Todays Project - What did you do today?

[stevec]

I've been running my old AC tractors without the massive oil bath air cleaner on the carb because it's impossible to troubleshoot little problems that crop up. Say it won't start or it dies, well you have to dismantle a big clumsy affair just to squirt a bit of gas into the carb or see if it's flooded.
I decided to make a new set-up to accomodate a reasonable size Fram air cleaner.
   


I started with some alu stock 2¼“ in dia. It had a 1” wide flat milled along it's length but for mt purpose that wasn't a problem.

Here I've offset mounted a piece of the stock that's been faced to length, this will be the clamp to the inlet of the carb.
   



I sorta cheated by shimming two chuck jaws with some 3/16” flat it was spot on with the ctr. Punch mark I'd laid out (luck).
The flat is hidden by the tailstock chuck but it appears in following photos.
The boring bar is at the ready, I drilled a pilot hole thru then followed with the biggest drill I had because boring can be boring but drilling can be thrilling.
   

Here it is bored out to 1½” to fit the carb.
   


He telescoping guage and 2”mic say I'm pretty close.
   




Here's where I mill the second 1” wide flat.
   



Now into the RT to finish the outside profile,
   



That done it's on to counterboring the clamp for the 2 hex socket screws to clamp the clamp.
   

Now tap drill and clearance drill and tap.
   

Now slit the opening of the clamp and we're almost done.
   

A little more drilling and tapping for the ¼” end plates, a little ¼” allthread rod, a washer and a wing nut and we're at the result shown in the first pic. A little triplication and all three tractors are covered (or will be).