As my journeyman told me as a youth, "Engineers work to tolerances, as a joiner you must be cock on!" I don't profess to be an engineer, I have had training in welding, but my trade was wood
Just found your video Jim. I’m planning on building an Auto Union myself so I’ll be following your build. Your’s is looking great! Cheers from Oklahoma City USA, David
Hi Jim, I just wanted to pass on that I have been watching your progress, and I apologize for not saying hello earlier. Very fine work, Jim. I am still working on my 1st cyclekart, and I appreciate your sharing your work in videos.
Cheers Garth, nice to hear from you. I do these vids to post on my build journal for the CKGB forum, I'm not a natural RU-vidr and have no flashy editing skills so pretty much all of the vids are shot in one take no cuts, no script. It always surprises me that anyone watches them :-)
@jimrawnsley Well Jim, I say, keep doing what you are doing. I think your videos are very natural, and without fancy editing, your videos still highlight the many talents you obviously do possess, along with engineering skills and craftsmanship. I have been struggling to learn tig welding, and it has slowed my progress tremendously. Presently, I am considering cutting my pieces out and finding someone to complete the welding so I can move forward with my build. Best of luck with your fiberglassing. You picked a great inspiration car.
I Completely agree with your dislike of fiberglass wortk, frustrating stuff to deal with. I would like to say that your Type C appears to be the best CK representation of that mark, a beautiful bit of design and craftsmanship
Ok another tip if you can see it on the buck it will print through the layup. Another thing use peel ply over the layup to remove excess resin and generate a surface texture. Peel ply can be applied in small pieces to cover complex areas. This will save you a ton of sanding.
I am very new to GRP construction, it seems the more I read and watch, the less I know about it. I have made a start on the centre section (cockpit and 4" fore and aft) and was quick enough to get CSM/woven roving/CSM on wet on wet before cure started. I struck it this morning after 36 hours but will leave it loose on the buck to cure further until after this weekend as I am taking the chassis to Santa Pod for a CK event and some going around in circles. It struck easily with little damage to the buck. Tuesday will tell if I have done my measurements right!
Subscribed but, I suggest you use epoxy for your matrix for your fiberglass. Better strength, longer working time, I have been in the composites business for decades. Check out my 1926 Miller 91 Special Indy winner cyclekart. All composite sandwich body structure on a Steve Vincent copied frame. I have electric start, battery, lights, a F/R gearbox and it is still under 300 lb. Great fun!
Fantastic! Mine is still in Fusion 360 but I do have some donor parts already, I'll go electric, 4ws and 4wd, much of it will be controlled by computers as I'm a former it-nerd. Keep up this great work.
I’m liking how you’ve widened the frame to support the axle. See a lot of these with 6in between the outer bearing and the wheel, it’s got to be more stable and stronger the way you’ve done it. Building my own at the moment and think I’ll do something similar.
New territory for me here, the more I talk to builders who have achieved some level of success with the process the more conflicting information I get, it could be a long process to get it somewhere near acceptable. The journey continues. When I started the build journal for this on the CKGB forum, the title was "Auto union type A - The difficult second cyclekart" It has proved a challenge and continues to do so. 🙂
Probably no help. The rear axle is from a lawn tractor with a peerless 100 series differential in a 3/4" axle sleeves out by myself to 1", and keyed together. The tyres are honda cub 17" tyres x 2 3/4" from Maaxis
Damn that is so cool!!! I've been a bicycle mechanic for years and have always wanted to build one!!! So cool!! Please make some more videos of this project. Also check out Kenda tires. They actually make a 20×2.8 inch tire. That would be super cool to see some fatter tires on that thing! So awesome man!! I want one!
Most cyclekarts worldwide are limited to 17" wheels (18" for Edwardian types with artillery wheels) In the U.K. we have a limit on tyre (tire U.S) width of 3.25", the ones on mine at the moment are 2.75" but I have some 3.25" ones for the back if I don't have too much grip - which can be dangerous in a cyclekart - better to slide than to flip! Normal bicycle wheels are not good on a cyclekart as they tend to end up looking like a pringle very quickly, we use 17" motorcycle wheels from pit bikes or Honda cubs.
The trouble I had with the brake to the left foot is that it gives me less control of pedal pressure as I find I have nowhere to brace during braking and acceleration. We usually drive manual (stick shift) cars in the U.K. (less so now than when I learnt to drive :-) ) and that means 40 years of muscle memory for my left foot to forget it isn't pumping a clutch :-)
The way you created those double arches and bars reminds me of bad prototypes of the past theirs no reason to box in your legs that way and in the event of an accident you are going to be badly injured and hard to remove otherwise it's amazing
Thanks for the reply. As this is a cyclekart and therefore needs a body to be one, we do need to have somewhere to mount it. I appreciate your concern for my safety but leaving it as you suggest would mean missing out on all the fun with my cyclekart buddies... www.cyclekartsgb.com/
Yes, one of the problems I need to sort out. The lateral movement in the ARBs is too much, welded strengtheners needed. As a first test drive on a new suspension system, it was ok
Partial success @olonspeed, the steering was not heavy at all, I would say it was about right. Most cyclekarts have Pitman arm steering, mine has a rack with about three times the gearing of a Pitman arm set up. I have the same rack in my BSA three wheeler and it makes the steering a lot more predictable. I am running about 7 degrees of castor on both. steering weight difference is negligible. It goes where I point it very well :-) The lateral flex in the anti roll bars may prove excessive and I may need to weld in some lateral support before I am happy with it. I am taking it to a kart track with my cyclkarting buddies this weekend...
After watching this I had to go check out the front suspension build video. Looks like anti-sway bars work great for torsion bars, and it's fully adjustable...love it! I had a 1/4 midget kart once that had torsion bars but set up like an early Dodge car with the bars going front to back through the lower control arm, but I like this setup better and you could only adjust ride height on that one.
Cyclekarts are pretty much built from scratch Dennis, cheaply using parts from many sources. Building them is as important if not more than cruising around in them with other cyclkartistas. Much more info on them here... www.cyclekartclub.com/
Good thinking. This is the model of cycle car I wanted to build one day in the future. You seem to have thought of everything when it comes to the front suspension. Good job!
I find your approach to a 2 piece frame rail setup interesting. Let's you focus on the two ends without having to constantly deal with the end you are not working on at the time, especially if you are having to lift it up onto a workbench of some sort. Cannot wait to see how your front suspension performs. Thanks for the videos!
