Topic: 2008 AMRA Modified Flathead / ARMA Sportsman Build

[greenmachine]

Greenmachine and Nor66 ya gonna come down to our race Nov 17th.

I won't be able to make it with a mower but may come to watch... Good excuse to hook up the travel trailer and go camping again.

Gotta play it by ear with the funds and Mama's work schedule.

I didn't want to post in your "Race date" thread adn start it off on a negative note but I sure would like to see it become an annual event I could plan to race in.

[George Herrin]

Well everyone is welcome to attend race or watch. And if ya can we will be looking for ya.

[greenmachine]

Well all the parts look good, lets see how well you put them to use!!!!! Nah just jiving with you!! I wish I had a pile of parts like that when I started my build, Can't wait to see it come together!!!

Oh Talking S%^$ before the season even starts huh, I can take it and dish it out too

Hmmmmmm. Let's see if I might be able to put it together and make it work. (Here's some phycological warefare fer ya )

- 25 years of welding w/11 years welding, shipfitting and sheetmetal fabrication in the navy. Metal fab is my specialty.
- Wrenching on cars, trucks and tractors as a hobby and professionally for 27 years
- Autobody, paint and airbrushing since I was 14
- 8 years and over 1 million documented miles in an 18 wheeler running 48 and Canada and always up in the great white north in the snow and ice in the winters.
- 4 years of training truck drivers
- Schooled on skid control and taught it too.... Skid pads are fun
- Some training in evasive driving techniques
- 2 years of driving and escorting fuel tankers in combat - Awarded the Bronze Star and 2 Army Commendation medals for that crazy $%^@
- 2 years runningsportsman and prostocks on short tracks, dirt and asphalt
- 5 or 6 years working pit crews for late model super stocks
- Been restoring and parting out Riding Mowers and Garden tractors for about 10 years as a hobby and extra play money
- Studied Autocad drafting at ITT tech
- I'm a Retired Paratrooper from the Army 82nd Airborne Division after 5 years as a Petroleum Laboratory Technician...One of about 200 of the Army's mad scientists.

I might have a few skills that can help me put it together and make something happen.





Oh did I forget to mention I went to a race and met you ..... It was really a super secret covert spy mission

[Tom Fox]

Ya..but I slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night!



LOL

[greenmachine]

Ya..but I slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night!



LOL

  I don't care who you are, that's funny right there. Good answer.

[nor66]

 I would quote you but that is too much crap but I don't have a doubt you can build it!! and with all that experience I might be lucky you run in a different class but I the way I see it if add up all those years doing different things then you must be old as dirt  and that would be 1 advantage I may have over you!!!!

Greenmachine and Nor66 ya gonna come down to our race Nov 17th.

George I don't know if I can make that race because that is my anniversary weekend and the wife and I always plan a weekend somewhere, I doubt I could get her to go to a lawnmower race that weekend

[greenmachine]

I would quote you but that is too much crap but I don't have a doubt you can build it!! and with all that experience I might be lucky you run in a different class but I the way I see it if add up all those years doing different things then you must be old as dirt  and that would be 1 advantage I may have over you!!!!

Just remember .... Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill Got lotsa little tricks up my sleeves



Oh yea, almost forgot ..... I shaved my grey ZZ top beard and hair off a couple days ago for less weight and a better aerodynamic profile ... Y'all keep telling me every little bit adds up to one big thing

On a serious note. Being a first year on a Mower, there's no telling what will happen but my mowchine will be well prepared. I don't want be one of the ones out in the middle of the track on a pace lap trying to put the belt back on and other stupid stuff I saw that comes from poor preparation / build or simply a lack of it.

I'm building for reliability, consistancy and room to adjust for handeling. There's more speed in a chassis on short oval tracks than there is in the engine, you proved that yourself right in front of me with a stock V-twin, (if it really is like you say it is), Get some front brakes on that chassis and you'll prolly take the championship next year out driving much of the class more than you already are in the turns.

Just try not to belly surf on the bales anymore.

[nor66]

  OH yea I know you will do good part of the game is staying to the finish it sure has helped me this year, And with a stock motor (and honest to GOD it is bone stock other than governor unhooked and exhaust mods) reliability has saved me and having the right gear to keep up, just keep following the great advice on here and you will do well your first year out I promise you that!!!


Oh yea I would much rather belly surf on those hay bales they are a lot softer than the clay trust me I have been there also

[greenmachine]

OH yea I know you will do good part of the game is staying to the finish

Yep DNF doesn't score points. Ain't as much fun being broke in the pits either.

Got a little more work done today.

Cut the excess axle mount off of the front to even it up with the rest of the frame


Aligned one of the rear panels with the front, bolted it up, checked and adjusted it to get it perfectly straight and cut both side frame rails with the chop saw.


Told ya I do pretty work. 15* angle cut for the rear and 11* angle on the front of the 3/4" 14 gauge square tube. Fits like a glove.
   

Better get my behind back on the kitchen remodel tomorrow.. at least during the day... Mama ain't too happy about me running for steel and working on this ALL day today At least it's close to being finished. She doesn't mind it so much when I play with my toys if I at least show a little progress in the kitchen each day.

[nor66]

Yea you better keep her happy!! she won't let you play. anyway its looking good so far!

[greenmachine]

Got a little accomplished tonight.......after working on the kitchen remodel to keep Mama happy this afternoon 

Assembled the frame, aligned the rear side panels so they are straight, bolted in the rear panel, tacked in the 3/4" 14 gauge sqare tube and installed the tranny plate.

I'm using a small flux core MIG welder for the light tacks (I really hate flux core welding) and my SWAW welder with ER7014 3/32" rod for the finish welds... Looks 1000% better than flux core welds and I trust the welds a lot more. IMHO flux core welds seem far too porus for my liking and my little 110v craftsman MIG just doesn't have the amperage to weld much more than thin sheet and get good penetration.


Got the Bushing tack welded into the tranny plate and will finish weld it and the chassis tomorrow evening.


Here's a little tech tip for ya....... When welding near threaded holes, put a sacrificial bolt in them to keep slag and spatter out of them so you won't have to chase the treads with a tap later.


Man ain't that a purty weld. One reason I really like ER7014 welding rod, another reason is the slag comes off easy too. NOTE: This rod likes clean metal.

[Scurry Murry]

25 years of welding w/11 years welding

Not sure what that means

Hmm..

And thats all you have to show?   


Looks good anyway.

Nice looking build so far.

[greenmachine]

Thank you

Read that as 25 years of welding experience w/11 years of it spent welding, shipfitting and sheetmetal fabrication while i was in the Navy before I and got stupid and joined the Army and decided to become a Paratrooper and go through infantry basic when I was 36 years old. 

[mowdak1]

Oh Talking S%^$ before the season even starts huh, I can take it and dish it out too

Hmmmmmm. Let's see if I might be able to put it together and make it work. (Here's some phycological warefare fer ya )

- 25 years of welding w/11 years welding, shipfitting and sheetmetal fabrication in the navy. Metal fab is my specialty.
- Wrenching on cars, trucks and tractors as a hobby and professionally for 27 years
- Autobody, paint and airbrushing since I was 14
- 8 years and over 1 million documented miles in an 18 wheeler running 48 and Canada and always up in the great white north in the snow and ice in the winters.
- 4 years of training truck drivers
- Schooled on skid control and taught it too.... Skid pads are fun
- Some training in evasive driving techniques
- 2 years of driving and escorting fuel tankers in combat - Awarded the Bronze Star and 2 Army Commendation medals for that crazy $%^@
- 2 years runningsportsman and prostocks on short tracks, dirt and asphalt
- 5 or 6 years working pit crews for late model super stocks
- Been restoring and parting out Riding Mowers and Garden tractors for about 10 years as a hobby and extra play money
- Studied Autocad drafting at ITT tech
- I'm a Retired Paratrooper from the Army 82nd Airborne Division after 5 years as a Petroleum Laboratory Technician...One of about 200 of the Army's mad scientists.

I might have a few skills that can help me put it together and make something happen.





Oh did I forget to mention I went to a race and met you ..... It was really a super secret covert spy mission

Hmmmmmm.... that would make you 117 years old, not?!

[greenmachine]

Hmmmmmm.... that would make you 117 years old, not?!

I'm good at multi-tasking