Stupid mod's

[Fusion]

So has anyone ever done a mod that they thought would be a great move just to get out on the road or bush and find out that it was just a stupid thing to do ? Then go home and change it back :D . Come guys spill ya guts . Lets hear it :p.

[Rangier Rover]

Yup, Here are just a few.
Fitted rims inside out on Ser 1
Put Holden 6 in Ser 1
Fit coil Springs in Ser 1
Springover a Ser 11 (It fell over:eek:)
There are many as I was allways at them in my Teen years:o.
Cheers RR.:blush:

[Fusion]

Yup, Here are just a few.
Fitted rims inside out on Ser 1
Put Holden 6 in Ser 1
Fit coil Springs in Ser 1
Springover a Ser 11 (It fell over:eek:)
There are many as I was allways at them in my Teen years:o.
Cheers RR.:blush:

Classic Stuff !! :D:D;) . The things you can do with a grinder , welder and an oxy :p:twisted:

[Rangier Rover]

Classic Stuff !! :D:D;) . The things you can do with a grinder , welder and an oxy :p:twisted:
Was known as V.F.B.B.E Engineering and WOT Racing!
Here is another one. Put a 302 Ford with C4 and Danna Diffs in a 86" Ser 1! Then put 1100x16 tyres with 5/8 chains. That all was OK .Then put a powersteering box off a 78Toyota cressida in it. Took off flat out went to turn left and it went right! Opps. Ended up in a fence. Almost a Darwin Awards job :D
The 56 Was a Mud racer. Still have it here now has a 318 and Truck gear box. Hasn't fired a shot for 15 years.:)
Cheers RR.

[Fusion]

Had my father-in-law (Blue Bandit :p ) put an falcon XF steering box in a 2a that did the same thing . Turn left went right . So that got scrapped too .

[Rangier Rover]

Had my father-in-law (Blue Bandit :p ) put an falcon XF steering box in a 2a that did the same thing . Turn left went right . So that got scrapped too .
Glad I'm not the only one!:D

[Bigbjorn]

Long time ago I had a friend who had a 1940's English luxury car (won't give name as they are still in business). He had rebuilt the steering box as part of a full front end overhaul. A major task requiring removal of much of the front body work and the engine. Maintenance was never a thought in the mind of the design team. I got in it to move it and when you turned the wheel to go right, it went left. Frightened hell out of me. I told Jack and he said he should have warned me. Apparently the box could be put together two ways for different mounting positions & suspension systems, and Jack had done the wrong one. He said it was too much trouble to take it out and do it again. "You soon get used to it" he said.

[gruntfuttock]

Long time ago I had a friend who had a 1940's English luxury car (won't give name as they are still in business). He had rebuilt the steering box as part of a full front end overhaul. A major task requiring removal of much of the front body work and the engine. Maintenance was never a thought in the mind of the design team. I got in it to move it and when you turned the wheel to go right, it went left. Frightened hell out of me. I told Jack and he said he should have warned me. Apparently the box could be put together two ways for different mounting positions & suspension systems, and Jack had done the wrong one. He said it was too much trouble to take it out and do it again. "You soon get used to it" he said.

:Rolling::Rolling::Rolling::Rolling:
That would have been a good car to do your licence in. It would frighten the ********* out of the inspectors

[BigJon]

I extended the rear bump stops on my Rangie to prevent the shocks bottoming with lowered top shock mounts. One dirt road trip convinced me to put it all back to standard.

[p38arover]

....and I thought the thread was about us Moderators. :D

[Rangier Rover]

....and I thought the thread was about us Moderators. :DDon't worry, your turn will come!;):p:D

[Lotz-A-Landies]

... I got in it to move it and when you turned the wheel to go right, it went left. Frightened hell out of me. I told Jack and he said he should have warned me....
Can also happen in a Land Rover, the steering worm and nut from a Burman box in the 1954 86"/107" will fit the box of an 80" with the only noticable exception being that the inner column is a bit long.

It will give you the same error/symptoms of turning left when you steer right.

Diana

[moose]

The one that immediately comes to mind is when I was re-building my Mk I escort. Putting the dash back in and it looked really bad, so I gave it a coat of paint to match some of the other white bits on the car, sounds bad, but it looked great. Took it for it's first drive in the sunshine, came back straight away, tore it off and covered it with black, couldn't see a thing for the sunglare.:oops2:

[Olive Drab]

454 chev into a belmont HQ panelvan with 4 wheel drum brakes, didnt think about stopping it.

[Sprint]

454 chev into a belmont HQ panelvan with 4 wheel drum brakes, didnt think about stopping it.
3 things you need to remember in that situation
1: predictive driving
2: downshifting
3: power oversteer

[Rangier Rover]

This one not a landy;) P76 4.4 V8 in a cut down VW buggy with 45hp gear box with 31"tyres: It weighed only 400 kgs. eek: It had extreme lateral instability:o Till the gear box split.:D

[Bigbjorn]

Moss 4 speed gearbox ex a fifties Jaguar behind a modified 5.4 litre GMC engine in an replica of an Allard J2. Service life around 2 weeks. Mind you, that engine spat out just about anything else I tried but the Moss had the shortest life by far.

[rovercare]

This one not a landy;) P76 4.4 V8 in a cut down VW buggy with 45hp gear box with 31"tyres: It weighed only 400 kgs. eek: It had extreme lateral instability:o Till the gear box split.:D

Should have put a stock 3.5 in, wouldn't have exceeded the HP rating of the box then:angel:

[100I]

I shoehorned a tickled 1600 Isuzu (gemini) complete with 5spd into a 1L Sierra. I was fun to a point. It would light up 31s on a dry road in 3rd gear and it was an absolute animal on gravel in 4WD:twisted:.
Trouble was it was such a big heavy lump it made it too nose heavy so I couldn't jump it anymore. I had to stiffen up the front springs so much to support it I also lost a bit of subtleness & flex off road. I had the slip yoke from the GB directly coupled thru one uni to the TC input flange, and fabbed a brace to bolt the TC & GB to one another, yet the TC still had to be moved back about an inch and the custom radiator was set into the radiator support panel (much like comparing a series to a 110). All in all it was very snug. It probably would have been ok in a LWB but I lost interest.
I only persevered with it for a couple of years, then built another 1300.

I learnt from it tho, and now have a bit of a penchant for 'neat' mods and don't leap at anything too radical.

[Rangier Rover]

Should have put a stock 3.5 in, wouldn't have exceeded the HP rating of the box then:angel: Don't I know it:D

[Rangier Rover]

Should have put a stock 3.5 in, wouldn't have exceeded the HP rating of the box then:angel: The Vee Wee 1300 would near out run a stock 3.5 and use less fuel:eek:;)

[rovercare]

The Vee Wee 1300 would near out run a stock 3.5 and use less fuel:eek:;)

Its funny, 'cause its true:D

[clean32]

Mk4 Z 3ltr V6 into a Mk1 cortina
327 into a victor
186 into a herold
351 into a Mk 2 Z
4.3 GAZ V8 into a Volga M21
2.2 Voga M24 into a Lada 1 ( Kopec)
440 into a clubman

didnt matter what you did with the stearing wheel, all the cars did what thay wanted regardless

the one thing i never got to do for the darwin award was fit a Nome Monsopue into a Alfa,

there is a thread around some where, gave me an idea, CAT in a disco? or even a p38??

[Lotz-A-Landies]

...the one thing i never got to do for the darwin award was fit a Nome Monsopue into a Alfa,

there is a thread around some where, gave me an idea, CAT in a disco? or even a p38??
Let us all hope that the most you ever receive is an "honorable mention" in the Darwin Awards. We are always a bit sad when an AULRO member removes himself from the gene pool. :(

Diana

[dandlandyman]

I've never done anything I've had to reverse straight away, but I guess I have plenty of opportunity left to try it. I have done some rather odd mods. My KE20 Corolla blew up the 4 speed gearbox, so I put a 5 speed in looking for better fuel economy. It would've been great, except you couldn't do more than 110kmh in QLD, which chewed fuel in fifth. I got my money's worth out of it when I came to the Territory, though. NB: 12" tyres make odd noises at 98mph...:D
I also fitted station wagon rear springs with home-made wrap leaves (like Land-Rovers) so it would carry all my tools and junk. I reckon it was the world's only 1-tonne Corolla...:D
But I've never regretted any of those mods, nor the ones I've done to my Landies.

Dan.

[Bigbjorn]

[QUOTE=clean32;772988]
the one thing i never got to do for the darwin award was fit a Nome Monsopue into a Alfa,

QUOTE]

I assume you mean a Gnome-Rhone Monosoupape, a rotary aircraft engine from WW1. The crankshaft is fixed and the cylinders rotate. Damn difficult to arrange this configuration in any land vehicle. Total loss oiling and they used castor oil then, spraying a mist of castor oil back over the aircrew who suffered the obvious problem from ingesting this.

A friend who builds monsters has two Continental made Wright radials from WWII. Recently he got one down from the wall of the shed, made a stand for it and has it running. These are ex tanks and have a flywheel and starter gear. He would like to fit it to some sort of vehicle but the dimensions have him puzzled at present. About 4' high, wide, and long. His most recent creation is a replica of a 1920's Brooklands racer which uses an 11.3 litre GMC V12 petrol truck engine from the 1950's-60's. Gets along very well.

[HangOver]

You know how after you air-up your tyres with a 12v compressor and it gets HOT, (even more so in the summer) well after getting very warm fingers I thought hmmmm......the compressor head has got coolling fins!
They would work much better with a 12v fan sitting on top to keep it cool!

So thats what I did, I cut the power cable, hooked up a 2 1/2" fan and cable tied it to the top of the the head.

Gave it a whirl and still very hot, what a waste of time. Did I reverse it, not yet but I will. Maybe I just need a bigger fan;)

[mcrover]

The one that immediately comes to mind is when I was re-building my Mk I escort. Putting the dash back in and it looked really bad, so I gave it a coat of paint to match some of the other white bits on the car, sounds bad, but it looked great. Took it for it's first drive in the sunshine, came back straight away, tore it off and covered it with black, couldn't see a thing for the sunglare.:oops2:

I remember that little Escort (Ernie I think it was or was that another mates one?), I dont remember the Dash though....

[mcrover]

Lets see,

- I built a Strutbrace in a 120y, stiffened it so much it broke the chassis around a left hand corner in croydon with the left front 18" off the ground.

- 302 in a TD Cortina, all was good but it really didnt like to stop but would do well over 200kmh.....

- I had a problem with the aircleaner on the said 302 not flowing enough air seems it had to be really think to fit under the bonnet so I tried to make up a cool air induction system with a remote airbox, it worked well but on the test drive it got chewed up by the fan due to me not bolting it down.

I was going about 90kmh at the time so there wasnt much left after ward aswell as busting the carbi.

[clean32]

[QUOTE=Brian Hjelm;773140
I assume you mean a Gnome-Rhone Monosoupape, a rotary aircraft engine from WW1. The crankshaft is fixed and the cylinders rotate. Damn difficult to arrange this configuration in any land vehicle. Total loss oiling and they used castor oil then, spraying a mist of castor oil back over the aircrew who suffered the obvious problem from ingesting this.

[/QUOTE]
all sorted, cut out the iner gards, lift alfa buy about 14 inches, that will give about 1/2 inch clearance from the rotating heads to the ground.
caster oil, well i will be inside so that will be every one elses problem, just fill the window washer up with kero and keep it running.

Gnome Monosoupape N-9 Pre Rhone about 9.5 Ltrs 110 hp on 65 octane gas

[moose]

I remember that little Escort (Ernie I think it was or was that another mates one?), I dont remember the Dash though....
nah, it was a different car, still got ernie, but hasn't gone anywhere for a while:D

[mcrover]

nah, it was a different car, still got ernie, but hasn't gone anywhere for a while:D

Nice to know he is still around :D

[pk.hoarder]

Not a Landy but a otherwise on-topic, from the young and stupid dept.:

some mates & I had an old Ford Thames van with 3 speed column gears. We pulled it apart for no good reason and when we put the gear linkages back together they were so sloppy we got 1/R mixed up with 2/3.
No problem, except the battery was knackered so we used to bump start it. We spent about 2 hours one day pushing it along trying to start it in 2nd gear, only to have the rear wheels lock up when we let the clutch out every time...then the guy who put the gear linkages back in suggested putting it in reverse gear but pushing it forwards - sounded funny until it worked!
What a waste of bloody time, but somehow better than Xbox which is what my kids get up to in their mis-spent youth...

Cheers
Paul

[SeriesKid]

On the weekend I bought myself a Dune Buggy off eBay. Rover V8 with 500 Holley, huge tractor tyres on the back , and a kombi gearbox that has already shredded first gear (I'm going to have to find a healthy 2litre kombi box to help there).

Since I'm just trying to keep my Series2a healthy for daily driving, the buggy is going to cop a whole load of stupid and ridiculous mods. Fun for the uni-holidays :D

If anyone has any ideas for some fun mods, let me know :cool:

[Rangier Rover]

On the weekend I bought myself a Dune Buggy off eBay. Rover V8 with 500 Holley, huge tractor tyres on the back , and a kombi gearbox that has already shredded first gear (I'm going to have to find a healthy 2litre kombi box to help there).

Since I'm just trying to keep my Series2a healthy for daily driving, the buggy is going to cop a whole load of stupid and ridiculous mods. Fun for the uni-holidays :D

If anyone has any ideas for some fun mods, let me know :cool: Yea.... Been there and done it:eek: They fun.... But chuck the bug and play with Old Rangies. If you want to have a go Reno R14 box are good.:D Tony

[Dinty]

G'day All, When I was younger than I am now LOL I had a VW with a P76 mated to a early type reverse torque Kombi box, that was fun but bloody dangerous as well anyway cheers Dennis:wasntme:

[45tr0]

17yo, my first car, 1991 Ford Festiva (the lunchbox)
ditched the 1.3L in favour of a 1.6 tx3 turbo mill, fitted with a ceramic Toyota MR2 turbo with front mount intercooler & sprayers, haltech chip and 16psi boost... 137kw at the front wheels and only 750kg :eek:
Stock gearbox lasted 3 weeks, then detonated on the start line at willowbank on my second pass, dumping it's entire content of oil in the lane... Gee was I unpopular that night.

[SeriesKid]

Yea.... Been there and done it:eek: They fun.... But chuck the bug and play with Old Rangies. If you want to have a go Reno R14 box are good.:D Tony

Yeah I've looked into the Renault boxes, but having owned a beetle and a kombi in the past I'm familiar with veedubs, and still know a few veedubbers around the place that may be able to help me out. Also I've heard the Renault boxes need a bit of work to be able to handle the torque of a v8. Plenty of people use them in the <3500cc classes though. I'm thinking a healthy 2L kombi box will take a fair bit as long as I'm not too rough, I'll still have to change the huge tractor tyres on the back for something more conventional. Mmm, lotsa fun for Stockton Beach:cool:

[Rangier Rover]

Yeah I've looked into the Renault boxes, but having owned a beetle and a kombi in the past I'm familiar with veedubs, and still know a few veedubbers around the place that may be able to help me out. Also I've heard the Renault boxes need a bit of work to be able to handle the torque of a v8. Plenty of people use them in the <3500cc classes though. I'm thinking a healthy 2L kombi box will take a fair bit as long as I'm not too rough, I'll still have to change the huge tractor tyres on the back for something more conventional. Mmm, lotsa fun for Stockton Beach:cool: Stocton.:) They still allow this:confused::confused:
The 2ltr transporter box would be the pick of the VW. Just don't dump the clutch:angel:. Mine was fine till I did that once to often;). Ive 'got a book here on mods on VW boxes. One was 2 large plates each side of Diff area and clamp with long bolts. Prevents most common failure...The casting splits from side force of CWP.
What starter motor have you got. Can't remember who has them but you can get a hi torque starter. Tony

[p38arover]

the one thing i never got to do for the darwin award was fit a Nome Monsopue into a Alfa,

I assume you mean a Gnome Monosoupape ? :p

[JDNSW]

I assume you mean a Gnome Monosoupape ? :p

Interesting engine - ever had a look at one? Cylinders machined from solid stock, for example. One of the types with the crankshaft stationary and everything else turns. Also makes good use of fuel cooling. Two power settings - off and on.

John

[Bigbjorn]

Interesting engine - ever had a look at one? Cylinders machined from solid stock, for example. One of the types with the crankshaft stationary and everything else turns. Also makes good use of fuel cooling. Two power settings - off and on.

John

Janes Fighting Aircraft lists five types made by Societe Des Moteurs Gnome & Rhone in Paris, London, Long Island, & Italy.

Gnome variants- 7 cylinders, 80hp.
- 9 cylinders, 100hp.
- 9 cylinders, 160hp.

Le Rhone variants- 7 cylinders, 80hp.
- 9 cylinders, 120hp.

Gnome and Le Rhone variants used different bores and strokes in the 80hp. engines.

These engines were very light weight, the 80hp Le Rhone weighing only 199lbs. and the 160hp. Gnome weighing only 340lbs.

A friend who is a retired taxation inspector turned model engineer has made a scale model, about 12" across, of one using a kit of castings and semi-finished billets bought in London. It runs well, makes strange noises and sprays oil around just like the anecdotes recall. His current project is a scale model Merlin which is supposed to be a runner when completed. The Gnome was a reasonably easy project that would not at all trouble a fitter-machinist, but the Merlin is a real challenge even for an experienced machinist. Jigs and fixtures have to be made to do many of the operations, the most difficult of which has turned out to be grinding the camshafts from the small billets supplied. Fortunately the kit makers supply the superchargers and intercooler completed. These would be beyond the capacity of any but a well equipped professional machine shop, and would probably need CNC capacity.

[JDNSW]

J.......

Gnome and Le Rhone variants used different bores and strokes in the 80hp. engines.

The early Gnome engines used an automatic inlet valve in the piston. These were poorly cooled and tended to fail, with the possibility of igniting the mixture in the crankcase, with disastrous results. The Monosoupape, or singlevalve, had only the valve in the head of the cylinder. During the exhaust stroke it operated as an exhaust valve, exhausting into the open air as there was no manifold. As the intake stroke started, the valve remained open, enabling the cylinder to partly fill with air, until about half way down it closed, so pressure in the cylinder dropped. close to the bottom of the stroke a transfer port opened, allowing the rich mixture in crankcase to enter and mix with the air. This was then compressed, firing as usual close to TDC, followed by the power stroke. The valve was opened well before the end of the power stroke to allow pressure to drop so that burnt gases did not transfer to the crankcase (or not much anyway). The rich mixture ensured the crankcase contents could not ignite.

These engines were very light weight, the 80hp Le Rhone weighing only 199lbs. and the 160hp. Gnome weighing only 340lbs.

Not often mentioned is the major advantage of rotary engines - no vibration, as they were perfectly balanced, with no reciprocating parts except the valve gear; this allowed the airframe to be much lighter and avoided a lot of other problems. By comparison, in line engines of the period tended to vibrate badly, and stationary radial engines, as was found by experience, have a whole suite of strange vibration modes, which made them virtually unuseable until these were understood in the early twenties.

........, and would probably need CNC capacity.

My father spent the war making (and later making tooling for) Merlin engines - CNC had not been invented, so it is difficult to see why it would be needed to make a model.


I looked at several pictures I have of how the Gnome worked, but decided that they would not scan well. See for example "The Power to Fly" LJK Setright, London, 1971 ISBN 0 04 338041 7 or "Aeronautical Engines" F.J. Kean, London, 1918 or "A History of Aircraft Piston Engines" H.Smith, 1985, Manhattan, Kansas.

John

[Bigbjorn]

I looked at several pictures I have of how the Gnome worked, but decided that they would not scan well. See for example "The Power to Fly" LJK Setright, London, 1971 ISBN 0 04 338041 7 or "Aeronautical Engines" F.J. Kean, London, 1918 or "A History of Aircraft Piston Engines" H.Smith, 1985, Manhattan, Kansas.

John

The whole model Merlin is about 12" long. The superchargers and their drive train and the intercooler are tiny, and complex. I would not like to attempt the milling of the interior of the supercharger housings or the impellers by manual control. To grind the camshaft lobes, we made a fixture for a Dremel type grinder that is cam operated and spring loaded to hold the griniding wheel against the camshaft lobe whilst the cam moves the fixture in and out to produce the cam profile. This has to be accurately indexed from lobe to lobe. He was a brave old guy to take this on a his age, late seventies. He has required a lot of advice and assistance from me, and from a couple of redundant TAFE teachers to get to the stage he is at.

[JDNSW]

The whole model Merlin is about 12" long. The superchargers and their drive train and the intercooler are tiny, and complex. I would not like to attempt the milling of the interior of the supercharger housings or the impellers by manual control. To grind the camshaft lobes, we made a fixture for a Dremel type grinder that is cam operated and spring loaded to hold the griniding wheel against the camshaft lobe whilst the cam moves the fixture in and out to produce the cam profile. This has to be accurately indexed from lobe to lobe. He was a brave old guy to take this on a his age, late seventies. He has required a lot of advice and assistance from me, and from a couple of redundant TAFE teachers to get to the stage he is at.

I take your point - I didn't say it would be easy - I would not like to take on anything remotely resembling the job! In comparison the Gnome would be easy. To grind the supercharger housing and impellers, perhaps something along the lines of what you describe for the cams, but with a pantograph to scale down the model you are working from.

But then, have you seen, for example, John Harrison's No 4 Chronometer - it is about as complex as the Merlin model, smaller, was built with NO machine tools at all, when Harrison was around 80, and kept as good a time as anything that could be made for the next hundred+ years.

John

[vnx205]

For those who struggled with JDNSW's detailed description of how the Gnome worked, here it is in pictures.

Animated Engines, Gnome (http://www.keveney.com/gnome.html)

And just in case you have to work on one, here is a workshop manual.

http://www.aviation-history.com/amh/1918amh.htm

[Bigbjorn]

My mate told me tonight that his scale model is of a Bentley, not a Gnome.

[JDNSW]

For those who struggled with JDNSW's detailed description of how the Gnome worked, here it is in pictures.

Animated Engines, Gnome (http://www.keveney.com/gnome.html)

And just in case you have to work on one, here is a workshop manual.

1918 Aircraft Mechanics Handbook - Overhauling The Gnome Monosoupape Rotary Engine (http://www.aviation-history.com/amh/1918amh.htm)

The animated picture is the earlier type of Gnome with the valve in the piston, not the monosoupape.

John

[clean32]

The animated picture is the earlier type of Gnome with the valve in the piston, not the monosoupape.

John

What have i started.
I was a pilot, was a Fitter, I actually did all the ground work documentation etc for CAA to build a few working N-9’s

The thing is with these motors is they were built by everyone, the Russian’s were still building a version up until 1927, and fitting 4 of them to a bomber.

Apart from displacement and numbers of cylinders ( 3 to cross the channel first time) there is only 3 major destine changes.

The first with the fuel feed Valve in the piston, and the conrod T bottom end

Secondly, cylinder fuel channel and a ring of fule feed holes in the piston skirt.

And lastly, with the merger with Le Rone ( who build 4 strokes) the carry over of the Le Rone bottom end and the double ended conrods with one locked rod.

Other little interesting things are, the German’s turned the motor around so the push rods were at the back. Less prone to battle damage.

Most motors once over the 110HP had multiple contact switches ( 3 ) each switch activating the spark for 3 cylinders, full power 2/3 or 1/3.

total loss castor oil was used because it didn’t burn

[Bigbjorn]

Jane's Fighting Aircraft shows two versions of the Bentley Rotary. Bothe were nine cylinders, the BR1 was 120mm x 170mm bore and stroke and 150hp @ 1250rpm, weight 400lbs, and the BR2 of 140mm x 180mm bore and stroke, 250hp @ 1250rpm, weight 475lbs. Fuel consumption is shown as 11 & 20 gallons per hour, and oil as 12 & 16 pints per hour respectively. My mate's scale model is of the BR1. The only other rotaries listed in Jane's were made by Clerget (Clerget, Blin et Cie), five models from 80 to 250hp, and by Spyker, a single model of 135hp.