SCAB FAB 101:
Big Jim once asked me why it takes so long for me to prep our car. Why do I often times need to work 100 hrs/week in the weeks leading up to a race in order to get the car ready, when they can do the same task with 1 or 2 guys in a 40 hour week structure. Basically, why does it take so much longer to ready the Monster Mav for battle. Well, I've come across a great opportunity to exemplify my point.
After the V2R damage fiasco, I've had my plate full. I had to fly out of town on a business "adventure". I had to design and develop drawings for a complex take off ramp. I had to build a SCORE legal race car out of a stock Maverick. So, a month after the V2R race, I am finally able to turn my attention towards the task at hand. First, repairing the damage incurred at V2R, then, re-finish the repaired areas to blend in the booger green powdercoat, and finally, prep and assemble the car. When one wears all the hats as I do, one relies on sublet labor to deliver their services as agreed upon.
Case in point: We sent out 4 driveshafts over 3 weeks ago. 2 brand new stockers, and 2 old samples to use as a reference. Long story short, the shop let us down. Misled Marc when making the commitment to deliver the job. Now, I have the shafts back in the shop, and need to solve the problem. I already exhausted the search for a local shop to build UTV drive shafts in the past, so I won't waste time there. No one gave a crap to be involved because they are too busy with general automotive shafts to squeeze in a custom job, and they couldn't balance it anyway. So, now I'm screwed, right? WRONG!
GRABBING THE BULL BY THE HORNS:
In looking at the dilemma yesterday, I decided to just do it myself. No fancy tools. No lathe,. No balancing fixtures or devices. Just the caveman, in his cave, with his trusty rock tied to a stick that he calls a hammer. The jest of it is this:
I used my 14" chop saw, added a 2nd wheel for more consistent material removal, set up a vice and v block that I can rotate the shaft on, clamped on a shaft collar to use as a stop, and went to town. 5 hours later, I have 2 complete factory u-joints ready to weld into a new, longer tube and call it a drive shaft. I estimate another 3-4 hours to weld it into a tube, and devise a way to balance it, OR: just rely on the tube to be concentrically accurate. I'll probably resort to the latter.
The key was to separate the weld-in nub that makes up 1/2 of the u-joint from its tube, without altering the original shape and diameter of the weld-in stub side.
I don't have time to lay down verbiage on the step by step process. The pics should define that well enough. Suffice it to say that, I handled what a shop with purpose built machinery refused to, in my cave, with my rock and hammer. F those panzies. I won't mention the name of the douschebag who dogged us, but I found out about him via a recommendation here from a member who had a good experience, I assume, using said douschebag (vendor).
The first pic is for you Jim. This is what our car looks like as of last night, with only two short weeks to finish assembling it, then testing. I need to do some clutch tuning as well. We need to have time to test a re-valving of the shocks. I need to modify the CVT blower system for conditions at the 1000. I still need to repair/rewire the burned out section of the rear (thanks alot, Tim). I can add a million other "need to's", but you get the idea. The majority of teams would not persevere in such unforgiving conditions, but I never say no. I don't know how to try. I only know how to do. Yeah, my life kinda sucks right about now. Think I'll crack open a beer and get to work!
Wow! My earliest memory was 49.95. I've been growling "Riiight" now for most of my life. Now, I remember where I got it! Classic. What was minimum wage in the mid 70's? $1.35/hr rings a bell. That's the time that a quarter bought you a "Big Grab" size bag of Fritos, and a can of bean dip. Reeses were .05! God, I love Reeses almost as much as Stout!
