Mini-Vee: 1/3 scale Humvee, go kart and yard mule (now with 450HP diesel)

[dremu]

Some random pics, not really in any order:

Occasionally, with care, I *can* do fairly precise woodwork. These are door stops; they go against the seat back at one angle but the back of the door is another angle.

The tub and the frame separated. At this stage I can mostly shift the tub solo, or at least flip it over to work on it.

Couldn't find a horn button sized to mount to the steering wheel, as there's a big nut right in the middle of it. (As opposed to when I'm driving it, where there's a big nut in the seat.) A bit of CAD work, and 3D printed up a plastic puck that goes under the nut but over the other fasteners, and is sized for a generic Dorman horn button. Like Spaceballs: The Flamethrower, the kids will love this.

That's a 2" NPT PVC adapter, threaded to sleeve, and then a 3D printed flange on the bottom. Left is a 3D printed mushroom cap for it, threaded inside to match. What the hell is it?

Why, a hood snorkel, of course. Sadly it's non-functional, 'cuz it seemed silly to run an intake hose all the way from the hood, down under the tub, back to the trunk to the motor. But HMMWV's have the snorkel, so mine's gotta have a snorkel.

That's the front bumper, all three feet or so of it. It's 1/4" plate, doubled up on the ends. Shackle tabs are 1/2" thick, mostly to look right with the shackles, which were the smallest ones they had at the Despot. Sometimes I think this thing should be called "Homer" like the Home Depot mascot and painted orange, I've spent so much time and $$ there.

I imagine the shackles will only ever be used to tie the thing down in a trailer or truck bed, as it won't have enough traction to actually pull anything. Regardless, they're solidly mounted right at the end of the frame rails. Cut a slot for the winch cable, bit bigger than the fairlead so the cable won't rub. Gotta be nice to my $17 synthetic cable Like the shackles, the winch won't likely see much use, as it's generally easier just to push the thing by hand. I could foresee using the winch to load it into a trailer or truck bed though.

 

[UpnAdam]

Cool details!

 

[dremu]

Cool details!

Thanks! The devil, as they say, is in the details, but I'm hoping that they'll make the project stand out enough to outweigh the shortcomings. Plus it's just fun. I spend a bit of time in the shop just laughing. Even if the snarky teenager keeps looking at it and saying "How adorable!" (He'll still drive it though )

Found a coupla more random pix of the hinges:

Those are the door hinges. Center pin is 3/8" rod, fits into 1/2" x 3/8" tube (ie .500 OD .063 wall) welded on top but open on the bottom, so you just pull up on the door to remove it. Some 1" wide flat bar on the side, et voila, custom hinges.

The tailgate latches are similar, but the pin pulls out and is welded to a random bit of chain so as not to get lost.

 

[campfire]

Bump.

This is really neat!

 

[dremu]

Bump.

This is really neat!

Thanks! And yes, there's progress, just haven't had time to organize the photos and write up more continued silliness.

That said, it's pronounced "project", but it's spelled "excuse to buy tools." This time around, there's been prodigious use of a minor tool

namely the right-angle adapter. Actually, there's been near-constant use of the drill-as-screw-gun too. Coupla times I've had to borrow the spare charger/battery from the house and run two chargers at once to keep up But that 90* adapter is a life-saver. You can run drill bits as well as drive bits, anything with the 1/4 hex drive, and it has a magnet in it to keep the bit in. And with a real short drive bit, it'll fit almost anywhere, which is a godsend when your fasteners are poorly placed because the guy who designed the thing didn't think it all the way through That may be the biggest problem with a scratch build like this: the only guy to blame ... is me

The big ticket tool this time around, however, is a bender. No, not the "bite my shiny metal ass" kind

but the JD Squared kind that makes your UPS delivery guy somewhat peeved with you:

It doesn't look like much, but between that and the fourth box that came later, that was over 150 pounds of very densely packed, very solid steely goodness.

Because powder-coated 1/2" and 3/4" thick steel is, you know, pr0n-worthy.

Dug out the hammer-drill to make some holes in the floor, blew them out good

and concrete-epoxied some barrel nuts in. When not in use, there's a set of screws with the recessed hex drive to put in to keep crap out of the holes.

All fairly standard stuff for floor mounting tools. It doesn't look it, but that's a 5/8" bolt, so the bender is solidly, I mean SOLIDLY, mounted. Pretty sure that in a pinch I could use that as a recovery point in my driveway should I need to winch a truck into the shop. Donno why I would, it's level ground and could just push, but in case the lot somehow tilts itself...

 

[dremu]

I hesitate to call it a roll bar, but it *is* tied to the frame and should hold the vehicle up, in case of the kart somehow being inverted. (Again with the earth somehow tilting underneath us :-? ) It's 1.5 OD .125 wall, so I think of it more as a light bar. If nothing else, the kart being sideways would make baby jeebus cry because all the wood filler would fall out.

Try not to look too closely at the angles, as my excuse of "it's a trick of the camera" may not hold up. Remember this was my first attempt at bending and I was definitely learning on the go.

I did at least manage to get the thing fairly square, but for once I mis-measured too LONG so it's way tall in this picture. The legs get trimmed down later.

Actually using one of DIY4X Kert's products in its intended purpose, the staked cage flanges.

Here the feet sandwich the trunklid, with the light bar on top and then runners below that go to the frame.

Total overkill, I know, but obviously without the lower "cage" the plywood body would just crush if the kart were to get sideways. This way it would splinter some but should still hold around the junction point and afford *some* protection. Plus this thing is wide enough -- and slow enough! -- that I'm not quite sure HOW you'd get it to flip. (Never underestimate a teenager though!)

The frame rails were done with the C facing out, which makes it easier to weld inside ... but the runners come to the outside, makes a beeyotch to attach. I ended up hand-notching them with the grinder, not entirely pretty.

A prodigious amount of booger welding will be required later to hold them in place.

 

[dremu]

Put 180*+ degree dies to work on some 1" tube

and some flat bar

I thought it would be easy to line up the center pieces to the ends, but it turns out they don't align for crap, no matter how much clamping and fiddling I did. Again, first time bending, not bad, but I shoulda just done two long U shapes and then sleeved them together in the center to keep them perfectly aligned.

You can sorta see clevis pins on the flat bar, and then they hinge on the bottom. Tabs weld onto the front bumper, and then the brushguard folds down to allow the hood to open (again, like a real Hummer, an ergonomic disaster)

and finally

Like everything else on this vehicle, from ten or fifteen feet away though, it looks just fine and brings a smile to the face. It's just ... funny.

 

[dremu]

Finally, I got clever and tried to make exhaust to run from the muffler on the motor (which is right under the trunklid) to under the rear bumper. This resulted in a number of what @Greg72 might charitably describe as "tuition pieces"

but eventually led to a simple piece, here coated in BBQ paint to cover a few remaining sins.

 

[ashman]

ah, yes... BBQ paint made my exhaust look "decent" as well. It covers a lot, thankfully.

 

[skunked]

downside of the caliper being located on the jackshaft is the potential loss of brakes if you lose the axle chain.

 

[campfire]

downside of the caliper being located on the jackshaft is the potential loss of brakes if you lose the axle chain.

My first thought, too.

You're handing this off to your teenager, right?

 

[dremu]

downside of the caliper being located on the jackshaft is the potential loss of brakes if you lose the axle chain.

Hmm, fair point, and one I'd not considered. One would also lose engine braking, and motive power, in that instance. Though sticking your foot out the door Flintstones-style would lead to a broken leg, I think it would coast to a stop easily enough. Damn thing weighs more than it should, all that wood putty.

#35 chain sure *seems* sturdy but I spose I could do a second gear/chain set for redundancy if it becomes a worry. Geared as it is, it's slow enough that my riding mower goes faster (admittedly, the mower is like 22hp and I suspect weighs less!) Should I regear for higher top speed, though, I'll re-examine the brakes. Maybe two calipers on the axle proper

-- A

 

[campfire]

Hmm, fair point, and one I'd not considered. One would also lose engine braking, and motive power, in that instance. Though sticking your foot out the door Flintstones-style would lead to a broken leg, I think it would coast to a stop easily enough. Damn thing weighs more than it should, all that wood putty.

#35 chain sure *seems* sturdy but I spose I could do a second gear/chain set for redundancy if it becomes a worry. Geared as it is, it's slow enough that my riding mower goes faster (admittedly, the mower is like 22hp and I suspect weighs less!) Should I regear for higher top speed, though, I'll re-examine the brakes. Maybe two calipers on the axle proper

-- A

There's no kill like overkill, eh?

 

[skunked]

It does look to be slow enough where it's probably not a big issue, on flat ground anyway.

We could lose a chain on our carts as kids, usually because we bent a sprocket, broke a chain or the engine vibrated lose but we probably would have crashed if we lost brakes. Then again we lived in the hills and we hauled ass everywhere on those carts.

 

[dremu]

There's no kill like overkill, eh?

I'd agree, except I'm not convinced that a 6.5hp motor has enough oomph to bust a chain. Even when pulling me the fat man.

Honestly, I won't know until the body is done and I start driving it around fully kitted. Plus I drive like an old lady -- I'm more worried about the kid driving, he is fearless, drives like a teenager who doesn't know any better

-- A

 

[campfire]

As @skunked said, it's not just about breaking the chain. Chains jump off sometimes. I'm not sure how fast this thing goes, but if the lawn mower is faster, you probably aren't overly concerned with brakes.

Unless, of course, your land stops being flat.

 

[dremu]

As @skunked said, it's not just about breaking the chain. Chains jump off sometimes. I'm not sure how fast this thing goes, but if the lawn mower is faster, you probably aren't overly concerned with brakes.

Unless, of course, your land stops being flat.

We do have an earthquake problem here in CA.

According to the GPS speedo on my phone, the kart goes all the way to a very Nigel Tufnel-esque eleven, as in 11MPH. That was flat out down the driveway, and without suspension, was as exciting as I want to get The slightest bump made me pucker myself right to the vinyl seat, and the breeze was more invigorating than I needed.

I'm way behind on posting pictures and commentary, been doing actual work for my job and sneaking in time on the kart. The cover image has been updated as a teaser, but here's some video of today's test runs:

The most illuminating bit of today was weighing the thing. Now, I admit we just stuck a bathroom scale under each corner and added the four, which isn't likely to be perfect ... but assuming it's anywhere near accurate, the damn thing weighs over 800 pounds unloaded That it moves at all with so little power driving it is amazing (as compared to my John Deere, which weighs like 450# and has a 22hp or so motor.)

-- A

 

[Justin V]

LS swap

 

[dremu]

LS swap

I'd need seatbelts to go any faster.

-- A

 

[beags86]

Nitrous.