Greeting to All from Maine:
     Below is the write-up for my version of the plastic decking body lift that Chuck Sawyer outlined in the How To section of the DBA. I have struggled for hours trying to find a way to embed pictures within the content of the write-up in a somewhat organized manner. But I found that when I transferred the completed content with the pictures embedded the pictures disappeared.  So, out of frustration, I have attached the pictures after posting the content, as I usually do.

Tom

Perimeter Body Lift
     Before I start I would like to thank Chuck Sawyer for his original design. You don't know how many time I stared at his pictures trying to keep myself on track. Although I change a few things as I "failed" and "succeeded", the design is still all his.
Thanks Chuck

Materials:
     After trying to find the material that Chuck used I ended up with a product called "Trex". The plastic decking material that Chuck used seems to be out of production. Trex is basically recycled plastic bags, sawdust and a few bits of what look like aluminum particles. You can use most woodworking tools for cutting, shaping and, if heated, it can be shaped to fit a form, which was a big plus for this application.

  Qty.  Description
  3+   1x6x8 Trex Plastic Decking Boards (The plus is for my mistakes.)
1  Box 2" Deck Screws
1  Tube 8X Adhesive
14   3/8-16x3-1/2 inch bolts
4  3/8-16x4 inch bolts
4  m8-125x80mm Bolts
  3  ¼-20x2-1/2 Flat head screws

Tools and Equipment:
     Trex cuts and shapes well with most woodworking tools. It is hard on blades so use carbide whenever you can. I used a standard bandsaw blade to cut the irregular shapes on my lift sections and I am still using them, although they are not cutting well. Carbide was used on the tablesaw and miterbox and they are still in use but not cutting as well either. So, I would plan on replacing some blades when finished. Please! Use Eye protection when cutting this material and, if cutting in an enclosed area, wear a mask that will give proper protection.

Outer Rails: (4-one inch rails req.)
     I purchased Trex eight foot decking boards at Lowes, the Depot has them also.  Local lumber yards tend to be quite a bit more expense, so beware. Begin by making a full size pattern of the outer rails of the belly pan. For pattern material I like to use the shipping backings that come with gasket sets at work but cereal box cardboard works well also.
Layout your poster board pattern on the Trex. I used a scribe to mark on the Trex as a pencil does not show up well. If you are lucky with the shape of your outer rails you will be able to get your pattern to fit within the width of the board that you have, if not you will need to section each rail as I did. There seems to be differences in the perimeter shapes of the various buggies, especially if you have redesigned your floor boards for flat floors or made modifications to the body. If you can't make your pattern fit the Trex board's width you will need to make the rails in sections and assemble them with lap joints that over laps at least 6-8 inches. You can cut your pattern into two sections (twice). What I mean here is to cut the pattern once and use the two section of your pattern to make the first one inch layer of your rails. Tape your pattern back together and cut it in a different spot, at least 6-8 inches from your last pattern cut. Use these two sections to make the second layer.

Cutting:
     When I cut the rail and other sections out I used a combination of power tools to ease the bandsaw cutting time and to provide a higher level of accuracy that led to less sanding and shaping. I usually started with the table saw and power miterbox then finished with shape cutting on the bandsaw. I left shape sanding till after section assemblies were completed.
     I assembled the outer rail sections using 2" deck screws. I pre-drilled pilot holes for the screws with countersinks so that the screw head will be flush with the rail surface. The point here is not to force the screw in, it will break. If the screw breaks you will have a heck of a time getting it out. You may need to extend the pilot hole with a small bit to get the screw to go in all the way. You might try your technique out on a couple pieces of scrape Trex so that you can adjust your procedure before doing it for real. Where the points of the screws extended out the other side I ground them off with my hand grinder. During the assembly of the rails I used the buggy's outer rails as an assembly jig. I used c-clamps to position and assemble the components and screwed them together, making adjustments as I went along. This helped to keep alignment and eased the assembly process. After routing the rabbit on the inner, upper edge of each rail I test fitted the completed rail on the body.  The finished rail assemblies were then sanded smooth and true. I used a belt sander with a coarse (80) grit belt. It cut well but not too fast, which left a relatively smooth surface that promoted paint adhesion.

Rear Deck and shifting Access
     I started out trying to make Napoleon's Hat but just could not figure out how Chuck did it. The pictures showed C-clamps holding the sections of plastic together and the clamps seemed to be clamped under Napoleon's Hat. My belly pan's hat had no access for a clamp, it was completely enclosed. So, with this I turned my attention to the rear deck area. This gave me some time to think about a solution to Napoleon's Hat.

I decided to make a clamping jig out of some scrap 2x4s that would span the back of the pan. The jig would keep the plastic lift sections in place while cooling. When I made the pattern of the rear shift section I made the outer ends a bit longer, one inch on each end. I would make finish cuts later. If I remember right the Trex was just wide enough to get these two parts cut out without having to section them.
  
Napoleon's Hat Sections:
     This was the easiest of all the lift sections blanks to make. I used my tape measure to measure the length of material that I would need to follow the shape of Napoleon's Hat. I then add about 6 inches to make sure I had enough to make it from side to side even if I was a little off with the measurement and placement. I measured the width that I needed and ripped it out and cut it to length. I located the center (length) and mark it so that I could find it easily after heating. Next I found the top center of Napoleon's Hat and mark that so that I could see it easily. I will align these marks after heating and use them to center the section while shaping it to Napoleon's Hat.

Heating and clamping the Rear Shifting Section:
     Obviously the heating was a problem that I needed to find a solution to in order to shape the Napoleon's Hat and rear sections. Yes, they do make heaters for bending the Trex but the investment just put them out of reach. I decided to construct one using an old hot water tank and heat it with my space heater. It wasn't much to look at but it did the job.

     To get ready to heat and bend the plastic I set the clamping jig up across the rear section of the belly pan and adjusted it so that it could be placed and tightened down as fast as possible. I had one of my sons help me with the first bend simple because I had no experience with how long I had to place the section and get it clamped. I placed c-clamps and clamping blocks at convenient locations so that they could also be placed and tightened down quickly.

Notes on Heating:
a.  I learned not to over clamp. This tended to crush the soft plastic.
b.  Use a fairly thick pair of work gloves to handle and shape the plastic.
c.  Use a temperature of about 400-450 degrees Fahrenheit. I use a cooking thermometer located at the opposite end of the heater to monitor this.
d.  I controlled heat by moving the heat source closer or further away from the cooker.
e.  Use 1/8th inch sheet steel as a shelf to heat the plastic on. Wood does not transfer the heat well.
f.  Turn and flip the plastic in the heater often using your gloves. You may want to turn the heater off when doing this.
g.  Plastic should be almost like cooked spaghetti when it is ready to shape.
h.  If the plastic is to cold it will pull apart and if to hot it will tend to mush as you shape it.
i.  Don't try to heat more than one section at a time.

Heating Time:
     This will depend on your heater and its construction. I found that 30-40 minutes, depending on the sections size, would put me in the ballpark. Yours may be different. I kept testing the heated sections to see if it behaves like cooked spaghetti. My space heater was 75,000 BTU

Bending and shaping the Rear Sections:
     I started with the rear mainly because I felt that these sections had less shaping required. In order to support the bend around the shifting coupler area I had to construct a missing part of the frame. The PO had removed the sheet metal support for the body in the shift coupler opening. This frame component was required in order to support the plastic during the shaping process. You will see this component in some of the pictures. It is neither welded in nor painted at this time but will be as soon as I can get the buggy outside in the spring.
     The bending of the lower rear section went very well, which was encouraging. But, in order to bend the top section, the lower section needed to be bolted to the pan with the heads of each bolt recessed. This facilitated a flat surface to shape the top section on and guarantied the two sections mated properly. After shaping the top section I attached the lower and top sections together with 2" deck screws. I would later use the 8X adhesive to glue the top and lower sections together before final assembly. For now, it is easier to cut your lap joints and make other adjustments when you can separate the two sections. The 8X adhesive really wasn't used for gluing purpose, but rather, a filler for minor imperfections. It sands great and adheres to the plastic well. Wear hand protection as this stuff sticks.

Bending and Shaping Napoleon's Hat
     I bent Napoleon's Hat using the same jig as I used for the rear sections but modified it to fit this application. The hat sections bent and conformed to shape nicely in the modified jig. I next drilled and tap for ¼-20x2-1/2 flat head screws which allowed me to attach the two sections to the hat area.  These two sections were also screwed together with the 2" deck screws so that they better held their shape, then later glued after joints and adjustments were complete.

Corner Joints:
     I wanted each corner to blend in with little to no joint seen but also wanted them to be strong. The corners at Napoleon's Hat were a hidden lap joint that only shows in the front. These two joints were held together with the two front body mounting bolts that are on each side. The back corners are lap joints held together with two 2" deck screws on each side.

Lift To Pan Attachment:
     I used 3/8 inch Nutserts and, for right now, 3-1/2 inch long bolts. The length is subject to change. I know others have used 5/16 Nutserts but I wanted to use the original builder's holes to save on body repair time. After surfing around on the net I found a Nutsert tool that could be made from standard hardware items so I included a picture of it. There are 22 bolts holding the body, lift and pan together. I don't think the body or the lift will be able to move around anytime soon.

Painting:
     I was concerned about painting the plastic, plastic bags don't paint very well. Their surface is too smooth to allow adhesion. So I went over the whole lift with 80 grit paper on my palm sander. This left a surface that was smooth but would also promote adhesion for paint. I found a rattle can of paint for plastic at Lowes and sprayed it with two coats. I used two cans. I have been thinking about trying to cover the outer surface of the rails just to add trim to the side but nothing has worked so far. Maybe later I can find a set of side pods.

As you can see in the last picture, I have not got the body back on the buggy yet. I plan to anchor it and slowly tighten the bolts to help bring the body's mounting flange back to a flat surface.

Tom

Hello All from Snowy Maine,
     Just thought I would post what I have been working on during the winter months. I'll post a few pictures at the end.
     This winter has been "Engine Time" with all its ups and downs. I have worked on engines most of my life but have never had such a hard build, not that it went together hard but rather working outside the realm of "stock". This has been my first attempt at "performance" build. The stress of working with the expense of the components, making a mistake would/could be a real wallet ticker. Many hours went into contemplation and research before I came up with a plan of attack that would end in a positive outcome. Many of the procedures that seemed fairly straight forward usually caused doubt in my mind and, in the end, were unwarranted. Things that seemed labor light ended up labor intensive, cooling tins and proper valve geometry to name a couple. yuk! You don't know how many times I wished that I had gone with a kit from CBP. But I wanted to do it myself so I would know what I had. Before anyone comments on the "bling" for cooling tins, I had wanted to use the take-offs but after sand blasting they show a few more holes than what the OEM had put there. As hind site is always 20/20 I wish now I had purchased paint-able tins as I now have raw edges in places where I had massaged the tins in order for them to fit properly.
     I won't bore you with assembly procedures as most know them, probably better than I. Instead I will just show you a few pics that I have. If anyone has any comments or questions feel free to ask.

Tom

I know that it does not seem like folks do not read, but they do.

Greetings from Vacation Land, Maine,

     And today's topic is "full flow oil filter Mounting. Plumbing and Shielding."
When I started to think about the oil filter mounting location I had three things that I needed to consider:
-  Aesthetics
-  Ease of access for service
-  Protection for oil lines from hot exhaust components

     The first part to be designed and constructed was the filter adapter bracket. The obvious mounting location was the exhaust studs at cylinder #4. Through trial, error and adaption with cereal box cardboard, a full size bracket pattern was developed and transferred to a 1/4" steel plate. To rough out its shape I found that I could purchase a metal cutting blade for my woodworking bandsaw at Lowes. All I did was to change the belt on the bandsaw to the lowest speed. To my surprise it cut very nice. To shape sand it I used a spindle sander that you mount in a drill press. These sanding drums work well with wood and slow, but nice on metal. To my surprise the bracket fit first time.
     Next to construct were the block-off plates for the old manifold heater tube. Again a pattern was made and copied to the ¼" plate then cut out on the bandsaw and edges sanded smoothed with the spindle sander in the drill press. They fit, except when the filter bracket was installed. The filter bracket was modified slightly to give clearance between to two parts.
     The close proximity of the exhaust and oil line seemed a little too close to chance.  I had three mounting points to consider for a shield. Utilizing two mounting screw locations on the cylinder cooling tin and one on the heat tube block off I designed and constructed a sheet metal shield to protect the oil lines. Using a cereal box cardboard pattern, a shop build jig and a bench vise the shield seemed to develop and fit properly.
     I will post some pictures that better describe to process and the end results.

Have a great day and remember "Spring is coming".

Tom

     P.S. I guess I didn't get a picture of the filter mounting bracket pattern but it looks like the bracket itself shown in another picture. Sorry! And also, the pictures are not all in order. Sorry about that to!