a single piece prop for my capri! a lot easier than shelling out £150 that I saw one advertised at.
basically the centre joint in mine was knackered, the prop tries to escape everytime you touch throttle
enoughs enough I thought, time to attack the problem. now bruisercapri had this happen to his about 18 months/2 years ago and now it need another centre joint. fugg that! out with the precision slitting disc and welder my friends.
started late (it is my day off today) after posting ebay sales to brazil etc. about 11.30, tacked by lunch, fitted by 2.30 ;D took a bit longer to balance it, about 45 mins.
started with 2 redundant 4 cylinder capri props which were left over from my prefect. cut them at middle, which conveniently has rings to aid a straight cut. voila! two neat pieces. checked the ends with an engineers square and cut the second prop for the filler piece. cut the on the handy ring one end but heres the techy bit, used a jubilee clip to squarely cut the other end. its not hugely precise, but unless your TIGing it, it doesn't have to be. I use an old piece of british railway angle iron for a jig, nice and square. then clamp the prop tubes with a couple of G-clamps as they hold better than mole grips. I used a deco angle finder (magnetic) to square the ends, if you keep the yokes in line, it doesn't require much balancing
here it is jigged up. you can see the angle finder in the foreground
this is the section being tacked in, by 'eck it was windy out here today!
the finished article next to the standard one. the entire single piece prop weighs about the same as the centre joint I removed
in its new home under the car, awiting balancing
universal balancing weight, simply place in the centre of the prop and rotate in quarter turns to find the balance point, simple if time consuming.
I can report that the car is much more aggresive to drive, some real bodie and doyle moments out of side roads were had this afternoon, without the aid of a clutch (it ain't got one), or dropping it into "D" with loads of revs. just get it rolling, and as you turn, plant it ;D sssqqqueeeeeeeeeeeellllllll!!!! ;D
finally, a productive day. just don't mention yesterday.......
basically the centre joint in mine was knackered, the prop tries to escape everytime you touch throttle
enoughs enough I thought, time to attack the problem. now bruisercapri had this happen to his about 18 months/2 years ago and now it need another centre joint. fugg that! out with the precision slitting disc and welder my friends.
started late (it is my day off today) after posting ebay sales to brazil etc. about 11.30, tacked by lunch, fitted by 2.30 ;D took a bit longer to balance it, about 45 mins.
started with 2 redundant 4 cylinder capri props which were left over from my prefect. cut them at middle, which conveniently has rings to aid a straight cut. voila! two neat pieces. checked the ends with an engineers square and cut the second prop for the filler piece. cut the on the handy ring one end but heres the techy bit, used a jubilee clip to squarely cut the other end. its not hugely precise, but unless your TIGing it, it doesn't have to be. I use an old piece of british railway angle iron for a jig, nice and square. then clamp the prop tubes with a couple of G-clamps as they hold better than mole grips. I used a deco angle finder (magnetic) to square the ends, if you keep the yokes in line, it doesn't require much balancing
here it is jigged up. you can see the angle finder in the foreground
this is the section being tacked in, by 'eck it was windy out here today!
the finished article next to the standard one. the entire single piece prop weighs about the same as the centre joint I removed
in its new home under the car, awiting balancing
universal balancing weight, simply place in the centre of the prop and rotate in quarter turns to find the balance point, simple if time consuming.
I can report that the car is much more aggresive to drive, some real bodie and doyle moments out of side roads were had this afternoon, without the aid of a clutch (it ain't got one), or dropping it into "D" with loads of revs. just get it rolling, and as you turn, plant it ;D sssqqqueeeeeeeeeeeellllllll!!!! ;D
finally, a productive day. just don't mention yesterday.......
always goes when it comes to balancing the thing.
