A little bit of beginner level Art From Car Parts

[surprisingskoda]

I'm sure there is a proper name for this, but I do not know it.

There are also plenty of better attempts, and much professional work, out there, but this is just a bit of fun and something I've wanted to do for a long time.

A lazy day with no plans a couple of months ago saw me rummaging through the trays of unusual spare parts I'd been keeping to the side for "someday", which is when I had planned to do some of this...



I pulled on some overalls though and let my mind go a-wandering.

I started, as you must always do, with a piston.


And then thought about how I could make it what I wanted in my head... to the toolbox...

There's a faulty ratchet in there!

The head I thought would suit to make a guitar from, but it was just too small, and I didn't have any broken 3/8"s.
So it became an arm


And for a guitar then, I needed something bigger. Back to the spares drawer of the toolbox and I came up with a couple of old bits I could weld together - pretty pleased with the welds I was getting too


That got me to about here:


Then it was time to consider some footing - and I knew I wanted a good "powerstance" and was trying to think of how I would make some legs for him. Then I thought an anti-roll bar would do it


Found the right curves and cut sections out and welded on


He was fairly rough so took him over to a flapwheel and tided up


Then had to see if my "tack and see" sizing / levelling methods had worked


Hurrah!

I cleaned him up with a wire wheel then, and because he was still a bit grubby and the bits were various colours, I evened him out with some Simoniz chrome spraypaint. Rightly or wrongly it definitely changed him.


I've no name for him yet, and I feel he's not finished, but not sure how to change him - or maybe leave him alone. The raw simplicity of a very first attempt is also appealing, rahter than trying to get it "perfect".

[surprisingskoda]

Right after that, I immediately wanted to tackle a bigger project.

Back to the box of bits!

These I pulled out, along with more pistons of course.


Stick the round bits together


Then I tried welding on the timing chain guides, only to find that they were in fact aluminium, so they did not stick so good!


So a little bit of thought and I pulled some PAS pipes out of a box and cut the ends off and used those instead.

That'll require more fettling to get right, later.

The next section was the con-rods, crank shaft and then I hunted out 12 roller rockers.


So take three rollers, attach them to the small end of the con-rod (after removing the pistons)


Do this four times, making sure to put the rollers at slightly different angles for each side, 2 per side...


And attach to the crankshaft. Can you tell what it is yet?!


Of course you can! Lots of strong welding to make the legs steady.


Then I took more of the PAS pipe section, and curved it, and built up some weld above the eyelets until they looked the right height, and created eyebrows.


Ears and tongue were made from sections of exhaust downpipe, sliced in two along the edge to give curved pieces.

Part one was attached to part two, and the tail was a bit of brake hose with a small metal bracket on it - the bracket was welded to the last counterweight on the crank, and the end of the hose stuffed into the crank-seal hole, so now this little pup has genuinely got a bouncy tail.


And he looks like a total idiot!

One of the guys in work also has a fairly dopey dog, so the next day was an almost impossible photoshoot with one dog that will simply not stay put where you tell him (and a collie pup as well )

[surprisingskoda]

So after the triumph of, "I want a dog, so I made one" - this post is just some pictures of something I've eyed up for the next project - not sure what it is yet, but I like to find something interesting then try to think, what can I make from that?

Firstly a little nip-nip with the grinder - aluminium can be surprisingly thick, I thought I was getting nowhere! Then a single tap with a sledge and it just popped off!


And the innards...



And the captivating internal view...


My imagination parallels that with inside the mothership in Independence Day, or Zion in the third Matrix. Am I way off? What would you make?

[rblote]

I love the dog. Okay both dogs then!!

[luckyseven]

They're good, they are. Certainly as good as the sort of stuff you see getting flogged at the NEC or whatever. In fact, I bought an owl for Mrs L7 that's of no better quality than your aardvark collie. Reckon you could make some cash out of those. Although postage would probably be a killer

Can't comment on Independence Day resemblances though, sorry. I've tried to blank it from my memory, although vague impressions of taking out an alien invasion fleet via a Windows-based virus upload still wake me up screaming

[grizz]

Love them both.

You really managed to put “life and movement” into the rock guitarist.

Well done, looking out for more.

I have made a few over time, all given away except one that’s still in the garden.

[georgeb]

Brilliant. Top work!

[Jettadriver]

Just a little warning - Be carefull when cutting those gearbox housings.

I heard a horror story here from Denmark, where a guy was cutting the gearbox housing from a VW Beetle as I remember. The alloy was a type with a high magnesium content...

Suddenly the metaldust from cutting with the anglegrinder ignited - including the dust in the air, in his hair and on his clothes. The poor guy ended up with bad injuries on face and body.

I'm don't say all gearboxes will give the same result - but a scary story too keep in the back of the memory I think.

[Deleted]

Vw Beetle casings circa 1970’s were As19, which did indeed have a lot of magnesium in it. None used in decades....