Stirlsilver's Disco Ute Project

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"Also, another question, what do people think the best method is of going about the project in relation to the engineer. Should I get him to come in before I start to do anything, to discuss what I intend to do and what they would be looking or should I build it, then show it to the engineer say half way through and then at the end?"

Stirl,
I got the engineer out for my project before I got really stuck into it. I'm not sure if I had to though, as he came out half way through it anyway and then I presented it to them at the finish. They charged me $125.00 for each visit & all I did at the start was outline what I wanted to do to him and he just nodded. I reckon if you can demonstrate that your project is fairly common then I would say just get him out halfway & actually get some value out of the visit because by then you may have some questions.

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Originally Posted by DeeJay

Stirl,
I got the engineer out for my project before I got really stuck into it. I'm not sure if I had to though, as he came out half way through it anyway and then I presented it to them at the finish. They charged me $125.00 for each visit & all I did at the start was outline what I wanted to do to him and he just nodded. I reckon if you can demonstrate that your project is fairly common then I would say just get him out halfway & actually get some value out of the visit because by then you may have some questions.

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Thanks for the info David, greatly appreciated! I think I will do it that way. I think doing a check half way will be very important because it gives you the opportunity to correct most things without having to undo too much of your work. Do you have the details of the engineer that you used? By the way I saw you today driving your County today. Turning off Jells onto Grand View.

So plan of action at this stage.

Looks like I'll have to go in this week with the laptop and start checking how close the 3d model is with the actual thing. Then with a yellow paint marker (or similar) I'll start drawing where the cut lines will be. The cutting won't be long after that. :twisted:

You will have a ball stirlsilver nothing like building a custom car! Discos are a bit harder then rangies but nothing a bit of fancy welding and sikaflex can fix!!

Mick

So which AULRO member did you get the car off to chop up?

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Originally Posted by disco_ute

You will have a ball stirlsilver nothing like building a custom car! Discos are a bit harder then rangies but nothing a bit of fancy welding and sikaflex can fix!!

Mick

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Cheers Mick. My welding needs some work for sure, but i'm sure I will get plenty of practice with this project. It's going to go slow though, $500 a month for a budget is very restrictive. Ahh well, i'll get there eventually.

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Originally Posted by dullbird

So which AULRO member did you get the car off to chop up?

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I'm guessing you are asking because of the sticker on the back of the car huh? The car is SPROVER's old disco.

yeah I was.......cool one good thing about those stickers is you know the car has belonged to someone from the site at least once :D

Well, that was quick... I just received the new castors today:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/521.jpg

16 x 3" Nylon castors each rated to 120Kg. They should do the job.

I think I will have to hop on ebay and sell those 5" rubber wheel castors because they are essentially useless. On thursday night i'll head over to the workshop and attach the castors onto the frames. I'll then hopefully be able to push the car around on the concrete relatively easily!

Well, swapped the castors over and it works! I was only just able to get away with the smaller castors as the tyres only sit about 5mm above the ground!

Sorry about the crap photos... I took them with my mobile phone...

The comparison between the trolleys with the different castors:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/426.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/427.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/428.jpg

The car now sitting on the trolleys:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/429.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/430.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/431.jpg

It is still a bit of a hand full to shift the car around on the castors but it is possible now :D

I've now started pulling things off the back end to sell. Gotta put my ebay hat on again.

"Quote"
Thanks for the info David, greatly appreciated! I think I will do it that way. I think doing a check half way will be very important because it gives you the opportunity to correct most things without having to undo too much of your work. Do you have the details of the engineer that you used? By the way I saw you today driving your County today. Turning off Jells onto Grand View."

Just catching up on topics. I'm a bit behind.:(

Yup
The old girl has been earning its keep lately. That could have been when I had a half metre of premix on board. You should have seen me on the way out with a load for the tip.:eek:

The engineer is an Vicroads approved one.
this is the Vicroads website : Approval certificates for modified, imported, and individually constructed vehicles - VASS : VicRoads
They are the ones in Ferntree Gully
Phillip Hodges factory 4/69 Acacia st Ph 9753 5200 MOB 0419103162

Fred smith uses one that could be a bit cheaper - but further away. Not sure who it is.
Cheers

Thanks again for the info David.

Well, I was playing in the workshop again tonight, pulling more things out of the back end of the car in preparation for the cut. This is where it is all at now... Not all that much different, but this time I used a proper camera :)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/389.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/390.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/391.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/392.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/393.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/394.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/395.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/396.jpg

After I had enough of pulling things off the car, I pulled out a laptop and carried out a dimension check between the car and the 3D model I was using for the conceptual design. And I was VERY pleased with the results!!!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/397.jpg

It is way more accurate than I had expected with most dimensions only being 0.5% out which is negligeble, the most inaccurate area of the model seems to be the interior... although measuring the spacing between the seats was difficult. Anyway having a model that actually represents the real thing is a great thing to have because what I will do now is take measurements off the model to mark where the cut lines will be.

Once the back end is off I will try to as accurately as possible model the chassis and start the design of the tray and various other bits an pieces.

On a side note, i've figured out how to render the model :D

It doesn't look quite right because the whole body along with the interior is the same material, there is too much time involved in isolating various pieces from each other. But it will be good at the end to decide what colour I want to paint the car!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/398.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...009/05/399.jpg