Pellet heads!! What's up today?

I like the cool little tractors.

A short drive from us ...the folks have a little tractor raceway....."Dirt track" The guys take the little tractors and stuff Small block Chevy V8's in them.

These things are insane..........

 

With the great weather...been getting work done on the cat project.
Ripped the old bench seat out of the cab and too the scrap heap.
Getting the bucket seats from the Blazer (Donor for the rear cabin) bolted in.

Some small modifications needed to mount them......I salvaged the inner brackets off the Blazer floor pan
Had to modify the passenger inner front mount....

Getting ready to mount the new cable shifter.....
Yesterday was build day for the base for the mount.
Lots of work.....Imagineering.....Cutting parts and welding.....
I wanted a simple easy to use shifter that was rugged and adaptable.
The plastic console that came with the shifter is relegated to a closet....Just going to mount the shifter bare......

Just a side note.....The screws holding the seat mounts to the floor will be replaced by large steerl pop rivets when they get here....So for now....POLE BARN SCREWS...

The one piccy is a view from the command chair looking down and forward.....55" from the seat cushion to the ground....
Great view.....

 

Uhhhh.....hmmmm.....not recently. 1 win out of last 15 in Cup series. Not a stellar record. My neighbor up the street works in Roush/Yates engine dept. Their scratching their heads trying to find power. And you can't blame the chassis.....their all identical.

 

No such thing.

 

The same but different...

 

If you saw what they do to make sure they are, you'd change your mind. I've been in the Joe Gibbs headquarters, including their "room of doom" laser machine......they all have to be the same.

 

Yeah but not the setup...

 

No, not that, but parts/body-wise, they have to be identical.

 

Loose is fast!

 

More work done yesterday on the Cat
Got the rest of the parts made to mount the shifter.
THIS IS INDUSTRIAL GRADE STUFF
Had a piece of 3 inch tube formed to make the mounting stand.
Fabricated and machined the actual bracket that the shifter bolts to.

These shifters are designed to be used with the plastic console that can fasten to the floor ....or mount using several. different sheet metal plates (Universal) that Winters sells in their extra parts stuff.

Nothing really suited the need for this project......So decided to make our own parts .....

The setup allows the cable to be aimed right at the floor (RED DOT for access hole) and be able to loop gently down and connect to the transmission..+ (8" minimum radius on the cable bends)

I wanted the shifter up within the operators normal eye line to allow grabbing the shifter without having to reach down towards the floor......

The mounting does allow a bit of adjustment up and down as well as back and forth .....Mainly to allow ease of mounting and connecting the cable to the shifter.....

The entire assembly can be easily removed from the cab if the need for work in the dash should come about.....

FUNCTION IS THE BIGGY.....

The steering Joy stick will mount right close to where my hand is in the one piccy..

 

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

 

A chilly 42 when I got up at 6am. But a nice cup of coffee and the cat on my lap as I do my morning web surfing with the sun coming thru the east windows makes a nice start to my Friday.

We've had quite the menagerie in the back yard around the feeders the past few days. Porcupines, a big fat woodchuck, skunk, rabbits, turkeys. Lots of hummingbirds, the usual dozen or so varieties of birds at the feeders and a few red tailed hawks circling above the trees .

sam

 

Did spring cleaning at the cabin last weekend and closed up for the year. Could have used it last night. 33° overnight.

 

Nice! You lived up to your name.

 

Very nice!