one of my tack welds broke. So I've got some repairing and finish welding to do.

The eccentric movement has allows been a concern, and hard to achieve with rudimentary equipment and expertise. But I think in this case it will be safe to allow it as is. I must put more thought into how to jig up to achieve a better center point. My latest thought is to weld in a 'fill-in center' and then redrill out. Hopefully achieving a more accurate center.

That particular gear should be spot on. It was specially ordered with a 3/4 bore. All I did was weld on the shaft collar. Why it is running off is a question for sure?

And the clunking was taken care of by truing up the gears in line with each other.
 
Had to do a repair and beef up on one of the sprockets.
My tack welds broke. So it was time to finish the job and make it strong and straight.

Drilling out the center so a shaft collar will fit in the hole.
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DSCN4974.JPG

Verified the distance all around the outside and did an eccentric spin test. All is as close as I will ever get it.

DSCN4975.JPG

There is another shaft collar welded on the other side. Shouldn't break apart anymore.

DSCN4977.JPG
 
It's very hard to perfectly center a hole on a large piece. I suck at it. At least chains have some forgiveness if you run them a little loose.
 
Hi ZeroEm

It's going rather slow. The thought is there but the 'drive' isn't.
It has been so hot in my shop averaging 104, with a high the other day of 111.
Needless to say, I can't work for long in that kind of heat.

I'm working on getting an evaporative cooler. Once that's installed the temp should come down to 80 ish (F)
or less. I can work in that heat.

I'm finishing up the installation of the brake discs and calipers.

Once that is done, I'll be back to the electrical.
Maybe enough to get it out for a shack down around the yard.

Thanks for checking in on me. :)
 
No, don't work in that heat. Fall is coming so wait it out. You have a great project. Someday I want to build a peddle car on the lines of a Pebble. Two seater for local shopping runs with room for plunder. Have a road cargo E-bike build coming up, first.

I will just follow along and check in.
 
Just_Ed said:
.
It has been so hot in my shop averaging 104, with a high the other day of 111.
Needless to say, I can't work for long in that kind of heat.

I'm working on getting an evaporative cooler. Once that's installed the temp should come down to 80 ish (F)
or less. I can work in that heat.
Click to expand...
..a $20 fan and a wet T shirt is a good start ! :thumb:
+ a bar fridge well stocked with soda and beer ! :bigthumb:
 
A man of experience, I can tell :p

I have the fans going, and I supply the sweat-n-wet. But I have found it is hard to reach the car. To actually work on the car would mean leaving the front of the fan.

And the soda/beer cooler is 90 feet away. And they get warm before I get back to the shop.

We have heat warnings for the next two days. 108-110 (F)
Not as hot as some but for our area it's hot.
 
Time for some updates.

The 'hot shop' days are over. Now I can work on the 'hot rod'

I paid $160 USD for an 8-year-old $755.00 swamp cool. Not bad, I think. It also came with an upgraded 1/2 hp motor, and new pads.
Pics were taken while installing. Didn't want to dig a trench or make a water line. So I asked for and received from a generous neighbor this blue barrel. It is 55 gallons when full. I use +/- 30 gallons on high cool, and maybe 20 gallons on low cool per day's use. It gets down to about 84 (F) when the outside temperature is around 105(F)

If it is less than 100 then the inside temp is around 78-80 on low cool.
That is fine with me, I can work in that. It is a cool temp.

DSCN5056.JPG

I replaced the pump in the cooler with a submersible pump in the barrel. Shortened the overflow tube, and the cool water returns to the barrel for recycling. It works really well.

DSCN5066.JPG

Ignorance is not bliss... it's expensive!
Had a mishap with my battery charger. My ignorance I think. After a year of sitting idle, the battery is still charged to +/- 56 volts. But I wanted to try my charger and get it back up to the 57-58 it came with.
Well, the charger blew up quite quickly. I believe you can't monitor the charge with the battery indicator on the battery in the on position. :oops:
DSCN5073.JPG

Getting good use out of my overhead hoist/trolley.

Works good for working under the car as well.DSCN5078.JPGDSCN5080.JPG
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And now up to today.

I've been working on getting the brakes installed, bled, and functioning.
With that finished, I was on to checking and tightening up all loose things.

I had the car ready for its maiden road test. But the drive train(chains) were making way too much noise. So I looked into it much closer and found that the sprockets that I ordered from GB were too narrow for a T8F chain.
This caused problems with maintaining tension as well as all that noise.
I still haven't found these particular sprockets anywhere in the U.S. I happen to have a square of 3/16" flat stock. So long story short I'm making them myself.

The first one was finished today. Tomorrow I will drill out the center and weld on the shaft collar. I will then reinstall this one sprocket and test it for any bug that needs to be taken care of with the second sprocket.
DSCN5086.JPGDSCN5087.JPGDSCN5090.JPG
 
nicobie said:
That sprocket looks like it was a lot of work! is it made of steel?

Congratulations on the swamp cooler. That was well worth the work. :thumb:
Click to expand...

It's made with 3/16" mild steel. It took about 4-5 hours to make. A lot of disc cutting, drilling, filing repeating. Today I drilled out the center and welded on the shaft collar. Have done multiple test runs with it trying to achieve the best results I know how to get.
I have reduced the noise somewhat, and the chain stay's aligned now.

I learned from making the first one. Hope to use that to lessen the time (and effort) to make the second one. I still have an intermittent issue with keeping the chain tension between the motor and the old/new sprocket. I may have to design and install a chain tensioner/idler pulley just for that chain.

The cooler has been working great. It has allowed me to work when I otherwise wouldn't.
Today is a real test. I just checked my thermometer at the cooler and it's reading 108 (F) in the shade. It's 106(F) on our back patio. The shop is 84(F) and running on high to get that temperature.
 
Lesson learned

This sprocket to this point only took 2 hrs 10 min.
Took a different approach, and drilled out the spacing between teeth.
Tomorrow I will have less work to do finishing them.
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The vision being substandard nowadays, I switched to the other side for better lite. Also highlighted with marker pen. Still hard to pinpoint the precise center between the teeth.
The other sprocket worked out OK, so this being a little more accurate, all should be fine. I think... :|

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I lost one 3/16" drill bit. I was pressing a bit too much on that hole and it caught and snapped.
Fortunately, I had another drill bit.

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Didn't leave enough room for drilling. Will grind these out.

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OK folks, here is the day we all have been waiting for...VROOOM!

First, run with modified engine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYFFev78RpE

Now for reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8Cmp-UbFOw
 
ZeroEm said:
Looks good, i'm excited to see it all come together.

Will it be fast enough for a parade?
Click to expand...

It's designed to go up to 25MPH. Plenty fast enough for most parades. Especially with the pace of the marching bands and other floats.

What you saw in the video was maybe 1/3rd throttle.
 
Really nice to see it ride and judging by the "jump" when starting to roll it seems to have plenty of torque.
Loved the video with the engine sound :lol:
 
It's alive! :thumb:

Great to see it running. I see the reverse works well too. I'll be curious to see a top speed run.
 
fechter said:
It's alive! :thumb:

Great to see it running. I see the reverse works well too. I'll be curious to see a top speed run.
Click to expand...

TOP SPEED 😱 I can't handle 25 mph!
I have mechanical inspections first. I noticed I have a wobble on the right front wheel. Hoping it is just a loose axle nut. It acts like a bump steer, but there is no feeling in the steering wheel to the effect. It does steer like a dream.

SlowCo said:
Really nice to see it ride and judging by the "jump" when starting to roll it seems to have plenty of torque.
Loved the video with the engine sound :lol:
Click to expand...

The engine sound will be coming out of the hollow engine block when finished. That is sure to raise a few eyebrows. :lol:

The throttle is quite sensitive. I may put some type of resistance under the pedal. I also checked for motor heat and what little I ran it, the motors were barely warm. A real good sign.

I did a trial run with the Mrs. on board and with two people it moved without any trouble. Another good sign.
I believe the drive train is working thanks to the help I got here on ES.
 
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