Up 'til now I have been addressing the stuff I have come across in order to bring the Raybax up to a good sound condition. During the strip down I have come across several items that needed adjusting, mending or replacing. Some of them essential, some of them for the sake of being pretty.
Stripping down the bodywork exposed the frame and I was very pleased to see that no cracks or damage appeared when stripping the red paint off. I've already started doing the front of the chassis in black at the front. I'm using Tractol primer and gloss.
Some of the things that needed attention
rear axle breather
front axle
sidebars
exhaust system
This shot shows the novel, real wood, seat partition under the foam cushion that keeps driver and passenger apart.
I removed the axles and perhaps that's the best place to start with the modifications. In this shot below I have painted most of the frame and the rear axle is ready for cleaning and painting. I had thought of using a 2 pack paint, but the fact that I knew I would be welding a lot of bits to the frame put me off that idea as the Tractol paints are easy to touch up. The primer is black as well as the gloss. Not easy for making sure you have covered it well, but I thought it would be good for avoiding a scrappy look if the paint got chipped.
Rear Axle
Nothing to report really except that a glaring problem was that the breather was a simple hole in the casing.
This is because of the Honda engine. This range of engines turns anti-clockwise as opposed to the more normal clockwise of most other engines. This means that the propshaft turns the wrong way and the axle needs inverting for the wheels to turn in the right direction. Sounds wrong, but work it out.
This was the breather that had been drilled in what had been the underneath of the axle "banjo".
The original breather (now underneath) had been welded up.
The problem with this is that oil can be pumped out, and dirt can get in. I needed to fit a neck on there for a rubber hose to slide on to.
I cleaned the casing up and decided to weld an air line connector to cover the hole. I cut the threads off and used a rod inside it to hold it in the right position whilst I MIG welded it on.
Tidied up and painted it looked about right. Nothing else was needed except the coat of paint.
Front Axle
There wasn't a great deal to do to the front axle.
Except.
The welding wasn't the tidiest. I stripped the paint and removed the stub axles. That was one hell of a job. The king pins were stuck in the hub carriers and needed a lot of heat and hammering to get them to move.
One of the brackets on the bottom was twisted and had a cracked weld. It must have had one hell of a whack. I couldn't straighten it easily. That didn't matter as it was a ball joint that attached to it so the angle could easily be accommodated.
Once it was all clean I ground the welds back and then built them up with a stick welder so that I could get a pleasing finish. Probably not actually any stronger, but satisfying.
Side Bars
The old ones were a bit battered and to my eye were mounted too high at the front. I decided to make new ones which would be parallel to the chassis frame's bottom rail. The driver's-side rail supports the fiddle brakes and the other side rail supports the exhaust.
I decided to have four brackets plus the front mounting. These brackets would be smaller tubes welded to the chassis over which larger tube brackets on the side bars would slide.
The only bolted connection would be the shared with the front radius arm ball joint and the fiddle brakes mount at the rear, and a tab on the other side for a nut and bolt keeps the rear of that bar on. This would mean they were fairly easy to remove, if needed
.
This is just tack-welded when I was arranging it.
I was tempted to chrome these bars, but cost was a consideration.
Exhaust
There was nothing really wrong with the system except that it was a bit "wobbly" and it was clamped at the manifold so was difficult to seal properly. I don't like chuffy leaks on exhausts.
I welded the front pipe (a new one made up from odd bits I got from an exhaust fitter) to the manifold and made the joint at the silencer instead.
Still to do
- boot area and fuel tank
- bulkhead
- cooling system leaks
- electrics
- lack of sumpguard
- footwell floors
I'll deal with them in the next post.
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