And now for something completely different

[K4KEV]

Well I think it might be a little unusual.....it seems these bluddy front bearing dust caps are becoming quite scarce, so in the very essence of "build a sports car on a budget" huh my budget went out the window a good while ago, I decided I would make my own
I bet this is a first on here....don't know what it is ...I just cant help wanting to be different.
So I grabbed a small piece of old 1mm steel (an ex fridge side) and a chunk of hardwood and a short length of chain link fence wire (the straight bit at the tops and bottom)
I made an estimated guess as to what the diameter of the bulge in the dust cap
and set to work with a gouge...did not take long, some sanding and more sanding rendering the "bowl" now in the hardwood looking about right
Out with the tinsnips and cut myself a disc of metal slightly larger than the dia of the original cap....prepped it with a detail sander, once clean I now placed over the bowl in the hardwood and began to peen the shape with a ball pein hammer....about 20-30 mins work there and making everthing true and sq
Now I cut a thin strip of the same steel cleaned it and bent it into a circle to match the fitting diameter of the original then silver soldered the join....this was then positioned on the cup side emerging dust cap and again silver soldered onto it.
to mimic the greater thickness of the originals outer lip I took the wire and stripped the plastic coating off and then using the back of my vice I began to flatten the wire so it started to look like a piston ring checking the diameter all the while once ready I made it a tight fit up against the underside of the lip and carefully silver soldered that to the dust cap. the following pictures along with this description peeps should get the jist of how I made them.
I know if I had persevered I would have found some, but hell I made them cos I could

raw materials



bowl hammered and strip ring soldered



chain link wire hammered and ready to fit


wire now soldered on and sitting below an original

[K4KEV]

More photos





finally the completed pair and yes they do fit

[flyerncle]

Bloody brilliant Kev,I seem to remember that you can or used to be able to buy concave blocks of wood to hold budgie eggs when they breed.

[MarkB]

Wahay clever stuff, I doubt many would have even thought of making their own...you know what's going to happen now though? Folk will be knocking on your email door for some..

[AshG]

dont forget to put sealer round the outside edge of them. the new ford ones come with a green goo round them.

[K4KEV]

Originally Posted by AshG

dont forget to put sealer round the outside edge of them. the new ford ones come with a green goo round them.

Cheers Ash....I was'nt sure what it was on the originals as it just looked like rusty crud