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MINI GREMMIE |
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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Wise guy! This will get done much faster! Lol
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bigbad69
Supporter of TheAMCForum Joined: Jul/02/2007 Location: Ottawa, Ont. Status: Offline Points: 6614 |
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I saw your SC at Chilson's. If you do half the job on this project, it will be the finest resto-kart out there. ..and if I can see 2043 I will be happy.
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69 Javelin SST BBO 390 T10
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SeanHatfield
AMC Nut Joined: Oct/15/2015 Location: Plymouth, IN Status: Offline Points: 459 |
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Kevin, great project! But at this stage of the game, I shouldn't expect anything less. You could try to get ahold of the guys at GoPowerSports.com. They are a Texas based company that specializes in go kart and mini bike parts and actually has a really good selection of parts for both vintage and modern chassis. They may even know of someone out there that is a specialist on your old Clinton motor. Worth a shot!
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Stormogdis
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/04/2017 Location: Norway Status: Offline Points: 612 |
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heck yes!
I Just love this
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1982AMCConcord
AMC Addicted Joined: Jul/13/2012 Location: Kenosha, WI Status: Offline Points: 1286 |
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I'm looking forward to seeing the 401 swap!
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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A 401 swap... that's a good one! Can't imagine what over 425ft-lb of torque would do to this skinny little pretzel with a little 3hp motor about destroyed the frame!
Yes, things escalated quickly on Saturday after I started trying to straighten out the badly cracked left frame rail. After about a half hour of attempting to do something with it, I came to the conclusion that part of the frame had to be replaced to get anywhere close to decent restoration, so off to the metal fab store to get a piece of tubing that would work. By the time Saturday afternoon came and went I was looking at this mostly prepped joints to get ready for the transplant: Yes, it is feeling more like an SC/R full restoration project... but determined to keep this thing rolling! Right now I have the new section ready, but trying to work out a little tubing jig from scraps of stuff to get good positioning for tacking together. This next photo shows a bit of my frustration with how cheaply they made these things. I was hoping to drive out these cheesy solid wheel bushings to insert new wheel bearings. Yes, they are just solid steel on steel bushings. But they wouldn't budge - I'm afraid that I could ruin the wheels with any more forcefulness. But good news today!! One of my reproduction decals arrived today! Thankfully the minibikes, etc used similar product manufacturer decals. Mine was painted over and I didn't know what the design was, but my friend's all original kart had a good reference example: I also heard back from the Clinton parts guru - he has a lot of parts for me, planning on completing the buy tomorrow and get them headed east! Woohoo NOS parts! The "fix" is on!
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Steve_P
AMC Addicted Charter Member Joined: Jun/28/2007 Status: Offline Points: 3760 |
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Cool project- the body looks to be in great condition. And yeah, the frame/chassis is really cheap looking!
I didn't know Clinton was still making engines in the 1970s. I worked in a busy small engine shop in the eighties and only saw a few over the years. I'd imagine parts are pretty scarce today. |
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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Clinton NOS engine parts arrived to start the weekend!
Not shown is the NOS gas cap I really needed. I might need something else once torn down, but at least I feel better about starting a teardown with the main pieces in hand. I figured with as rare as these engines are getting, it is best to get the parts sourced now and redo it. 20 years from now they may not be available at all. Got started on getting the frame back together over the weekend. To get tube alignment, I handmade a small 2pc 1" pipe clamp from some 1" air line tubing. It worked very well to hold it while tacking. The motor bracket had a split too, so that got ground out, rewelded and ground down to finish the repair. I have a few more of these to do, and then start the side "riggers" fabrication this week. |
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hassyfoto
AMC Addicted Joined: Nov/16/2009 Location: Maryland Status: Offline Points: 3378 |
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Nice Kevin!
Look forward to seeing the finished project. I haven't posted any photos but I'm working on my son's Full size Gremmie |
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Murphy's Law:
Any given mechanical job you decide to solve alone will imminently require a third hand, at its most critical moment |
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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Time for a posting update. Been a little lax working in the shop lately, doing other things. This weekend I had hoped to be priming the chassis, but I caught a really nasty head cold bug and it kicked my butt... just now feeling a bit better. Hope to get more shop time this week.
So, to catch everyone up on MINI GREMMIE, I had been working on getting the chassis fab and welding done. Picking up where we left off, it was time to start fabricating the side "riggers" of the frame that had been hacked off mine decades ago. I alluded to this earlier on, and will discuss it further in the future, but I have learned that there were at least (3) chassis versions, maybe more. The very earliest chassis, had no brake pads and no body riggers. Mine being a middle iteration, had the brake pads and side body riggers, but did not have the full roof framing support like the last version made did. i was able to get correct dimensions of the side riggers from my one friend's kart, so we got started. As most of you with a home shop, I have to use whatever works to locate / hold / square off pieces for fabrication. These photos show that effort well: The side riggers for the body sit at a measurement of 10" off the side of the main frame and are 12" long, using 3/4" tubing. Next up was the replacement of the worn brake pads. It is amazing how a knobby rubber tire could wear through an 1/8" piece of steel at yard gokart speeds. I guess it gives an indication of just how many miles it took its young travelers in the 70s! Because they were worn so bad with one worn, through, I decided to cut the originals off and fabricate exact duplicates: I had a piece of salvaged steel from a machine at home that was the perfect thickness, so free metal is good, but cutting it out without a plasma cutter, not so good (plasma cutter may be on the want list soon...), but with a little effort we harvested some to size pieces! New, all metallic brake pads ready to weld on! Finished welded chassis: I have a little bit more of surface prep to get ready for priming, but hopefully next week I'll get a epoxy and then 2k coat on this and start making it look pretty again. I am planning on using a cheaper single stage black urethane on the chassis. This week I moved the body to the back porch to start surface correction. The body got involved with splatter from what looks like latex paint years ago, and to get that off, and also to work out some scuffs, etc. I am very carefully watersanding with 5000 grit pads and then will hand buff the finish back. (Latex spots above) (Watersanding with 5000 grit above) The mylar decals on the front were barely hanging on so they were removed for this process. What I found was the adhesive layer completely delaminated from the mylar but completely fused to the body like a clear coat that was very uneven underneath. I decided with those areas I needed to get smoothed out, so I taped them off and started with 800 grit and "polished" back up to 5000 grit. That process is taking me a while and I am not trying to get 100% of the glue layer off - just make it more smooth, (glue above - rough) Sanding out - below: Never saw anything like what this glue did on the plastic - it is 100% fused fast - just like a clear coat layer of paint. I just need to get it smooth so that new 3M adhesive has a good layer to work to. I have been making some small progress steps on what to do with my seat. I am zeroing in on a possible solution, and I'm currently out hunting down the best donor opportunity I can find. It won't be 100% NOS factory but I think I can get it to pass the first sniff test. Hopefully I'll have a report on this in the next couple weeks, and maybe it will help someone else out there with the same problem. Fingers crossed. |
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