awesome job on the tank Baz!!!

I agree, very impressive work Baz! Who knew you had that many skills, well besides the local sheep population? Was that baaaaaad? lol Going to have to install the sheep haulers into my nerf systems.

I wish there was some sort of organized races near me, I could get into it big time.

Gary

You need to stop pissing around with your rubber disc compaction theory and go right to making your nerfs out of old leaf springs off an automobile so then they impact you they are boomeranged off the course and you continue on racing, pretty sure I seen wile e coyote do this think he got them from Acme ? beep beep!

Maybe some coil springs on the roof too? If you roll you would bounce back on the wheels and keep on going!

Good thinking better yet a top cage fabricated out of leaf springs so it serves dual purpose protection and rebound, why didnt Honda think of this?

Hey BAZ you going to be affected by the hurricane?

Tanks Pete!

Tanks Gaz...On my wine now,after homebrew beer,Sat night currently...then it all makes sense?
NERF=Nukem,Ewe,Restraining,Fixture?
Great idea,I will drill 4 appropriate holes in the nerf checker plate covers...2 for front feet,2 for rear ...would'nt want a spring off would we?

Yeah I agree hoser,use the force of the opponent,back at them,like they teach you in Judo huh?

Hoser Cyclone Ita is in the top part of Queensland east coast,I'm totally opposite corner,bottom end of west coast...thank GOD!
We rarely get affected by cyclones in Perth WA,last I remember was the remnants of Cyclone Alby? in 1979? Really strong winds made it all the way down from up north.
Remember standing on my dad's front balcony which faces north,watching the neighbour's trees bend all round and shake violently...kinda like Nukem when he spots a woolywoman!

Tank is all finished now,polished up and fittings,well,fitted.
Had to rejigger some of the brackets and holes,then cutout some rubber for isolation mounts.

I also had the welder weld in the filler neck so that the AEROFLOW name on cap when tight, was parallel to rear as you read it.
This will act as a loosey lucy warning if cap ever loosens.

Looks great!! should handle better getting the weight a little forward in the chassis so the tank doesn't act so much like a pendulum.

Thanks,Fast,yeah I thought the same about the porpoise-ing effect,but this thing handles like a dream anyway,even with the big bumper tank.
It has all OEM stock front end,cept the rims.Minimal steering turn and effort equates to very quick times around the bends,tight or sweeping.
The rears came with the 3-4" wheel spacers,was gonna remove them,but why now when it all handles so good?
I just hope now for NO bad domino effect with the new tank posi?
It's oversteer is a hoot when used with the rapid, responsive steering.Very easy to get into the drifting at decend speeds and throttle,like you see the riceburners do.
Mega fun using the throttle to step out,and counter with the rapid steering opposite-lock.

Can any guys advise me if they have had any rear enders with the OEM Pilot rear bumper bars.
What I want to know is IF the top bolt mount section actually goes forward ANY under the hip rail chassis tube?
I'm worried about if getting re-ended that the the 2 upper bolt mounts will JAB into my fuel tank,as there is little clearance there.
Please any members experience.
As a preventitive measure,I've added a brace that should act as a stopper against the chassis bar.
I might even add some more stopper bars back to the main chassis lower down.
Tomorrow I'll get it all mig'd,then sandblasted and powdercoated...now what colour? Thinking silver for vision sake? Not mine.theirs!!!

i would lift the main vertical bumper bars to where the cross bar on the frame crosses and then put the brace over to the + where the 4 bars meet on each side.

Not much to report here,just did some more bracing on the rear bumper's ends.
Can't wait till it's all done,then off to mate's shop for sandblasting and powdercoating.
Silver?...I agree,Hi-Ho silver it is!

more pics.

Went to check out a new diff race venue in Beverley last Saturday.Bout 1 1/2hrs E of Perth.
It's a lovely spot,over 260 acres of sloping land,down to the Avon River.
It's called BORMSA-Beverley, Off Road, MotorSport, Association.
Really friendly people,blah blah,blah,,,they won me over.
It's on the opposite side of Bev town as to the Drag Strip venue that I've posted in the past.

Anyway it's a CAMS-(Confederation Australian MotorSports)- affiliated club /track/ venue etc
Have to do some small mods to pass their Scrute rules.
Had to install a set of rear mudflaps,flattery isolation switch,and a freaky passport size picture of myself ,for their CAMS Level 2 Speed Event License application..
Been THAT long since I've ever had to stand for a pro to take my pic,eg wedding and court- I damn shitmyself when I saw the results.
Wrinkles,deep lines,furrows that would grow corn?

Anyway,point is...after all this mod'n for the Khana style races at Bev this Sunday,I had to clean up the 1989 Pilot,and stuff me I noticed the clear "PILOT"sticker laminate on the RHS panel was a comin' off the edges.
So I grabbed it,small tug to test for adhesion,then pulled it off too easy.
DAMN HONDA,it's ONLY been 25 years since they built all this,,,and the sticker clear laminate don't last past 1/4 century? WTF!
Good bye quality...get used to the next generation mass produced !@#$%

Thanks HONDA for showing the way for the last ? decades on HOW to engineer stuff,ONLY to be beaten by the almighty GLOBAL $$$.

BORMSA

http://www.bormsa.asn.au/

This is the event style I'm REALLY fluffy in the pants about.
It's called autocross.
There's a short loop and a long loop,depending on what side of the Lights you start,each buggy does THEIR side loop either short/long,then crosses over the other side after completion,does the other loop,then IF both buggies are close in times,they will rejoin their starting track,for a drag,sprint finish down to the finish line.
SO you never really know who's winning till right at the end...I love it.

Watch this race,you DON"T see the other car till right at the end.
Talk about close?
Look how green it all is,obviously winter time...otherwise drier than a dead dingo's donga!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diYFKUMnqLw

You realize you put gussets on the rear bumper where Honda intended for it to give so it wont bend your frame, I have run these bumpers for years they work great, on a impact from the center the upper mounts roll under the rear frame tube now your rear frame tube will be bent but your mounts will be nice and straight, when you hit the outer tubes they bend and fold in without hitting or bending anything now yours cant move have almost no give, something will give.

After bending the bumper I just straighten the upper mounts back where they were, straighten out the rest of the bumper then add angle iron where it bent from impact, you weld the angle iron on where it will crease, weaken then bend the bumper that is hitting yours

I had detailed pics of all this and a good write up on my old site but its all long gone.

Hi Baz, damn you have some good tracks over there.

A word of warning though, don't mention TORC in connection to racing with any CAMS officials. If they look at whats going on over here they wont let you race!

I have been in contact with the buggy guys in Qld, looks like i will be moving up that way, so i might just be racing again.

Yes I understand what your saying,but I DON'T want it rolling under that chassis tube,hence the added angle brace.
My fuel tank ended up being slightly larger than orig planned in every direction.
This made for a tight fit,especially adjacent to those upper bar mounts bolts.
The rear bumper bar is way weaker than the chassis tube.

Whereabouts in Queensland? Good luck there,save me a corner in the dog house for possible visit one day huh?
Always wanted to see Queensland,I see their still having mega probs with drought?
Your moving further away now to opposite corner of country...as if Victoria was'nt far enough?

Ha, yep moving north, for the SUN and WARMTH, it snowed on our house last week while i was in Mooloolaba getting sunburnt.

Not too sure whats happening just yet, we have been up there a few times now. We are looking at buying a couple of businesses, we are at the stage where we have made offers, they have been countered, you know how it goes.

Add to that the house hunting thing and of course any house has to have a LARGE garage for toys, well at least one Drakart space.

Your more than welcome Baz, i would have thought Qld and WA would be very similar temperature wise. Mooloolaba is on the sunshine coast just above the gold coast/Surfers Paradise. The locals tell me that the temps don't get much over about 35C in summer around Mooloolaba and Noosa, so no real killer days.

The bonus is they have a great buggy club up here, the down side is the club just got affiliation with CAMS but they only run one CAMS race a year, so i might be in luck.

Dave hopefully you and Shazza will end up finding JUST the right place...Buggys,Beer,Bourbon,Barbies,Babes,Boating,Bamping and Bishing for Baz yeah?

Not much to report here,but this arvo got real ansy cause on this Sat is the new BORMSA Autocross event.
Did'nt feel right going back to mowing this arvo...cause had TOO much buggy stuff to get right!
Had to trial a new set of flyweights and spring,plus carb main jet drop from #350's to #340's to combat top end blubber from last event.
All seemed good,cept slight acceleration bog..still needed another 100m straight tho.
And yeah,need to get an adjustable higher cam tripod.

Had to respace my spare drive clutch sheaves,when I noticed that the belt clearance was way excessive.
About 5mm,instead of spec 20 thou.
The OEM AC550 uses a 35-36mm belt,but of course my Pilot driven needs a 31mm.
So I have that size in a OEM AC belt.
Having no proper tools or in a state of snow gear,had to fab one up.Plus never have done this before.

Going thru my treasure trove of customer-dumpster dives,I chose some angle iron,large steel washer,and large arse nut.
Cut the angle to the dangle of the spider,welded the joiner washer,then last the BA nut.
Fitted and gripped like Nukem to a woolywoman!

But the trouble I had was that all my clamps onto the sheave,starter gear would'nt stop it from rotating around while trying to unscrew it off with bar and stilson.
So back to the treasure trove,found some large industrial chain side plates,and some old edger blades and a sprocket from my ol Hypersprint.
I marked then ground out some matching grooves for the ring gear teeth.Then clamped em in place.
It finally all held and managed to unscrew that Nukem spider.Sucks big balls not having the proper tools,but also keeps ya on ya toes thinking.
I needed to remove both the 2 spacer washers to get my ideal clearance,but did'nt like the fact of the alu spider screwd down directly to the steel sheave end.
So used some scrap thin polished SSteel sheet-.5mm to make a washer for the spider to hold up against.
All worked well in the end,also allowed me to clean up and service the shaft etc,moves easier now.
I checked my belt for sheave posi when in the fully closed posi and it's just shy of the very top,but seems OK.

Hi Baz, You did well, here is what the real tool looks like. Still needs a grunt tool to move the spiders though, it's best to use GENTLE heat on the spider because they are loctited in place. You did re loctite it when you assembled the spider didn't you.