Project: Argoceptor

[great white]

Well, in order to get the outboard low enough to get the cavitaion plate level with the bottom of the hull, some changes to the rear rack were required:




Looks ok and is nearly as strong as it was before. It added another 7” to the rack, but it’s up fairly high so it shouldn’t be a snag hazard when climbing and it’s a relatively small point in the middle so it shouldn’t negatively effect turning. Those pics are with the motor at running height. For land travel, I’m building a vertical sliding outboard mount. It will raise the outboard 18”, which will bring the skeg about 3” below the body split line.

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Was driving home the other day and I drove past a bunch of car pieces at a country intersection. Someone had an accident there and there was a busted F-150 grill in the ditch.

I stopped to have a look at it and it seemed to me I might be able to do something with it. So into the back of the truck it went.

As anyone who has one knows, heat is a big issue in an Amphib. Getting air in (and out) is a problem due to it basically being a sealed bathtub.

I striped what was left of the grill down to just the plastic insert and set it on the Argo nose:







Yeah, it's too big as is and it's got some busted pieces. But it's just thermoplastic and that's super easy to both cut and form. All you need is a little heat, applied the right ways.

The wheels are turning in my brain. Sure would be nice to be able to get a front facing radiator in the nose of the Argo. I've got two thoughts:

1. Cut out the nose and fit everything (headlights included) behind a modified to fit grill, or
2. Cut down the grill to open up just the center section of the nose between the headlights

Options 1 benefits: LOTS of cooling air, front mount radiator options, unique looks.
Drawbacks of options 1: Water entry might be an issue. Such a large cut out may weaken the upper tub and maybe the lower tub.

Option 2 benefits: More cooling air, option for front mount radiator, would retain more of the original structural integrity.
Option 2 drawbacks: water entry concerns, although less than option 1.

The big "FORD" mounting spot in the middle of the grill is an easy fix: I'll just make up an "ARGO" emblem that's the same shape/size as the FORD badge and stick it on. That's as easy as printing one out and covering it in a clear epoxy.

Loosing the center part of the nose for a winch mount in either option isn't a big deal as I had already planned to build a custom winch mount that sits the winch level on a brush guard instead of being on the angled nose piece.

It means the Argo will loose some of it's froggy/puppy look on the nose, but that's not a big deal for me. A grill might actually update the look a bit so it looks less like it's 1960/70's counterparts and more like a some of the more recent designs.

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Decided to try for option 2: cut the grill down to size for the middle section of the Argo:



Not bad, not bad at all.It looks big in the pic, but it's a little lower than the hood line and a little less wide than the flat center section on the Argo nose.

Or, I suppose I could invert it like it was on the F-150:



I might not be as keen on that orientation,. It would, however, allow the hood to stay the same width to the grill instead of having to narrow it to match the narrow top grill.

That's just put together rough for now, it needs more plastic welding, shaping and finishing. But that's pretty much the way it will look.

I'm thinking installing the bottom even with where the Argo body line is now, but instead of leaning it back to follow the Argo nose "slant", I'm thinking leaving it a bit nearer vertical to make more room behind it for the radiator.

I'll have to rework the nose to come out to meet the grill and I can just make the hood larger to cover the top part. The hood is the easy part since it's fiberglass. That's just more cloth and resin to get it the way I want it.....

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Well, no turning back now:







After trying multiple times to reshape the plastic, I’ve decided to just slice it right off. I’ll make the grill part of the hood and fiberglass the sides to blend it to the cut opening. I can get a much smoother and finished look that way instead of trying to reshape the plastic.

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Working it, getting closer:





it will move back a little bit from where it is in those pics and it may lean back a lot more, but thats getting pretty close to the finished form.

[wildmanargo]

Id be worried of scooping water when entering with that design.

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Id be worried of scooping water when entering with that design.

Not going to be a problem. I'll be making the grill guard in the next few days and it will become obvious then how water entry isn't going to be much of an issue.

I have 2 automatic bilge pumps, so any water that still might sneak in through the grill isn't going to hang around very long.

Rough water?

Never. It's an Argo, not a boat......operation in rough water is just asking to send it to the bottom! LOL!

[great white]

rear carrier/outboard mount is coming along nicely:





I'm going to make up a plate that will fit in the space where the outboard currently is so when the outboard isn't mounted, the entire rear carrier just becomes storage space.

Tomorrow I'll either build the outboard sliding mount or the front brush guard. Not sure which I want to work on next.

It will likely be the front brush guard because I'm still working out some details on the outboard mount in my head right now.....

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Built the "brush guard" today:





That's a good start. Please ignore the sloppy welds. I was having trouble with the spool gun jamming and it burned through in places. I had to try and fill the holes with weld so it look pretty ugly in some places. I'll sand it smooth later on when I'm doing the finishing work. Spool gun contact tip was a 0.35 and the wire is 0.35, so when it got some heat in it it dragged too much. I had to open the tip up to a 0.45 to get it flowing well again.

Still to build: winch mount and supports, a "deflector" to keep water from splashing up an into the grill when entering the water. The deflector is nothing complicated, just a plate across the front that is angled forward so when the water/splash comes up when entering rivers, ponds, etc, it's prevented from just rushing in through the grill opening. Once floating, the water is below the body line and the grill is well up and out of the water.

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Decided I didn’t like the thought of how it is going to look with the fiberglass hood coming down to cover the openings on the sides of the new grill. So I took some of the scrap hdpe plastic, cut to fit, heated it to form (oven at 275 for 10 minutes) and bonded to the hull with some plastic welding.

Went from this:



To this:





Ah, much better! A little more shaping, some clean up work and it will almost look factory. The hood can now be shaped to come forward nice and flat. Well, there will still be a little contouring for aesthetics, but it will look much more integrated now.

[wildmanargo]

Looking Good Great White!!! I cant wait to see it finished

[great white]

More plastic welding/shaping and built the radiator upper mount:





Nice. I like it!

Next up is to build the lower rad mount and then I think I'll go back and finish building the hood.

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Well, I'm considering pulling the V4 engine back out and putting the Kohler 18hp magnum back in.

Let me explain; it's not that I can't or don't want to do the V4 swap any longer, it's more about not being able to get it done this year.

The thing is, I've got lots of projects on the go right now. The result is nothing moves very fast in the progression to finished. The Argo itself has a lot of modifications on the go. Right now, I'd prefer it doesn't become one of those projects that hangs around for a couple years and takes up space because I can't use it.

So I'm thinking of putting the Kohler back in so I can at least have a little fun with the rig this summer. It will still be loud, it will still be slow and it will still be hot. But I will be able to go bash around the trails a bit and enjoy it for what it is. There's still lots of things to finish and swapping the Kohler back in will allow me to focus on the other things already in progress.

Plus, I can build the suspension pieces while I am still bombing around in the Argo. The suspension is a lot of work welding parts up in a jig, so that can be done off the machine and (hopefully) bolted on in a weekend when it's finished.

Once everything else is done, I can get back to the V4 and concentrate on just the engine swap as the rest of the Argo will be done.

It's currently just a thought, but it's one that seems to make sense at the moment. I'd like to get a little payback from it this summer instead of it just taking up space in the garage and working on it al the time....

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Deed is done:





V4 out, opposed twin kohler back in.

I had to weld up the engine tray to mount the kohler back in there, but that was an easy iob. I kept the pieces I cut out to mount the v4 so it was just clean up the metal and mig it back in place.

I also took the opportunity to tart up the engine and transmission with some cleaning and fresh paint.

Now I can focus on finishing up the other projects on the Argoceptor and maybe have a little fun with it this summer.

[great white]

Working out the retractable outboard mount:







The engine "cradle" slides stright up and down, with the space you can see in the aluminum channel piece to be filled with HDPE plastic to make it slide nicely on the rails.

Not sure if that's the final form, as I would like the outboard Skeg to be a little higher (or closer in to the body) when in land transport mode.

But ya gotta start somewhere when designing something new....