Shayne, you're a plonker forgetting your own birthday! Happy belated Birthday wishes Shayne for sometime late August and Ben, Happy belated Birthday for last Wednesday!
Love that cake, I'm now trying to imagine the cake we could have come up with for Shayne's birthday while he was visiting us, might not have gone down very well, skid marks on the cake, and a model truck with all the front bashed in .
Forgot mine once, and nobody remembered. It was about two weeks after that it came to me. I thought I was the only one that could be so forgetful! Anyway, with so many gone bye, a few forgotten ones will not go amiss
Regarding the disc brake conversion...................
I wouldn't be happy replicating and selling what I've currently got fitted, due to the calipers being mounted upside down. The brakes work perfectly and the handbrake is awesome! But I think to sell the brackets I'd want them to mount the calipers the right way round to make bleeding the brakes easy, trouble is I'm not sure the handbrake cable mechanism would work as good with the calipers swapped sides.
Within a mile of work theres are a few laser cutters, electro platers, powder coaters, and shot blasters. So it would be really easy and quick to get things like these brackets made, to sell. But I would have to be 100% happy with the design first.
Ok mate worth a try lol I need to get it done but might leave it till the summer when won't use it hardly
I hate drums I've put new shoes in it been offroading 4 times in it and already I can hear one side is touching the metal
I finished the 2 free standing panels for the Solar Suzuki.
I then got to start on the tree house project!
Couple of pics of the tree, the 3 storey tree house will be built in.
My boss wanted the first storey to be 6 meters square!
But as the lengths of steel we had were only 4.5 meters long, so thats the size it will be.
I chose 100mm angle with an 8mm wall thickness.
Mitered the ends at 45 degrees.
I cut the middle pieces and notched the ends so they will fit snugly in the frame.
Cut some pieces of 40mm flat and punched some slots in them with my fancy new punching machine.
Clamped and welded them on.
Got 2 sides of the frame in the vice so I could mark and drill holes for all the timber floor joists to bolt on to.
Also marked and drilled the 3 middle sections.
We were then ready to transport the frame to my bosses farm.
We took the 60.
And the Dyna, which was going on its maiden voyage to its new home on the farm.
Which was loaded with the tree house frame.
A few hours on the road later.
And we were at the farm and ready to start bolting it all together.
We could then asses the tree and work out how best to tackle the construction.
First job was to move the sections of tree that had been cut off the tree and left along the fence line as these sections were in the way.
My plan, which worked faultlessly..................
Was to weld the 4 sections of the frame together on the ground and then lift the whole lot up into the tree. But as there was a fence in the way we needed to use some oil drums and blocks of wood to help us build the frame above the fence.
The blocks of wood also meant we were able to get the frame perfectly level before welding.
As we were obviously outside we couldn't use a MIG welder as the breeze would have blown all the shielding gas away resulting in terrible welds with lots of porosity.
So it had to be done with an ARC welder.
Managed to get some pretty decent welds and even had the slag pealing off by its self on most of them.
This was the ancient looking machine I was welding with, which worked great!
More sexy welds.
Even managed some nice welds in the vertical up position, which is a notoriously difficult position for ARC.
With the frame welded together we needed to trim a branch on the tree for the corner of the frame to fit over.
We were then ready to lift the frame up.
The frame wasnt quite in the right place.
And with no side shift function on the forklift we decided a ratchet strap would be the best thing to pull the frame over.
With the frame in the correct position I drilled and bolted the frame to the tree using galvanised all thread.
That corner then became our datum point and we worked back from that corner leveling the frame using acro props.
The next job was to bolt the middle cross pieces in place, but first we needed to cut a notch in the tree for them to sit into.
After my boss had put some cuts in with the chainsaw we could chisel out the rest.
My workmate struggled to keep hold of the chisel at times!
All cut out and ready for the steel.
The steel could then be bolted in place.
With that first one in place, I got the guys to carry on getting the next one in place, which also needed cutting into the tree. While I drilled and bolted the first one in place.
With those 2 in.
The guys started fitting the third one which needed a branch trimming for it to bolt over.
It was a very long day and we worked well into darkness to get the frame secured to the tree.
I got to work at Piranha HQ at 6.30am and didnt get back till 10.40pm!
But it was a lot of fun and its awesome to be able to build my boss his dream tree house! The sort of tree house you would have loved as a kid!
We will go back for another day over the next few weeks to get all the floor joists and floor fitted.
Then we can design the structure that will sit on top of the platform and I will build most of that at work as prefabricated sections which we can lift up into the tree and bolt together.
That's going to be an awesome tree house. Is the tree still alive? Just wondering what sort of movement he'll expect to get from it in the coming years? It might keep getting higher and higher!
It's funny you know, I've read your blog from start to finish, and check in at least once a week to read the updates. It only just struck me that I've never heard you speaking until the video of you directing the forklift. That's a thick pommy accent you have!
The big move up North will be exciting. My old man lived down here in South Australia until he turned 60, then decided it was time for a sun change, and moved up to the NSW/QLD coast. Its a nice part of the world up there. Bloody wet and humid though, lots of rust issues. But a nice place to call home.
Have you considered hiring/buying a shipping container to load all your stuff in and getting it trucked up there, opposed to driving up several times? If you buy one (about $2000 for a 40 footer) you get an instant shed to store your tools in on your new block of land. Just an idea!
The rear disk conversion came out really well. I will have to do similar to mine. Making up the plates for the callipers to bolt to looked really easy. You did well to figure out the hand brake cable, I'll pinch that idea also!
My FJ has been on the back burner for a while as I've been building up a boat, but its time to get the cruiser up and moving so I can tow the boat with a bit of grunt. The 2.8 td Rodeo just doesn't have the torque going up hills like the Holden v8 does!
Yes the tree is still alive and little green shoots are appearing out of the trunk in places. Will be interesting to see how much movement there is.
I like the shipping container idea, thanks.
Getting some quotes at the moment to hire one and have it trucked up. Don't want to buy one just yet as will be renting for the first 6 months, if we can get a 6 month lease. Then we want to buy and start renovating.
Thinking of buying a big trailer which I can tow the Astra up on behind LJ, that way we will only have to drive up once.
Up here Ben people are always looking for a used container, so I'd not worry about buying one.
Put it in perspective, a couple of friends have just moved to Darwin, filling a semi trailer with the contents of 28 years or so in one house (and several sheds), and even on mates rates that was $15,000... and $7k of that was the fuel to get the truck there... OK, the driver is then borrowing one of their utes to do some exploring whilst they unload the trailer (complete with 1 quad bike and 2 motorbikes in it...) and having a bit of a holiday, but that gives you some idea of possible costs.
6 months rentals aren't uncommon inland, so you'll probably be OK on that.
On the trailer side, a friend has a 6'xcar length box trailer that takes a car fine, and could be useful for other things in the longer term.
Alternatively talk to some of the local tow truck companies and see how much it would cost to get it on a load up to Brisvegas from Melbourne.
I dont want the hassle of buying one and then having to sell it. Hiring one shouldn't be too expensive, theres heaps of companies offering the service.
I'm getting quotes off 8 and I will keep playing them off against each other like I did when I needed a container to ship everything over from the UK. Last time I did that I saved thousands and all it took was a few weeks of emails back and fourth between the companies until some of the companies said they couldn't do it for any less and I had 2 companies who were determined to beat all the other quotes.
$15K!
I can hire the biggest truck Budget have which has a load area 6.4m x 2.4 x 2.4 for $2k for 5 days including the excess k's to get to the Sunshine Coast and back and fuel would be no more than $1000, if that.
So I can move all my stuff for $3000 if I want, in one load. But it means getting my workmate, who has already kindly offered, to do the driving as he has a truck license.
But I like the container idea as then I dont have to ask my mate to drive and will be simpler.
I like the idea of buying a big trailer as will be useful when we start renovating. If I dont get one I will just fly down and drive the other car up as using a towtruck would be ridiculously expensive!
1800km (Melbourne to Sunshine Coast) vs 3600km (Armidale to Darwin one way) and less (to none) chance of a back load, whereas Melbourne to the Gold Coast is at least feasible for a back load.
So on your rough sums, that $15k doesn't look too bad for twice the distance, a bigger truck and someone else driving!
No update this week guys.
After a 9 hour drive to Sydney, followed by a 3 hour drive to Bathurst, we made it!
We've had a great couple of days so far and our pit passes have allowed access to all the action!
Sadly today's racing was cut short thanks to a big crash by last years winner, which saw him airlifted to hospital with broken bones, 6 marshals hospitalised and the race wining car left with no wheels and not a straight panel! [emoji50]
Lots of pics n videos which I will upload when I get chance!
I've also made lots of progress on the tree house build and when I get back to Melbourne I'm off for a few long days of work at the farm to get the tree house a bit more finished!! [emoji41]
So sorry guys no pics yet......
But give me a week and you will have a great update of car racing and tree house building! How bloody cool!!! [emoji106]
We left Melbourne at 5am last Thursday and headed for Sydney.
After dropping Bec off at here friends in Sydney and picking my mate up, we made our way to Bathurst.
Bathurst is Australias oldest in land town and this year marks 200 years since it was founded.
We got there in the late afternoon and found the other guys we would be camping with.
Old washing machine drums make excellent fire pits!
The next morning we headed over to the track.
We had paid extra for pit passes so we could see the teams working on the cars.
Carrera cup series area.
Grid girls!
Car museum tent showcasing the history of racing at Bathurst.
Toyota Celica.
The Stihl stage was cool.
They were filming a wood cutting competition for a TV series.
Sponsored by VW Amorak, they had a guy carving a scale model of one.
The guy was using a cordless electric saw for the fine detail work.
The "Hot Saws" were particularly cool! Specially made chainsaws built with motorcycle engines!
Back to the track.
Back at the pits, teams were busy fixing cars from the days qualifying.
We got a rare chance to walk on the track.
Some of the guys played a drinking game that they call beer pong.
The next day we got the bus to the top of mount Panorama and spent the day up there watching the racing.
Back at camp.
The next day was race day!
The Bathurst 1000 is a 1000km (600mile), 161 lap endurance race!
Some of the guys had got up ridicolously early to ensure we got the best seats for the race.
The view from our seats.
We were positioned along "The Chase", the fastest straight on the course where cars get up to about 300k.
V8 Utes first.
Followed by the Porsche Carreras.
We had a few showers through out the day and when ever we did, umbrellers were immedietly deployed.
Before the main race all the teams had a slow lap of the track and a Jeep club had been invited to help carry the teams around the track.
The main race soon got under way.
We had a big screen oposite us so we could follow the whole race and see all the accidents as they happened.
There was a few more accidents as the race went on.
After 6 enjoyable hours the race was over and team Redbull were the winners!
The next morning we left camp at 5.30am and I drove to Sydney and dropped my mate off and picked Bec up. We then sat on 120kmh for the entire day and got home to Melbourne at 7pm!
The next day I had to be up at 5am to go to my bosses farm to continue with the tree house build, but more on that shortly.
Congrats Ben.you sure do nice neat jobs on your wagon.I've often thought that the Noosa area would be good to live in.warm days and cool nights.I'm sure you and Bec will sort things out.regards Pat
Great update Ben, circuit racing reminds me of my misspent youth at Mallory Park cheering on Gerry Marshall in his Camero... one of the most entertaining drivers ever...
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