Post by shoprat on Feb 28, 2016 14:36:40 GMT -8
Hi there,
I'm posting from Northern SK where it's cold and snowy.. so in order to enjoy my surroundings I created this:
I've owned the bus since about 2005 when I put the subaru motor in it. I was a student and had no money for a restoration, I just wanted a functional bus to drive across the country to go to school. Don't get me wrong I love old tech, tinkering with carbs and tune-ups, but the vintage meets modern has a strong appeal to me as well and I found a subaru engine for about $500 and went to town on the conversion. It's seen a good 100,000km since the conversion and is a real head-turner.. though not in the usual sense of the phrase.
The rust underneath is pretty disgusting and there isn't much on this machine that wouldn't take a second mortgage to repair properly. This is why I call the vanskeee configuration less of a 'revitalization' and more of a 'palliative distraction' for a rusting out old bus.
Anyway, I've always wanted to build a set of my own snow tracks, just for the sake of building them, and the van seemed the perfect candidate. It hadn't been seeing much use in the last couple years and I like to think it's receiving it's wish from make-a-wish foundation and it's always wanted to be a snowmobile. Enjoy the pics..
There is a ton of info online about home-built tracks and I can't see I really innovated anything other than putting them on a VW bus and making my own ski design.
Here are some build pics:
I sandwiched a rim between some plywood as a jig to make the drive wheel. The rims front and back are a chevy pattern, using wheel adapters.
Using a trailer hub/spindle I machined and welded another flange that bolts to the van. This is necessary so the frame of the track can remain stationary as the drive wheel rotates.
Mocked up the track with the drive wheel and my would pattern for the skid frame.
I call this poor-man's cnc. I built the tracks in a CAD program, then printed out the design, traced onto a piece of plywood, cut the shape with a jig saw, then clamped onto 1/4" steel plate and cut with a hand held plasma cutter.
Partially constructed frame:
First revision of the skis.. The plates clamped the tires from the sides, and a strap held over top. They actually worked not bad but 1) needed to be longer and 2) I wanted to make it more solid.
New skis.. 7.5 feet long. !!
Road crossing..
Here is a video of it in action:
I'm posting from Northern SK where it's cold and snowy.. so in order to enjoy my surroundings I created this:
I've owned the bus since about 2005 when I put the subaru motor in it. I was a student and had no money for a restoration, I just wanted a functional bus to drive across the country to go to school. Don't get me wrong I love old tech, tinkering with carbs and tune-ups, but the vintage meets modern has a strong appeal to me as well and I found a subaru engine for about $500 and went to town on the conversion. It's seen a good 100,000km since the conversion and is a real head-turner.. though not in the usual sense of the phrase.
The rust underneath is pretty disgusting and there isn't much on this machine that wouldn't take a second mortgage to repair properly. This is why I call the vanskeee configuration less of a 'revitalization' and more of a 'palliative distraction' for a rusting out old bus.
Anyway, I've always wanted to build a set of my own snow tracks, just for the sake of building them, and the van seemed the perfect candidate. It hadn't been seeing much use in the last couple years and I like to think it's receiving it's wish from make-a-wish foundation and it's always wanted to be a snowmobile. Enjoy the pics..
There is a ton of info online about home-built tracks and I can't see I really innovated anything other than putting them on a VW bus and making my own ski design.
Here are some build pics:
I sandwiched a rim between some plywood as a jig to make the drive wheel. The rims front and back are a chevy pattern, using wheel adapters.
Using a trailer hub/spindle I machined and welded another flange that bolts to the van. This is necessary so the frame of the track can remain stationary as the drive wheel rotates.
Mocked up the track with the drive wheel and my would pattern for the skid frame.
I call this poor-man's cnc. I built the tracks in a CAD program, then printed out the design, traced onto a piece of plywood, cut the shape with a jig saw, then clamped onto 1/4" steel plate and cut with a hand held plasma cutter.
Partially constructed frame:
First revision of the skis.. The plates clamped the tires from the sides, and a strap held over top. They actually worked not bad but 1) needed to be longer and 2) I wanted to make it more solid.
New skis.. 7.5 feet long. !!
Road crossing..
Here is a video of it in action:
Attachments:
