TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:55 am

Nice ,,looks 'weather proof' :wink: :lol:

Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:26 am

That is the hope, we will see how it actually turns out.

Been super busy and haven’t had the time to touch the project in almost a month!

Finally got around to it this weekend and got mounts for the dash welded on and painted up. Also drilled the last holes for the dash as well. I decided to use rubber Well Nuts to mount it in order to get some vibration damping for the gauges, etc. Also started mounting up a couple big warning lights and switches. Big lights are good, hard to miss them when they light up.

Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:42 am

Looks good! Is it red for oil and orange for the alternator?

Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:15 am

In my mind I had it the other way around, but yeah, that is the idea. One for oil, one for alternator.

Tue Mar 19, 2019 1:40 pm

Ooooh yeah gotta love it! If you do a fly-over of my build you'll see how much I appreciate machined instrument panels. I appreciate them very much. :-)

Wed Mar 20, 2019 4:40 am

Vanapplebomb wrote: In my mind I had it the other way around, but yeah, that is the idea. One for oil, one for alternator.

Red for oil and orange for alternator is not a bad idea. Since you are running a type 4 if you lose a fan belt it's not a huge deal, just running on battery power since the fan is on the crank. If you lose oil pressure though, you want that red light as bright as possible, flashing, and alarms going off :lol:

Wed Mar 20, 2019 8:48 am

Those are good ideas guys, I may flip-flop the location of the red and orange lights so the oil stays by the oil pressure/temp gauges. I was thinking oil looked kinda orange, so I was going to roll with that, but you are probably right, red may grab my attention quicker than orange.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Jimmy, would you believe I free handed all the holes accept for the three largest ones? I used a drill press for those. Sadly, my drill press is rather undersized, and only has a JT3 taper, so the chuck popped off four times while drilling the 4-1/4” hole for the Speedo. :lol: :lol: :lol: looking for something with a MT4, preferably an old boxed column drill.

Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:14 am

Yeah I remember fighting my REALLY little drill press too before I got my mill. With big holesaws, the second that thing starts to scream you just wait for that chuck to loosen on the taper arbor. In your search for box-column presses, don't rule out the idea of "accidentally" finding a reasonably priced small milling machine. You're up there in an epicenter of manufacturing and there's all sorts of good stuff floating around. There, and down in Ohio/Indiana.

Wed Mar 20, 2019 1:14 pm

I have had my eye one a few milling machines in fact. A Wells Index mill (made locally) went for just over a grand here a month ago, I almost jumped on it, but it was pretty abused. You are right though, big hole saws really scream on smaller drill presses. 150 RPM is just way too fast, and the round steel column starts resonating making things even worse.

Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:44 pm

Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:20 am

Took apart the speedometer, cleaned it out good, reset to zero miles, lubed it up good, and reassembled.

Got the gauges all in. Looks like I will be ready to slap her in and start running the wires.

Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:29 am

Vanapplebomb wrote: Took apart the speedometer, cleaned it out good, reset to zero miles, lubed it up good, and reassembled.

Got the gauges all in. Looks like I will be ready to slap her in and start running the wires.

Is that water temp gauge going to work correctly with an oil temp sender?

Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:54 am

Yup, it’s mechanical, 144” long capillary tube, and threads right into the M14 hole for the stock oil temperature sensor.

The range unfortunately is a little on the high side. I doubt I will ever see temps much above 180. Type 4 engines in light weight buggies actually struggle to get up to normal operating temp.

Sun Mar 24, 2019 9:43 am

Mocked up. Looks like it will work fine. I can reach all the switches with a harness on and can see all the gauges/lights.

I have a local Hydraulic shop making me up a braided stainless hose to go from the engine to the oil pressure gage. Metric M10x1.00 on the engine side, And a JIC fitting on the oil pressure gauge side.

Sat Apr 13, 2019 6:07 pm

I spent a few hours today working on fitting the rear cage over the engine. I notched out the tubing for extra clearance around the oil filter, thermostat, and engine case around the oil temp sensor plate. Also, I plan on adding a support bar for the back of the engine, and a few tabs or welded on nuts to attach a heavy skid plate.

Sat Apr 13, 2019 7:04 pm

Very nice work.
Something I noticed that migh5 not have crossed your mind. That floor is going to allow your heels to slide around while operating the pedals. You might want to put a traction plate of expanded metal there, or even a strip of tread-tape.

Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:21 am

Filter notch looks great! Is there enough room to allow the filter to be unscrewed and removed?

Sun Jun 02, 2019 7:09 am

Bashr52 wrote: Filter notch looks great! Is there enough room to allow the filter to be unscrewed and removed?

Nope, there is not. I just wanted some extra clearance between the engine and rear cage in a few sprints in case of a hard bottoming out. This bought me 3/4” of extra cushion.

On a different note...

Sun Jun 02, 2019 12:00 pm

Oof, that cluster looks good.

But Van, you can't be saying that you have to remove the engine to remove that oil filter? Why not weld in some joints that can be unbolted and that little section removed?

Sun Jun 02, 2019 1:21 pm

Brian, the rear cage drops off in one piece. It is just bolted to the transmission cradle and the rear hoop. A few hits with the impact will zap it right off.