Michael Richard's Journal

Finally came to the conclusion that the Jappic has to be done right, so I'm tabling it for now and starting on an Austin 7 Special. I've acquired most of the parts for the front axle/suspension, but am waiting on the DOM tubing for the axle end pivots. I've ground out the ends of the 1 5/8 straight axle to accomodate them at 5 degrees KPI. I went conservative on this as the general consensus is that while it does make a difference, not so much on the light front ends on these Karts. Axle without ends is 30.5 inches with the kingpin mounts it should be 31 7/8. I'll build the caster in with the radius arm brackets that will give me some adjustment on this. I went kinda backwards from the norm in that the spindles are made of 3 inch 1/4 steel "C" brackets that will have a reinforcing plate welded to them, and then the 3/4" stub axle will be drilled through, installed from the back and welded in there. I'm hoping that this will take any weakness from welding and place it on the non- load bearing back of the spindle bracket. We'll see.

Well the Kart build table is almost ready. Sanded the top, and now throw a coat of paint on it. Scored a Wagner power steamer at Goodwill today for $7.00 so wood bending is in the works. Will try it on a few plywood pieces before diggin in. I've almost gotten started getting started. LOL

Well I now have both a table saw and a bandsaw. Not of the highest quality mind you, but I have finally reached a point where a space is cleared in the barn, saw horses are made, I've acquired a stainless steel medical table to do fiberglass work on and things are reaching a closing on the build supply parts list. So hopefully this project will actually see some fabrication going on soon. No hurry as the budget is small, but my scrounging abilities are legendary. LOL So now we will see if I have any woodworking skills.

Looks like no + or - camber in this photo. If there is it can't be much.

OK finally I have settled on the wheels for the Jappic cyclekart. Believe me it ain't been easy. I kept going back to the scaling software I was using and came up with 18 inch wheels, so I looked some up and was watching them on Ebay, but something just kept nagging me. What nagged me was that magic number 17 that everyone is so hooked on. So in the spirit of the thing I started searching some more and found Honda cr80 17 inch front wheels for the front. They had a disc brake but the flanges for the disc mount can be machined off to give it that no front brake look, because the original had no front brakes. The rears were more standard fare so no need to go there. I have been scheming on a new way to mount the rears and will probably make my own flange mounts. I'll advise as time goes on, but I just can't feel comfortable with the standard mounting even though it is rather inexpensive, and torture tested. Unrelated, I have decided to incorporate a manual drum auxiliary rear brake/parking brake in the car making parking on a hill more comfortable and not having to prop it against something to keep it from rolling off. I don't run very fast anymore unless under direct fire, which seems to alleviate( although momentarily) all lack of speed and pain from old injuries.
I've pretty much got the front end sorted out on paper. Straight axle 1 1/2x.095 wall DOM tubing, bottom of said mounts to the forward spring ends and top mounts to the friction shocks via control arm and heim joints, which will allow me to tinker in the right caster angle. The KPI because of the mounting won't be much, and I've looked the original photo's over carefully and it doesn't look like it has any camber angle at all. Odd that by what I have read here so discussion is open on that. Toe in will be moderate because of the extended wheelbase, but I can tinker that in as needed. I have decided to step outside the original formula set out in the holy scriptures in a very few ways. Wheelbase is going to be long. It was in the original and I've cut it as much as I dare and keep the look that I love so much. O.A. length is outside the norm also because of this and that long swooping tail, again something I just love, long swooping tails, sounds nice doesn't it? I have also decided to ad a whiskey flask and holder for those moments when the driver will need comforting, or for medicinal purposes such as snow snake bites. More later.

I took a photo of Dennis Thomas' kart build and did a little (what might very loosely be termed) art work on it to get an idea of where this thing will be going. Now if memory serves his karts are around 66 inch wheelbase. The drawings I have so far are 72 inch WB. So the photo is kinda cramped lengthwise and it bothers me no end, but this does give me a visual reference to judge by.Still up in the air on the wheels but since I've made no concrete decision there should be no concrete discussion on that. It's merely something to get my head around the body shape which is almost a modified lake racer drop tank car. I can work aluminum a bit, but I have more knowledge and more friend resources to draw on with fiberglass, and have recently found a way to make the final resin coat look like real aluminum so there is that advantage. I have an E mail into a leaf spring manufacturer of very lightweight trailer springs of the slip variety and am hopeful they come through with a more weight correct spring. I'm kinda feeling I bit off more than I can chew as the internals are going to resemble a barn built Supermarine Spitfire. LOL I could throw the thing together and probably still smile from behind the steering wheel, but I just have to challenge myself on this after all those years of racing. No I'm not building it to race, but I do want to smile at the things hidden under the skin as much as those everyone see's.