Bending brackets..

This weekend I was able to spend both days working on the chassis.
One whole day was used to make the suspension brackets, really laboriously. Getting the exactly right bit of metal involves a bit of forward planning, a trip to Peddies which is only open when I'm at work, and so on. So sometimes you have to make do - in this case I made the steel strips by cutting them out of a 3mm sheet with a jigsaw, then grinding the edges flat, then drilling, then bending. A colleague suggested a better idea which is to obtain box section of the right dimensions and cut one side off. Never mind, it's done now.

So the Herald suspension is now attached. I managed to wreck two of the rubber bushes in the suspension arms, as they were rusted solid to their pins. Hopefully these are still available..

I needed a big space between the front wheels to use as battery box, and it was a bit tricky to make it wide enough. One row will sit on top of the steering rack so it will be raised up a bit, but the rest should go right on the floor.

The strut going across between the uprights should fit between two rows of batteries (it's in a temporary position just now).

So far it weighs 45kg without wheels, 75 with. The chassis itself only weighs 8kg, but it's a long way from finished - no back wheel yet!