Nose Job

I cut out some more pieces for work yesterday and then cut out the strips to close in the top and bottom of the nose for the jitney project. I still need to work on my plasma cutting technique, as it's hard for me to follow my layout line while trying to cut quickly. The cuts on the pieces for the car came out OK but I made sure I stayed proud of the line. I figured it would be better to grind a bit more rather than creating a gap that I'd have to fill in. I was looking for a corner to corner fit so I'll have a nice rounded edge after I get done welding and grinding it. That way it will look pretty close to what the corners of the side rail tubing looks like. On the original plan the rails were made from car frame rails that were in the shape of a channel and were bent to the rounded profile.

The top and bottom strips have holes drilled and countersunk so I can plug weld the strips to the braces/spacers I welded into the frame. All the material is 1/8" so I want to make sure everything will stay together when the car's finished. Never can tell, this thing might make a run on the salt flats some day. I'm planning on welding it up today and then maybe take a look at the chainless bicycle.

The guy with the bike said he was in no hurry but that's a dangerous thing to say to me. Actually, I'm kind of curious about how this thing works and I'd like to get it out of here - I don't need anything else with wheels around here now or maybe ever unless I send something else down the road. He said the rear brake was dragging and he thought that's why the bike shop he took it to said it couldn't be fixed. I think they were just blowing him off. However, I fixed the rear brake already so that eliminates that issue. I looked at the manual and it shows how to install the cable and the procedure for getting it adjusted. If there's nothing mechanically wrong with the hub, it looks pretty straight forward. I'll find out soon enough.