ST4 back from the dead

Puckle · Jul 28, 2020

Had to fix windscreen wipers before painting new cab - the old spindles had completely rusted away along with the windscreen surround.
New Bug spindles (111-955-215/F ) fitted ok but were not quite the same and required new brass end pieces making for the link arms and small rotation stops spot welding to window surround.
The wiper motor was shot as well (brush mounting plate had rusted away) but I had one at the back of the shed that fitted after re-drilling the mounting holes - I think it was off an Audi A3 but not sure.

Snowy Rivers · Jul 28, 2020

The new crank assembly should make the wiper work nice.....
RUST.....THE MOST TERRIBLE STUFF

Puckle · Aug 5, 2020

Everything stripped off now so I can get at the chassis - needs new rear cross-member and new front axle carrier spindles but otherwise not too bad considering its suffered well over 50 Scottish winters!

Puckle · Aug 13, 2020

Right, that's got most of the chassis problems sorted, legs straightened, new body mounting rails, new front axle pivots and pins, new rear cross-member, new front spring mounting plates and new side plate fitted to axle housing. I need to turn it upside down now to complete the welding then shot blast and paint.

Puckle · Sep 3, 2020

finally manged to start getting paint on after hours of stripping and shot blasting- had to send the chassis out for the blasting as my compressor blew up just as I started and filled the blast pot with oil - very helpful!
Decided not to risk shot blasting ally panels so have used several gallons of paint stripper - managed to find one that still contains some DCM so still works - the picture of the two panels shows one with Nitromors and one with Sysnstrip - the Synstrip worked twice as fast and required fewer coats but still took forever to get through the ten layers that had accumulated.
The plan is to get everything covered with two coats of epoxy primer, and then assemble the whole body for primer filler/fairing then topcoat - hopefully the weather will hold out for long enough to finish the painting before it gets too cold.

Snowy Rivers · Sep 3, 2020

Going to be sweet looking when it's done.

Puckle · Oct 7, 2020

Finally got the body assembled and painted, driven me nuts with wrinkling, micro blisters, runs etc. - you just get one panel right and it then decides to pickle up somewhere else and it's back to the wet-n-dry to cut it all back. Still a bit disappointed with the finish but run out of patience now - I'll get back to mechanical things for a bit before I start to paint the hood, door slam plate etc.
All the panels have been assembled with polysulphide sealant to keep the moisture out - certainly sticks well - I had to dismantle all the rear panels and re-do them as when I came to fit the roof the alignment was miles out - that's a problem with an all bolted assembly - it goes together slightly different every time!

PJL · Oct 7, 2020

Incredible, hard to believe that's the same machine you started with.

KickerM · Oct 7, 2020

Amazing work!!!

m1west · Oct 7, 2020

coming right along.

Snowy Rivers · Oct 7, 2020

Fabulous job.....

Don't beat yourself up.....this machine is a sweetheart..

You have done a fabulous job of bringing it back from the valley of the shadow of death........ :thumbup:

Puckle · Oct 8, 2020

Thanks for the kind words guys

nikos · Oct 9, 2020

Snowy Rivers said:
Fabulous job.....

Don't beat yourself up.....this machine is a sweetheart..

You have done a fabulous job of bringing it back from the valley of the shadow of death........

YOU HAVE DONE AN EXCELENT WORK :hammer:

Nikos

Puckle · Oct 17, 2020

Been doing a bit of machining as a nice change from cleaning and painting - these are new suspension bushes in Delrin, an ultra high density acetal that is self lubricating, so does not need grease everywhere - may still re-fit the zerks though in case the spindles start to corrode.

Snowy Rivers · Oct 17, 2020

So nice to have machine tools.....

These projects are almost impossible without machine tools.

Mine would have been stopped dead without the lathe and the mill.

Looking great

Another great material for bushings is UHMW...."Ultra high molecular weight" polyethylene

Wears like iron....

Puckle · Oct 25, 2020

p****d off with poxy pickling paintwork so thought I would do a nice bit of detailing and fit the luggage rails and mats. I'm sure using Rhino liner paint would be more practical, but I don't think it would look as good as the ribbed rubber sheet and Ally trim. I also put the graphics on the side - I had downloaded the correct template from this forum, but it was easier to order them with a standard font rather than get the pdf file printed off and it seems a fairly close match.

Snowy Rivers · Oct 25, 2020

Little beast is looking GREAT......NICE WORK.

Puckle · Oct 29, 2020

Starting to put windows back in - tricky little job that turns out to be. Watched some video's on you tube with clever people putting them in with bits of string but couldn't get that to work at all - best method seemed to be putting the rubber around the opening then inserting the window from outside and using the strip inserting tool to pull the rubber out and over the glass whilst pushing it in. Inserting the sealing strip was ok with the correct tool but very tight - I could only find new rubber with 7mm web, slightly bigger than the original and supposedly only suitable for minimum 100mm radius corners (snow-tracs are 68mm). Got 5 originals back in so far, now waiting for some replacements to turn up that I have had made.

Puckle · Nov 10, 2020

Partially stripped down the engine to paint it and found the carb manifold heat riser tube blocked - read some stuff on Samba about burning the carbon out with oxygen but decided easiest way was to drill 5mm hole and spin a length of rod through it with the end bent over - this worked a treat and it was a simple job to weld the small hole up afterwards.
Not having much luck with this new format Doc has changed to - keeps saying pictures are too large - I'll try again later.

Puckle · Nov 10, 2020

Also, finally received 14 new small wheel rims that I ordered back in July - these are made by Vlukon in Netherlands and are slightly more robust than the originals - 3mm steel rather than 2mm - see drawing attached

Cidertom · Nov 10, 2020

what did you use for the tires on the new small wheels? And were the Vlukon rims a part that can be ordered, or were they special built for you?

Puckle · Nov 11, 2020

Hi Tom, I've used Trelleborg 100/100-4 (4.00-4) 6 PLY T539 TT - I've not had any experience with these but they are the correct size and are 6 ply so should be ok - they are also quite cheap over here - £26.00 each.
The Vlukon rims are a standard product - e-mail Hans Haas <h.haas@vlukon.nl> and he should be able to quote you - rims are ref 6991 and can be had in various RAL colors - I had silver and they were approx. 30 euro's each pair

Puckle · Nov 13, 2020

Had to re-size photo's to get them to upload but can now post pic of new wheel rims.

Puckle · Nov 13, 2020

I've finished tarting up the engine and gearbox, just need to modify the final drive sprockets to 16t before I put it back in the snow-trac

DAVENET · Nov 13, 2020

Tarted up indeed. Holy cow. :clap:

Puckle · Nov 14, 2020

Machined the drive sprockets today, bit daunting taking an angle grinder to a rare part but only way to do it

vintagebike · Nov 14, 2020

Taking orders? Nice six pence (not sure if the same as dime stack welds) weld Line. Steve in McCall Idaho

Puckle · Nov 14, 2020

Yeah, love stick welding- cant beat it for a good solid weld.

Snowy Rivers · Nov 15, 2020

The little critter is looking great.......very nice work on the sprocket swap.....and everything else too. :thumbup:

Puckle · Nov 15, 2020

Thanks Snowy, a bit more machining (my favorite part) today - skimmed a few thou off the variator discs, they were very pitted and were wearing the belt rapidly.

ST4 back from the dead

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