Mid-Engine Max IV

[Mike]

Looks like your stuck with the little baby Max II.

OUCH!

The headers sound GREAT! I am very happy with the way they turned out. I just wished that mine sounded that good. Thanks for all of your help and for letting me steal all of your ideas . I hope to test and tune this weekend so it's ready to go for Busco next weekend. Maybe Jennifer will let you drive it....maybe. If she does you need to do a 360 near a tree to get her back for the springer incident at Ashtabula.

[whipper-ag]

If she lets me drive it.

Whipper

[Meinfield]

Nice work, Mike, Can't wait to see video! That is one bad looking machine!
I could not tell form the photos, did you support the header? If not, you might get a crack around one of the head flanges.
All the best,
Chris

[mark m.]

Mike. Did you use a U-Weld header kit for your exhaust or did you bend the tubing yourself?

[Mike]

Chris, thanks for the comment. I supported the header under the muffler. There is a bracket bolted through the tub with a rubber isolator between it and the muffler. Then the muffler is just clamped to the bracket. You can almost see it here:



And here it is without the header on:


Mark, I didn't bend the tubing myself. I designed the headers on paper to see what I needed and then I ordered everything online. I used 1.25" pipe from the engine into the collector. From there it is 1.75". I ordered all of the bends and pipe from two different places because neither one had everything that I needed. I probably could have found it cheaper locally but I didn't have enough time to hunt down the pieces. So I ordered from:

Tube Bending & Fabrication - Columbia River Mandrel Bending
They had a 2-to-1 collector for 1.25" to 1.75" which was hard to find although it was pricey: 2-1 Collector, 1.25" Inlets, 1.75" Outlet, Mild Steel Columbia River Mandrel Bending

and I ordered parts from here too mainly because they had the proper flanges:
EC Distributing, Your Online Racing Store!

[mark m.]

Thanks for the explanation and info Mike. I have those sites bookmarked.

[Mike]

Jennifer got to drive her max for the first time this weekend (even though it was mainly on asphalt) to see how everything works for her. There are a few adjustments needed here and there but overall it fits her well.

Here she is tearing up the neighborhood.


After her test we loaded up and headed to a pond nearby for a water test. I wanted to test it for leaks, see how it was balanced in the water and test the tires' swimming ability. It floated pretty level and didn't leak at all but the tires were a little tricky. Here's a video of my first drive in the water. It took me a few tries to figure out how to turn but I finally got the hang of it.

If you are going slow you can steer normaly but at anything over 1/4 throttle the car actually steers towards the side with the tires spinning. Very strange to get used to but essentially the tires seem to be pulling the six wheeler down in that direction making it steer that way. These older bodied Max IVs have lower tubs than the newer ones and I had to remold the body over all of the tires to get them to fit so perhaps that is why it acts differently than other Max IVs with the ASX tires that I've seen here on the site. I look funny when trying to turn the first time or two in the video because I'm leaning the opposite direction from the way it's turning.

Regardless, I like the tires a lot, they do swim about like the rawhide IIIs and we'll see how they do in the mud this coming weekend.

[AndyL]

mike that is one amazing amphib! love that bandolero engine too...that thing is fast lol

[Model Citizen]

Can't hear any clunking or rattleing & nothing fell off, so you get an A+, Mike. Jennifer must be really glad you know what you're doing. I always keep MY fingers crossed.

Bridget

[AndyL]

mike i was looking at your other vids on vimeo as well. are you into trains/live steam?