Some photos about the current state:
Monthly Archives: June 2014
Ka slowly losing part after part
Getting Ford Ka ready for the first start
Since the Ford Ka I acquired has had a front crash I needed to cut out the whole front body support structure to make enough room for the engine to run.
I also switched a new cooler and added a couple of things that were missing… Like air filter assembly, battery and starter motor. On the top of those one spark plug was completely missing and another was badly broken. Luckily I had agreed with the scrap yard that I can get parts from other Ford Ka’s to get one which is running and somehow drive-able. So I went to the scrap yard and got the parts I needed.
After installing all the needed I turned the ignition key and it started like nothing was wrong with it. 🙂 Here are two videos of the engine running:
Some cooling water was leaking because of not so good temporary hose joint with the internal heater block valve. That valve is made from plastic and it had broken at crash. I do have already one unbroken one, but did not bother to install that.
I very shortly test driven the car and all the gears were working and engine was running nicely. Even the brakes were working so I consider this to be a really good deal. 🙂
Next time I will start dismantling everything out from the car since I will build a completely new frame for my tractor and the car body will be mostly scrapped.
New insane project – DIY Tractor
Some weeks ago something was badly wrong with my morning coffee. After the breakfast I went out and the grass looked too long and lawn-moving exercise was awaiting. I started to think about drive-able lawn-movers and then the next thought was that am I able to build one by myself?
After some brainstorming I came to a conclusion that it would be possible to build. Then some time passed and actually the lawn-moving issue was solved since my dad purchased a robotic lawn-mover and the housing company where I live purchased a better more traditional lawn-mover (but with battery power) that was nice enough to use.
Everything seemed fine, but I was not able to drop the idea to build my own tractor or a kind of big garden tractor. The business case for the build is at least to my dad being able to do snow plowing easier and I’m able to tow what ever I need at my garage from one place to an another. Ok, I admit that the last reason is quite lame, but the first one holds better. 🙂
The DIY Tractor idea has matured to a state that I just couldn’t resist start working on it. The idea was to purchase some really cheap front wheel driven car where I will take the engine, gearbox, electricity things, etc… Basically all what makes the car move. After studying a bit what car to purchase I come to a conclusion that some small Ford which engine has timing chain instead of belt and it needed to have proper fuel injection system. So I ended up acquiring Ford Ka with Endura-E 1.3 engine (based heavily on Kent engine) from the local scrap yard:
Someone had crashed the front to something and at least cooler was broken and some electrical connectors as well. But at least this was a start…
Since it would be just too boring to be happy with front wheel driven or rear wheel driven car I had decided to make it 4×4. 😀
Basically the idea is to rotate the engine and gearbox 90 degrees so that the drive shafts will work as power output for front and rear diffs. Those diffs will also work as reduction gears so that there will be enough force and the tractor will not go too fast.
I already had two 4×4 Sierra rear diffs which I thought I could use. One which is a bit worn out and another that is at good condition that I have planned to keep as a spare for my Sierra. Since I did’n want to use the better diff which I had planned to keep as a spare I acquired rear wheel driven 1.6 CVH Sierra diff (same 3,92 ratio) from a guy very close by where I live. He had keep that stored for some future project which he had then decided not to do so it was available very cost efficient price. At the same time I also got two cardan axles and drive shafts:
So now I have all the major parts acquired and hopefully now it will be mostly work to make the DIY Tractor as reality. There are still some minor parts that I know I will need, but those can still wait until the project reaches proper state for them.
So this is the starting post for this insane project. More to follow soon… 😉
Couple of pictures from Sierra’s front drive shaft boot R&R
Winter sport takes its toll
Good enough for now
Seats are inside
I have been working on the camping trailer project almost every evening a short while, but have not taken any pictures about the progress. So here are a couple of not so good photos showing the current state with seats back inside:
Today I removed roof windows and mounted them back with proper sealing. Originally they were sealed with Blu Tack which hardens during the time or just melts/washes away somehow. Now I used Sikaflex 521 UV, which is UV resistant and really strong stuff, so I expect it to last almost forever. 🙂
Camping trailer starts at least to look more ready
Maybe not ready yet, but definitely getting there:
Those marks left by tape I will leave as they are for now. I will apply one layer of clear coat on the top of those and that’s it. It will be good enough solution. Let’s see if those bother me at the future or not, but since this is not a new or totally rebuilt camping trailer it don’t need to be perfect and some marks from the past can and will be there.
I will still apply some polyurethane foam spray to seal up certain things. Also window seals need to be improved a bit with some proper UV resistant mounting glue. The same glue I probably will apply to the outside corner seals since they tend to be leaky at some cases.
But hopefully soon I can start mounting seats and tables back like they were before. Other improvements to the audio system (and possible also video) I will make when other normal things are in. Same applies also to improving the electrical system in general.
Here is one picture of the front wall situation at the moment since I added this small piece of wood which will connect the side seats to the front wall:
This front wall backrest area I will apply the second layer of clear coat some near future.
Couple hours with the camping trailer project
I managed to squeeze a couple hours of quality time with the camping trailer project. That was enough to install the surface panel to the rear wall:
I also drilled rear light cable holes and mount holes + thread cables through their holes.
Next time I can install the heater block and the back panel that holds the table’s rear end.