building a small groomer puller

_FIII · Post by **_FIII** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:42 pm

Pete, if you know someone with a hand brake or press brake, the Lexan can be bent without heat. You just have to over bend it because it flexes back. Adding a little heat with a paint stripper will make it go a little easier though.

Good luck.

Mr. Deere · Post by **Mr. Deere** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:04 pm

No problem ended up giving it to the guy at work for the loader. Cant wait to see the finished product. Good Luck.

larky · Post by **larky** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:21 am

A thought I had about aluminum was how well it will channel the heat away from the cab. may not even feel the heat from the heater.

Liquifire 4/6 · Post by **Liquifire 4/6** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:40 pm

Harvest is finally wrapped up around here. Man, it just dragged on forever, but I'm finally back at working on this thing. I'm starting to wonder if I'll have it finished this winter. I spent the last couple days constructing a dashboard/heater air duct. Made it out of 1/8" plastic puckboard. I needed some air vents for the heater/defroster and didn't know what I could find. Then I thought of a buddy who is into demo cars. His preference is big Fords and Mercs, so I went over to his place and scored a couple dash panels from Grand Marquis sedans and hacked them up. Just finished gluing the vent housings in place and it looks like it'll work ok

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Picture_184.jpg (152.72 KB)

Mr. Deere · Post by **Mr. Deere** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:26 pm

Thats looks like it would blow you out of the Machine.

b00stinGTP · Post by **b00stinGTP** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:28 pm

This machine is truly amazing! It takes a lot of skill to be able to fab something like that up!

Liquifire 4/6 · Post by **Liquifire 4/6** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 11:21 pm

Thanks b00stin and Bob. A good buddy of mine came over this morning and helped me all day to fab up the tunnels. We have them temporarily mounted, so now I can get to work on the firewall and the radiator air plenum. My friend also whipped up a really nice looking expansion chamber mounting cradle that's gonna work like a charm. This was the first time I had anybody assisting me with this project.....and it was awesome to have two of us monkeys working on it as we made some decent progress on it today. Unfortunately, I realized tonight that the chaincase I spent many hours on back in April is going to be too short to allow proper clearance for the drive chain....so it looks like I'll be making a new one about three inches taller. That's just how it seems to work around here.....5 steps forward and three back. Oh, and Bob, if it's ok with you, I'm not going to paint the carbs

Post by **ICCSF 108** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 12:30 am

Pete, wheres some more pictures??

Kenny

Mr. Deere · Post by **Mr. Deere** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:30 pm

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Very funny. I guess well have to see what happens.

Liquifire 4/6 · Post by **Liquifire 4/6** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 7:44 pm

Kenny.......I seem to be havin probs getting any good pictures under the 200 KB maximum size allowed in here. I don't have any photoshop program to reduce my pics. Hence, the only pics I can post are small crappy ones, usually showing only parts of the machine. When I start getting it close to done, maybe I'll email some pics to Matt for him to post for me. Spent all day today building a RH window frame that opens. My entry door is on the LH side, so I figured I should have at least one opening window on the opposite side of the machine to use as an escape route in case I ever end up tipping the sled on the drivers door side. Here's a couple shots that are under 200 KB, but they're pretty lousy.

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Post by **Matt** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:15 pm

For a while after the forum update, the 200KB limit was not in place. I guess it is now. How about signing up for a photobucket account?

Jack Frost · Post by **Jack Frost** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:05 pm

Try this one.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/

Liquifire 4/6 · Post by **Liquifire 4/6** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:49 pm

Thanks Matt & Dave for the tips. I'll see if this works.

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shrinkpic.jpg (21.4 KB)

Liquifire 4/6 · Post by **Liquifire 4/6** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:04 am

I'm starting to think I've become obsessed with getting this thing finished. It's a sunday and I've been up since 4:00 am getting the exhaust mounting completed and making a cardboard mock-up on part of the side console.

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Liquifire 4/6 · Post by **Liquifire 4/6** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:34 am

Another pic of the inside of the cab and one of this morning's accumulation of "thinking compound"....man, I gotta quit that stupid habit. I still haven't get around to finishing the plastic dashboard and RH console. I'll be painting them with the same stuff that I used on the overhead instrument cluster....kinda a textured silver/grey plastic paint. I won't install the heater vents until final assembly cause the little plastic retainers that clip them in place are so darn easy to break when you remove them......I found that out the hard way...had to tear apart the dashboards of 3 Grand Marquis and 1 Crown Vic to get the five unbroken ones I need (and each car had four dash vents).

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