Re getting at the adjusters I would have thought once you have got it right then you wont need to get at them or are you thinking adjust when trailer on and off? Get the nose weight right and you should be OK on your normal setting (I think).

Agreed - once nose weight is correct, the settings should be fine, and any difference in height / loading can also be adjusted by the sway aways.

Looking forward to seeing this at Stoneleigh, then the bright ideas for that oil filler will pour out - bring a note book 

Note book ?  Surely you mean hacksaw, pipebender and tools 

Would be very interested to hear your design thoughts though - get your thinking cap on, and I`ll bring a beer 

Dont forget a very long lead for the welder

Dont forget a very long lead for the welder

It will have to be a really long lead, as I remember what Stoneleigh wanted to charge me for electricity last year   

Gaz adjustment is easy with a pair of long nose pliers from underneath when the adjusters are towards the rear of the buggy, I considered holes in the shock mount and a screwdriver slot in the adjustment knob but it is not worth the effort.

Its amazing how many other jobs need doing once you start something else. 

When we did the cruise across Dartmoor, I recall Flags telling me that my indicators at the rear were pretty much invisible. As this was an LED conversion that I carried out a while back, replacing the LED`s that I had to something better would not really be much of a drama, provided I could find something suitable to use instead.

You have undoubtedly seen the flashing amber marker lights that are fitted to the front grilles of the utility vehicles, but you may not be aware of the kit that they come in. A control box to give the different types of flashes, sequential, all at once, alternating, etc etc, and a number of LED Pods that contain the lights themselves. If you have carried out an LED indicator conversion using dedicated relays, or the large 50W resistor packs, then you will be pleased to know that you can actually use the majority of these pods without affecting the flash rate of your lights.





The pod shown top right was a little too large for me to hide within my light cluster, so I dismantled it and sliced it in half to reduce the thickness.





Fitted and working just nicely





And once the rear lens is back on, you would never know that it has been converted






Thankfully, there is an electrician here today wiring up a few extra sockets in the workshop, because at the moment my soldering iron is sharing a plug socket with the kettle, and every time the iron gets up to temperature, its time to unplug it to put a brew on.

Right. Thats pretty much all of the silly little jobs done now, and time to tackle the one that I have been dreading. I cannot put it off any longer, I need the car on the road, which means I need to sort out an exhaust system.

Major Problem Number 1)
There are just no tools here to fabricate anything and Bill is still up to his neck in bricks and mortar trying to make the building sound. This workshop is a long way off from being watertight, let alone functional, and the old workshop no longer has Bill. Need to consider other options.

Major Problem Number 2)
Before anyone says to go to Beelzedub - sadly for me, each round trip is over 550 miles, so even allowing 4 visits for design, delivery, collection and fine tweeking, this exhaust could potentially rack up around 2K miles. Besides, its winter, its cold and I`m just too busy with work.

Major Problem Number 3)
Although my welding is coming on leaps and bounds now, it still isn`t that terriffic, and making an exhaust is probably beyond my skills.

Solution:

Buy an exhaust   

Who was I kidding? Buy an Exhaust . . . . . . . .     No, Seriously, You can`t   

My recent problems with sourcing an Alternator highlighted a problem with this style of what is actually a very desireable engine.

And by this style, I mean the Type4 / Type25 / CU / CT / CJ / Stationary / Porsche 914 call it what you will -  there are lost of variants, all with their subtle differences, incompatible and non interchangeable yet almost identical looking parts, but virtually nothing listed anywhere for any of them with regards to an aftermarket exhaust system. The best I could come up with was a set of J-Tubes to replace those god-awful heat exchangers, but still meant hanging a set of pipes out the back, pretty much as I have now - just better looking.

But that was not all - most of the exhaust manifold ports on those engines are oval in shape, meaning that there is an exceptionally limited range of exhausts and bits available.

If however, like me, you have the square shaped ports, then your range of exhausts is simply "zero" - they just don`t exist.

Looks like buying an exhaust is not on the cards then - this means fabricating something, and that puts me back to square one.

Ok then - what criteria do I have for my exhaust? I guess that its comes down to aesthetics (how it looks) and performance.

Everybody has their own ideas, and that is what makes this brilliant. There is no wrong answer. For me, however, the first bit is easy - It has to be Dual Cannons - I love Cannons, I really liked the look of my old, long, ceramic Cannons, and as an added bonus, they didn`t look like a pair of bike cans. For me they look the best. However, even adding a pair of simple Cannons is not as easy as you may think. Huge apologies to most of you reading this, but many of you have lots of pipework hanging out at the back, and its really not my thing. Yes, I fully understand why its there, but it just doesn`t float my particular boat. I like the simple cannons that come out either side.

Starting at the very beginning, I needed some exhaust flanges, and good old Mike was on hand to source me a set - in fact, I ordered two sets as I knew from that start that I was going to balls this up - (I still have a spare set unblemished if anyone is interested). I gave Mike a call to pick his brains and ask for some advice, and all I could hear was coughing, spluttering, and what sounded like the need for medical intervention, but as this was intermixed with hysterical and uncontrollable laughter, I knew that he was ok. I must have caught him at a bad time, and he obviously had something else going on to make with that sort of reaction.





To make a round pipe fit a square hole, some adapters were required, like these. CSP sell a set of these ready assembled for around 300 Euros, which was somewhat expensive, especially as the rest of the system was going to have to be fabricated by hand anyway - might as well spend the 300 Euros on fire extinguishers, because when my welder gets going, they will be needed.





In my head, I recalled a picture that Farmer rob posted of Muzzy`s engine with a pair of scruffy cannons on it - and I reckoned that I would try and build something similar. I mean, a Demon Tweeks catalogue would sort the silencers, I had access to a pipe bender, I have a big welder . . . . . . .

How hard can this be?   

Do something temporary and simple live a small silencer on each cylinder no need for welding up 2 or 4 into one joints. Down out of tne head a u bend back up by the rockers and a 90 bend to exit rear with a silencer. Joints can be clamped apart from the down pipe to u.
It will give you time to get something sorted that does not hang out the rear.


When i did mine years ago i used the standard heat exchanger inlets cut off to weld the system to beneath the engine.

 

Snoopy, after all that I have been through these last few months of tearing my hair out with this exhaust, what you have just suggested is so simple, so easy, and four separate pipes coming out the back would have been a brilliant solution.

I only wish you had said that to me 3 months ago   

[Exhaust fabrication is a real black art and best left to the professionals.]

Well, in fairness, its actually very hard indeed - Exhaust fabrication is a real black art and best left to the professionals.

I came to this conclusion very quickly, as I had a real nagging doubt running through my mind - nothing to do with my capabilities, but more because Cannon exhausts are generally despised by the majority as they simply do not perform that well. More research was needed, especially as I was going to have to make such a significant effort on this, and it would be a shame if I was simply wasting my time.



Exhaust Witchcraft is an exhausting and often baffling subject, but there are a few golden rules. The length of the pipes coming out of the manifold (called primaries) is dependent on the performance characteristics of not only the engine setup, but required performance too, but it is very important that they are all of equal length. I could see from my old ceramic cannons in the garage, that these have just failed by at least 6 inches, and there are only two pipes. Even the preferred design of 4 pipes going into one big pipe had to be arranged in a certain shape to ensure that the air vortexes actually speed up the air flow rather than causing turbulence that can slow down the air flow. And the order the pipes are arranged (proper term is collected) is dependent on the firing order of the engine. My engine fires 1-4-3-2 which means you collect the gasses in that order. OK, I get that too. But, those cylinder numbers are diagonally opposite each other on a flat four engine which means that each side is fighting with each of its cylinders rather than working together. This is why a 4 into one exhaust performs significantly better on a VW engine. There is nothing to stop that 4 into one pipe splitting into two Cannons afterwards, and now looking at pictures of Buggies on here with Mikes exhausts, I can now appreciate all the pipework even more. There just is not anywhere else to put it. Actually, not strictly true, because Farmer Rob has his collector above his engine, and the stunning exhaust that Mike created for Allan`s Buggy is pure exhaust porn.

I`m beaten - I just cannot make this on my own knowing how bad it is going to be.   


But . . . . . .     I can hear Bill laughing at me . . . .   

Ya daft Bugger, Wait until we are set up, Lets design and build you a Powercraft Exhaust, it`ll be worth the wait, and it will be the b*ll*cks  of a system


This was Bills plan all along   

There is always my man in cullompton Dave.

Thanks Manxrod, but all sorted - pictures to follow very shortly 

Dave, I have been thinking, yes I know it is dangerous  But then your exhaust posts got deleted. Am I right in thinking that you are linking 1 and 4 exhaust and 2 and 3? If you are I think I might, I stress might, have some bad news.

Rob

Blimey Rob, you sent me in a panic there   

No worries though, Yes, they are connected 1&4 and 3&2 and I am assured by my exhaust guru that all is good