Tater's "OH Deere 116 dragster" [2017 Build-Off Entry]

** EDITED FOR NON RELEVANT CONTENT 12/21/17***

 During the discussion back in December, I was told this build should look like a mower, so I switched gears and decided to add JD sheet metal... and following that concept.. a working mower deck (not included in the parts pic, I ran out of room). I found out today that it could look like a weiner mobile and still qualify. I will be building 2 bodies for this with an entirely different look for both. 1 will be a slingshot 60's style dragster and the other will have a modified puller kind of body.

The frame is a custom fab,6 foot wheelbase with rollbar and safety harness due to the high speed this will travel.

The front tires are for a utility yard cart with 3/4" bearings

The rear tires are 225/70r15's on steel wheels

The engine is a BS twin 19.5 that will get cleaned up inside and out.

The TX is a peerless 633a that will get cleaned out and possibly new bearings

The steering is a modified new AYP assembly to insure tight control

This will incorporate a manual CVT from a MTD shift on the go to reach top speed.

The frame is about 70% complete, I have several welds to finish and all of the brackets/ mounts/ hangers, etc to finish.
The JD pan will get sliced and diced to fit the larger rear tires and a custom hood and cowel will be built. Firewall and dash need to be completed along with all controls (foot throttle, steering, clutch, brakes, etc)

As mentioned above, this will have a functioning mower deck, 2 bodies and should hit 60 MPH.

Good luck! I have really enjoyed this build so far, and hope to see it finished!

The rat rod body is all in 1 piece now. Still have to do some final shaping and refine the seams, but I can move on to the frame mounts/ bracket stuff

...and it will come off/ go on as it is for a quick change. The steering will go through the cowl like a T bucket, but more on that later

TIP OF THE DAY: dont throw away those ATLTF signs, they make good templates!

TIP OF THE DAY #2   16ga sheet metal is alot easier to weld than 24ga. Dont know why I decided to build the body out of 24

The worst part of these builds is the down time. I have 6 more on the brain and 3 are so WTF, I have the 2020 build off planned.

tater195 wrote:

The worst part of these builds is the down time. I have 6 more on the brain and 3 are so WTF, I have the 2020 build off planned.

Could always enter more. There is no limit, aside from what you can manage.

A close second is a tractor screaming to be in the buildoff and you have a plan for it, but you just can't get it because it is actually owned by another person that is reluctant to part with it yet.

I would hate to come in 1st and 2nd for the next 3 years (yeah I'm just talkin shlt). I will do a second entry if this one gets done quick as I hope it will.
The best thing about having so much to do on a build like this is there is so much to do and you can start on anything that pops into your head. I bent the resonators for the headers. Cant wait to hear this thing run. It looks sick as hell and should sound even better

#7 is an upgrade on this guy, but I dont think I can get in under the 50% rule

This is technically a modified JD 116. It has 116 rails, everything else has been changed

I am offended by the "apprentice" rating. when do I get upgraded to Yoda?

.

What are you drinkin man?

.

I like how youre doing the body on this. Very cool!

I got a chance to do more on the exhaust tonight. Resonators and header flanges are punched out and ready to bend some pipe. I will make a set of side pipe headers for the rat body and zoomies for the JD.

I got 1 side of the zoomies welded up. They didnt turn out too bad. I have the other side bent and ready to weld, same with the headers, but my back cant take anymore bending over to weld.

How did you pend the pipes?

We have an electric conduit bender at work. I used it to bend the frame pieces too. For some reason the 60* bends for the zoomies kinked but the 90s didnt.

sneak peek of what the headers will look like..

Looking real nice!

I got one side completely done and threw some paint at it to start seeing things in color.

Is the Hemi valve cover look intentional?

I think it looks pretty rad!

Me likey....How many of the pipes will be functional? Will you only run exhaust through one or will you split it up?