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Old 03-10-2011, 10:42 AM   #341
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Re: Hal The Van

Webasto heater install continued:

Next piece of sheet metal will be attach to the bent upward section.


Cut off the next piece of sheet metal.


Setup the bending rig to hold the metal secure while using the angle grinder with a wire wheel to clean the rust from the edge.


Do the same with the first piece. Before welding the edges where they will be joined must be rust free.


Weld the two pieces together and do a test fit.


Need to create a bracket to hold the top of the shield to this underfloor support.


Also need to close off the front of the shield


Do the front piece first. Make, attach and test fit a posterboard mock up.




The notch is so I can just slide the shield into position without having to disconnect the fuel line. Since there was such trouble with getting a air-tight seal on the fuel line I don't want to mess with it if I don't have to.


Cutout another piece for the front using the posterboard as a guide. Weld it onto the front of the shield. Before welding I used a hole saw to create an opening for the fuel line.


Cut the notch after welding. Test fit. Looks good.


I'm leaving the back end of the shield open since It's to protect from debris kicked up by the front wheels.


For the upper bracket I cut, bent and drilled a piece of 1" x 3/16" flat stock. Note to self: Next time cut, drill then bend. The hole size is for a 1/4" bolt.


Find and mark a good position for the bracket on the shield.


Weld the bracket into place.


Fit and find location for the bolt hole.


Drill the hole. The undervan support metal is tough so this step takes some patience.


Drill holes for then temporarily secure the bottom of the shield into place with sheet metal screws.
The screws in this picture are what I had on hand. I'll use larger one's for the final installation.


Remove the shield then prime with some rusty metal primer


I've painted the shield yellow since I have a couple quart cans of this color Rustoleum laying around getting old.


Final install. Some newspaper got stuck to the paint. No biggie.




OK, that finishes this phase of the heater install. The heater started up perfectly the first time I went to run it after the rebuild. Started and stopped a bunch of times and let it run for a several hours non-stop. No problems whatsoever. I had originally thought about running just kerosene through the heater to cut down on possible coking problems but I now know how to do a complete tear down on the heater and clean it if needed. So I'm going to go ahead and use diesel fuel with the heater. Now I don't have to worry about the short kerosene fueling hose.

The heater is fully functional so if I want to use it while camping I just have to put a couple batteries in the van. Of course there is a lot of work before it's completely finished but that will have to wait until later in the build.

So it's dark outside and while I'm laying under the van doing the final shield install Tiger keeps looking down the street.


When I asked what he was doing he turned to me and said "I got your back."

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Old 03-22-2011, 10:00 PM   #342
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Re: Hal The Van

This posting concerns the fuel tank I installed for the Webasto diesel heater. The tank is made from spun aluminum and is so light you can pick it up with your pinky. With it installed under the van I'm worried about a possible puncture from road debris. Because of this I'm going to make a shield to protect the underside of the tank. I have no prior experience with spun aluminum fuel tanks so this might be overkill but better safe than cold at night in the van while camping.

When I climbed under the van to get take some measurements I find that there is already a good scratch along the underside of the tank and I haven't taken it off-pavement yet.


The radius is about 4.5" to the outside of the tank brackets that the shield must fit over.


The length to fit over the tank is 31".

I'm a little chagrined to admit I had forgotten the formula for a circumference of the circle and had to look it up in my Pocket Ref. It's 2(pi)r. So 4.5 times a rounded down (pi) of 3 will give a half circle circumference of 13.5". Cut out a section of posterboard 31" long by 13.5" wide and do a test wrap around the tank.


Using a divider to lay out a circle with radius of 4.5" then cut out a bit more than a half circle from posterboard.




Tape the circle to the first posterboard section and use it to do a test fit on the tank.


I found that the posterboard mock up fit better with the tank brackets if the width was cut down to 12.5". Making easy changes is the beauty of posterboard.

Now to transfer the design onto sheet metal.

Start with two sheets of 4' x 5' 16 gauge steel.


Actually it started as one 4' x 10' sheet but I had it cut at the local steel supplier so it would fit inside Hal.


This is more than I need but it's cheaper to buy more than needed from the steel supplier than exactly what is needed from Lowe's. I'll be using the metal on several other projects.

Cut out a 12.5" x 31" rectangle. I've previously been cutting pieces off this 4' x 5' sheet.


Here's where it gets interesting. I've been thinking about this shield project for sometime and knew the next step would be difficult. I need to to bend the sheet metal into a semi-circle that will fit around the bottom of the tank. A machine shop would have a device that does bends like this but I don't. In my planning I came up with four different ways I could do the bending. Unfortunately planning to bend 16 gauge sheet metal and actually bending it are two different things. The 16 gauge is a lot tougher that the 22 gauge I bent just the other day. I could bend the 16 gauge but not into a semi-circle

I'm hiding my shame but not showing any pictures of various bending rigs I came up with since none of them worked. After at least a couple hours of fruitless effort I was reduced to literally just standing in the garage and looking around for something to try next. Here's what I came up with.

Draw parallel lines spaced one inch apart down the length of the shield metal. Number the lines and write the numbers on each end of the line.


Take a length of 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" x 1/8" steel angle that is longer than the shield. Place the angle so it's pointed downward. Balance the shield on the upright ends of the angle. Use the lines and numbers on the shield metal as a guide to keep the shield parallel to the angle steel underneath.

Since the distance between the two upturned steel angle edges is close to 2" it's easy, in this example, to look to the left of the shield and place line #1 above the closest upturned angle edge then look to the right and make sure line #1 is above the same edge. This will also place line #3 above the farther angle edge. Line #2 is now suspended halfway between the two angle edges.

Now get a ball-peen hammer and use the ball end to strike along the length of line #2.
After doing this the length of line #2 shift the shield one inch so that lines #2 and #4 are supported by the angle edges and #3 is suspended in the middle. Hammer along line #3. Repeat. Nothing is clamped into place. You have to keep adjusting the shield to keep it aligned after every couple hits.


Believe it or not it actually works.

Use the posterboard cutout to check that I'm getting the curvature correct.


Hammer away until I have a semi-circle


Do a test fit.




Needed to do some more hammering in the center to tighten up the fit.


Ready for the end pieces. I'm going to cheat a little. Set the shield on end and trace out the shape onto a piece of sheet metal.


Each end is different so be sure to label. I've added about 1.5" to the top of the semi-circle tracing.


Cut out the end pieces. I'm not worried about being extremely accurate with the cutting.


Here's the cheating part. If I was cutting the end pieces so that they would fit inside the semi-circle I'd have to been really careful with the tracing and cutting. This is much easier. Place the shield on the end piece then slide it upward, to the right in this picture, so that the end piece extends below the shield. This give a margin of error to the previous cuts.


I added the 1.5" to the top of the end piece so there is room to move the shield upward.


Tack weld into place then do the same to the other end.


Test fit on the van.




Weigh it for curiosities sake. 9 lbs.


Complete the end welds.


Use an angle grinder to remove the excess overhang from the end pieces.


Drill a 1" hole in each end for drainage.


Clean up the end holes with a round file.


Apply a couple coats of Rust Bullet rustproofing.


Here's what I'm going to use to hold the shield into place. They are industrial strength cable ties. I had these laying around.


The ties aren't long enough so I'll have to double them up.


Use electrical tape to hold down the loose end.


Place the cable ties over the tank being very careful to route them so they don't cross over the fuel or electrical line.


Place the shield into place and snug up the cable ties.


Cut off the excess from the ties.


Almost all done. One more step.


Put a Tiger in your tank!
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Old 03-22-2011, 10:27 PM   #343
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Re: Hal The Van

We don't need no stinkin' sheet metal tools here at SMBFourm - we use BLACKSMITH tools!! Very kewl.

The only problem is - now you'll never know if the guard has done it's job because it has already been hammered to death.
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Old 03-23-2011, 07:40 AM   #344
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Re: Hal The Van

Quote:
Originally Posted by dhally
The only problem is - now you'll never know if the guard has done it's job because it has already been hammered to death.
Dents that go in are new.

As usual impressive and inspiring. I wouldn't trust the zips, SMB uses them on house batteries and they're usually broken or lost...
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Old 03-23-2011, 12:43 PM   #345
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Re: Hal The Van

Thanks guys.

I'm not 100% sure about the zip ties either. I just used them since they were laying around. Figure they will do for the time being. Probably cut off some strips from the 16 gauge sheet and and fashion strapping from them. The strips I know I'll be able to bend.
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Old 04-09-2011, 06:58 PM   #346
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Re: Hal The Van

With the officialdom of the West Virginia Department Of Transportation backing me up there can no longer be any doubt. I've gone off the deep end. Proof arrived today in the mail. I installed it on the van as soon as I received it.

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Old 04-09-2011, 07:32 PM   #347
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Re: Hal The Van

NIce. You'll be easy to identify on the road. I thought about getting the BELUGA plate for mine.
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Old 04-10-2011, 07:02 AM   #348
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Re: Hal The Van

if you ever get a bike or a toad the plate should be "Dave"
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Old 04-10-2011, 09:33 AM   #349
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Re: Hal The Van

My only concern is with the metal to metal contact along with vibration. The alum will wear faster and could fail.
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Old 04-10-2011, 04:46 PM   #350
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Re: Hal The Van

Quote:
My only concern is with the metal to metal contact along with vibration
Actually that's not a problem since the shield is up against the powder-coated steel bracket the holds the aluminum tank in place. The shield doesn't touch the aluminum.
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